What is the best computer and operating system to use?

[Drunkenight]

Just wondering what is the best computer to use for BA and excel.

Does anyone know if BA and excel benefit from Quad Core architecture?

I was thinking of getting a computer from Dell with Duel Intel Xeon X5472 Quad core chips, but it is only really worth getting them if BA and excel benefit from Quad Core technology. Otherwise I will probably go for 2 x Xeon X5260 Duel Core chips.

Also which is the best operating system for BA and Excel? I was thinking of going for Vista Business 64 bit.

Any help will be appreciated.

[dgs2001]

If it helps I run BA on a laptop which has a core 2 duo centrino (T5550) processor with 3GB ram. Using Vista home premium (32 bit) with office 2007.

I also run it on a quad core desktop and I find even a cranky large excel spreadsheet runs fine, and still allows other processes to continue uninterupted.

However I only use a 1 second refresh and so perhaps if you wish to trade and have uber fast code then an uber fast pc with big ram and high bandwidth could give you a nice feeling of being as fast as anyone else in the trading room

[tjpoulos]

don't get a xenon you don't need it, look at a core 2 or i7 they are more than enough.