Windows 2000 vs XP
 

I just bought a new system and I was wondering what you would recommend for a new system. It will be using a core 2 duo cpu. I was wondering if 2000 is a more stable os an would use less memory? Any benefits to either one?

No; 2000 has a serious flaw in it's media handling, can only handle (forget which) 10 or 11 "sound devices" - so if you use an 8 input sound card and keep the internal one, depending on configuration you could end up with at least one "device" not working - and IIRC, windoze won't TELL you why it's not working. Major PITA if you're intending any serious sound or midi production.

XP pro or media center edition both can be controlled remotely by ANY machine using Remote Desktop, so one option is to set up your media machine in a central, isolated location and run it with a cheap laptop to keep noise down - you can even run it from a windows CE machine (PDA) thru bluetooth, so you can go into a vox booth with the PDA and run your studio from the booth with no wires.

If you want to slim down the OS, there's XP lite that will help you get rid of some of the fat of windows safely. Just google XP lite and it'll come up, think it's about $25 or so.

For video editing, 4 gigs of ram isn't excessive - you want no drives slower than 7200 RPM, and at least 3 drives including the boot drive - I wouldn't even LOOK at a machine that admits to using "shared" ram for video. Besides that, having at least two monitors and at least one firewire port would also be requirements.

Beyond that, it depends on budget and workflow, I guess... Steve