How to Buy a Computer

There are many factors you have to consider while purchasing a computer. The basic question to be answered by you is, how are you going to use this computer? Make a list of how the system is going to be used by you and focus on the most important features you require for your work, so that your purchase will give you long term satisfaction.

There are various myths about the performance of a computer. In today's world many buy computers for purposes like e-mail, chatting and browsing. So if these are going to be your purchasing criteria, then you can opt for windows Xp or vista. There is common mis-understanding that the power of the machine contributes to the speed of the internet, which is not fully true. It mostly depends on the connection speed given by the Internet Service Provider. The most important aspect to be considered while purchasing a computer is the computer hardware. The memory space is very important if the computer is used for desktop applications. For gaming purposes, though the computer requires drive space, the most important feature is going to be the processing power and video memory.

Today there are various monitors available from low price to the high end monitors and you can purchase according to the weight of your purse. If you are a business person or a student, it is good to go for a laptop which can do everything a desktop computer does, but the cost is going to be higher than a desktop computer. The memory, drive space and the processing power also have to be evaluated. For any ordinary use a 1GB memory space would be sufficient but for gaming purpose, you require 3 or 4 GB memory space. The video card on the computer should have at least 128GB memory. The memory cache which is another important resource should be 1MB. To support the addition of programs, the drive space should be at least 100 GB. But for additional applications like photography and video editing, the drive has to be 250GB of space. The speed of the hard drive, which is evaluated in rpms (revolutions per minute) should be higher for laptops, 5400 rpms and for a desktop computer it should be 7200 rpms.

Regarding processors for your computer, some computers may require multiple processors. The processor speed in most of the new computers are 2.0 GHZ. Though this is acceptable for new computers, for gaming and processor intensive appliations, you may require at least 3.0 GHZ. For some operations it is better to opt for a dual core 2.0 GHZ processor than a single processor. The other factors to be considered are the expansion slot. For example if you have a video device which uses a Firewire port, ensure that the laptop or desktop you choose have them, as not all the computer will have the same peripheral devices. So it is good to consider all the above features before purchasing a computer.