I had some minor frame drop trouble last year and was told the graphics card would fix that. I can now assume that info is wrong? What then is the precise fix for that particular problem? Nothing has been ordered or installed yet so nixing the graphics card and adding memory is no problem at all. Also, and just as importantly, I tried an editing trial run recently on the new (stock) Dell and the problem I had was not being able to look at video in the editing timeline smoothly. Lots of frames were skipped and it looked like an impossible way to edit. I can only imagine how bad it would look on a DVD.

If a good video card does not help with video editing, why do so many software manufacturers list them as a "requirements"?

I can go with a 120 MB HD. The hard drive only needs to be big enough for one movie project though. After one movie is done, everything gets canned and then the next movie project starts.

Thanks again
PTN