Computers make terrific gifts regardless of the age or gender of the recipient. Coupled with an Internet connection or the right software, a computer can serve any interest. With software available to assist the handicapped as well, a computer can be given as a gift to virtually anyone!

But if you're looking to get the most for your money then pay attention to details and specifications. All CPU's are not created equal. Neither is any other component on a computer.

Building the computer yourself would be the most economical. Then you can choose exactly what you want to put into it. But if you aren't much of a computer geek then a pre-assembled model may be just what you need. Bear in mind that there are situations when a brand new PC out of the box will perform worse than an older one. It all depends on what the manufacturer put into it.

What to look for? This article is simply going to suggest what a novice computer shopper would want to look for. What we might call the primary specifications. The more tech savvy shopper will already know about these, and all other features and specifications affecting the performance of each component.

For the Main Board or Motherboard look at Front Side Bus speed. Bus speed refers to the speed at which components communicate with each other. The latest boards have bus speeds reaching 1333 megahertz and higher. The higher the better. You'll pay a pretty penny for the highest, but it will be the basis for a very, very nice computer.

What kind of System Memory does the board support? As for type of memory, DDR2 is better than DDR1. Speed, and quantity of memory are also important. The speed of the memory will be rated as megahertz, and can be up to 800 megahertz or more. Again, more is faster, less is slower. The same holds true for the quantity of memory, which is listed in megabytes or gigabytes. Personally, I would look for at least 2000 megabytes, if not more. If they list these speeds as gigabytes or gigahertz keep in mind that 1000 "meg" equals 1 "gig".

The Video Card is another important component that will greatly affect performance. An ISA card is old technology. PCI is too. AGP is newer and PCI-Express is newer still. The newest technology performs the best. Speed and performance are also determined by Video Memory and Clock Speed. Look for the amount of Video Memory to be at least 512 megabytes on a new PC. Generally speaking the more Video Memory the faster the Clock Speed will be. The latest cards have as much as 800 megabytes of Video Memory and their performance is exceptional.

Hard discs these days can be up to 1000 gigabytes on the high end. Thats a lot of space! Don't settle for anything less that 200 gigabytes or more on a new computer with Windows XP. Go for 400 or more for Windows Vista. Also there are different technologies of hard drive transfer rate, or speed. An ATA hard drive is old technology. Look for Serial ATA 150, or even better, Serial ATA 300.

Watch out for packages that mix the old with the new. For example: If the computer you are looking at has the latest CPU, but an older video card or memory, then it probably wont perform like it has the latest CPU. And if the manufacturer is not saying whats in it, don't buy it!

There are a multitude of other specifications involved with performance of computer components. If you feel up to it, do some research and consider these other specs as well. But if you are like most people, too busy, or too confused by it all, focus on the ones mentioned in this article. You'll be glad you did!

Learn more about this author, David A. Goodwin.
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