Top Twelve Tips to look for when buying a new PC or Laptop
Lot of people have been asking me “What should I look for when buying a new PC or Laptop.” Okay, here is my top twelve things to look for when buying a new PC or Laptop
1. Buy the latest and greatest Technology that you can afford. Technology moves fast and many retailers are selling older technology if you buy old stuff you will be buying again in 18 months instead of 3-4 years.
- 2.0 Multi Core is the latest 4 (quad) or more. I have seen 6 or 8 cores. These are multiple CPUs on one chip. Not multiple CPUs. Also know that AMD is not a bad name any more they are not HOT temperature wise. Intel is okay too. Stay away from the Atom, that is Intel’s cheap low end Celeron type CPU.
- 3. RAM. RAM lots of RAM 4-8 Gigabytes worth. You can settle in the middle with 6 Gigabytes. Newer RAM is cheap, upgrading older machines is expensive. The operating systems eats memory for lunch. For Gaming and multimedia the more RAM, the better.
- 4. Speed. The Chip manufactures have gotten away from the speed wars and want to speed up the other parts of the computer. So 2.5GigaHertz or better is good.
- 5. Hard Drives. That depends on what you want to do with your machine. 600 gigabytes is about the norm. But you can get 1-2 Terabytes. That’s 1 Million Million bytes. That may seem like alot but add Music and Movies and you are full. For backup…and You need backup. Buy a 2 Terabyte external USB drive. Backup frequently. That way you won’t loose your precious data. Since it’s external you can use it on all of your machines.
- 6. Graphics. This could be a deal breaker but I think the Graphics Card is the most important part of the machine next to the CPU. Get a good card with HDMI output. This will plug into your monitor or TV. Make sure it’s 1080p. If no HDMI is available at least a Digital connector that you can purchase an adapter for, Usually $15. The prices for upgrading graphics adapters range from $50 to $600 depending on your gaming requirements (If any). Also if you have a small low profile desktop you might be limited because there is not many small low profile graphics cards available.
- 7. Monitors. Instead of a LCD monitor you could buy a 24-36 inch HDTV. The price can be found under $300 and you can stream movies off of the Web. In High Def. 1080p. That’s cool.
- 8. Don’t worry about upgradability. The technology will change too much by the time that you want to upgrade and you’ll find nobody wants to do it or if they do, it’ll be too expensive comparing to buying a new computer.
- 9. Laptops. Low end laptops are all over. The low end machines utilize desktop CPUs, so there goes the battery life. Mobile processors are better. Look for Mobile in the CPU name if you can (this is not “cast in stone”).
- 10. There are two types of laptops. Retail and Business. Retail laptops have a shorter life span and usually have older technology in them. They also, are not easy to get parts for after the sale. Business machines, on the other hand, cost more, they have longer warranty, are modular in design ( making it easy to swap out bad parts), last longer and are more durable. You just have to weigh the cost.
- 11. Extended warranties are not a bad Idea, for laptops, Especially if they cover broken screens.
- 12. Operating system. Windows 7 is the standard. Stay away from the starter version. They have taken out all of the cool stuff. They want you to upgrade. You need HOME Premium. Most machines have windows Premium. If you have more than 2 Gigabytes of RAM, you will need to use the 64bit operating system.
Take your time when buying. Buying by impulse can get you into trouble. If you buy older technology, you could be buying another machine again in 18 months or less, instead of 3-4 years.
Mostly, buying a machine depends on what you are going to do with it. Since nobody knows what tomorrow will bring, we buy the most we can afford.
I’m not going to cover ultralight notebooks, Netbooks ( which are obsolete) and Tablets. Let’s leave that for another day.
I would only consider clones if you are building your ultimate gaming machine. Keep in mind you’ll pay for it.
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