 |
 |
 |
           |
 |
 |
 |
|
 |
 |
|
|
|
 |
Tips for Buying a PC
Buying Your PC Buying a PC that's right for you and your family is not all that simple task. More so if you're going to buy an unbranded or an assembled one. But branded or not, you have to get you facts right before you shell out your money. First, why do you want to buy a PC? Is it because almost every one has one these days, or that you have the money to spare. If these are the reasons are that you want to end up spending a lot of money on something you're unlikely to use. But if your reasons are that you want it for home based business, or for your kids for their education, or to work at home, or that you want to surf the net, you are on the right track. Now let's get down to specifics. What do you need it for? Take a piece of paper and write down what all you need to do with the pc. Spreadsheets, Word processing, Surfing the Web, sending e-mail, playing games. Running multimedia, Watching movies, playing music ,CAD drawings, graphics designing, Web designing. Programming and Online learning. Make your list. Why? Because different needs need Different PCs. You really don't need the latest computer if all you're going to do is browsing, no matter what the vendor tells you. When you make your list be sure to look a little ahead and see what all other things you might be using the computer for. For instance, do you think you are likely to take up graphics designing? Or will the kids start playing all those high-end games? How much money do you want to spend? Get hang of the money you can spend on the PC. Then you have to look for the PC that suits your needs and your budget. This may need some balancing even, if your requirements are huge and the budget isn't. This will also decide if you should go for branded PC or an assembled one. Brand or assembled? This is a question that has gone on for a while now. A year ago, branded ones. We recommend that you go for a PC for which you can get assured service and support. Fort a more detailed analysis, catch our July story called Branded or Not? What is it? This is the part that has the computer's basic circuitry and components. The processors, meomory, BIOS, expansion slots, etc all go on the motherboard. What's available? Right now you have two broad choices for a motherboard. The motherboards based on Intel 810 chipset have the graphics and audio capabilities on to the board itself-that's what they mean by integrated graphics and audio onboard. In case you're looking for better graphics (say, you will be moving to high-end games, or graphics, or CAD or need better sound environmental audio, sound-editing), you'll have to get some high-end video and audio cards. Which such a motherboard won't support. You could, in such cards. What to ask the vendor : What are the upgrades possible on this motherboard? Which processors are supported? How much are the upgrades going to cost? What is it? The brain of the PC. You don't always have to go for the fastest. And just having a processor that's fast won't do. The rest of the system has to keep up with it. What's available? Among the low-end ones available are Celeron, AMD K6.2 and K6-3, and now AMD"S Duron. They are available in different clock speeds-go for the one you can afford. A Celeron 600MHZ. Among the high-end processors are Pentium III and AMD's Anthon. A PIII 667 MHz. Also remember that a processor alone can't make the PC zip. For instance, A PIII on an 810 motherboard that doesn't have much graphics capability isn't of much use. How much do you need? If you are going to work on office application like word processors and spreadsheets, and some browsing, a Celeron or an AMDK6 series, or Duron would do. For work that needs more processing power you have to go for a Pentium III or an Anthon. You'll find some Pentium IIs in the market but Intel Doesn't makes them anymore. What is it? This is the place where all your program and data will b stored on the PC. Your PC's performance will depend upon the rate at which your hard disk can read data and give it to the other parts. The speed of a hard disk is measured in rpm. These days most hard disks come with a speed of 7200 rpm. And some other available in hard disk 7.5 GB, 15 GB, 20 GB, and for more on how to take care of your hard disk, check out The Hard Disk Guide in this issue. How much do you need? Most PCs now come with 8-10 GB of hard disk space. With fat OSs and fatter office suites and games, you'll need some bit of space. 17 GB is quite common, now even 30 GB doesn't raise eyebrows. So do take those offers of 1GB with a huge bag of salt. What is it? The place where information is stored for a while so that the processor doesn't have to keep hunting for it on the hard disk. What's available? The more you have the better it is. A lot of PCs still come with 32 MB RAM-we advise you to go for 64MB at the very least. If you're a gamer or into heavy graphics, you'll need 128 MB. How much do you need? The more you have the better it is. A lot of PCs still come with 32 MB RAM-we advise you to go for 64 MB at the very least. If you're a gamer or into heavy graphics, you'll need 128 MB What is it? This is a card that carries out the processing for all that's related to the display. You could have a fast processor, lots of ROM and hard disk that keeps pace with it all. But if the display can't match all this-the speed at which the things have got processed will take ages to show up on screen. The card has its RAM- called video RAM (VRAM). What's available? As we said earlier, some motherboards have this function inbuilt, but others need you to have a graphics card for this. You get a range of cards now. How much do you need? If you're into heavy gaming and graphics and CAD and 3D modeling, you need to have a card with at least 8 MB VRAM, 16MB if you can afford it. For other purpose, 4 MB VRAM is good enough. All software comes on CDs. A lot of computers magazines that teach you how to use computers come with CDs. So a CD-ROM drive is a must. Now you have the option of going for CD-RW drives or even DVD drives. And some vendors have the check to see PCs without them. Higher X ratings-such as 48X, 52X for a CD drive doesn't mean that the drive will run at blazing speeds. In fact for routine things opening a CD tray, making a CD auto run-an 8X will do just fine. But if you were to rip songs from your audio CDs to convert them into MP3s you would need a faster drive. A DVD drive is great if you are going to be watching a lot of movies on your PC- but make sure video card and sound card and speakers match up to it. Go for a CD-RW drive if you are going to be burning a lot of CDs-keeping backups, making MP3 CDs, and so on. The basic PC: For running productivity applications: word processors, spreadsheet, presentations, Surfing. Using e-mail, using personal information mangers. Play music and videos, some light games and multimedia CDs Specs:
The high-end PC - For heavy gaming, graphics, multimedia creation, sound editing Specs:
Sound card and Speakers: The sound card processes the sound that you hear on your PC. These days sounds cards not only make multimedia application sound great, they also let you compose record and edit your own music. Monitor: 14" monitors are out. You can get in your some other type of the monitor in 15", color monitor, 16 inches and 17 inches monitor are available in the market. PORTS - Ports are where you plug in peripherals. The mouse and keyboard go into their respective ports. Serial ports take in modems. Parallel ports take in printer, scanners, etc, There are now USB ports for USB printers, scanners, digital cameras, etc. Now there are Fire Wire ports t00-but these are useful for those into video-editing and such tasks that need a lot of data to be transferred in a shot. Keyboard and Mouse- There is a range of mice to choose from Look for one that you fell comfortable working with. There are different types of keyboards. Again look for one that doesn't require you to thump hard to type, feels ergonomic. You could also go for devices go for devices that have programmable buttons/keys. Software- You need an operating system-the common one is of course, Windows 98. Now the latest version of Windows for the home is Windows Me. You need an office suits, or at least programs that do word processing, spreadsheets and presentations. You need a browser to the Web, and an e-mail program. You'll also need an antivirus, some system diagnostic tools, some graphics programs, and some useful things like media players (to run your movies and play music), file compression tools like WinZip. Then of course, there is a world of games and multimedia titles to explore. About The Author Pawan Bangar, email: pawan@ebirbals.com
MORE RESOURCES:
Personal-Tech - Google News |
|
|
|
RELATED ARTICLES
How To Recognize The Telltale Signs Of Spyware Spyware is the software that collects information about your online activities and preferences. The information is then sent to another computer with the intention of selling it to online advertisers. HTML Explained: Part 1 Want to save money while promoting your web-based business? Of course you do. Here's some advice on the matter, from a freelance copywriter who knows: it pays to learn the basics of HTML. Keeping Passwords Secure As the web has evolved, so have the methods of collecting personal information. A large number of websites require visitors to register to gain access or participate. 5 Ways to Speed Up Your PC No matter how fast your processor and regardless of how much ram you carry, there comes a time when you realize your computer just doesn't run as fast as it did when you bought it.Windows loads slower, programs take longer to launch, and, in general, your computer drags like it just came off a 2-night drinking binge. Improve PC Performance - 6 Tips You Must Know Are you frustrated with your PC?Is it feeling sluggish or crawling at a snail's pace?Are programs running slower than they used to?Are you just plain fed up with frequent slowdowns, freezes or crashes?Then it's time to stop what you're doing and optimize your system to improve PC performance!Follow these 6 simple sure-fire tips to help improve PC performance and you'll be surprised by the results! Each comes with an indication of how often you should do it.Improve PC Performance Tip #1:CLEAN UP YOUR WINDOWS REGISTRY (Frequency = Daily)This is an essential, but often overlooked, task to improve PC performance. Apache, MySQL & PHP for Windows Apache, MysQL and PHP for Windows could be a nice nice thing to have on your Windows workstation. You could try and experiment with all kinds of nice PHP and MySQL based applications right on your Windows desktop running Apache, instead of having to access a full-featured server. How To Have Two (Multiple) Copies Of Windows Having two operating systems is not as difficult as many of us consider. It just requires little hard work and some good equipment. Why Using an Ad Blocker Can be a Bad Idea Ad Blocking is getting to be a common sport on the internet. Now there are some legitimate uses for an ad blocker. 10 Time Saving Keyboard Shortcuts Time is money. And when you constantly have to divide your time between your mouse and your keyboard, your workflow rate really slows down. Dont Let the Internet Overstimulate Your Mind The Internet is an awesome tool, but be careful and aware that the cloud of over stimulation doesn't invade your mind.It seems we have to become aware of a new problem that is starting to invade our modern, industrial society, that being the problem of over stimulation. Cisco CCNA Candidate FAQ CCNA FAQQ. What exams do I have to take to get my CCNA?A. Things You Can Do To Speed Up Your Computer Upgrading your processor will always speed up your computer, but sometimes this will not be the best thing to do. The first thing you need to do is find out where the bottle neck is in your system. Healthy Webmasters Choose Ergonomic Computer Products Webmasters usually sit at their computers much longer in a day than most other office workers, sometimes up to 10 and 12 hours. This can bring about the potential for physical discomforts that are attributed to prolonged use and the repetitive tasks that they perform on computers every day. An All Too Familar Pain Lost & Found for the 21st CenturyIn today's hectic world more and more people are turning to those handy gadgets and mobile products that can be taken with them anywhere they go. The more things consumers own, the more they're prone to lose them. Digital Cameras Ratings Abolish Camera Comparison Guesswork Digital cameras ratings are great tools for deciding which camera best fits your needs and budget. Digital camera reviews are often just the reviewer's opinion. Lives With Games Tradition and Industry The United States Of America citizen feels that games is a part of their life while developed countries such as the United Kingdom and Japan would feels that Games is high prospects to gain profit either in domestic level or internationally. Games is very influence in human life at this time. How To Speed Up Your Aging PC And Make It Healthier Too With a little tweaking and with proper tools, you can get a faster, healthier PC, virtually immune to spyware infections and browser hijackers. How is this possible? Find out about the latest tools and how they work. How to Buy a Plasma Television Set Most people think that all you have to do to purchase a new plasma television set is to walk into a shop, look around, and purchase the first set that catches your attention. This is how you're supposed to do it, right? Wrong! Buying a television, whether it has a plasma monitor or a LCD monitor, takes careful planning. Cisco Certification: Building Your Home Lab, Part II In the first part of this home lab tutorial, CCNA and CCNP candidates can see that there are a LOT of choices when it comes to what to buy to build your own Cisco practice lab.Having been there myself, I know itâ??s confusing to decide how many routers or switches to buy, and what I need at the minimum to run labs and get some great hands-on practice. Enhanced Web Browsing With Toolbars As the Web grows more crowded and just plain "noisy" with information bombarding us from every angle, most people welcome any tool, trick or shortcut to help them wade through the mountains of data to find what they want.Since your web browser represents your main window to the Internet, it makes sense for any tool which enables you to find what you need and get around faster online should sit right where you need it most.
|
 |