The following table compares what Windows XP asks for on the side of the box with
what you really need before it will work well.
What Windows XP Requires
Requirements Politely Touted by
Microsoft
What
You Really Want
Why?
A Pentium 300 MHz microprocessor
A Pentium III or Athlon running at 500 MHz
While at the store, compare
Windows XP running on different Pentium III computers. The faster the computer,
the less time you spend waiting for Windows XP to do something exciting.
64MB of memory
(RAM)
At least 128MB of
memory
Windows XP crawls
across the screen with only 64MB and moves much more comfortably with 128MB. RAM is cheap; if you plan to run programs like
Microsoft Office and multimedia
tools, quickly bump that to 256MB or more.
2GB of free hard disk space
At least 20GB
A full installation of Windows XP could consume an
entire gigabyte; Windows programs quickly rope off their own sections of the hard
drive, too. Plus, all that sound
and video you're going to be grabbing off the Internet and your digital camera will take up a whole
lotta space. Don't be afraid to buy a hard disk that's 40GB (40 gigabytes) or
larger so that your computer will be useful for a long time.
A 3 1/2-inch high-density disk
drive
Not needed for
installing or using Windows XP
However, an occasional Windows program still comes packaged on
high-density, 3 1/2-inch floppy disks. Plus, floppy disks are a handy way to move
your files to other computers.
Color SVGA card
Same
For
viewing videos, look for these qualifications on the video card box or the
computer specifications sheet: 32MB or more of memory, AGP support, motion
compensation support for DVD playback, and support for DVI, S-Video, and
composite video output.
12x or faster CD-ROM or DVD drive
Same
You'll want a CD-ROM drive to install Windows XP. (A DVD drive can read normal CDs, so
it'll work fine.) For the first time, Windows XP supports drives that write to
CDs as well.
Internet access
56K modem or faster
Windows XP relies extensively on Internet communication for
everything from product registration, automatic updates, off-site computer
fix-ups, and game playing. The faster your
modem, the less time you'll spend twiddling your
thumbs.
Any
PS/2-compatible mouse
Same
Microsoft makes some darn good mice, with much better warranties
than Microsoft's software. Take a look at the IntelliMouse — the kind with
the little spinning wheel on its back.
A 15-inch monitor or larger
An LCD monitor
The bigger your monitor, the bigger your desktop: Your windows
won't overlap so much. Unfortunately, super-large LCD monitors are
super-expensive.
