September 13, 2001

Considering buying a new PC? There are a lot of things to consider so I'll attempt to give you my suggestions which may be helpful in making your buying decisions. 

First, let's talk about what brand of computer to buy.  Please do yourself a favor and do not buy a computer from the guy down the street or the guy a friend told you about who builds computers in his garage. There are huge performance differences between these computers and commercial computers.  To keep from getting technical, it makes a difference how everything is married together and also how difficult it is to update things like the heart of the computer (the BIOS), and later on to keep up with hardware and operating system changes.  In the long run, you will spend more money in support and be less than happy, so get a good system to start with. 

It's just my opinion, but I prefer Gateway or Dell.  Also, be aware of the pitfalls of purchasing a computer at a retail store.  Many computers, like Compaq and Hewlett Packard, do not come with CD's or floppies with hardware drivers (these are the software used by Windows to make everything work). The reason this is a major concern, if you need to reload a driver, for instance, your sound card isn't working properly, with these systems you will have to format and reload the computer to the original software which was installed when you got the computer.  The result, all your data files are gone, all your e-mail, all the programs you installed, everything, just to reload a driver.  Make sure the system you buy comes with ALL the software disks, and drivers which can be installed without doing a full system restore.  In fact, the latest computers from Compaq and H-P don't even come with the software disks.  The installation programs are on a hidden partition on the hard drive.  Why is this a concern?  What if your hard drive dies after the short warrantee these vendors offer and you replace it?  Your installation programs and software are not there.  I'd be willing to bet you would have a heck of a time trying to get all the software from them at that time.  Another thing, what if you try to sell the computer. Is someone going to want to purchase a computer with no software?  Will Compaq or H-P furnish them software in the event they need it? 

Another very strong argument for purchasing a quality computer, documentation and upgradeability. Try calling the guy down the street in a year and asking him what the latest BIOS upgrade is to support the new Windows operating system you just purchased or ask him for the updated drivers for your sound card. 

Next, the processor.  If you do some research prior to purchase, you'll find there are different strokes for different folks. If you are basically running standard office type applications and not doing any gaming, you need a different system.  My advice, if you want to play games, get a game machine such as Nintendo or whatever, you'll be happier.  If you want stereo music, get a home entertainment system.  A computer is a tool and even though you can do some of these things on them they are not designed to do these things really well. If you look at performance test results in computer magazines, the processor speed only affects the tests slightly on office applications.  The biggest differences are in the time it takes the programs to start up and these are minimal.  If price is no object, go for the fastest, if price is a consideration, you don't need the fastest.  A good case in point is the new Pentium 4 processor.  The processor is much faster than the previous Pentium III but since the Microsoft Office applications were not written specifically for the P4, the applications do not perform as well on the P4.  Go figure, now, do you go out and spend $500 for an updated Office package when it becomes available just to increase your speed by 5%? 

The hard drive is another dilemma, do you need a humongous hard drive?  If you are going to download a lot of music files or take a lot of digital pictures, maybe a large drive is a good idea.  Having a large drive is not an excuse for not backing up.  The more data you have the larger the problem if you have a crash and don't have stuff backed up.  Maybe a medium size drive with a CD burner is a better choice. 

Memory is a subject you can get a myriad of opinions about.  I personally don't see any need to get more than 512 megabytes of RAM in a computer.  Today's technology doesn't allow efficient use of any more than that and tomorrow you will be getting a new computer anyway, so again, if price is no object, get as much as you want. 

Sound cards for most stuff are mostly the same.  For a computer, I'd rather get a good video card and upgrade a notch on the monitor resolution, money better spent.  For backups, etc. you can't hardly beat a CD burner.  Lots of space and inexpensive media.  Since I originally wrote this discussion, DVD burners have become common place and I recommend you order one on your PC.

Modems, again as far as most people are concerned, there are not sufficient differences to make it worth any additional money to upgrade.  You can't connect at 56K with today's phone lines anyway.  Put your money here in ADSL or cable service. 

Stay away from Windows 2000, until Windows XP comes out, get Windows ME.  The jury is still out on the upcoming Windows XP.  I think the computer and software manufacturers are making a huge mistake to get it to the point where people will have to call them to get configuration numbers every time they make a change in their system.  I think this will spell the end of computer market growth, but that's just my opinion.  People don't want Big Brother telling them what to do.

In summary, I think every person needs to evaluate what they are going to use a computer for before purchasing a system.  Long range goals are also fine but realize the way computers and hardware are continually changing, the average life expectancy for a system is three to five years, maximum.

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