Advice

I am new to the forums and pretty much a novice when it comes to computer hardware. I know what things do, but I do not know a lot of details, so please excuse me for asking a pretty basic question.

I have narrowed my search for a new computer to two models, both of which are from manufacturers I trust for quality and tech support. I am looking to use the machine to run normal word processing, spreadsheet, and web browsing programs, as well as a lot of media stuff. I am a music educator so I will also be using notation software like Finale and drill software like Pyware 3D Java, both of which are cows and slow my current machine way down.

I am trying to see which computer will perform faster for me.

#1 has a 1.8GHz AMD64 with 1600MHz FSB and 512MB DDR memory

#2 has a 1.6GHz Intel Core Duo with 533MHz FSB and 1GB DDR2 memory

note: I could easily upgrade #1 to 1GB of DDR memory.

Any help anyone could offer would be greatly appreciated.

the AMD system will be much faster, but get it upgraded to 1GB of RAM

Whichever you choose I would definitely get atleast 1GB of ram.

I agree with them. Get the first one (AMD 64bit), and upgrade to 1GByte.

Are you talking laptop here? you will need a lot of RAM, a dual core CPU AMD/INTEL , and if you are going to render Media the best GPU(graphics) you can buy and a sound card as a music teacher!