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How to choose a computer? Well that's a fairly complicated question... especially as you get into high-end systems that are out there on the market nowadays! For ordinary dudes and geeks alike, a computer is the same, at least I hope. It's a simple machine to perform calculations. Think again! Today, you can buy very complicated, yet not very expensive, high performance desktop computers.

Buying a desktop computer or a notebook (laptop) can be fairly complicated. If one wants mobility, a notebook is the obvious choice. But for raw power, a desktop is called upon. A desktop that's worth about 1000 dollars might be 2 times more powerful than its price-equivalent laptop computer. Ask yourself what you want a computer for? It is email and average internet usage? Or is it something more demanding such as video decoding and gaming? How do you want to spend? After those steps, your choices get narrowed down.

Two obvious things you first should look at are:
-Processor speed - After all it's the brain of the computer.
-Amount and quality of the RAM This is used by programs to perform necessary tasks while the computer is on the more the better!

People look into the high end quad-core processors that start off at about $180 for a Q6600 processor. Those are the average nowadays. I've recently purchased one, for my custom build, and I can say any person going from a Celeron 2.8 GHz processor should feel a difference. If not, you either have 3 of your logical processors turned off, or you just are very careless.

Let's start off simple, let's continue discussing the processor or CPU (Central Processing Unit). It is the brain of the computer. If you don't have a good processor but loads of RAM then the extra RAM would be useless! It is vital to your wallet to achieve this perfect balance between your processor speed and your RAM power.

Some recommendations:
Gamer: Core i7 920/ i7 940
Average Joe: Core 2 Duo Q6600/ Q9400
Internet Computer: Core 2 Due E6600

Now for the RAM... The RAM is like the helper of the processor. It gives programs power to open and to work. The more RAM, the more applications you can run at the same time. The more MHz the ram operates at, the faster the information travels thought it. Personally I recommend DDR2 ram, it's fast and reliable and very inexpensive!
Now for some recommendations:
-Gamer: 3 Gb or more of DDR3 1600 RAM on windows XP (4 Gb on Vista and Windows 9)
-Average person: 2 Gb or more of DDR2 800 RAM (3 or more Gb on Vista

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