Hello everyone!!..what's up?..Went shopping today for a computer system...I'm thinking about hooking it up to my keyboard and getting more into MIDI/Digital Audio sequencing, Composing, Downloading files from the Net, etc, etc. I'm also interested in using some music notation software to help with my composing, as well as, transcription needs.

Being fairly new to this I want to know.....what should I be looking for, as far as, the minimum system requirements, in terms of RAM, HD storage, processor speed, sound card type, etc, etc, in order to meet these needs?

The first shop I went to was a small, independently-owned, establishment called PC International, whose specialty was re-pairing, building and selling computers systems. The owner seemed to be very knowledgeable about the latest trends in computer technology, as well as answering all my naive questions. He then showed me this piece of paper that had, what appeared to be a pretty good set up for a almost-complete system for less than $1000. The setup is as follows:

AMD K7 1GB processor
256k Memory
PC 266 Motherboard/socket A
ATX Mini/Mid tower case
Western Digital 40 Gb Hard Drive
1.44MB diskette drive
16k DVD-ROM
Onboard 16MB Video
Onboard Sound Card
Onboard 56k Fax/Modem
10/100 Network card
Keyboard-Mouse-Speakers
Microsoft Windows ME O/S
AOPEN 17" SVGA Monitor

Is this a good system for a computer novice?...I realize the ram is not that much, but I figure I could always expand when needed...BTW..Has anyone ever heard of AMD?..From what I hear, their processor chips are supposed to be better (more efficient !) than the Pentium III...What about this Western Digital?? (makers of the Hard drive)

Anyway, just thought I'd get a little feedback before jumping into something I know little about..as far as AMD and Western is concerned! Looking forward to the feedback..

Later,
demitch

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Thanx,
demitch