I have DS installed on my computer that is in the living room and my sewing room is upstairs. I would like to install DS on my laptop, which is fairly old (ok, really old!) It is running Win 95 with 16 mg ram and a 1.6 gig hard drive. Runs fine for what I use it for, traveling and being able to get online. Only it has to stay plugged in as the battery is no good anymore. Can this laptop handle DS? Sure would like to have access to DS in my sewing room.
Thanks!

Ill leave the techie answer to Bob.
But this is a very intense graphic program..I doubt very much that this will work for you.
Kaaren

<< I have DS installed on my computer that is in the living room and my sewing room is upstairs. I would like to install DS on my laptop, which is fairly old (ok, really old!) It is running Win 95 with 16 mg ram and a 1.6 gig hard drive. Runs fine for what I use it for, traveling and being able to get online. Only it has to stay plugged in as the battery is no good anymore. Can this laptop handle DS? Sure would like to have access to DS in my sewing room. >>

I'm afraid not. Dress Shop requires more RAM than that for the large pattern images that it produces. And, it will not work with Win95, either.

Sorry....

- Bob Clardy

Thanks Bob and Kaaren,
That is what I thought but wanted to be 100% sure. Ahhh well...

If you were to buy a new computer, how much ram should one get on it to have DS run smoothly?

Want to buy new one soon!
Linda Flint

The livingsoftnw web site will give you the specs that are needed to run the program.

My recommendation is to get all the RAM you can afford. It will make everything run faster and smoother.

Carolyn

Went to the site and they do not specify RAM, first place I looked.
Linda Flint
Still wondering just how must RAM would that be.

Linda,
I have 192 MB of RAM and it is not enough, DS runs slow. I need to upgrade to at least 500 something, preferably more RAM to get it to work better.
HTH

I wouldn't buy less than 1 gig now a days. You will never be sorry for more... will be very sorry for too little.

Is more RAM more important than the type of processor?? IOW, could I get a Chevy processor rather than a Lexus processor and put my extra $$$$ into RAM??

No Get the best processor and the most RAM that you can afford.
No less than 1 gig RAM and I only use pentimun processors. Min. pent4 processor.

quote:

Originally posted by Arizona Kathy:
Is more RAM more important than the type of processor?? IOW, could I get a Chevy processor rather than a Lexus processor and put my extra $$$$ into RAM??

Hmmmm, Kathy are we talking cars or computers?
I would like a lexus But I drive a Honda.
What do you mean by processors?
Linda

I am no hardware expert but this is what I look at when buying a PC.
Computer specs consist of the following:

Processor : how fast the computer is
examples : Intel Celeron (1.3 GHz) / Intel Pentium 4 (1.8 GHz) / Intel Pentium 4 (2.4 GHz) /
Laptops: Pentium M (1.6 GHz) (Centrino technology)

Operating system : basic software to make the computer run.
examples: Windows 98 / Win ME / Win XP home / Win XP Pro

RAM / Memory : how much working memory the computer has. Think of it as desk space - the bigger your desk, the more file binders you can have open at once and the more you can multi-task. If you have a small desk you have to swap some file binders back to the shelf while you open a new one so that takes time and is slower. When your computer is turned off RAM is cleared (all binders returned to the shelf)
examples: 128 Mb / 256 Mb/ 512 Mb/ 1 Gb

Hard drive size : how much space the computer has to permanently store programs and files. Dress Shop only needs a measly 80Mb ( 1000Mb = 1Gb)
examples: 40 Gb / 80 Gb

Video card RAM : the video card displays the program, for video intensive programs like games you need RAM on the video card so it can change the picture quickly and frequently without interupting the computer RAM.
examples 32Mb / 64 Mb / 128Mb

My current computer (18 mos old) is Pentium 4 (2.4 GHz) ; XP Pro ; 512 Mb RAM ; 120 Gb Hard drive ; Raedon video card with 128 Mb RAM
My newly acquired refurbished laptop (2 or 3 yo) is Pentium 4 Mobile (1.6Ghz) ; XP Pro ; 512 Mb RAM ; 30 Gb Hard drive ; Mobility video card with 32 Mb RAM

A computer needs to have all these things balanced. No good having a really fast processor but very little RAM. Some time ago users reported a big improvement in Dress Shop performance when they upgraded their graphics card and nothing else because Dress Shop is a graphics intensive program (similar to gaming) so bear that in mind.

If you're buying a new computer get the fastest, biggest specs you can afford. If you're running on an older machine I believe a combination of the minimums I mentioned here "should" work but I have no evidence to back this up

quote:

Originally posted by djlott:
I have 192 MB of RAM and it is not enough, DS runs slow. I need to upgrade to at least 500 something, preferably more RAM to get it to work better.

I believe Diana that her program is slow, but it may be the processor or video card also to blame, not just the RAM. In which case upgrading her RAM only may not improve performance a huge amount.

HTH everyone. PS If you want to find out more about specs go to http://www.dell.com pick a computer and read about the hardware specs. They have great online help for each of the items I mentioned and is easy to understand.