Simon,
I fully agree with Jim - 64 bit workstations are also the same cost as
32 bit, excluding the extra RAM you can put in! Having this extra RAM
really does make a big difference, not just for solving Mechanica
models, but for handling large assemblies as well. Unless your products
have only a handful of components in the top level assemblies, you'll
want the capability of more than 3GB of RAM. I've been using an x64
system on my desk for almost 4 years without any issue. You'll just
need to make sure your printers have the proper drivers for x64. I run
MS Office and most every app an engineer would need on their "daily"
computer. My recommendation is:
x64 OS
Quad processor
8 GB RAM (more if you have very large FEA/CFD problems to solve)
two fast hard drives (consider the second drive as a "solid-state" hard
drive for "temp" file usage in Mechanica)
nvidia 512 MB, or larger, card (look for a "Cuda" enabled card for
current and near-term engineering application use)
If you're really stuck with 32 bit systems, stay away from Vista as it
seems to chew-up twice the RAM over Windows XP just to run the OS.
I hope this helps,
Chris