by Duncan Kelly

Created on: December 08, 2008   Last Updated: April 09, 2009

Make sure that the computer you are about to buy has the following;

USB ports on the front and the back of the computer.

A large hard drive: 120GB and upwards

Lots of RAM (memory) : 1 GB or more

At least a 17 inch screen; preferably a 19 inch if it's affordable. (Diagonal measurement)

A DVD writer drive.

These are basic needs, and will prevent your computer being obsolete before you can get it home!

WHAT ELSE MIGHT YOU NEED?

Use stiffy disks ? If so, you will need to make sure the computer comes with a stiffy drive.

If you want to plug your camera or cell phone memory card into the PC, make sure the PC comes with all the ports for these cards on the front panel.

If this is the first computer you have ever bought, then follow these guidelines:

1. Buy the best you can afford. Well known brands like IBM, Dell, Apple and so on usually come with lots of documentation, support phone numbers, good quality parts and have all the cables and installation CDs that you would need. If you are an experienced computer user, then by all means go for the far eastern no name brands, as they are a lot cheaper, but their backup and support are decidedly ropey.

2. If you are buying a Windows based computer, get a quad core processor if you can afford it, otherwise a dual core processor. If that is too expensive then go for a straight Pentium 4, and last choice will be a Celeron, which is a crippled Pentium4. If you want to have the minimum fuss getting your computer up and running in the shortest time, then go for an Apple Mac computer,

3. Get the most RAM (memory) you can afford. Most entry level computers come with at least 512Megabytes of RAM, but try and get one with at least 1 Gigabyte (1,000 MB) of RAM installed, and 2 GB is even better. Windows Vista uses a large amount of RAM all by itself, and XP is not far behind, so it won't go to waste; and the more RAM you have, the less work your hard drive has to do.

4. Get the biggest hard drive you can afford. About the smallest hard drive you can get is 80 Gigabytes, so you should make sure the computer you buy has at least a 120GB hard drive, and preferably in excess of 200GB. If you intend to store videos or movies on your computer than you will need in excess of 400GB hard drive space.

5. Make sure that the computer you buy has at least a CD writer drive and a DVD drive, or what is known as a "combo" drive, which is a CD writer drive and a DVD drive in one. Even better would be a DVD writer drive, which can read and write CDs and DVDs.

6.

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