I get asked this question a lot: "What should I be asking for when I buy my next computer?".  And it’s a very good question.  Everyone kind of knows what to look for in a car.  Or in a house.  But when buying a computer, there’s a lot of unfamiliar terms used like GB, MB, GHz, etc…  , and how much of each thing you get is different depending on what you do.

I’m just going to list some things that you should make sure you get, and then I’ll explain why.

When buying a new computer you should make sure it has the following:

1. At least 1 GB of memory.  If you can afford it, get 2GB of memory.  This will have the single biggest effect on how fast your computer runs.  Both Macs and PCs need at least 1GB to run normally.  With 2GB, they will both seem much faster once you start using them for real tasks.  You may not do that much with a computer now, but when you get a newer one, you might be surprised what you want to do with pictures, maybe even video.
2. At least a 2.0 GHz Core Duo processor.  Both Celeron and Pentium processor designs are on their way out.  Core Duo processors are going to be used for the next 5 - 7 years.  Software that you buy will run faster on these processors.
3. At least an 80 GB hard drive.  If you do anything with digital photos, music, or video, 80GB is a minimum size.  If you do a lot of any of these things, aim for 160GB or higher. 
4. A dedicated graphics card ( not "Integrated Graphics" )  This sound fairly technical, but it’s actually simple.  It just means that the computer you buy should have a dedicated card inside that is solely responsible for sending the information to your monitor.  Cheaper computers in the past have used "integrated graphics" which uses a low-powered card that’s built right into the main board of the computer.  These computers will have serious problems with newer operating systems like Windows Vista.
5. 802.11g, or 802.11n wireless built in.  You may not have wireless now, but chances are you will within the next 2 years.  WiFi is exploding in popularity and shows no signs of slowing down. 
6. No Microsoft Works.  This is a very old set of tools that Microsoft offers as an alternative for their ridiculously overpriced Office tools.  There are free alternatives that you can use that much better than Microsoft Works.
7. Windows XP if possible.  Almost every new computer will come pre-configured with Windows Vista.  If at all possible, see if you can get Windows XP instead.  There are too many reasons for this to list here, just take my word for it.
8. No Bundled Internet service deals.  This isn’t as popular as it used to be, but it’s still around in some places.  They’ll try to sell you a cheap computer, bundled with a 2 year contract to some company for internet service.  This is a bad way to save money, because then you’re stuck with that company even if the internet service is poor. 

This is just a basic list, but if you stick to these things, you’ll get a good computer that should last you. 

This entry was posted on Saturday, November 10th, 2007 at 12:11 am and is filed under Computers For Dummies. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.