Expert: Bobbert - 7/8/2008

Question
Hi, I'd appreciate your advice, thanks very much!

I currently own a laptop (2 MB RAM, 2 Gigahertz speed) but I need something more robust. I need to open some Autocad files, open many Word and powerpoint files, open some photos and work in GIS (like ArcView) at the same time.
I was thinking on a Dell Desktop, but I'm not sure which configuration would be better: Core 2 Duo, core 2 quad, core 2 Extreme (I read that quad was not so fast, but even slower and expensive), should I bought a cheap workstation or an expensive desktop or a game machine (good for graphic works?).
Thank you!

Answer
Core 2 Quad will very likely accel at what you're putting to the computer, much better than Core 2 Duo would (as Quad offers more cores, and more processing power, Core 2 Duo just tends to clock higher so it performs better in games).

Honestly for your workload, I'd look at Dell's Small Business workstations, in the Precision series, or Lenovo's ThinkStation series, and buy enough cores and enough RAM to satiate AutoCAD and ArcView, and enough rendering power to satiate your time demands (basically, low end Quadro FX cards will render the same objects as high end Quadro FX cards, just slower (this is generally speaking, older generations won't have as many features as newer generations)).

-bob