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How to Buy a Computer
Confused? Well, you need a little more information to help you decide. First, you should be looking for Reliability and Stability and Assurance
Laptop vs. Desktop If you MUST be mobile with your computer or you must look good with a computer get a laptop. Pros and Cons
Cheap laptops and desktops are the craze these days, however, 99% of the time you have to upgrade them to make them run like they are suppose to. Then you end up spending the same amount of money anyway What's a mega-kilo-giga-tera byte?
RAM – Random Access Memory
In the old days computers only needed a small amount of ram to run the operating system. Today’s operating systems are RAM hungry. To run Microsoft’s XP operating system you need a bare minimum of 128 Megs of ram, but if you have office the internet, Photoshop, popup blockers, spy ware cleaners, firewalls, antivirus programs, burning software you need more ram. I recommend 256 Megs of ram just to keep a head of the game in the beginning. The more ram you can afford in the beginning you will be better off.
A motherboard, also known as main board (Mobo) or system board is the central or primary circuit board. A printed circuit board or PCB interconnects electronic components without discrete wires. Alternative names are printed wiring board or PWB.
Why is it called a motherboard? Because everything attaches to it so it is affectionately called a m-o-t-h-e-rboard. There are a lot of motherboards out there; however knowing what is in your computer can be complicated. Let’s start with brand names IN NO PARTICULAR ORDER:
These are the motherboards of choice, they usually come with a manufactures warranty and they are known for their reliability, longevity. IF YOU DO NOT KNOW WHAT MOTHERBOARD IS IN YOUR COMPUTER---DO NOT BUY THAT COMPUTER. The next time you are in the computer superstore ask the salesperson:
Documentation tells you what the motherboard will do and what it will not do---you will need it to have your computer populated and repaired properly and in a timely manner. The motherboard connects:
Not all Mobo have the ability to hook up to everything, but it is something to think about when you choose your computer. Warning: Be careful when you buy Dell, Hp, Toshiba etc,,,,it may look like what you want until you try to use it.
SLI Video, PCI EXPRESS are newest video cards on the market They have proven to be the next generation of graphics that "Intel" has invented. The same numbers apply when it comes to Megs for these cards also.
Most video cards are 4 to 8bits today but AMD has a 10bit video card that will handle 1 billion colors.
How fast are DVD writers? What does the "X" mean? Q: DVD writer speed is measured in "X" units, like 1X or 4X. What does the X mean? How does it compare to the speed of a CD writer? v DVD? X= 1.385 megabytes per second CD? X= 150 kilobytes per second
The bigger the number before the X the better, however certain brands work better and longer than others. LG Any DVD or CD not on this list---->>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Warning: Stay away from them!!
Style--- How you physically view your computer. Certainly HP, Compaq, Dell, and Gateway computer have a lot of style. Usually they are all the same color or color scheme including the monitor and the cd, DVD,7n1 card reader are all the same color but you don’t really know what is inside of the computer. However, Style is important to some people and the things you want to look at are:
You do have a choice other than white. There is gray, silver, blue, green, orange, yellow and a combination of colors. However to color match the cost is a little more- but--You decide. Monitors (LCD's) are tricky and a part of style. The LCD (flat monitors) take less space, they are brighter and the screen are true size. However, they are slower (refresh rate) and the dot pitch is less. (but they are getting faster and better) STOP BEFORE YOU GO ANY FURTHER- BUY THE BEST YOU CAN AFFORD GO The refresh rate (or "vertical refresh rate", "vertical scan rate") is the maximum number of frames that can be displayed on a monitor in a second, expressed in Hertz. Dot pitch (sometimes called line pitch) is a specification for a computer display that describes the distance between phosphor dots (sub-pixels) or LCD cells of the same color on the inside of a display screen. Thus, dot pitch is a measure of the size of a triad Measured in millimeters A smaller number generally means a sharper image, as there are more dots in an area of any given size. Note, however, that image quality is determined by multiple factors: a monitor with a smaller dot pitch is usually better, but by no means always, due to a number of factors, including:
Traditionally, dot pitch was always measured on the diagonal, as this gives the most accurate representation of the monitor. Starting about the mid-1990s, however, some companies introduced a horizontal dot pitch as a marketing ploy. By measuring only the horizontal component of the dot pitch and ignoring the vertical component, even a cheap, low-quality monitor could be awarded a small-seeming dot pitch. A display with a horizontal dot pitch of 0.24 mm has four dots per linear millimeter, and a 0.20mm dot pitch display has five dots per linear millimeter. The exact difference between horizontal and diagonal dot pitch varies with the design of the monitor, but a typical entry-level 0.28mm (diagonal) monitor has a horizontal pitch of 0.24 or 0.25mm, a good quality 0.26mm (diagonal) unit a horizontal pitch of 0.22mm. Some present-day manufacturers quote dot pitch measurements made on the horizontal, others on the diagonal, and many use both. In general, low-end manufacturers tend to quote a horizontal measurement, quality manufacturers tend to use the diagonal method, but there are many exceptions. A similar distinction can be made in the audio equipment field, where low-end makers tend to cite PMPO Watts while quality makers end to measure their outputs in RMS Watts. Max Resolution - The display resolution of a computer display is the number of pixels that can be displayed on the screen, usually given as a product of the number of columns (horizontal, "X") and lines (vertical, "Y"). The horizontal number is always stated first. Currently common computer display resolutions are 640×480 (VGA Video Graphics Array) 800×600 (SVGA Super Video Graphics Array) 1024×768 (XGA, the Extended Graphics Array) 1600×1200 resolution (UXGA is an abbreviation for Ultra eXtended Graphics Array)
A few new ones are: 1920x1080p - Plays High def movies 1080p and just about all the games Dot pitch --- the smaller the number the better Refresh rate --- the higher the number the better Max Resolution – the higher the number the better CPU – the brain of the computer. There are 2 major players in the CPU (Central Processing Unit) Intel or AMD—who is better, faster more reliable? Here is the deal:
Operating Systems: Today the choices are endless - However, narrowing it down to 32bit VS 64bit. Today 32 bit operating systems (OS) are in use but as soon as 2008 and beyond 64bit will be the next step. Vista vs. XP, Microsoft vs. Linux
– the bigger the number the better (but not always) If speed is what you want then a 36 gig raptor is very fast because it is not looking through a lot of data but more is better because of the chances of running out of room is less. = more $ Ram – the bigger the number in megabytes the better but the smaller number in Cas Latency (cl) the better= more $Today you need at least 512 megs of ram up to 4 gigs on a 32bit system. The 64bit OS can handle 128 megs of ram. Motherboards – the good ones are: (They offer Assurance)
I could go on forever about the power supply, speakers, printers, software etc but that is for another time. So print this out and take it with you to buy a computer.
REMEMBER: Ask questions: What is the name and type of motherboard in this computer? Do I get the complete documentation of the motherboard? A limited Warranty should come with any new computer of at least a year. You should also have the opportunity to buy an extended warranty |
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h Boy! If you have never bought a computer, this can be a confusing task. So before you go to your local store and shell out
$1200 to $4000 dollars ask yourself: