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Your Journey Through the MinefieldJun 13 '00 Write an essay on this topic.That is exactly what buying a computer is to a beginner. It is a minefield. And at any given moment you could take a wrong step and end up with, well you could actually end up with an explosion. Do the right thing and read the rest of this editorial. There are 3 things; there are always three things, to consider when buying a computer for the first time. First, and definitely most important, is to decide on what you want the computer for. Sure this sounds easy, but many people are not really sure. Do you want it for e-mail? For informational web browsing? Or do you want to make money in e-commerce? Maybe you want to play the latest 3D games and annihilate your online opponents. You should decide, in as much detail as you can what you want to do. Now comes the easy part. Simply match your needs, and wants, with a computer. Do not listen to salesmen. Do not go for the super fast computer unless you absolutely need it. And most of all don't worry that the computer you buy, no matter how advanced it is, will be obsolete before you get it home. Remember you are buying this computer for only certain reasons. Here is a basic match up of the main details that you should be looking for in a computer based upon your usage. You will use your computer mainly for e-mail and basic web browsing. You don't want or plan on doing much more. Maybe some word-processing? I, a Macintosh hater, would recommend that you get and Imac. Imacs are very easy to install and have all that you will need. The Imac you buy should not cost more than $999. That is the basic Imac package and you will have everything you need, a monitor, a mouse, a keyboard, and all of the accessories. But for some people $999 is more than they are willing to spend on a computer. In that case you should look at a $799 Dell Dimension or a similar computer. This includes all the necessary components (monitor, keyboard, mouse, wires, and software), and is $200 less than the Imac. One last note for those of you who fit this category. Be very careful around the bargain computers. The ones that advertise as being $500 or sometimes less are often that cheap only because they lack a monitor, an essential part of the computer (don't leave the store without one), or they require that you sign up for 3 years of their internet service at a steep price. If you are planing on using your computer for the above and for some more intense games. Maybe your family will be sharing the computer and you want to have something for your children, that allows them to play games on it. And you want to be able to run a web browser, a word processor, a financial program, and a few other odds and ends all at the same time. Then I suggest you just increase the budget by $100. And get a computer with a faster processor, possibly around 500 MHz if you get a good deal, and also making the RAM goes up to 64MB maybe more. Also you might consider getting the same type of computer as the previous article discusses. This will save you some money. And you might not need a 500 MHz processor if you don't plan on having lots of programs running at the same time. The choices are up to you. Now here come the heavy hitters. If you plan on using your computer for large graphics manipulation and 3D games that require the latest graphics cards. Or you will be doing some other processor killing activity, like playing DVD movies and games or burning your own CD, I suggest you go ahead and buy near the top of the line. But this will cost you a pretty penny. For a near top of the line computer I will estimate, also assuming you will only limit yourself to a 1Ghz processor and 20Gb of hard drive space, around $3,000 give or take depending upon what options you choose. Now for the people who plan on having a web or ftp server on their computer. Your selection is the hardest of all. Because you must know specific details of your needs the decision is harder than the rest. First and foremost the decision is how big will your web site be? How many visitors will you most likely get? We will assume you will start out as a medium sized e-commerce site. For this you will need a fairly fast processor, but not much of a hard drive. So let us fix you up with a computer with a 700 MHz processor, but only a 4.5 GB hard drive. Now you should also consider a few other important issues, such as connection. You will need a fast connection to the Internet. I will suggest you get a 10/100 NIC (Network Interface Card) and a 56k V.90 modem just for safe keeping. Next is the monitor, which unlike other computer packages is not that important. You should get a 15" unless you think you will want more. In general servers do not need big, or any monitors. Now this could cost anywhere from as little as $1,500 to as much as $2,500. Another choice is the self-contained "snap-in" servers that you use to add a web server to your current computer. They generally run less than $1,500 and are easy not that hard to install. Well now that you know your basic options the choice on what computer to buy is yours. Just remember that there are a lot of bad deals out there, but if you're smart and know what you need, you can find the perfect computer for you.  |
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