Buying A New Computer

These days, practically everybody needs a computer. But before you go out there and make that purchase, there are basics considerations you must make. A good place to start planning a computer purchase is to decide what you will be needing the computer for. Is it for:

• writting and printing of a class paper?
• Sending of mails?
• Surfing the World Wide Web?
• Creating and publishing your own web pages?
• Making computer art or drawings?
• Creating charts and graphs?
• Playing 3-D computer games?

It is very important that you know what you want to do with the computer as this will help you in deciding the minimum system requirement.

Next is to find out what applications you will likely need. Once you have determined what applications you would likely need, you should compare products from software vendors. The goal, of course, is to find out which products would meet your needs. But, there is also another important issue. Each software application has recommended system requirements. You should always be sure that your system meets (at least) the minimum standards for using software that you will depend upon. If it does not, then the software may not work properly or at all. It is, however, strongly recommended to exceed the minimum standard for the software to work more efficiently with little or no trouble.

For example, the popular integrated software package Microsoft Office (including Microsoft

Word, Excel, Access, Outlook, Powerpoint, PhotoDraw, Frontpage, and Publisher) requires

a minimum of 128MB of RAM if used with the operating systems Windows 2000, XP, or later.

In addition, the programs themselves take up over 500 MB of hard disk space. An additional

100 MB of disk space is needed as a reserve for temporary files when the program is running.

It also recommends a CD or DVD drive for installation and a video monitor with at least

Super VGA resolution.

Suggested Basic considerations

processor type/speed

Ram (memory) size

Hard Disk space

Optical Drive type (CD-RW OR DVD)

Network connection type

Port Type (USB, Parrallel e.t.c)

Typical System Configuration

Intel Duo or Intel Dual Core 2 Processor (desktop)

Intel Mobile M / Centrino / Dual Core or Dual Core 2 Processor (laptop)

1GB or more memory

80GB or more disk storage (laptop)

160GB or more disk storage (desktop)

DVD/CD-RW Optical Drive

USB ports

Parallel port

100/1000 NIC

LCD Display

Built-in Wireless Ethernet Adapter (laptop)

USB Thumbdrive

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