Help my father get a computer

[goldenfooler]

My dads screen on his laptop just died.
He is looking for a desktop and wants to know power specs to look at.
He needs if for Word, Excel, Power point and does pictures of grandkids ect.
Only other thing he is worried about is backing up the system

I am thinking 4 gb ram that can be upgrade to 8gb.
Here is the questions.
Should he go for a dual core or would the quad be that much better for him?

How much space and should it be a Raid system for his memory or what other system should he use?

Thanks for your input.
He will be looking at buying at microcenter since it is close by. If you can pull something from the website that fits that would be better.

[Dead...Again]

FOr that type system you'd probably be better off just buying a complete system. If you find a sale you might find something around $300. I would just look for the cheapest thing you can find; anything on the market today will do what he needs.

Example:
CQ2701 Desktop Computer

EDIT: Over the last few years I have gotten cheap Compaqs for my dad and my mother-in-law and both work great for what they do. There's no way you can game on them, but they are fine for regular stuff most people do.

[goldenfooler]

Sorry I meant I wanted a complete system(he won't do any gaming, but he will do alot of pictures). Nothing special built.
He might do some graphic work and uses the computer around 5 hrs a day for different speechs/classes/work.

Just not sure if dual or quad core to recommand to him.

What about storage? He really wants to have a backup system.

[Dead...Again]

For backup, get him an external HDD and use Windows Backup. It is easy to use.

Is he going to be doing any video transcoding or anything like that?

[Qicmee]

External Storage

A few months ago, I recommended this for my sister:
Seagate - FreeAgent GoFlex Desk 2TB External USB 2.0/3.0 Hard Drive - Black
- these are sometimes on sale
- at Amazon today, the 3TB is only $30 more than the 2TB

The new PC should have USB 3 (nice if interacting with the external drive)

Encourage him to publish his best pictures to Google web albums or some other photo sharing site. Besides sharing, this gives him an extra backup for the most valuable photos.

He's right to worry. Hard drives die, sometimes right away.

[Dead...Again]

External Storage

A few months ago, I recommended this for my sister:
Seagate - FreeAgent GoFlex Desk 2TB External USB 2.0/3.0 Hard Drive - Black
- these are sometimes on sale
- at Amazon today, the 3TB is only $30 more than the 2TB

The new PC should have USB 3 (nice if interacting with the external drive)

Encourage him to publish his best pictures to Google web albums or some other photo sharing site. Besides sharing, this gives him an extra backup for the most valuable photos.

He's right to worry. Hard drives die, sometimes right away.

True true. Thats why I started using Carbonite...

[goldenfooler]

he has way to many pictures for google. We are talking about 400 gb most likely

[MR_MADHATTER]

IF all he is going to do is Word, Exel and Pictures...power is not a big concern. Get a simple HP, Gateway or Dell with a TB hard drive and a nice 23" monitor. TA-DA! You should come in around $400.
Check with Fry's, Best Buy, or anonline store like New Egg. A cheap back-up is using an external USB Drive. I have hundreds of high res pics but they really don't take up much space.

[Qicmee]

Storage again -

After he has one external drive to guard against drive failure, he can decide if he wants to guard against an unlikely house problem (water damage, electrical surge, fire, etc.) by backing up to a 2nd drive once per month and handing it to you for safe storage.

By the way, Google charges about $100/yr for 400 GB. An off-site, external hard drive "sneaker backup" is much cheaper per GB.

[Apache Warrior]

One of my backups is a 2TB USB3 hard drive. It is fast and works great.
Apache

[Dead...Again]

By the way, Google charges about $100/yr for 400 GB. An off-site, external hard drive "sneaker backup" is much cheaper per GB.

Carbonite is much cheaper. It is $59/yr unlimited storage. It also adds a little dot in the corner of the icons for files to let you know if it has been backed up. My only complaint is that the upload speed is really slow.