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Techzone

Computer Buying Guide

TechZone Minimum Computer Specifications

Updated April, 2008


Already Own
New Computer
New Advanced

Notebook

CPU

Intel Pentium 4, Celeron, Pentium M,
AMD Athlon, Turion, or Apple G4
Intel Core 2 Duo or AMD
Athlon 64 X2 / Turion 64 X2
Intel Core 2 Duo or AMD
Athlon 64 X2 / Turion 64 X2

RAM

256 MB (Windows) / 512 MB (Mac)
2 GB
4 GB

Hard Drive

40 GB

80 GB

250 GB - 320 GB
or 160 GB 7200RPM

Optical Drive

CD / DVD-ROM

CD-RW / DVD-ROM

CD-RW / DVD-RW

Video
Integrated
Integrated
ATI or nVidia 128 MB - 256 MB
(non-Integrated)

Display Size

12"+
13"+
13"+

Network Card

Ethernet / NIC

Ethernet / NIC

Ethernet / NIC

Wireless

None or 802.11b/g

802.11b/g

802.11b/g/n

Operating System

Windows XP or Mac OS X 10.4

Windows Vista Home Premium
or MAC OS X 10.5

Windows Vista Ultimate
or Mac OS X 10.5

Desktop

CPU

Intel Pentium 4, Celeron, AMD Athlon,
or Apple G4 or G5
Intel Core 2 Duo or
AMD Athlon 64 X2 / Phenom
Intel Core 2 Duo or
AMD Athlon 64 X2 / Phenom

RAM

256 MB (Windows) / 512 MB (Mac)
2 GB
4 GB

Hard Drive

40 GB
80 GB
320 GB - 500 GB

Optical Drive

CD / DVD-ROM
CD-RW / DVD-ROM
CD-RW / DVD-RW

Video

Integrated
Integrated
ATI or nVidia 128 MB - 256 MB
(non-Integrated)

Display Size

15"+
19"+
19"+

Network Card

Ethernet / NIC
Ethernet / NIC
Ethernet / NIC

Operating System

Windows XP or Mac OS X 10.4
Windows Vista Home Premium
or Mac OS X 10.5
Windows Vista Ultimate
or Mac OS X 10.5


Download the TechZone Minimum Computer Specifications (pdf)

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