I emailed Frank about helping me get a good computer. That was yesterday. Today I have a brand new computer with everything, including a new monitor. The only thing I have to buy now is Studio 8 editing software (and a PV-DV953). I was amazed at the price and quality of what I got. Thank you Frank! The moderators really are the best here.

AMD Athlon @ XP-2100 CPU
Gigabyte GA-7VTXE DDR Motherboard
512mb Micron DDR RAM
40.0 GB Master 7200RPM HDD
1.44 Floppy
16X10X40X CDRW Drive
16X DVD-Rom Drive
32mb Matrix G400 AGP Video card
56K US Robotics Fax/Modem/Sound
Microsoft 101 Keyboard/PS2 Mouse (with light)
Labtec Speakers
Philips 107 T4 17" Monitor
High speed Internet card
Software
I think that is everything. The computer case is really nice.
It costed me $1400 in total, which included the 14.5 % tax. In USA Dollars it would be about $850.

I really really hate having new boot under my name!

I'm glad you're happy. If I had the cash on hand, I would have bought for myself!

I'm sure Frank mentioned this to you but just in case he didn't, you might want to add a second hard drive, preferably as big as you can afford, as your video drive. To get the best performance out of that great machine, it's best to keep the operating system/programs seperate from your videos.

Hi, Karen.

Congrats on getting your computer & your vidcam!

You may want to remember to keep your Athlon as cool as possible, with good ventilation as well. They tend to fry easily otherwise.

"I really really hate having new boot under my name!" - well, you're new, and your titles get better as you earn them by posting more. Hopefully good posts... ;)

Alex thank you. My computer has a loud fan. It sounds like a vacuum cleaner! No kidding.

You seem like the expert around here Steven. I've been reading your posts for 2 months or more. I will be buying a PV-DV953 like within a few days. I have to order it from B&H and have it sent to my brother's house in North Carolina. I'm leaving in one week for a 3 week visit. Within a few days of getting there, I should have my new camcorder! I never owned one before. I was always a camera person.

Keep up the great posts!

Yup. Steven is the MX expert around here. Terrence is another great source for info, but he's been very busy these days and hasn't been able to drop in for a while. There's also, AngryofMayfair---another experienced MX poster---then there's Yow Cheong Hoe. Did I miss anyone? (I don't count....)

For convenience, call me YowCH.

I'm just busy bashing the MX500 these days... (just joking).

The MX500 is a great cam, I have recommended it to many people and they were all happy enough with it (about 6 people bought the MX500 from my direct recommendations). But I'm still trying to convince Frank that it is not too much a greatness to change from his MX300 to the MX500! :)

Well, as long as I can't afford the PV-DV953 (MX5000), yet, I'll just hang on to my MX300!