Buying a new PC for use with VirtualAcorn

This page has been produced after requests from customers, who need to buy a new PC because their old one is out of date, and want to ensure that VirtualAcorn products will run well on the new machine.

Pre-installed or DIY?

You can two choices. You can either but a PC from any vendor, then purchase a copy of VirtualRPC from us and install it yourself. Or you could buy a PC with both Windows and VirtualAcorn pre-installed.

DIY
In this example you could buy a PC from any supplier, or even build the machine yourself. You would need to make sure that the machine was suitable for running VirtualAcorn products (although it will be very hard to buy/build a machine that isn't suitable). This may prove to be the cheapest option, however it's worth remembering that the technical support provided by some PC vendors is not of a high standard. If someone you know can recommend a local dealer then this may be better then buying mail order as if you have a problem with the machine you can pick it up and return it to the shop.

If you decide to build the machine yourself then we recommend EBuyer as they have a wide range of components at low prices. We have no connection with Ebuyer apart from the fact that we source components from them for our own machines.

Buying a new PC with VirtualRPC pre-installed
If you are going to buy a new PC then it may well be worth buying one from a RISC OS dealer with VirtualRPC pre-installed. A number of RISC OS dealers can now offer a wide range of PC laptop, desktop and small form factor machines that will run RISC OS "out of the box". We recommend machines supplied by R-Comp. For more details please see the following link:

R Comp RISCCube desktop and RISCBook laptop machines.

R-Comp are RISC OS specialists, so they will be able to advise you not only about Windows but also about RISC OS. If you do purchase a machine from a dealer with VirtualRPC pre-installed then the dealer will be your single contact for all support matters, this may may things much easier in case of any problems. You will also know that the machine has been designed and built with running VirtualRPC in mind.

So what specification machine should I get?

Almost any new PC will run VirtualAcorn products well. However some types of machine will be better than others. Our recommended specifications for new machine are shown below:

Desktop PC

Any current processor designed for desktop machines will be fine. However some architectures are better than others. Currently the processors that run VirtualAcorn products the fastest are Intel Core 2 Duos. Therefore our current recommended spec for a desktop PC is:

• Intel Core i5 or Core i7 processor (Core2 Quad for a budget machine).
• Windows XP or Windows 7.
• 2GB+ of PC4200 RAM.
• 256Mb+ Radeon or Nvidia PCI Express graphics card.
• 500Gb SATA hard disc.
• On board audio.
• CD/DVD writer.
• Internal IDE floppy drive (most Core i5/7 boards do not support this - Core2 motherboards do).
• On board ethernet adapter.

Laptop PCs

When purchasing a laptop we suggest that you strongly consider a minimum of a 15" screen. Most laptops have integrated graphics, these will run VirtualAcorn well. However very large RISC OS desktops may involve using screen scrolling. Laptops with Nvidia or Radeon graphics can scale and anti-alias the RISC OS display to fit the TFT screen. For example a laptop with Radeon graphics can display a 1280x1024 RISC OS desktop with full screen anti-aliasing on a standard 1024 x 768 15.1" display. If you are purchasing a widescreen laptop then we would recommend a StrongArm VirtualAcorn as these have improved support for widescreen displays.

Our recommended specifications for laptops are as follows:

Laptop PC

• Intel Core 2 Duo processor.
• Windows XP or Windows 7.
• 2Gb of RAM.
• 128Mb+ Radeon or Nvidia graphics.
• 320Gb SATA hard disc.
• On board audio.
• CD/DVD writer.
• On board ethernet adapter.

Budget Laptop PC

• Intel Atom processor.
• Windows XP or Windows 7.
• 1Gb of RAM.
• 64Mb+ integrated graphics card.
• 120Gb hard disc.
• On board audio.
• CD ROM drive.
• On board ethernet adapter.

Finally

As a final note, if you are not sure if the specification of the machine you are considering is suitable, please ask. We are quite happy to advise customers on machines prior to purchase of a VirtualAcorn product.

VirtualAcorn Tech Support (Updated Nov 2009)