Thank you for being a valued part of the CNET community. As of December 1, 2020, the forums are in read-only format. In early 2021, CNET Forums will no longer be available. We are grateful for the participation and advice you have provided to one another over the years.

Thanks,

CNET Support

General discussion

Computer Purchase & Broadband

Dec 3, 2004 7:58AM PST

I've been an old dial-up internet user for the past 6 years and a new high speed satellite service is coming to my area soon. In buying a new computer what should I be looking for to compliment this high-speed service? Upload speeds are supposed to be 256kbps with downloads of 512kbps (faster speeds are available but a little out of my price range)
Processors to choose from are the Celeron D 320 (2.40GHz, 256k L2 Cache) or the Pentium 4 (2.80GHz 1MH L2 Cache)
How about memory? I like to have a couple programs running at all times that get live news feeds besides having 2 or 3 other windows in use. Is 512MB enough? Would dual channel help?
Hard Drive....thinking of 80GB but don't understand if SATA hard drive would be better.
Open to all suggestions...thanks

Discussion is locked