I know what I would do.. put more memory and add a super large drive in the old computer and buy a vista laptop with a dual processor and 3 or 4 gb memory in it. Webcam is nice if you use one now.

Then you just need a wireless router to network the laptop and desktop and share files and hard drives and printers.

Simple no brainer for my likes. Keep in mind that at $499 laptop isnt going to have a long battery life so your ac adapter is going to be in use probably full time.

As Mikie said, if you get a larger drive and more memory, you may be able to keep your current laptop.

If you decide to replace it, the first option you listed looks to me like it has more bang for the buck (more ram, larger hard drive, larger screen, lower price).

I would also start burning pictures that you save on your old harddrive before it dies and you lose them all.
Just keep this in mind for future reference, laptops are mostly only ugradeable with memory and newer harddrives where most desktops have the ability to upgrade, harddrives, memory, processors, video cards and sound cards.
Also, keep in mind, that if you choose to use your laptop on your lap or other soft surface, you may be restricting airflow from the vents/fans on the bottom of the laptop. You should think of having something like a kitchen cutting board handy to put it on.
Go to a big box store in your area (Bestbuy or something like that) explain to the person you are looking for a
wireless router. Check and see what type of wireless card comes with the Dell laptop (g or n) and let this person know. You should be able to pick something good up for about $60.
When picking out the Intel processor, you want a Core 2 Duo processor and the higher the number you can afford ie T6400 would be better

If you are going to upgrade the old confuser as suggested above check to se how many ueeless startup items are slowing you down. Stop things like Adobe Reader, Quicktime, any HP printers items and any digital camera items for starters. None of these needs to be running in the background consuming your resources and they will all work perfectly well when you need them.

lots of good advice and suggestions right off the bat..thank you!! So if i add memory and hard drive to my current computer...how do i do that? Just go to best buy and buy it? is it like a cd or disk or something?(sorry i am not very knowledgable in this stuff) and to speed my computer up... where do i go to get those things to stop running in the background... i have ALOT of them right now..including zone alarm which shuts my internet off alot, but don;t dare get rid of it...

What does having a higher number processor do? Does it speed it up and allow for more multi-taksing? Both the dells i am looking at allow for choosing several different processors, increased hard drive and memory.. how much memory and hard drive would be sufficient to be able to have quite a large amount of items stored and still be fast? I have thousands of pics probably but only a hundred songs or so..

oh yeah..and the 479 laptop has options of buying a longer battery life battery... will this help or does the fact that it is a $479 laptop still mean it will have to be plugged in most of the time?

And also a suggestion about how you manage your computer in the future. How did you fill up your 80GB hard drive? I've had an 80GB hard drive for the last 7 years and never filled more than 20 GB. That's because I always assume one day that my hard drive will fail, so I store pictures, movies, and music on a separate, USB hard drive, and make a backup copy on a CD or DVD.

As for the longer battery life, if you're planning on hauling your computer around a lot and won't always have a place to plug it in, then get a longer-life battery. If you intend to use it at home and near a receptacle most of the time, save your money...the battery has nothing to do with the speed or efficiency of the computer.

Lastly, it sounds like it would be helpful if you got yourself a good, basic computer book like "PCs for Dummies," or "Absolute Beginner's Guide to Computer Basics" (don't be insulted, that's how I started to figure out this stuff!). If you have a better understanding of computers, you will be able to keep yours running efficiently, not have it get bogged down over time with no idea how to clean it up, prevent stuff from running in the background that you don't need, etc.

Unless its a really good deal I doubt its a very long battery life unless that optional long life battery is something special. At my home, a trip outside and that 2.5 hr battery seems used up awfully fast.

Multi core processors allow multitasking things sooo nice. Dual Core,, once you have one,, you'll not ever want a single processor computer again. A quad core might be nice in a desktop but its doubtful most people really need one or actually use them all ever at the same time for any serious processing.

Vista needs 3 or 4 Gb of memory to be truely happy with lots of browser tabs open and some other things going on here.

Faster processors are nice for working with photo processing programs,, or other intesive processing programs but I dont use any of those anymore excpt occasionally here - if you do use a lot of photo processing programs,, thats about the only consideration for speedier processors with your needs it sounds like.

Go and do a google search for "adding desktop memory" and another for "replacing desktop hard drive" There should be all kinds of instructions for that and maybe even a video.
For memory questions as to the max your desktop will take etc and how much, go to Crucial.com and either let it scan your computer or use the drop downs to put in your computer info. If you have room for at least 1.5GB of memory, I would suggest you do that (plenty for XP)

I am now coming more frequently in contact with users who purchased laptops because "they thought they needed one" and are finding out they regret it; albeit for no need, lack of durability, limited upgrading capabilities, heat concerns, annoying keyboard configuration, just to name a few reasons.

If you want a laptop then please get one. If you need portability than please get one. If there is no personal demand for a laptop please give second thoughts to a desktop.

I myself have a laptop that I rarely use. A computer is not an umbilical of my life existence, and I just don't like laptops, particularly entry level.

My daughter has a laptop and it just sits on their kitchen table while their desktop sits not far away in another room. My son has a laptop, and it sits in its docking station in his home-office adjacent to his desktop that he mostly uses.

DA

get and install this free tool it will allow you to scan the pc and it will give you all the specs on your pc including how much memory it has and how much you can put in it and what kind.
If you have very limited pc knowledge then you would probably be better off having someone install a new hard drive for you, usually this is not very expensive and you can also have them clone your current drive and put it on the new hard drive so all you "stuff" is right there on the new drive including the operating system. You could buy your hard drive from online at a place like newegg and probably get it much cheaper then just hire out the labor to do the install. Putting in more memory is quite easy and with some pictures and instructions most people can do that them self. However you could get that hired out too, I would buy the RAM online too, I get mine at newegg for a very decent price

Here is the belarc tool
Belarc's

I have found a small local pc repair and build shop near me and they have great prices for the type things we are talking about, look around your area for someone like that.

I agree I would definitely burn off all the pictures on to cd or dvd or flash drive and clean out some of the clutter on your old pc.

I agree about the laptop. I have one and hardly use it. So much more comfortable on a desktop, plus I have my printer hooked up all the time and can print something. I'll use the laptop on the kitchen table, see something (receipe) I want and have to go on the desktop to print it. I hate the laptop keyboard and touchpad. So I use a wireless mouse and wireless keyboard on the laptop.

It looks like adding memory and new harddrive to an old computer can cost you almost what a new one would cost. You would probably hire someone to do it (I would). I say, get the new machine, skip the 64 bit as I hear there are problems with it. My opinion, get XP and 3gigs memory and a large hard drive. You'll enjoy it. You can keep the old one as a spare.

Jane

My suggestions:

1. Install a bigger hard drive.
Partition the drive into 2 logical drives: one for the operating system and major applications; the second partition for data, games, email, etc.

2. Add memory - a total of a gigabyte or more. For WinXP, 2 gig is good.

3. Stick with Windows XP service pack 3, and wait for Windows 7. However, since you already have Vista installed on your present computer, it is a big hassle to go back to XP, so leave the present system alone. Specify XP if you purchase a new machine.

Vista users will be able to upgrade to windows 7, don't know the details though.

I agree right now if you can keep your old pc working for you and wait till windows 7 comes out you will be avoiding having to purchase any upgrades. It will be out in about a year.

If you have any friends that have pc knowledge likely they could easily help you install a new hard drive and some RAM, these are things I do myself but my first time I was pretty anxious.

I also agree that the desktop is generally the best option unless you travel a lot and would need a laptop for that.
My sister just asked me the same question and I talked her into a desktop pretty quickly, if you have not used a laptop try asking a friend with one to let you try it out for an hour or so, feel how the keyboard feels, see how you like the touch pad instead of a mouse, etc. If you have any problems seeing also consider the smaller screen of a laptop. I have pretty severe hand problems so using a smaller keyboard would be very difficult.
Sitting in a chair with the laptop on your lap would require some type of laptop desk so you do not block the air flow.
As stated updating and replacing parts in a laptop is much more difficult.

One thing you could definitely do also rather than install a new hard drive in your pc is buy a stand alone usb backup hard drive and move all your thousands of pictures and music and other files and data to that hard drive and free up your hard drive in the pc, if you did that and got rid of any old programs you no longer need, clean out any junk files and folders, empty the recycle bin, defrag the hard drive you may find you have plenty of room on that 80Gig hard drive. I have been seeing some incredible prices lately on usb hard drives so you could easily find a nice size one for around $50, and you could use that stand alone hard drive with any new computer you buy in the future. Plus no one would have to install it for you, you just plug it into your usb port and then you can access it from your pc just like your other hard drive.
Add some RAM to what ever belarc says is your limit for that pc or at least 2 gig and I bet you would be surprised. RAM is cheap. I just bought a 1gig stick for one of my computers and it was less than $20 shipped.
If your current pc is a desktop I would also highly suggest turning it off unplug it and open the side panel up and clean out all the dust bunnies, that can really affect the performance of a pc.
Cleaning the computer and its components

ecost has some very good prices right now this search is for under $50 units but it gives you some ideas.

well now you have lots of options and ways to go and up to you to make that big decision.

Here is a link that might be useful: usb hard drives

wow lots ot think about here..thanks for the continued suggestions. I do not currently have vista on my computer..just xp..so maybe i would be better waiting till the 7 comes out soon? I guess what i really should be doing by the way it sounds is just cleaning out my photos..that would be buy me huge amounts of space i am sure... it would be ok to just upload them all into photobucket or something like that and then delete them off my hard drive? or do they need to be on my hard drive still to work on photobucket? I have looked into the portable hard drives, but i hear of so many people having them crash or not work, or losing them, and i am so afraid of losing my photos on there...
I have done the disk cleanup and defrag etc..but it cannot even defrag for me..it tells me i do not have enough space to do it efficiently.
I have had a laptop for a couple of years in the past wheni was a college student, and i like it although i prefer a pc. i think it is so easy to drop a laptop or spill drinks on it, but in our house we are always fighting over the computer and we don't really have room to have 2 desktops set up, but thought it would be nice to have a wireless to bring with on vacation since i am so lost without a computer...i do worry about security issues with a wireless though...
Today i think i will go through and at least delete out all my duplicate photos and see where that gets me..thanks again so much for all your help and suggestions..

I would not just depend on photobucket alone as a backup you never know if something could happen to their servers. I also put mine on a cd/dvd, flash drive, never had a problem with one and on the external hard drive they are pretty much exactly the same as the ones in your pc but in a case, in fact you can get a regular internal hard drive and buy a case to put it in.
I also use Adrive which is a storage site where you can backup your files, they give you 50gig free which is quite a lot and you can buy more should you need it.
http://www.adrive.com/

you do not have to have your pics still on your pc for them to work on photobucket, when you upload them they go to their servers and are stored there.

you can get little "wallets" to keep your little flash drives in so you can keep them all in one place, I got one at walmart for $5. you can put memory cards in them too.