• The TUGBBS forums are completely free and open to the public and exist as the absolute best place for owners to get help and advice about their timeshares for more than 30 years!

    Join Tens of Thousands of other Owners just like you here to get any and all Timeshare questions answered 24 hours a day!
  • TUG started 30 years ago in October 1993 as a group of regular Timeshare owners just like you!

    Read about our 30th anniversary: Happy 30th Birthday TUG!
  • TUG has a YouTube Channel to produce weekly short informative videos on popular Timeshare topics!

    Free memberships for every 50 subscribers!

    Visit TUG on Youtube!
  • TUG has now saved timeshare owners more than $21,000,000 dollars just by finding us in time to rescind a new Timeshare purchase! A truly incredible milestone!

    Read more here: TUG saves owners more than $21 Million dollars
  • Sign up to get the TUG Newsletter for free!

    60,000+ subscribing owners! A weekly recap of the best Timeshare resort reviews and the most popular topics discussed by owners!
  • Our official "end my sales presentation early" T-shirts are available again! Also come with the option for a free membership extension with purchase to offset the cost!

    All T-shirt options here!
  • A few of the most common links here on the forums for newbies and guests!

Computer Specs - What do I really need?

Pat H

TUG Member
Joined
Jun 6, 2005
Messages
3,469
Reaction score
67
Points
433
Location
Sun City Hilton Head
Resorts Owned
Brigantine
Decided to go with a desktop again instead of a laptop. I use it for the internet, email, grandkids' photos and some documents. What kind of processor, how much memory, hard drive, DVD/CD, software, etc., do I need?
What is the difference between Works & Word? Is Excel a separate program or is it part of Word/Works? TIA.
 

Icarus

TUG Member
Joined
Jun 6, 2005
Messages
4,095
Reaction score
0
Points
271
You don't need that much power. I would just get a decent mid-range desktop.

Most will come with a minimum of 2GB memory, and a decent size hard drive and a writable dvd drive.

If you want Excel, you should get MS Office, which will include MS Word. The student and teacher edition is a bargain if you can live with the licensing terms (not for commercial use).

-David
 

Drivr

TUG Member
Joined
Feb 19, 2007
Messages
18
Reaction score
0
Points
211
Location
Seabrook, NH
You don't need that much power. I would just get a decent mid-range desktop.

Most will come with a minimum of 2GB memory, and a decent size hard drive and a writable dvd drive.

If you want Excel, you should get MS Office, which will include MS Word. The student and teacher edition is a bargain if you can live with the licensing terms (not for commercial use).

-David

Just a couple more things to think about. If you are getting a machine with Vista loaded then you might want 4gb of memory. Vista is a Memory intensive operating system and in this case more is better. Dave is spot on for Excel, Works does come with a spreadsheet program but it is not excel. If you are willing to learn a new program Open Office has a word processor and spreadsheet program and its free. You will be saving some money buying a desktop compared to a laptop so get a screen that you like and can stare at for a length of time.
 
Top