Me too Coen, the name sounds familiar but didn't know till i saw the newspaper with an articel.

u have a good, real good hand and lot opportunities

Great images Tom. Looking forward to seeing the others

Unbelievable... I thought they were hand painted... I can't tell the difference!

LOL, too funny!

Thanks for these great trees.

How is this for a strange tree: http://www.worldisround.com/articles/198895/photo26.html Or this: http://farm1.static.flickr.com/3/4474723_41506a674c.jpg Or what about this: http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b257/swkaioshin/100_0453.jpg

Hahaha...nice. Looks like the tree from the Leprechaun movie.

Masta, fortunately the Core 2 architecture is of such a nature that you don't need high speed RAM to get it to perform well. Obviously faster & quicker RAM does benefit, but as you rightly stated, it comes at a premium (not only the RAM but the motherboard as well - DDR3 RAM and motherboards are rediculously expensive still). All 3 machines I've had over the last 10 years I've custom built, I'm fortunate to have friends that help me if / when I can't fix things myself - which seldom happens. Besides, you always have the manufacturer warrentee to fall back on should a component fail.

Great as usual Tom, thanks.

If I may add.... Cat-chick!! [image: catchickzr8.jpg] catchick.skp

For what it's worth I would go with the T3400 and Windows XP, but would add a RAID 1 array (matching hard drive) for peace of mind. Then look on Dell's site regularly for deals on the 24 inch wide screen LCD (1920 x 1200).

Phil you need a tan I really like the look of this forum too. It feels like we upgraded to a nicer house.

I hear what ypu're saying, but in my experience people are reluctant to pay for anything if there is a free alternative. To be fair, this isn't the only sketchup forum. Having said that, why not look into deals with advertising on the forum? Another forum I frequent has various levels of membership, not that it has restricted areas, however if you want to sell anything that is new you have to be registered as a dealer (subscription fee). They also have deals with various companies for advertising on the pages (no pop-ups or silly stuff, info is there but not in your face). Using the same concept could work here and help fund the website / forum. Also wouldn't hurt to upgrade the board software to the latest stuff that is a little more attractive...

tv, paul...you have reinforced where I'm leaning: my head says go with the old knowledge (to a point), my gut says go with the new technology (to a point). Please also respond as you can (all who have been so kind here too) to my new thread on notebook vs desktop and the systems I have flagged for purchase this year. My very best, Tom.

You are all too kind...glad you liked!

Baz...if you insert the tree file into another model it becomes a "follow-me" component, so always faces the camera. aha, Ive been doing that with 'save as'. thanks tom. baz

It is always a pleasure to share with you guys!

Pete, thank you. That did it.

Thanks Tom, great tree. Perhaps a relish tree or a mustard tree soon? Sorry about the weak humor, couldn't help myself. Ken