With these basics, you can be sure that you are getting a decent
computer at a fair price.
Processor: this is the guts of the computer.
The processor is the CPU or central processing unit. Everything
that happens in a computer uses the processor, so the faster
it is, the faster your computer is. There are different types
of processors but the three most common are The Intel Pentium,
the Celeron, and the AMD Athlon. Each has its pros and cons,
but most computers come with Pentiums. Pentium 4 is the current
Pentium chip and you should not be buying anything less if you
are buying a new computer. The Celeron processor is a cheaper
processor and is a bit slower. However, for most home users,
the difference between Celeron, Pentium, and AMD is essentially
negligible. A decent speed would be anything above 2 gigahertz
(Ghz), but you can buy significantly faster or slower processors.
Memory: this is the second most important
component in a computer. Everything that happens in a computer
is stored temporarily in memory. The more memory you have, the
faster the computer processes information. This is because the
computer stores information temporarily in memory (Random Access
memory, hence RAM) and the more memory you have, the less frequently
the computer needs to read from the hard drive. The MORE the
computer reads from the hard drive, the slower the computer
seems. This is because memory is quickly readable while the
hard drive needs to spin and the information needs to be retrieved
from amongst all of the other data on the drive. Nowadays, you
would not want to buy a computer with anything less than 256
Megabytes (MB) of memory. I would recommend 512MB, but this
can begin to get costly.
Front-side Bus (FSB): This is the small area
that connects the processor with the memory. This is a little
known but very important number when purchasing a computer.
The faster the FSB (measured in Megahertz), the faster the processor
can talk to the memory and the faster things get done. This
number is usually given along with the amount of memory and
processor speed, but most people tend to ignore it. Beware of
computers that seem inexpensive and do not post this value along
with the other literature. A decent FSB speed is approximately
233Mhz, but 533Mhz is even better and is becoming the norm.
Hard Drive: Most users confuse memory with
hard drive size. The two are NOT related, but both are important.
Hard drives are simply used for storage. If you have a lot of
data (read: music, documents, pictures) then hard drive size
is important. This is where it is all stored, but the size of
the drive is not proportional to the speed of the computer.
Hard drives are measured in Gigabytes (GB). The average sized
drive of a PC today is between 20 and 100GB. I personally have
two 20GB hard drives in my home PC and space has never been
an issue for me. I have two drives because I added a second
from an old computer that I was throwing away, not because I
gained any added performance by adding a second drive. Make
sure you are getting at LEAST a 20GB drive, but 40Gb and 80Gb
drives are more and more common today. Most computers come with
a 40 or 80GB drive today as manufacturers know that most users
look at this as an important statistic in their decision making
process. One last component is the video card. This should not
be your deciding factor in purchasing a new PC, but look for
a video card that has approximately 32 Megabytes (MB) of onboard
memory. Video is important for games and graphic design, but
not for schoolwork or normal web surfing. My PC at home has
a 32MB video card, but I am not much of a gamer. When I do play
games, I have no issues at all and am more than satisfied with
the video performance.
This is how it all ties together: The memory
is a like a tunnel and the processor is like the number of lanes
in the tunnel. The front-side bus is equivalent to the speed
limit in the tunnel. If you have a small tunnel, you can’t
have many lanes. If you have a large tunnel (a lot of memory),
then it makes sense to have many lanes (a fast processor) and
have a faster speed limit (a fast Front-side bus speed). This
is the best way to get a lot of traffic moving through efficiently
– large tunnel, many lanes, high speed limit. Picture
a huge tunnel with only one lane, but a very fast speed limit
– or worse, a large tunnel, with several lanes –with
a speed limit of 5Mph - this would be extremely inefficient.
So, compared to a PC, you want a fast processor, a lot of memory,
and a fast front-side bus.
A baseline to use would be a 2Ghz processor, 512Mb RAM, and
a 533Mhz Front-side bus, with a 32Mb video card. This overall
is an excellent PC and you can begin tailoring from there. Maybe
you want a CD burner (CD-RW Drive), or even a DVD-RW drive.
These other peripherals can all be purchased after you buy your
PC, but the core components outlined above will help you select
your new computer that will satisfy your school and gaming needs
for several years.
Lou Costa is a Microsoft Certified Professional and Microsoft
Certified Systems Administrator. He is available at lou@arcbussol.com.
