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Computers - Buying Guide |
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Where do I start?
Computers are able to perform a broad range of tasks; depending on what you want, some computers may be more suited to your needs than others. much space do you have at home? How much are you prepared to spend? Do you want to be able to play DVDs? Do you want to be able to record and edit music? Are you going to be taking and editing lots of pictures, playing games, shooting video, or do you need a machine purely for word processing? First of all, consider where you will be using your computer, and what you want it to do.
Laptop or Desktop?
Should I buy a desktop or a laptop? What things should I look for or consider?
Size
The main difference between the two platforms is the most obvious one: Size.
The internal components of a desktop computer come housed in a protective chassis, which either lay flat across the desk or stand up on their narrowest side. The latter type of chassis is usually referred to as a tower, and is the most common form of computer case. Tower cases usually sit underneath the desk so that they do not take up any of the workspace. The monitor, keyboard, mouse, modem, router and other peripheral attachments are all attached to the tower separately.
Conversely, laptop computers are much smaller, lighter and much more portable, with the processor, all the drives, keyboard and tracker pad (in place of a mouse) all contained within one folding case, and powered by a rechargeable battery.
Even though the majority of the components are integrated within the laptop itself, it is possible to purchase a variety of extra accessories such as external hard drives, keyboards; an external mouse is often the most popular peripheral device bought for laptops as some users find using the tracker pad to be an awkward substitute for a mouse.
Many of today's laptops come with wireless Internet hardware installed, so that users can tap into a local connection or 'hotspot'. This can be from a router in the home, at an Internet caf?, university campus or hotel room.
The computer chassis of a desktop model is much larger than that of a laptop; inside there is plenty of space between all the components; this is to allow for ease of maintenance and the installation of new hardware or memory. Laptops generally do not have as much scope for upgrading out of the box as a desktop does, due to the compact nature of the interior.
Upgradeability vs Portability
The big plus in favour of buying a laptop it its portability. You can easily save your work, power off your machine, slip it into a carry case and take it with you to work, lectures, or wherever you need to with little fuss. Advances in laptop technology have seen them being used as portable entertainment systems, being able to play DVDs, movies and music with a quality comparable to that of a desktop machine.
The upgradeable nature of desktop computers, in particular PCs means that experienced users can modify and customise a desktop with a variety of additional graphics accelerators, sound cards, and RAM so that it can outperform laptops in some specific tasks such as, gaming, sound and video editing, despite modern laptops being as powerful as most desktops. Laptops are much more limited in this respect, due to the space, or lack of, although some laptops come with extra slots designed so that extras like graphics cards can simply be slotted straight into the machine without having to take it apart.
Power, Cost and Repairs
For a long time, desktops would outpace laptop computers when it came to processing speed and power. However, recent advancements in processing technology, and an increase in the amount of memory available for mobile devices means that a high-powered laptop can now rival desktops in performance. High-powered laptops are also typically bigger and heavier than standard laptops, and for these reasons, they are often referred to as 'desktop replacements'.
Due to the more sophisticated levels of design, a slower manufacturing speed is required to assemble a laptop; the price is usually much greater than that of a similarly-powered desktop. Also, because laptops take longer to build, they also take longer to repair.
As desktop computers are much easier to upgrade, they are also much easier to fix. It is also much easier to find a technician or find the components you need to get a PC fixed. It usually costs more to mend a laptop than a desktop because, as previously mentioned, components are smaller, more intricate and therefore it requires a greater degree of care and time to fix. There are some repair shops will only work on desktops, so make sure you know where you can get your laptop looked at if you need to. In some cases, manufacturers, such as Dell have their own technicians who will look at your machines for you and often undertake the repairs themselves.
General Pros and Cons
Desktop
Pros: Upgradeable, more powerful and less costly than similarly priced laptops, better hard drive storage space, easier to fix if something goes wrong.
Cons: Nowhere near as portable and space effective as a laptop, requires much more power to run.
Laptop
Pros: Lightweight, easily portable, can run on battery power, can be Wi-Fi enabled for extra mobility, extras such as external speakers can turn it into a portable music/video player. Ideal for students with limited space.
Cons: Less powerful compared to similarly priced desktops, difficult to upgrade and repair, less hard drive space, usually more expensive.
PC or Macintosh?
The PC/Mac debate has been raging for years, though neither platform is essentially 'better' than the other, and both platforms have their advantages and disadvantages. If you type 'PC vs. Mac' into a search engine, you will come across heated arguments between aficionados of both brands.
As with laptops and desktops, you have to consider what you want to get out of your purchase. To help you decide, we have weighed up the two platforms, considering their respective pros and cons.
Why buy a PC?
The Personal Computer is the most popular type of computer sold in the world. PC's are made by a number of companies such as Dell, IBM, Compaq, Acer and many others.
PCs are cheaper than Macs not only to begin with, but also because of the scope for customisation and upgradeability. It is possible, once having bought a PC, to extensively upgrade your machine with extra drives and memory, and eventually faster processor, and to keep doing this as newer components become available on the market ? more often than not, this is much cheaper than simply buying a new PC three years later. The more customisable nature of the PC format means that users can buy parts that are specific to what they want their machine to do, be it for gaming, business purposes or sound editing.
The main advantage to buying a PC is having the most compatibility with all available hardware and software in the market. This is why the PC is considered to be the 'gamer's choice'. PC users are generally better catered for, as there are more dedicated retail outlets available.
The majority of users who are online access the Internet through a PC, and many websites support technology which is PC exclusive. People working in web design tend to choose PC's over Macs simply because they will be viewing their work in progress through what the most of the online community will be viewing it through.
The disadvantages that come with PC's stem largely from their main strengths ? customisability and net access. As there are so many different components all manufactured by different companies all competing for a market share, conflicts are likely to arise in heavily customised systems. That most people use PC's to surf the web also means that they will be the prime target for hackers and malware.
Why buy a Mac?
Macintosh computers are generally more expensive than an average PC, though in recent years, prices for the more basic machines like the iMac have been falling. The general rule of thumb however, is that a new desktop Mac is going to cost more than a PC of similar power.
Over the last few years, Macs have risen to become serious competitors to PC's, due to dramatic increase in the quality and speed of all their machines since the iMac, G3/G4/G5 series Macs, and the operating system Mac OS X. Macs are manufactured by Apple, who work in partnership with other computer firms such as Intel as well as a number of industry-related third parties.
The biggest plus with buying a Mac is that every Mac out of the box is the same; a Mac is a Mac is a Mac, or as Apple's advertisements say, 'It just works'. A PC can be upgraded and fine-tuned for high performance, and subsequently require a much higher level of maintenance ? for many, the extra cost of a Mac is worth it, in that it is less of a headache to keep things running smoothly. Apple place a lot of emphasis on making sure that using a computer is as intuitive and user-friendly as possible, and that their products are reliable. Macs also tend to suffer less from viruses than PCs, although this is attributed to the fact that most people use PCs to browse the internet, which is the main place where viruses are transmitted.
Even though modern PC's can match Macs in terms of graphical capabilities, Apple have a close working relationship with the press and design industry, the result of this is that Mac users have exclusive access to typefaces and fonts as well as Colorsync?, the industry standard for colour matching meaning there is virtually no difference between screen and print colour ? what you see on screen is what you get on the printout.
One of the main drawbacks with Macs is that the range of software is limited in terms of the volume of titles available for it, especially in terms of games. Most of the main programs run by Windows have their equivalent in Macs, for example MacOffice can do pretty much everything that Microsoft Office can. Last year Apple also released a trial version of Boot Camp ? a program that should enable Macs to run Windows XP, thus allowing Mac users to tap into the wider PC software market.
Another thing to take into consideration is availability ? as PC's are undoubtedly more popular, many computer stores do not have as wide a range of Mac peripherals, meaning that you may have to resort to buying online, meaning extra costs and waiting time for shipping.
Lastly, Macs are renown for the designs of their hardware ? if you want something that looks a bit more aesthetically pleasing than a grey oblong, then go for a Mac!
Optical Drives and Storage
Most computers come with a drive for playing CDs and DVDs and most will allow you to burn your own discs. It is becoming increasingly common to find that PCs come with a multi-format burner, which can record to a variety of different types of blank DVD as well as CDs. Adding one to a model that doesn?t come with one should only boost the price of your computer by around ?30 to ?40.
A DVD burner is essential for making your own videos and is also useful for backing up data, since DVD discs can hold much more information than a standard CD (4.5GB of data/9GB for a double-layered DVD, compared with a CD which holds 700MB). USB flash thumb drives (also known as ?key chain? drives) have become popular accessories, and have effectively replaced floppy discs for the portable storage of data. Whatever computer you buy make sure you take regular backups of all of your important data and make sure you install virus software and update it on a regular basis.
Which Processor/CPU?
The CPU (Central Processing Unit) is the brain of the computer. It interprets and carries out your instructions. A CPU is often referred to as a processor as well, and the more specific term microprocessor.
Processor speed, or clock speed, is normally identified by their speed in Gigahertz (GHz) and is effectively a measure of how fast it will execute your commands and essentially how fast your computer will run. Comparing the clock speeds of various processors is an effective way in determining a purchase.
There are many different types and configurations of CPU, and they are most often distinguished by their brand name, what types of components are used in the CPU's core, and by socket type. The two most commonly used processors used in PC's are manufactured by Intel and AMD.
Brands of CPU
Intel
There are many different Intel desktop processor product lines on offer, including those from the Pentium series, of which the Pentium 4 and Pentium D are the newest versions available for general use. Intel also manufacture the Pentium Extreme Edition and Core 2 Extreme for high-end games enthusiasts, as well as the budget Celeron D model.
For laptops, Intel makes the Pentium M, Core Duo/Core Solo, and Celeron M processors and the latest Core 2 Duo processors. With proper motherboard, you can build a desktop computer using these processors too. Intel's Xeon series processors are suited for large industry workstations and servers, and are priced accordingly.
AMD
AMD offer a similar range of processors tailored to specific markets. The Athlon 64 is provided for the mainstream segment, the Athlon 64 FX is designed for high-end users/gamers, and the Sempron caters for entry-level users. Mobile Athlon 64/Sempron and Turion 64 (X2) processors are AMD laptop processors, and Opteron is AMD's workstation/server product.
The CPU Core
The processor core manages and executes all the instructions. Brand names of processor core units include Northwood, Williamette and Prescott. It is possible to purchase multi-core CPU's processors which have more than one core unit ? dual-core CPU's having two cores, quad-cores having four, etc. In theory this allows for greater efficiency, as the workload would be handled by more than one component. Essentially, if built from scratch, multi-core processors compromised of older cores can be more cost-effective than a single new, more powerful, more expensive core. The AMD Athlon X2 and Intel's Pentium D are both dual-core processors.
Socket Type
The LGA775 is currently the mainstream socket type for Intel desktop processors, such as the desktop Pentium and Celeron series. The Socket AM2, Socket 939 and Socket 754 are the most popular/mainstream AMD desktop processor socket types.
The socket is the interface between the processor and the motherboard (the main circuit board inside a computer). If you are building a computer from scratch, you must make sure the processor socket matches the motherboard's socket and that the motherboard supports the particular model of CPU. Despite this, if you're upgrading by installing a new processor, the motherboard must be able to support it, otherwise your computer will not work.
What is Windows Vista?
What is Vista?
Released early this year, Windows Vista is the latest version of Microsoft's Windows operating systems used on PC's. Whilst introducing several new functions, Vista has features that previous users of Windows will be familiar with.
What's different about it?
The most noticeable difference between Windows Vista and previous incarnations of Windows is in the visual style of its layout. The taskbar, once traditionally rendered in grey, is now done over in black chrome, windows are now more animated and are transparent ? a lot of emphasis has been placed on Vista having a cleaner, more aesthetically pleasing user interface.
Many customary features of Windows PC's will change, such as Outlook Express, which will be replaced by the new Windows Mail. Searching for documents is now much easier due to Windows Search (commonly known as 'search as you type'), which highlights words and the names of documents as the user types. This feature is implemented throughout Vista Icons are larger and have a more vibrant design. A 'favourite links' menu has been added, similar to the Favourites on Internet Explorer, allowing faster access to programs.
Windows Media Player has received a major overhaul, with users being able to share music files over a network and connect with the Xbox 360 games console. Vista aims to increase connectivity between computers and portable devices on a home network, with better support for Wi-Fi enabled hardware.
Speech recognition, which previously only worked in certain applications on XP, has been vastly improved, recognising a greater vocabulary of words and now supporting more languages.
Is Vista secure?
Another marked improvement of Vista is its security - XP was criticised for its vulnerability to viruses and malware and lack of effective security updates. A wide variety of controls are available for users to safeguard their computers with. User Account Control means that users can restrict the installation and changing of programs and settings with an administrator name and password. User Account Control asks for these user credentials in a Secure Desktop mode, which temporarily blacks out the rest of the screen bar the authorisation window. This is designed to prevent hackers from phishing security information from users. Alongside this is a stronger version of Firewall, and Windows Defender, a program which alerts users of it thinks spyware is being installed.
Vista also includes parental controls that can blacklist specific words, preventing them from being entered into a search engine, coupled with activity reports to monitor what websites or programs were used whilst under parental control. All these security utilities will automatically update themselves, without the need for users to have to install programs manually.
Can I run Windows Vista?
With all these new and improved features, users running XP will want to upgrade to Vista in the near future. New PCs running XP that come with a "Windows Vista Capable" logo should be able to handle the transition, but it is important to note that Vista requires at least 1GB of memory to run, and that it would be a good idea to invest in a 64-bit processor in order to get the most of Vista's functions.
You can check the specifications of your PC against Microsoft's Vista Upgrade Advisor, which you can download at www.microsoft.com.
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