For professionals planning to dictate at least 15 minutes per day who are acquiring a new system, the choice today is simple. Get (almost) the fastest system you can. On a notebook, that means roughly 2GHz. On a desktop, 2.5GHz.
In the short term, you may save money by buying a slower system, but you may have buyers remorse within a year.
For a budget system, concentrate on adequate RAM (256-512MB) then get a 1GHz+ CPU. If you already have a 600MHz+ CPU, you shouldn't need to replace it.
Sound cards are critical to success unless you plan to use USB adapters. It is our contention that on a desktop system, you should try to buy a system with an excellent sound card rather than planning to use a USB microphone.
On a desktop, for even better results, acquire a quiet power supply and/or CPU fan to reduce both electrical and mechanical noise. PC Power & Cooling, Inc. is one source for these. Don't bother with this if you are using speech recognition in a noisy environment!
If obtaining a notebook computer, make certain that you really want a notebook computer. It costs a lot more than a desktop computer, and often sits in one place for months at a time. Plan on obtaining a USB adapter ($39) if the on-board sound system does not work well. If you are doing your research, you may see recommendations suggesting careful selection of notebook systems for speech recognition. Before the advent of good USB sound systems, that was excellent advice, but there is no longer much reason to be so picky about notebook systems. Ignore the old Dragon list of "certified" laptop systems -- you simply can't find these as new models any longer.
The most common upgrades will be sound cards and memory.
In some cases, CPU upgrades are warranted. Our general advice is to upgrade to the fastest possible CPU that is supported by a particular motherboard. If one has to replace a motherboard then one should seriously consider a new system.
The only practical upgrade is memory. Some can be upgraded, some can not. Memory manufacturers have good information on upgrade options. See http://www.crucial.com as an example of a site with good memory upgrade recommendations.
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