Jan 11
20
Choosing a Computer
Computers have come a long way since the days of their inception back in the 1930′s and today, over 60% of households have at least one computer. Computers have truly changed our lives; in fact, the world.
We use our computers for so many things. We stay in touch with friends and family. We pay our bills, plan our business activities and purchase everything under sun online using our computers.
But how do you actually decide which type of computer you want to buy?
It can be huge task deciding on what type of computer to buy. With so many choices out there it’s easy to get overwhelmed. The bottom line is that you choose a computer that’s going to “fit your needs.” And that means doing a bit of homework and asking yourself some questions.
Planning is the first step. The kind of computer you choose should be specific. It should be decided upon based on your specific needs and the tasks you will be doing. Now most people just walk into a computer and buy something right off the shelf; and that’s fine for most, but a gamer will need a much different machine as opposed to a graphics designer or someone running an auto-cad type program. There are differences and understanding this can save you money or cost you money.
What will you use your computer for? Email, surfing the web, home business applications, graphics design, downloading large files or gaming?
The most important things to look for in a computer, for the most part, is it processor, “chip or cpu”, and it’s memory,”ram.” The processor speed and the RAM, along with the motherboard, are the bread and butter of any system and should be carefully considered.
If want to primarily play games on your computer, you will want a high end computer, 2.5 Ghz or better, with a large hard drive, go for a terabyte if you can, and at least 6 gigs of ram. You will also want a graphics card with a minimum of 512 of ram; 1 gig would be the ultimate since many games nowadays are very graphic intense.
If you just want to download music then you can get by with a much lesser machine, in terms of CPU intensity; but you will want to have at least 500 gigabytes of disk space because you will eventually acquire a large amount of files so you’ll need the space. You will also want to have a high speed internet connection as well. At minimum, you should have a DSL connection.
If you’ll just be using your computer for data processing, word documents or using financial applications, you can get by with a very basic machine. This is true also if you just want to surf the internet and won’t be doing a lot of downloading or video streaming. Again, you should have DSL at the very minimum. You can get a great basic machine for only a few hundred dollars these days.
Walk into any computer store and you can find a machine that should fit your needs most likely. Low, medium and high end machines are readily available. But what if you can’t find exactly what you need? In that case; simply have one custom built and tailored specifically for you. Most people don’t go this route but oftentimes extreme gamers do. In any case, it’s good to know you can go down this road if you need to.
By figuring out exactly “what you will be doing” with your computer you may be able to save yourself some money. No need for overkill and spending a thousand dollars on a machine when you can get by with one costing you half that amount, or less. Do a little homework first and save yourself some money.
