You can use any size monitor you want. I can't think of anyone who makes a monitor less than 17" anymore. I use a 19" monitor at home I have had for about 8 years now and will never go smaller than that. You can also fit more of the design on your screen by having a larger monitor, instead of scrolling left to right or up and down all the time. I have been looking at 24" hdtv monitors this past year because I'm sure this one won't last much longer. (Hopefully this holiday will be good to me so I can go buy it before the end of the year for a tax write-off.) As far as computer needs go for DesignShop and Amaya, your computer will be fine but you may want to look into a dedicated computer just for the embroidery. I just bought a new Dell a couple months ago. Pentium 4 3.2mhz, 1gb ram, 256mb video card, gigabit network card (10/100/1000) and many other 'toys' in it. It is very fast and can handle any embroidery related software I install in it. Photoshop and DesignShop open very fast (couple seconds at most) which was a problem on my old computer. From: "Kesavan" <kesavan@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> Reply-To: amayausers@xxxxxxxxxxxxx To: <amayausers@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> Subject: [amayausers] Re: Amaya os Date: Thu, 5 Oct 2006 15:56:32 +1000 Why do you need a 17 inch screen or bigger for the OS/ as long as the resolution is 1024*768 or more? Anand Windows 2000 or XP (Home or Professional) CPU: 800 MHz or faster ( I would go faster) Available hard drive space: 1GB, Plus additional space for embroidery designs as needed Ram: 256 MB ( I would recommend 512 MB or 1 GB, more is better) Video: Video card with 1024 X 768 resolution, 17" or larger monitor Network Card: 10 Megabit 10 Base T Ethernet USB or Parallel Port I hope this helps Russell Silva R. S. Embroidery Amaya Technician Attleboro, Ma 508-222-4433 -- No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG Free Edition. Version: 7.1.407 / Virus Database: 268.12.13/463 - Release Date: 4/10/2006 =========================================================== The AmayaUsers Mailing List Website: http://www.amayausers.com Discussion Board: http://www.amayausers.com/boards Subscribe/Unsubscribe: http://www.amayausers.com/list =========================================================== =========================================================== The AmayaUsers Mailing List Website: http://www.amayausers.com Discussion Board: http://www.amayausers.com/boards Subscribe/Unsubscribe: http://www.amayausers.com/list ===========================================================