Desktop PC Buying Guide
There are unlimited options to buying desktop personal computers nowadays. In fact, many desktop computers are so affordable that families can afford to have a computer for each individual member of the family.
But before buying a desktop PC, it is extremely important to assess your skills and assess the reasons why you need the computer. If you are buying a computer for a non-technical person who only needs some documents processing and internet activities like browsing and emails, then a computer with minimal components may be the practical choice. But if you are buying a computer for heavy graphics use like gaming or video editing, then you need to have a powerful video card, fast processor and high RAM capacity.
To be able to buy the best desktop computer package, you can mix and match the components depending on your need. Below are some descriptions of important components:
Processor
The processor is the brain of the computer system where the computation and logic processing takes place. The speed of a processor is indicated in computational cycles per second, or hertz. Today’s computers have at least 2.5 Gigahertz of processor speed and higher. If you are really on a tight budget and want to buy second hand computers, there are processors that have speeds of less than 1 Gigahertz, but don’t settle for slower than 700 Megahertz (1GHz equals 1,000 MHz) as they are hard to find support for.
Two of the most popular brands of processors are Intel (maker of the Pentiums) and AMD (maker of Athlon, Duron and Sempron). Generally, AMD processors are cheaper but Intel works closely with Microsoft making their processors better suited to the Windows operating system. Despite these differences, it is more important to consider the speed indicator than the actual brand. Intel labels their processor according to actual speed, say, 2.8 GHz Intel Pentium while AMD labels their processors according to the Inter counterpart like AMD Athlon 2800+ processor. A less expensive alternative to Intel’s Pentium is the Celeron processor but it is less powerful as well.
RAM Memory
Think of RAM memory as your physical work table. The lesser space you have, the lesser work you can simultaneous do.
RAM memory is the temporary storage place of the computer system where data and application are placed as you work on different applications. Windows XP requires at least 128 MB of RAM but with today’s many multimedia rich contents, it strongly advised that you get at least 512 MB of RAM. The price difference is not big anyway. In fact, it is increasingly common for home users to have at least 1 Gigabyte of RAM. This allows the user to open many different applications simultaneously.
Monitor
The two types of monitor available in the market today are the Cathode Ray Tube (CRT) and Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) monitors. A CRT monitor may be bulky but it is a lot cheaper and can provide a wider range of capabilities while an LCD can save you space and give less strain to the eyes but is more expensive and has less capabilities. As a general rule, if you are a graphics or multimedia person, you may want to get a large monitor above 21" (measured diagonally) with resolution not below 1280 by 1024 pixels so you can have bigger workspace for you graphics. If you only use documents, email and internet browsing, a 17" monitor is good enough.
Hard Drives
Selecting a hard drive has two main considerations: speed and capacity. Buy a minimum of 80 Gigabytes and 7200 revolutions per minute (rpm) speed. The price is not really expensive especially that the price just keeps going down every year. For better performance, you may want to buy hard drives that have a cache of 8 or 16 MB. Take note also that hard drives come in either IDE or serial ATA but their performances are almost the same.
Video Graphics Card
Many pre-packaged desktop computers have video output built in the motherboard, and for basic computing needs, this is already sufficient. But if you are heavy gamer and multimedia user, you might consider buying a separate video graphics card with at least 128 MB of memory and supports Directx 9. If you buy digital LCD panel, look for video cards with DVI connectors. PCI cards are the new types compared to the older AGP types.
Optical Drives (CD / DVD)
You choices optical drives include CD Read or Read and Write, DVD Read or Read and Write and combo CD/DVD Read and Write. You must bear in mind that a CD has a capacity of about 800 MB while a DVD can have up to more than 2 GB.
Network Adapter
For your home network with internet broadband connection, consider buying 10/100 Ethernet Card. A modem, although fast becoming obsolete, can still be useful if you use only dial up internet connection.
External Connectors
Modern desktop PCs need the latest external connectors to easily share data between smaller devices like cellular phones and other hand held personal digital assistants, multimedia devices like mp3 players and iPods. Make sure that you get the following:
Universal Serial Bus - at least 2 USB ports is already sufficient for you desktop PC. In case you need more, there are accessories for multiple ports USB hub that connects to one USB port on your desktop.
Firewire/IEEE 1394 - is a connector that is newer and faster than USB and mostly used in camcorders.
Operating System:
You have a choice among different flavors of Windows. For home users, Windows XP or Vista may be perfect for you. Generally, Windows is preferred choice for internet activities while MAC is the preferred choice for graphics and multimedia. If you want to save money and you have the technical capability, you may want to settle for Linux operating system which comes mostly for free. Linux comes in different distros like Debian, Ubuntu and Red Hat.
Warranty
It is extremely important that you check the how many months the warranty is. Try to read if the warranty includes parts replacements and service. Make sure the service center is near your place so you can get quick repair and replacement.
