I am thinking I don’t like the docking station idea because of desk space needs. Also, I don’t need gaming capabilities.
So, can someone point to which of these might be a the best deal?
… or
Thanks again for your help. I feel better about not having to spend $1000 to get a decent machine.
Can you give us a bit more information about your needs? What programs do you use for work? How about for fun? What programs would you like to use if your computer could run 'em?
No worries. You can send us the change 
I’ll just run down most of what’s on my desktop now. This probably covers about 98% of my typical computer functions:
WORK
I do legal work, so…
Outlook: Email, caledar, contacts, etc.
Word: Legal briefs, letters, and similar docs
Excel: Simple spreadsheets for timelines, calculations of damages, lists, nothing too elaborate
Timeslips: Billing
LawDesk: Reads CDs with legal research tools on it (small & simple)
Quicken: Bookkeeping
Stamps.com: Postage software
Adobe Reader
FUN
Adobe Photoshop/Album: Mostly for storage of photos, not really into photo maniulation or editing - Recreational photos, not professional
Most other fun stuff I can find online - SDMB & other fun websites, simple free internet games - and I mean simple as in Pacman not huge intense games
OTHER
Wifi network
Ad-Aware
Spybot
APC Powerchute (battery backup)
Norton Internet Security (which I plan on dumping in favor of better stuff I understand is out there)
HP all-in-one printer drivers
LogMeIn (Remote Desktop Access)
POTENTIAL
Bluetooth cell phone/email/PDA thingy
More elaborate legal calendaring and/or billing software
To be perfectly honest, you should be able to do all of that stuff with the computer you already have.
None of that stuff (except Photoshop) uses much memory at all. If your PC is running slowly, it’s more than likely because of something you don’t know you have (malware, HD fragmentation, driver conflicts, etc.) than something you do know you have.
I checked the system requirements for Lawdesk and they’re minimal; really, I don’t know what could possibly be slowing down your computer other than running everything you listed at once.
I often must run Outlook, Internet, Word, Excel, Timeslips, Adobe Reader, Stamps.com, and LawDesk simultaneously. I often must flip between all of these things all day long to do the job. After a couple of hours of that, everything starts to bog down.
Then take the IBM. The Dells seem a bit overpriced in comparison.
Thanks for the input!
You think the IBM should be able to handle running the simultaneous applications all day? Depending on how busy things get, sometimes I can go about an hour before things really slow down and then it takes a long time just to open a Word doc, for example. It really affects productivity.
It’s faster than my home computer or work computer, both of which can do what you describe without really breaking a sweat.
Unless you’ve got, say, a dozen really big files loading all at once, but that’s more a function of HD speed than memory AFAIK.
That had drive at 40GB seems painfully small. You’ll probably have to plan a few bucks for a larger one pretty soon (or possibly move the one from your current machine as a secondary).
Without games/music/videos 40GB is an awful lot.
Am I correct in noticing these machines do not come with MS Office?
On the IBM…
I’m currently using the applications that came with my Dell back in 2000 (e.g., Word 2000).
My software was corrupted when I tried to upgrade to Office 2007 trial version because my wife needed Powerpoint in a hurry. I had to uninstall it. Now, Outlook, Word, and Excel have problems.
I am afraid if I try to move applications from the old machine to the new, I will just carry over the corruptions. Otherwise, if I want Word, etc., I will have to buy it?
Office Standard 2007 = $399.95 / upgrade $239.95
ACK!
My current HD is 37.2 total with 12.9 free.
You could just switch to OpenOffice. It’s free, and more-or-less perfectly compatible with Word documents.
Here’s MS Office 2007 Standard - Teacher for $153.88.
My wife’s a teacher and she’ll be using it, too.