Tips on buying a computer
Everyone has their own needs and financial standing. Buying a computer is a very expensive plan. The computers also outdate themselves before you get your money's worth. Before buying a computer, it is good to sit down and decide what you are going to use the computer for and also what your plans are down the road. There is cheap systems on the market that are fine for some users but the cheap system can be an expensive system for others down the road if you end up needing to upgrade. Below is some information to consider when you are purchasing a system.
- Should I buy a new computer or upgrade the one I have
- What the system will be used for
- What kind of computer you will need in the future
- Deciding on the features of the system
- Memory
- Video Card
- Hard Drives
- Sound cards
- Modems
- Processors / CPUS
- Power Supplies
- Printers
- CD-ROM DVD-ROM CDRW DVD-RW DVD+RW DVD+/-RW
- Operating System
- Portables / Laptops
- Where to Buy From
- Sales
Should I buy a new computer or upgrade the one I have
This is tough question and a question that only you can answer. However here is some pointers to consider.
- What are the requirements of the programs I currently need to run?
- What are the requirements of the programs I need to run in the near future?
- Does the programs you have work with the operating system that you are purchasing
- Does my system meet the requirements of the two points above?
- What will it cost me to upgrade my system to meet the requirements?
- What would it cost me to purchase a new system to meet the requirements?
- Does the upgraded system offer further upgrading capability?
- Does the new system have ability to upgrade in the future?
- What is the cost difference between upgrading and purchasing a new system?
What are the requirements of the programs I currently need to run?
Does your current system meet the requirements for the programs you are currently running? Is the programs sluggish or the system hangs? If you are having issues with the current programs, is it due to the age of the computer or is it corruption in the software? You may want to use the software troubleshooter to see if the issues you are having is software related and can be fixed without getting a new system.
What are the requirements of the programs I need to run in the near future?
Do you have an idea what software you need to use in the near future? If you do, do you know if your current system meets the requirements for that software? When you are looking at the requirements, don't accept the minimum requirements as means to determine if your system meets the requirements. Usually the company that makes the software will give the minimum requirements as bare minimum. This means the software will run but not run efficiently.
Does the programs you have work with the operating system that you are purchasing
Sometimes a program will not run on newer operating systems. You should check with the manufacturer of the program and Microsoft to see if they know it will work or not. If it is a program that you have to have, you may not want to upgrade to a newer os or keep the old system to use the program with.
Does my system meet the requirements of the two points above?
If your system does meet the requirements than you might be able to just upgrade your system.
What will it cost me to upgrade my system to meet the requirements?
You will need to determine what parts of your system you need to upgrade to get it to the level that you need the system to be at. If you decide, you need more memory and a bigger hard drive, then look at the costs to upgrade both parts.
What would it cost me to purchase a new system to meet the requirements?
Decide what is the requirements you need in a system in order for it to run efficiently as you need it. Once you determine that, then look at different manufacturers and price the systems that match the requirements that you need. Once you do that, you will have an idea how much it will cost you to purchase a new system.
Does the upgraded system offer further upgrading capability?
When you do upgrade the system does it have the capability to be upgraded further if you decide later, you need to add to it? That is a factor that may or may not be an issue down the road. This is a personal decision that only you can make. Others cannot make it for you. A system may seem adequate for me for a long time, may not be adequate for you. It is personal preferences.
Does the new system have ability to upgrade in the future?
Does the new system offer options to upgrade later? To some this may be an important issue but to others it may not.
What is the cost difference between upgrading and purchasing a new system?
You will need to look at the costs to upgrade the system that you determined above. You then need to look at the costs that it will cost you to buy a new system. Once you compare the two, you will need to also decide possible future upgrading capability on the system you upgrade and the future possibility of upgrading the new system. Once you look at all those factors, you can make an educated decision.
Best thing to do is to make a list of what the requirements you need or want to have in the system. Make a list of what requirements your system does not meet and see how much it would cost to add those parts to your system. Make a third list of what the prices of new systems would cost and compare the three lists. This will help you make an educated decision on which route to take.
Trying to decide to upgrade or buy a new computer is a decision each individual has to make. No one will have the same view on this. What may appear too expensive to me, may be fine for you.
Below is information to consider also when deciding what you need.
What the system will be used for
If you are using the system for word processing (Microsoft Word, WordPerfect), Excel, Presentation, Database such as Access, getting on the internet, and low end games such as card games, board games and other low end games you don't need a high end system. A low end system will work.
If you do, high end graphics work such as AutoCAD, or play high end games, you will need a medium to high end computer system.
What kind of computer you will need in the future
You will also need to decide if you are going to need to upgrade down the road. Some systems will not allow certain parts of the computer to be upgraded. You might be able to add parts but it can be expensive or may not work correctly. It may be cheaper to buy a more expensive system at first if you are planning on upgrading the system. Buying a more expensive system may end up being cheaper down the road if you plan to upgrade.
Deciding on the features of the system
Computer companies offer different size memory configurations as well as how many sticks of memory that is in the system. It is cheaper to purchase four 128 meg chips to make 512 than it is to sell one 512 meg chip. However buying four 128 meg chips will fill up all available slots on the motherboard.
This is fine as long as you don't need to upgrade later. To explain this I am going to use a couple of scenarios. For these scenarios, I am going to use the following price for the memory. A 128 meg chip costs $100. A 256 meg chip costs $200. These scenarios are not using RDRam memory. RDRam requires all slots to be used and therefore will cost the same on any scenario you choose. This is for systems that don't require two or more sticks to post. Click here for information on memory.
Newer operating systems require more memory than older systems. Never take the minimum requirements that Microsoft states the operating system needs. Majority of times the minimum that they say the OS needs will allow it to run but it will be slow as ever. For example, Vista states 512 to 1 gig of memory but you will see the system drag unless you have at least 2 gigs of memory. Here is more information on the amount of memory to purchase
Scenario one
You have four slots on your motherboard for memory and you have four 128 meg chips for a total of 512 megs of memory. You decide to upgrade so you will have a total of 640 megs of memory.
Since all slots are full, you will have to remove a stick of memory. Now you have only 3 sticks of memory for a total of 384 megs of memory. To get your memory to 640 megs, you will have to purchase a 256 meg chip. Therefore you have to spend $200 to upgrade to 640 megs.
You also have a stick of 128 that you are now not using.
Scenario Two
You have four slots on your motherboard for memory and you have one 512 meg chip of memory. You decide to upgrade so you will have a total of 640 megs of memory.
To do this, you will have to purchase a 128 meg stick of memory. In this scenario, you will only have to insert a stick of memory. You will not have to remove a stick of memory.
The cost of the upgrade is $100 because you don't have to replace any memory to increase the amount of memory that you have.
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Integrated
i. Uses low end graphics
ii. Not designed for high end games
iii. Not designed for autocad
iv. Many systems that has integrated video does not have an AGP or a PCI slot for a video card so can’t upgrade because of it. (Some systems do have both integrated and a video card expansion slot)
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Not integrated (card installed)
i. PCI (new version of PCI)
1. This slot is faster than the AGP video cards
2. This slot is not to be confused with the older PCI slots
3. This PCI slot is only for video cards.
4. The other PCI slots are for modems, network cards, and other cards. You can also put an older version of PCI video card in the slots (but they have issues. An older PCI video card doesn’t always work)
ii. AGP
1. Not as fast as the PCI
2. Comes in 4x and 8X configurations (The motherboard has to be compatible for the 8X to use the 8X)
If you plan on using an integrated video card but feel you may want to upgrade to a better video card down the road, you may want to make sure the motherboard has the AGP or PCI slot for adding a video card down the road. If it doesn't, you will have to buy a new motherboard, or a new system (Some manufactured computers will not take motherboards that are not made by that manufacturer. Dell computers will not accept 3rd party motherboards for example. In this situation, you would have to buy a new computer)
Hard drives come in different sizes. The size requirements increase as the size of the software increases. At the moment, I wouldn't recommend a drive smaller than 40 gigs.
Some things to consider
TV recording, movie recording, and music downloads consumes hard drive space. You can fill up an 800 gig hard drive quick with TV and movie recordings. Music downloads don't take up as much space but can consume hard drive space.
If you do record TV recordings or movies, you may want a second drive to save them too so your drive C will not get full and slow the system down. You may also want to burn them to a CD to conserve hard drive space.
If you are storing your files on the main drive with your operating system and you feel you will want to replace your drive for a larger hard drive down the road, it will be a good idea to get the larger drive from the start. When you go to replace the drive, you will have to save your files to transfer them to the other drive. When you do this, you always stand a chance of forgetting a file that you need and therefore do not have access to it (unless you put the old drive back in). If you keep your files on a different drive then this is not an issue. You can just put a new drive in.
My suggestion is to have two external hard drives. Keep all your important files on one external hard drive, and use the other external drive to back up the other external hard drive. This way if your first external hard drive dies, you have it on the second one, or if the second one dies, you have it on the first external drive. This will free your c drive that has your operating system from having important files. If your operating system gets corrupted and you need to reinstall, just unplug the external drives, reinstall the operating system, reinstall any programs you want, plug the external drives back in and your up and running. For more information on the size of hard drive, click here.
For most people, integrated sound cards will work. However if you are into audio, you may want to get a PCI sound card. The integrated sound cards do not have all the features that the PCI cards offer.
Today just about all modems will work on the system. Some brands may be more sensitive to noise and other variables than other brands but other than that, there is not much to choose from.
There is currently two different types of processor. You have the Celeron and the Pentium. The Pentium is a faster processor, but for those that are just going to surf the internet and use office, a Celeron would be fine. If you do high intensive use, a Pentium would be a better choice. There is also processors from AMD. I have never used AMD but I hear they are just as good if not better than Intel. You will have to research and make your own opinion on whether it is better or not.
Low end systems may user lower wattage power supplies. They may or may not be strong enough for all the items you may want to run on your system. You will need to consider what the size of your power supply is and the needs that you have. A low end system may be fine for all your needs but you need to be aware that there may be some limitations. For example, there is self powered and non powered USB hubs. Self powered uses a power cord that you plug into an outlet for the hub to get power. a non powered USB hub uses the power supply on the computer to power the hub. A low end power supply may not have enough power to run them.
You have a choice of USB connection or Parallel. Parallel is going away so it will be better to get a printer that has USB capability. Preferably with USB 2.0 capability.
CD-ROM DVD-ROM CD-RW DVD-RW DVD+RW DVD+/-RW
Most people have two CD-ROM drives. Either a CD-ROM drive or a DVD-ROM drive for the top drive and a CD-RW or DVD-RW drive on the bottom. There is also different versions of the DVD-RW. For info on them click here.
My recommendation is to get a DVD+/-RW drive. They are very handy to have for backup purposes and other uses.
There is Windows XP Home, Windows XP Professional, Windows XP Media Center, and Windows XP 64 bit. For most people Windows XP Home will be fine to use. If you want to watch TV, you may want the Media Center version.
Some people are getting the 64 bit version because it is newer and supposedly faster. However, there is many devices and software on the market that will not work with the 64 bit version at the moment. This is usually the case when a new version of windows becomes available. If you do want the 64 bit now and not later, I would check the manufactures website on your hardware and software to see if they will work with the 64 bit. Even if they say it is compatible, I have seen people have issues with the 64 bit.
Vista has come out and offers different levels depending on what you need or want. Review all versions to determine which one offers the capabilities that you need. Some older programs may or may not work with Vista. Some hardware will not work with it as well. Review the devices and software you have to see if they will work with Vista. May manufacturers are selling Vista systems with 1 gig of memory. I strongly recommend at least 2 gigs of memory if not more. My system is over 3 years old using Windows XP Professional and it is much faster than the systems that just came out with Vista that is only using 1 gig of memory. Microsoft will say it will work fine with 1 gig of memory but I disagree. It will run but you will not see the speed that you should on a new system.
Many computer companies offer a complete care package. This covers the computer for damage caused by dropping, storms, water spillage and other items that is not normally covered by the warranty. With portables / laptops, I highly recommend the complete care package. They get damaged very easy.
This is a tough one. A local shop may allow you to get more personal help where a major computer company like HP, Dell, Gateway so forth will do the support over the phone and it maybe techs from over seas. However the systems from a local computer store may cost you more, or may be less quality, due to the fact that the large computer companies can buy the parts at wholesale where local shops can't. Here is some things to consider when deciding where to buy the computer.
- Decide what is the features that you want.
- Decide if there is any features you may want to upgrade later and make sure they can be upgraded.
- Go to several computer stores and compare the prices of their systems.
- Call Dell, Gateway, HP and other online vendors and see what they offer.
- Be sure to check out how long their warranties are for and exactly what they cover.
- Check the boards, such as Smart Computing and other boards and magazines to see what they say about different models.
- Contact the Better Business Bureau to see if they have received many complaints about the company.
- See if and what is the return policy is. (some charge restocking fee)
- Decide what software you want to come with the system.
- Some companies don't send the CDs for the software unless you specifically request them. I strongly suggest getting the operating system CD. They will tell you the CD is not needed because there is a restore partition on the hard drive to restore the system to default settings if your operating system needs to be reloaded. That is fine as long as the issue is software, but if it is hardware, such as a hard drive failure, you will loose the restore partition as well. In the case of a hard drive failure, you won't be able to install the operating system without the CD and it may take awhile for you to get a replacement CD.
Stores have sales periodically throughout the year. There is also no tax day twice a year. You can find a good deal sometimes on the sales. However beware of sales. Sometimes a sale is not a sale. You may actually be paying more or the same on a sale. For example some stores (not all stores do this but some do so you have to watch) will raise the cost of the a computer during no tax day so they will get more for the computer for themselves. The customer thinks it is a savings because there is no tax on it but doesn't realize that the store raised the price of the item. It is best to know what the price is for the item on non sales days. This way you will know if it is a sale or not.