Randy

Hello class,
The good news; I received the upgrade today [excited]
The bad news; I am using Windows 98SE [oops] One of the system requirements for CS is Windows 2000 or XP [saywhat]
Will this pose a problem for me?
If so any suggestions? Besides the obvious [innocent]
Thanks,
-Randy

Rick

This has been asked before Randy and I think that the obvious is the only solution. To use CS you will need to upgrade your Windows - and if you go that way I would strongly recommend XP Pro

BTW Welcome to the boards.

Randy

Thanks for the info on the XP Pro
While I'm at it, I may as well get a new PC %}
Any suggestions as to what to look for? I figure as much RAM as possible, and the folks who wrote Real World Photoshop 7 suggest two hard drives....
Thanks again,
-Randy

C9Mouse

Hi Randy,

I recently upgraded my entire system. I was originally a Win98SE user. Now I have WinXP Home, a Pentium 4, 550MB of RAM, and two hard drives - one 30 gig, the other 90 gig.

I had my system custom built because I'm a graphic designer by trade. My computer guy recommends two hard drives for running apps like Photoshop. For optimal performance PS should have one entire hard drive to run off.

RAM is up to you. Eventually I'd like to have at least a gig or two of RAM, but 550MB does me fine for now.

bigcloud

Well, if you're like me (Hmm, scarythought ), you'll probably want to build one yourself. This machine is the first one I've built and have been very happy with it. I'll be glad to share the makes and models of each component if you wish. Here are a couple of things to keep in mind:

-RAM is cheap! If you're spending the money on it now, don't wimp out. More is better. And upgradablilty (either additional slots for more RAM, or the ability to take larger DIMM sizes), is more better.

-How do you like your current monitor? Will it stand the test of time with a new machine? Often it is the case where people will keep their existing ones. However, CRTs are coming down in price VERY quickly and 17" or 19" high quality monitors can be found under $300.

-Stay away from embedded components on motherboards. Many manufacturers of motherboards can cut the cost to you by embedding audio, or worse yet, video right into the motherboard. If you can avoid this, please do. You'll want to hold onto the flexibility of choosing/repairing/upgrading your own components.

That's all I can think of right about now. Happy computer hunting.

C9Mouse

I would recommend building your own as well. Below are the components my computer guy used to build my new computer system:

? ATX Motherboard S478 800FSB Eth SATA RAID 6 Ch Aud

? GeForce FX5200 Video Card AGP 8x 128MB DDR

? 2.4 GHZ Pentium 4 Processor

? Maxtor 60GB Hard Drive 7200 RPM ATA/133

? 80MM Case Fan

? PC3200 RAM 400MHZ 256 MB

? Windows XP Home Edition

? 2700 Chassis

I also agree with BC that you stay away from on-board components. My old computer's motherboard had built-on components and it sucked - you couldn't upgrade or fix them or anything.

Also I agree get as much RAM as you can. I would have gotten more, but 550MB suits me fine for right now, and I have the slots for more when I want it.