Old computer upgrade

[charlie]

Hi all,

I recently bought Rosetta Stone for Spanish (Latin American) and loaded it on my old desk top Dell Dimension 4600. This computer has a Pentium 4 at about 2.5 Mhz, 60 gb of hard drive and only 512 mb of RAM.

The installation was very slow going but it was finally successful. However, when I started using the program it quit responding after a few minutes.

I called their tech rep and was told that my problem was not enough RAM.

I agreed and decided to increase the computer capacity to 4 gb (max). This cost about $200 and the shipment is on its way.

My question is should I consider a bigger and faster hard drive? Or, could I use a flash drive? If so, please give me some hints as to how to proceed.

Thanks and cheers,

Charlie

 

[powerplay]

I think the RAM upgrade will give you the best bang for the buck. Is the hard drive full or near full? Hopefully you checked out the max RAM your computer can use before ordering.

A couple of years ago I upgraded the RAM in both my Dell laptop and desktop. I was only able to utilize 2GB RAM in my computers so ordered that amount. It definitely made an improvement, but I am unlikely to do any further upgrades given the age of my current systems.

 

[charlie]

Thanks Powerplay,

After cleaning the hard drive I have 17 gb free space. Rosetta Stone will take almost 6 gb of that as I bought all 5 levels.

My computer has space for a 2nd hard drive. I have never tried to run programs from 2 drives before. Is it possible? If so, I could use a new drive for Rosetta Stone exclusively and keep my other stuff on the old
drive. I have also thought about using a solid state flash drive.

The computer will take 4 gb max RAM.

Cheers,

charlie

 

[TeeRuh]

4GB of RAM?

Charlie, I hate to predict bad news but I don't think you can load that much RAM into that particular computer. I believe you would need a new mother board and operating system (which I doubt you got for $200). I hope I'm wrong but I think 512 MBit is about max memory for a Dell 4600.

t.r.

 

[ziggy29]

Hmm. This product lists 512 MB as a minimum requirement. It *should* run without a RAM upgrade according to its system requirements. It may be slow but it shouldn't *stop* unless something else is up with the software or hardware. (Memory leak?)

Frankly, $200 would have gone a long way toward a new system and I don't think the one you have is worth "investing" another $200 into. You can get all new lower-end systems from Dell (for example) for $300 or less, and that is a big upgrade in processor, graphics and hard drive. I would encourage you to return the RAM, get the $200 back (minus restocking fee, even) and buy a new desktop computer, even a low-end one, for an extra $100-300 above what you just spent on the RAM. It will keep you going many more years into the future.

 

[TeeRuh]

Charlie, My mistake. Should have ran upstairs first; my old beater is a Dell 4100 (not 4600); which only holds 512 of RAM. What threw me off was your clock speed. (You have GHz, not Mhz speed!) A quick look says you should easily use 2Gb of memory, but you have to upgrade the operating system to actually use 4Gb. By the way I agree that a memory upgrade is always the best bang for the buck.

t.r.

 

[Leonidas]

He probably will be able to support 4 gig of RAM depending on the motherboard and chipset. Most P4 systems will support that much RAM unless it's really old or really cheap. He could have spent a little more money and solved both of his problems at once, and gotten Windows 7 64bit to boot. This would not necessarily be what I would chose, but it does give you an idea what is available for the money. eMachines - Desktop with Intel® Celeron® Processor - ET1831-05

If I were going to buy a solid state HD, given current prices I would probably just buy one big enough to run the OS from and even then it would have to be on sale. But you've got not quite an antique, but certainly a classic, so I would save that purchase for my next computer build. Internal SATA drives are so cheap right now that I would just buy one of those. Decent 1TB disks are less than $100 everyday prices.

 

[powerplay]

My desktop is a Dimension 4500 and I just checked it and the max RAM is 1GB, while my laptop is an Inspiron 8600 with max RAM of 2 GB. My technology is aging (and so am I)!

You could add an additional HD and put Rosetta Stone on it. I added a second HD to mine when it was new along with a CD/RW and a few other upgrades because they were cheaper than ordering those features from Dell. One of the external portable hard drives might be a good way to go as the device could be used on any system.

Looking at a new system would be a good exercise also. About 5 months ago my laptop would not turn on. I decided it could be the power supply and/or who knows what else. For me it was old enough that I wouldn't spend any $$ on getting it fixed. I looked at the Sunday ads and went out and bought a new laptop with Windows 7 for about $325. It is nice and of course does more faster than the older laptop. A couple weeks later I was poking around with the old laptop and noticed a glimmer in the power light so thought it was worth a Google search. Well it turned up a known defect on this model and was a 5 minute fix with instructions. So I have my old laptop back functioning again due to a power cable that gets unplugged easily.

How do you like the Rosetta Stone software??

 

[charlie]

My user manual says the computer will hold 4 gb in 1 gb sticks and the illustration shows 4 slots so I guess I am ok on that score.

I like the idea of a removable hard drive. This allow me to transfer it to my daughter for her kids when I am finished.

Are there any potential problems like software copy protection that I need to be aware of?

Cheers,

charlie

 

[powerplay]

I like the idea of a removable hard drive. This allow me to transfer it to my daughter for her kids when I am finished.

Are there any potential problems like software copy protection that I need to be aware of?

Cheers,

charlie

I'm sorry I don't know the answer to that question. Usually a software license allows it to be used on only one machine at a time. Hopefully someone else will see this thread and have some input for you.

 

[ziggy29]

I'm sorry I don't know the answer to that question. Usually a software license allows it to be used on only one machine at a time. Hopefully someone else will see this thread and have some input for you.

I found this:

http://www.rosettastone.com/us_assets/eulas/eula-global-eng.pdf

6. TRANSFER: Licensee may not, and may not permit others to, directly or indirectly sell, rent, lease, loan, timeshare, or sublicense the Rosetta Stone Product. The transmission of Licensee’s user name, password or Activation ID to allow any person (other than Licensee or a member of Licensee’s Household) to use Rosetta Stone Product is expressly forbidden and failure to comply with this prohibition may result is the suspension or termination of the right to continue to use the Rosetta Stone Product or receive support.

I am not a lawyer, but is sounds like you can let members of your household use your password to access the software. If OP's daughter is not in the same household, this violates the licensing agreement. Also I think you can only activate it on one machine. This means if you are a parent of minor children, you can install it on ONE machine in your home and you and your kids who live in the same home can all use it with the same shared user ID.

That's how I read it -- again, IANAL.

 

[Texas Proud]

You can get a USB hard drive for less than $100 at Staples etc... I got a 500GB one... just have not connected it to any computer yet... it is less than a week old

 

[charlie]

I received the 4 gb RAM set in the middle of this conversation and installed it with only minor difficulty. You really have to push hard to fully seat the memory cards.

After installation, Rosetta Stone was very quick so I have decided to defer installing a dedicated hard drive for now.

Thanks for your responses and ..... Cheers,

charlie

 

[Lazarus]

My user manual says the computer will hold 4 gb in 1 gb sticks and the illustration shows 4 slots so I guess I am ok on that score.

I like the idea of a removable hard drive. This allow me to transfer it to my daughter for her kids when I am finished.

Are there any potential problems like software copy protection that I need to be aware of?

Cheers,

charlie

Not sure what you mean "transfer it to my daughter". You cannot install this program on a removable drive and then just plug it in another computer and have it run. Your operating system is on the main drive and the program is registered with the OS during install. The program would have to be reinstalled if put on another computer in any case.

 

[kcowan]

So how do you like Rosetta Stone? What other ways have you tried to learn the language, if any?

 

[travelover]

So how do you like Rosetta Stone? What other ways have you tried to learn the language, if any?

I wonder the same thing. I'm a hardworking farm boy who would like to meet an Italian supermodel.