As with any other major purchase, it pays to have as much knowledge as possible when buying a new computer before laying down several hundred, or several thousand, dollars for the purchase. Unfortunately, the personal computer market is rife with a bewildering array of arcane specifications and options that are often confusing to someone without a technology background. This article will attempt to translate the secret language of computers and provide guidance to the average buyer.
DESKTOP VERSUS NOTEBOOK
As recently as a few years ago, the question of whether to buy a desktop computer or a notebook/laptop was a simple determination of cost and power versus mobility. Desktops were significantly cheaper than notebooks and offered considerably more computing ability while a laptop offered mobility.
That is no longer the case.
With the increasing advances in miniaturization and heavy demand, sales of notebook computers have consistently risen while figures for desktop systems have slumped. In fact, in 2007 more laptops were sold than desktops. What this means is that when considering a laptop with similar capabilities to a desktop, the price should be comparable. Adding to the appeal of a notebook computer is that fact that is requires significantly fewer peripherals to get up and running. You will not need a separate keyboard, mouse, monitor, etc. to begin working with a new laptop. Advances in materials also mean that the average weight of notebook computers have steadily decreased from the mammoth 28 pounds common in the mid 1980s to just 3 or 4 pounds for most modern systems.
However, the strength of desktop computers remains their versatility and ability to upgrade. If you want to upgrade your video to play the latest computer game or run a demanding graphics manipulation program, this is as simple as purchasing a new card and installing it into your desktop. The same is true for audio, memory, disk drives, and a vast array of add-on capabilities running the gamut from cable television decoders to networking cards to Blue-Ray drives. This ability will often extend the life of a desktop computer, allowing you to upgrade its components to keep pace with advancing technologies. To similarly upgrade a notebook will often require purchasing an entirely new computer.
PROCESSORS
The processor is a chip that is seated onto the main board of your computer, often called the motherboard, or mobo for short. This chip is the "brains" of your computer, the hardware component that handles every action that you perform on your system. Run any type of software and the processor will be working to process the necessary steps to open and execute it. In addition, the processor is constantly humming in the background of your computer to maintain its operating system, the basic environment that creates and maintains your desktop, icons, and file structure. Given its importance to the computer, choosing the correct processor is one of the major considerations when buying a new system. All processors are rated in hertz, typically in the megahertz (MHz) and gigahertz (GHz) ranges with higher numbers indicating a more aggressive ability to quickly and efficiently handle every running program, including the operating system.
Instead of immediately investing precious dollars in the newest, fastest, and strongest processor available, it is important to give some consideration as to what you will be using your new computer for. If you are planning to use the system to cruise the Internet, send email, and write the occasional document, you may not need to best available processor. However, if you are planning to play music while simultaneously instant messaging a friend, fixing up digital photographs, and watching a video, a more robust processor may be the best way to go. Generally, the more functions you perform at the same time will have the greatest impact on your computer's processing ability. For the average user, something in the range of 1.7 GHz should be sufficient. If you are a buyer interested in heavy media applications and running a large number of programs simultaneously, the 2.3 GHz range may be a better option.
A WORD ON CORES
When reading the specifications on processors, it is common to see notations pertaining to dual or even quad cores. While a processor is composed of a single hardware chip, vendors have recently begun to manufacture chips with multiple cores. Essentially each "core" is a separate processor contained on the same chip. For example, an Intel T2250 processor contains two cores, two separate 1.73 GHz processors contained on the same chip.
Multiple cores and even multiple processors have long been common on server hardware, those funny looking computers hidden away in a locked room by your IT department that handle dozens or even hundreds of functions to keep your office up and running. However, as processor technology has advanced, manufacturers have reduced the production cost of multi-core chips to the point where they are feasible in home consumer systems.
So if you buy a dual core processor, it will have twice the processing ability of a single core processor of the same speed, right?
The answer is: not exactly. In order to wring the full ability out of multiple core processors, software vendors need to specifically write their programs to take advantage of these hardware advances. While the software side of things is adapting to these advances, they still have some catching up to do. So while a multiple core processor is superior to a single core processor of the same rating, it will not be double or quadruple that ability. Most home users will be sufficiently served by a dual core processor, which comes standard on most currently available computers.
MEMORY
In the computer industry, memory is typically synonymous with Random Access Memory (RAM.) Memory is composed of a number of chips, usually 2 or 4, installed in specialized sockets on your motherboard. To explain how RAM works, I offer the following example.
You are seated at an office desk with numerous drawers stuffed full with folders containing files. These drawers represent the hard drive of your computer, which stores everything contained on the system. The top of the office desk where you are working represents the RAM. As your workday progresses, you will need to review and work on a number of the files contained in your desk. You pull these out of your drawers and place them on top of the desk. It is obviously much easier and quicker to work on something located on top of the desk rather than having to pull it out of a drawer and then place it back in the drawer every time you need it. However, the top of the desk has a finite amount of real estate that can only hold so many files and folders, occasionally requiring you to go through the cumbersome process of working out of a desk drawer. The more desktop space you have (RAM,) the more quickly and efficiently you will be able to work.
Memory is expressed in bytes, though it has grown so large that it is typically represented as megabytes MB, or gigabytes GB. Much like processors, the amount of RAM that you will need is directly related to how you will be using your system. A good low range is 2 MB for those users who will only be lightly using their system up to 4 or even 8 MB for those of you running a lot of media applications, anything with intensive graphics, or who like to have a lot going on at once with their computer.
STORAGE
The hard disk of your computer stores pretty much everything on it from your files to songs and pictures to the programs you have installed. Just like memory, hard disks are rated by bytes and typically expressed in MB, GB, or terabytes TB. While the numbers do not work out exactly, a good rule of thumb is that 1,000 MB = 1 GB and 1,000 GB = 1 TB. So how much storage do you actually need?
To put things into perspective, the notebook computer I am using to write this article has roughly 3,800 pictures (I'm something of an amateur photographer,) 570 songs, and 2,000 documents (basically everything I've ever written in the last 20 years or so.) All of these files take up a bit over 8 GB of space on my hard drive. However, it is important to remember that every program that you install is also going to take up some space as will the operating system itself, which may require 20 or 40 GB for the newest offerings. Video files are also massive with feature-length movies running between 4 and 5 GB so if you do a lot of video collecting and/or editing you will need to factor that into your requirements.
Taking all of this into consideration, most computer buyers will be more than happy with a hard drive in the range of 250 to 500 GB, which should hold everything that you currently have with some healthy room for growth. Our videophiles may want to consider a drive in excess of 1 TB depending on the number of files that they are storing.
AUDIO AND VIDEO
For most of us, these two components are the easiest to take care of; go with whatever is installed on the system. There are a massive number of high-end video and audio cards currently on the market, but for the average buyer, these will vastly exceed what you actually need and will thereby be a waste of capital that could be better used elsewhere. If you are a hardcore gamer or running a media computer, you probably already know more about these cards than I ever will and these options could easily comprise an entire article on their own.
SUMMARY
As you have probably guessed, the most important step to buying a new computer is to first consider what you will be using the system for. This determination will then allow you to make intelligent choices as to what specifications you will need for the variety of hardware components. For the vast majority of buyers, purchasing a bright, shiny, state-of-the-art computer with every bell and whistle will result in unnecessary expenditures and wasted capabilities.
I have purposefully avoided references to specific vendors, both of systems and individual components. It has been my experience that the large manufacturers are generally comparable and that each has its own share of adherents and detractors, both rational and irrational. If you have used a particular vendor in the past and had good luck with them, I would advise sticking with them. However, if your past experiences with a specific system have been less than spectacular, you may want to consider exploring other options for your current purchase. I have also avoided discussion on "do it yourself" and homebuilt systems, that is a complex decision and merits its own article.
By breaking your new computer into a few categories such as desktop/notebook, processor (and cores,) memory, and storage you can factor in your expected use of the system and then make an informed decision to purchase the appropriate amount of capability for what you will need.