Q. I need to shop for a new computer but don't know much about them and don't know how to get the most for my money. How do I shop for a comp and know if it is a good price?
Please lay this out in simple terms for me.
I plan on using my comp for:
-internet
-music-ipod, burning cds
-pics-downloanding from digital cam
know I want microsoft office.
A. LOLOL! There are SOO many things to compare, and what you use it for also has to be taken into consideration in making a decision. Having said that, here are the minimums that you should definitely compare:
Apple or PC (Windows based system)
Hope you know which one you prefer lol.
Hard Drive Size.
This determines how much information/data you can store on your computer. It also affects the speed at which your computer functions. How big it should be really depends on what you do on your computer. But I'd at least get 80GB just for basic applications such as Internet Exploror, Microsoft Office, etc.
Type of Processor and Processor Speed (also called CPU)
This is an important factor that determines your computer's speed. The faster the processor, the faster applications will open aand operate
The latest one from Intel is Pentium Duo 2, but Pentium D or Pentium 4 is also good if you are not looking to get the latest.
Random Access Memory (RAM)
This determines the amount of memory that you can use at once. If you have a large RAM, you can run more programs at once. This also affects the speed at which programs operate.
For surfing on the net, using Microsoft Office, playing DVD movies, etc, 512MB is sufficient. If you wanna edit videos, connect an HD camcorder, etc, then, you need at least 1GB.
DVD drive:
First of all, most of the computers come with either 1 or 2 DVD drives. 1 is sufficient if you use it just to play DVDs and/or occasionally transfer/copy files from your hard drive to a DVD disk for storage or to backup your hard drive. You may want 2 DVD drives only if you frequently make copies of DVDs. In that case, you use one drive to insert a disk that already has files/data, and the other one to insert a blank DVD disk to copy the files onto. BUT you can always copy the files once to your hard drive, take out the disk, swap it with a blank disk and copy the files from the hard drive to the blank disk.
Another thing for you to check is if the DVD drive can write or not. Some DVD drives (called DVD-R) can only READ DVDs, which means you can play DVDs on your computer but cannot WRITE or copy files onto blank DVD disks. If you wanna save your files on DVD disks, you need to get a DVD-RW drive.
Lastly, there are single layer and double layer DVD-RW drives. With a double layer drive AND a double layer DVD disk, you can store twice as much information on one disk.
If you plan on using the computer to play games, the type of video card you get, in addition to Hard Drive/RAM/CPU, really matters. If you are a music lover and need good sounds, then a sound card matters.
You may also wanna check if it comes with basic soft such as Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, Outlook, Powerpoint etc.) if that matters to you.
Hope you 'd included more about how you plan on using your machine lol!
**** EDIT ******
Great!!!!! You added what you plan on doing on your computer. Yeeey! lmao!
Alright. I will lay out my suggestions for you assuming you are gettin a PC and this is ALL you use your computer for.
Hard Drive (HD): 80GB to 160GB
Processor (CPU): I only know about Intel so if you get Intel, either Pentium 4 / Pentium D 2GHz or faster, OR any of the Duo processor.
RAM: 512MB.
DVD Drive: Get a single layer DVD-RW dirve. If you keep transferring pictures onto your PC's hard drive, the HD will eventually get filled up. Then, you will want to copy them to DVDs or CDs to clear up the HD and improve HD's performance, lol.
ALL DVD-RW drives can write CDs.
It'll be nice if the deal includes Microsoft Office. But you can always purchase the package separately and install it.
Also, check how many USB ports the computer has. Many peripherals (keyboard, mouse, printer/scanner, etc) now use USB ports. Hopefully you have enough of them and you don't have to unplug any of the peripheral devices in order to hook up your digi cam or iPOD.
Good luck, hehe!
**** EDIT 2 ****
For instance, the cheapest one listed here:
http://www.dell.com/content/products/features.aspx/cto_dimene520?c=us&cs=19&l=en&s=dhs
will do. You may wanna add a monitor, get a DVD-RW drive (the cheapest one does write CDs but not DVDs), and Microsoft Office.
Again, check the number of USB ports and if you are very picky abount sounds that come out of the computer, you may want a better sound card than the default one.
How do I find on my computer where it tells whether my computer has a 64 or 32 bit processor?
Q. I have a Dell computer and it is currently running Windows XP. I ran a program called Tune-up System Optimizer and it says that I have a 64 bit processor but my computer is only using 32 of the available 64 bits. I want to check this out for myself...I have looked under everything I can think of in the control panel but I have not been able to locate any information that says anything about 64 or even 32 bits.
A. You need the 64bit version of windows. xp & vista both come in 64bit editions. actually, the software support for 64 isn't quite there yet for most applications. You can also run into a ton of problems finding drivers for 64 bit edition for most of your peripherals. Especially in vista, since it doesn't accept unsigned drivers. Almost impossible to find drivers for x64. If you play any games, you'll run into problems there as well.
x64 will definately take over eventually but it's really just not at the mainstream level yet. Any type of software support is gonna be minimal at best.
If you want to try it out the best advice is to use a 2nd drive or partition your main drive and keep your current windows available with a dual boot option.
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