Scanning mostly in the order of 500 MB (could be 1 GB) for 5 x 7 LF and having no great market knowlegde I would be very gratefull for advices;

I must buy a new PC system, because my laptop Samsung (Intel Core Duo 1,8 Ghz, 32bit, 1,8 GB RAM) is incapable to work with such 500 MB images. I would loose hours only for opening of some DVD in order to work and view the DVD's.

What specification would be good after your experiences?
I must work with XP prof (scanner not accepting Vista).
I must buy minimal 8 GB RAM, but more would be better (24 GB).
Hence necessarly a 64bit PC.

a) would the freq. be important ?
Or is 1,5-2 Ghz sufficient ?

b) for storage I would buy external hard disks (1-4 TeraB).
Any hints with respect to PC choice ?

c) or other advice for the objective of efficient working for such great data files ?