Couple of PC related Questions

[Adam]

Hey, I'm on the verge of ordering a beast from Dell, but I'm unsure of a few things right now so if anyone could help me out it'd be much appreciated

1. I mainly use a headset to play my games so I'm wondering, if I buy an audigy 2 sound card will I notice a great leap in sound quality through the headphones as apposed to the default sound card?

2. These are the current Optical Drive upgrades available:

48x DVD/CD-Rewriter Combo Drive (as standard)
4x DVD+R\+RW with DVD Authoring Software
4x DVD+R\+RW & 48x CD-Rom
4x DVD+R\+RW & 16x DVD
4x DVD+R\+RW with DVD Authoring Software

Where it says 'DVD+R' I know it can record DVD-Rs but can it also do ordinary CDs? I want to be able to read and write both CD and DVD's, which would I choose?

Cheers

Adam

[Super Stu]

Aye, I think it was only 1st gen model drives which didn't have CD burning capabilities, I'd say it's almost a certainty that the drive listed will also burn CDs.

re: Audigy, I suspect it'll depend on a) how good your hearing is and b) how good your headphones are. The audigy has (apparently) considerably better signal/noise and so should presumably give a sharper sound quality, but I suspect my duff ears couldn't tell the difference

[Ish]

On a similar topic to point 2. Whats the important thing to look for when buying a DVD burner? I know there were two formats out and about - are there still?

[Adam]

Cheers Stu! If they can all burn ordinary CD's then that's just lovely. Hopefully I'll notice the difference with the sound card too 8)

I noticed you are Ranger now on swg, nice one! I got to master scout but haven't got round to starting creature handler yet poxy scout exp...

[Magnakai]

Oh, DEFINITELY upgrade to the Audigy. I had a Live 2(or whatever it was called) and that's probably better than your default Dabs card. Then I got an Audigy 1, and the difference through my ?30 speakers was immense. I've heard that the Audigy 2 sounds way better than the Audigy, so that's even better.

[eghamninja]

On a similar topic to point 2. Whats the important thing to look for when buying a DVD burner? I know there were two formats out and about - are there still?

Get a Pioneer DVR-106 it writes every format under the sun and you can pick them up from around ?140 (thats what I did today )

[Adam]

Looks like I'll be getting an Audigy 2 then 8)

Another question, what's the difference between Windows XP and Windows XP Pro? I want pro but it's gonna cost me an extra ?50 for that so if there's not much difference I think I'd rather save the money and put torwards a decent burner.

Thanks again

[Ciaran]

I think the main difference is that Pro has more networking features.

[H-Man]

Not sure if u'll notice the difference when using headphones (persoanlly i'd rather spend the money a a decent pair with a mic)

Coudn't go back to using speakers again - headphones all the way

[Adam]

Cheers fellers (again)

[mid]

I think the main difference is that Pro has more networking features.

Indeed. The one big difference is that Home will only regard itself as part of a Workgroup, not a Domain.