Buying A Home Computer

Computer Shopping Tips & Information

How to shop for a computer

Before you head out to the store to buy a computer and listen to a sales talk on what to buy, do a little research and prepare yourself so that you can make an informed decision on the type of computer you decide to buy.

By research I don't mean just check out the sales flyers or prices at various stores.

For a start, Jot down what exactly you intend to get out of your computer. What do you want to use your computer for?

Will it be used just for browsing the internet, Will you use it for business applications (programs such as 'Word' or 'Excel')? Will your children be using it for their school projects? Do you plan to download music etc.

The idea being that you want to spend your money to buy only the features that you plan on using now and perhaps in the near future.

There is no point in spending money on some features that will be of no use to you. Regardless of what some may tell you that you only buy a computer once, be aware that technology is changing rapidly when it comes to computers and new and advanced features are being introduced in the market constantly.

It may be sooner than you think, that you may be out shopping again for a new computer. So plan and buy for your what you need now and keep your options open for newer things to come in the future.

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Tips for buying a computerr

√ Don't buy a computer because you only like to look of the machine. While choice of exterior look is understandable, its what's inside that should be your major concern.

√ What do you expect to do with your computer. This is a question you have to answer for yourself. Once you know what the purpose of your computer will be then you can get help on the hardware and software that you need to buy.

√ Most people are familiar with some basic parts of a computer. However for those who are not, here is a small refresher in simple language.

Hard Disk: This is the place on your computer where all your programs will be installed and files, photographs, music etc that you save on your computer will be kept on the hard drive. Consider your hard drive as the filling cabinet where you put all your files in and the place where you will retrieve them from.

Hard disk prices have come down quite a bit now so getting a larger hard disk should not upset your budget. While a 50 gigabyte hard disk is common now and more than sufficient for the average user, upgrading to a larger hard disk should be only a few dollars more.

RAM: Random Access Memory (RAM) is the computer memory that holds instructions and data.

There are two types of memory that you should be aware of when shopping for a computer.

1. DRAM: (Dynamic Random Access Memory)

2. SRAM (Static Random Access Memory).

In terms of speed, SRAM is faster. DRAM needs to be refreshed thousands of times per second while SRAM does not need to be refreshed, which is what makes it faster than DRAM. So when shopping for a computer you may go for a computer that has SRAM.

Don't buy a computer with less than one gigabyte of RAM. Modern programs use lots of memory. Two gigabyte of memory should be your target, depending on the cost of the upgrade.

While most programs will run with one gigabyte of memory there are several programs that will either run slow or not offer you all the programs features if you do not have enough memory. So memory is important when buying a computer.

NOTE: Please be informed that when adding more memory over 2GB, there is a possibility that you may reach a point where adding more memory will not  boost your performance of your computer. For most users 2 GB of computer memory is sufficient.