Buying a new PC - advice please.

[jillruss]

Thanks,all.

Gragareth - good to know you can obviously mix and match!

 Falkyrn - must admit, I was a bit worried about the battery question re wire-less mice. I can see me forgetting to stock up on them and being cut off in the middle of something important!!

I'm still thinking of questions which are probably elementary to the initiated (which I'm not - obviously!!  ).

1. If I buy a package which comes with a wireless keyboard and mouse - would I be able to use my old wired keyboard and mouse with it instead?

2. This is possibly my daftest question so far but... if I have saved documents from my current PC which runs Windows ME onto a memory stick, will there be any problem opening these documents on my new PC which will run Windows Vista (I think Home Premium seems to be the obvious one to go for).

I've been going through all my old saved emails re Family History and saving them into My Documents. I also have lots of Word Docs and a few JPEG images and DjVu files (mainly census pages)?


3. If it says it has a DVD Rewriter, I'm assuming it has a DVD drive, but will that also take my CDs? I have amassed a lot of parish record CDs from different FHSs.

I think I'd better stop there for now!!  

This help is invaluable to me!!

Jill

[downside]

1) Yes.
2) This is more complicated.  You can't transfer programs, so if you have Word on your old PC then how are you going to migrate it to you new PC?  If you do not have the MS Word program on an installation CD then you could always download Open Office free of charge and that can open Word documents.  I don't know what email client you have been using on Windows ME but if it was an old version of Outlook Express then you should be able to open them on your new PC with Windows Live Mail (Outlook Express replacement program).
3) Yes.  A DVD player can play and record CDs as well as DVDs.

[jillruss]

Thanks, Downside.

Just to clarify question 2. I wasn't looking to transfer the Word programme - just the Word Documents I have created using that programme i.e. will they open ok in Windows Vista?

Does Vista not include a Word prog?

Yes, I've been using Outlook Express for my emails and have noticed that it has been updated to Live Mail.

Jill

[RJ_Paton]

Does Vista not include a Word prog?

Word is part of the Microsoft Office Suite but was previously also released as part of MS Works but this is no longer the case.
Open Office is possibly your best bet although document readers can be downloaded from Microsoft

Yes, I've been using Outlook Express for my emails and have noticed that it has been updated to Live Mail.

Live Mail is an update version of express and should work fine but you may wish to consider alternatives e.g. Thunderbird which as a free email client program

[O1dgobbo]

Hi

Have you considered a laptop at all?  We recently replaced a desktop PC with a largeish laptop for not much more than the price of a desktop.  It has a graphics card, speakers, camera all built in and performs at least as well as its predecessor.  The big advantage is the fairly compact occupation of desk space - much more room to scatter documents about.  And if you do have to move it it's just one piece of portable kit rather than several bits and all those connecting wires.  And you could take it with you to the record offices.

Good luck

Gobbo

[Dancing Master]

I cannot type on a laptop keyboard,  they are horrible for a proper typist to work on.

Sons both have laptops to take out with them doing the family research, but  one of them is a one finger typist so not a problem to him.   and I don't see the point of having to connect a proper keyboard and proper mouse as extras .

I'll stick with a proper multi media keyboard.

[jillruss]

I've tried a laptop before but didn't particularly like it - much prefer a proper desktop PC - each to their own!

That's a bit of a blow re Word not being part of Vista - I
always thought it was part of my Windows ME. A bit useless, really, not having a basic 'typing documents' prog!!

You say that I can download this Open Office free of charge and it will open Word docs, but what will I use to actually create Word docs with the new PC? Very odd!!

Jill

[wood.mjm]

   My twelve month old Mesh desktop has 'Works' which includes word processor,  database and spreadsheet and is part of Vista Premium.
Laptops are great if you must have portability but like others in the group I like a 'proper' keyboard and mouse. I can touch type (sort of) and a real keyboard is better for that. My old Mesh had 'Word' and I've had no worries reading old documents on my new machine.

Woody.

[jillruss]

That sounds okay then, Woody.

I've just remembered that my Word prog on my current PC was downloaded from a Works package which I bought when I got my PC. So, if that's included in Vista Premium, I should be okay.

If not, I wonder if it would work downloading a 7 year old Microsoft Works package onto a new PC with Vista Premium?  I'm sure I still have it - in a cupboard...somewhere!! 

Jill