Computer buying advice

Hey, i haven't bought a new computer in something like 6 years, and I'm completely out of date on what's important. I basically want to be able to stream netflix, and to use AutoCad, the latest system requirements for that are this:

System requirements for AutoCAD 2015:

Operating System
Microsoft® Windows® 8/8.1
Microsoft Windows 8/8.1 Pro
Microsoft Windows 8/8.1 Enterprise
Microsoft Windows 7 Enterprise
Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate
Microsoft Windows 7 Professional
Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium

CPU Type For 32-bit AutoCAD 2015:

32-bit Intel® Pentium® 4 or AMD Athlon™ Dual Core, 3.0 GHz or higher with SSE2 technology

For 64-bit AutoCAD 2015:

AMD Athlon 64 with SSE2 technology
AMD Opteron™ with SSE2 technology
Intel® Xeon® with Intel EM64T support with SSE2 technology
Intel Pentium 4 with Intel EM64T support with SSE2 technology
Network
Deployment via Deployment Wizard.
The license server and all workstations that will run applications dependent on network licensing must run TCP/IP protocol.
Either Microsoft® or Novell TCP/IP protocol stacks are acceptable. Primary login on workstations may be Netware or Windows.
In addition to operating systems supported for the application, the license server will run on the Windows Server® 2012, Windows Server 2012 R2, Windows Server 2008, Windows 2008 R2 Server editions.
Citrix® XenApp™ 6.5 FP1

Memory 2 GB (8 GB recommended)
Display Resolution 1024x768 (1600x1050 or higher recommended) with True Color
Display Card Windows display adapter capable of 1024x768 with True Color capabilities. DirectX® 9 or DirectX 11 compliant card recommended but not required.
Disk Space Installation 6.0 GB
Pointing Device MS-Mouse compliant device
Digitizer WINTAB support
Plotter/Printer Same as AutoCAD 2013-2014 — system printer and HDI support
Media (DVD) Download and installation from DVD
Browser Windows Internet Explorer® 9.0 (or later)
Side-by-side Install Supported
ToolClips Media Player Adobe® Flash® Player v10 or up
.NET Framework .NET Framework Version 4.5

Does it still work like it did when I last bought a computer, and when something says it has 4 GB of DDR2 Ram, you get to call it 8 gigs of RAM? Also, what do these system requirements mean in terms of processor SPEED? Does the GHZ matter?

Any advice about video cards?

Thanks so much.

What are the specs of your current computer's processor, video card and RAM?

Start -> accessories -> system tools -> system info

Originally posted by truejedi
Does it still work like it did when I last bought a computer, and when something says it has 4 GB of DDR2 Ram, you get to call it 8 gigs of RAM?

No. For 8 GB of ram you will probably want two "sticks" of 4 GB ram whether it be DDR, DDR2, or DDR3 (get DDR3 if you need to buy new RAM).

Originally posted by truejedi
Hey, i haven't bought a new computer in something like 6 years, and I'm completely out of date on what's important. I basically want to be able to stream netflix, and to use AutoCad, the latest system requirements for that are this:

Does it still work like it did when I last bought a computer, and when something says it has 4 GB of DDR2 Ram, you get to call it 8 gigs of RAM? Also, what do these system requirements mean in terms of processor SPEED? Does the GHZ matter?

Any advice about video cards?

Thanks so much.

If that's all you need. You can easily get by with an Intel i3 chip and 4gb of ram. I'd personally go for 8gb of ram. The onboard graphics the i3 provides should be sufficient for your lower-end needs.

If the price isn't too much (and it sometimes isn't depending on deals), get a Intel i5 computer.