Buying a new PC
Computers are one of the essentials of today’s society, but they’re also a great mystery to a lot of people. In this article, I’ll attempt to demystify the purchasing process, and try and make it all just a little bit easier.
Keep in mind this article was written in late 2007, and while I’ve tried to generalise as much as possible, it is the inevitable nature of technology that something completely new may come along and render this article completely irrelevant. This article also only covers PCs, as my experience with Macs is limited. In general, because Apple builds all their own equipment, they’re the best company to talk to if you want a Mac.
Desktop or Laptop?
Desktops are cheap, sit on a desk and have lots of cords. Laptops are more expensive, portable and have only one or two cords. They both work the same way, so don’t get too worried about things only working on a desktop and not on a laptop, or vice versa.
The first question you have to ask yourself when you want to buy a computer is, "What do I need to do with it?" To make life easier, I’ve split the rest of this article up into three sections based on the possible answers to this question.
I want to check emails, write the occasional word document, nothing more.
Well, then, you need a basic computer. Obviously a big screen would be nice, but let’s be honest with ourselves here: you don’t really need to chuck money at something you don’t need.
Processor-wise, you need something between 2GHz and 3GHz (this is what is current in 2007-2008) - nothing fancy. You don’t need a graphics or video card of any note (the computer will still come with a video adapter of some kind, you can’t escape from it!).
Hard drive space is a tricky one. The average word document weighs in at between 100 kilobytes and one megabyte, depending on whether it has pictures and such. The average photo is about a megabyte, or more for photos taken with newer cameras.
If you’re an average consumer, you probably won’t need much more than about 60GB, and that’s allowing for a lot of room, mainly because modern programs are so big (Microsoft Office is nearly a gigabyte), and computers come with about 10GB of their hard drive space already being used.
You will need between 512MB and 1GB of RAM, mainly so that your operating system (in this case, Windows - the big program that runs all the little ones) can run smoothly. You should be looking at spending around $1200 - maybe even under $1000. Anything more than that is overkill.
I want to listen to music, edit photos, and maybe play some older games.
In this case you’ll probably want something more advanced. Not a lot more advanced though.
Double the RAM to 2GB, get a nice screen, and go for 100GB or more on the hard drive – especially if you’re one of those people with a massive music library. The processor will again need to be around 2-3GHz (you may want to look into getting a dual core processor, depending on how hard-hitting you want the machine to be).
You will need a graphics card of note, however, especially if you want to play games and watch DVDs or other video files. 128MB is reasonable (at least at the time of writing - 2007-2008). You’d be looking at paying somewhere between $1000 and $2000 for the whole setup - probably somewhere in the middle.
I want the newest, I want the best! I’m a hardcore gamer or I’m into video production.
This is where it gets fun. A multi-core processor between 2 and 3GHz is good (because there are multiple cores, the actual speed becomes less of an issue because it’s going to be multitasking).
A graphics card between 512MB and 1GB, and 3GB of RAM will set you up nicely. A warning, though: 32bit (x86) processors can only use 3GB of RAM! If you want more, you’ll have to make the move to a 64bit (x64) processor.
Games and video files are absolute murder on hard drive space, so be prepared to look at 300GB or more. You may also want to do some research on the speed of the hard drive (RPM). 7200 is stock standard, but for video production you definitely want to look at something faster.
Screen size is up to personal preference. I’m feeling the constraints of my 19-inch screen, and I’ll probably move to something bigger soon. Hardcore video producers may not want to limit themselves to one screen - you can have up to four on some systems.
Your budget for this kind of set up should be around $2000+ Go for it!
Don't be shy - ask a lot of questions
This information is based on my own personal experience. I hope some of it helps you out. Remember - when you're out doing the actual shopping, you should definitely ask lots of questions of the salesperson. I know they're trying to sell you something, so they may be biased, but they also know what they’re talking about (hopefully!).
Articles Written by Chris
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