With the holiday season in full-swing, it’s a good time to think about new computers.  Are you confused about what you might need or want?  Let Prime Insight help you decide what’s best for your needs.

The best place to start when shopping for a new computer is budget.  Deciding your budget first, will help you figure out what you need.  While there are many features you may want, if they don’t fit into your budget identifying them now can help you decide later.

Next you need to decide on the form factor of the computer you want.  Do you need portability?  If so, then a laptop is in your future.  If not, you can get a MUCH more powerful computer, with expandability and upgradeability for less money in the form of a desktop.

You may also be wondering about Mac vs. PC.  This particular topic is beyond the scope of this article.  Some of the information contained below applies to both Mac and PC, but is written assuming you are shopping for a PC.

Ok, so now you have decided on a PC in either a laptop or desktop configuration and you have a budget in mind.  Let’s start looking through the LONG list of specs and options.  I know it’s daunting, but if we take them one at a time, it’s very easy to decide what you need.

Processor

One of the first items you will look at will be the processor.  This is the brain of the computer, and it does most of the processing.  It’s a complex topic all on its own, and that’s why it’s a great place to start.  There are two main brands of processor.  AMD and Intel.  Both are very good, and will serve your needs well.  The difference between them is a highly technical issue.  Each has different “families” of processor.  The families are broken out by features and power. Let’s focus on Intel’s brands:

Atom:  This is a low-power processor.  This is designed for phones and netbooks (netbooks are very low-end laptops, typically with a very small form factor. They are suitable for web browsing and light PC use like word processing and email.)

Celeron:  This is an inexpensive processor for the budget minded.

Core 2:  This comes as either Core 2 duo or Core 2 quad.  With the quad being more powerful than the duo.  These are some of the most power processors ever made and are a great choice for all computing needs.

Core i5/i7:  This is the newest technology available from Intel.  The Core i5 is replacing the Celeron line, and the Core i7 is replacing the Core 2 line of processors.  Availability of computers based on these processors is still limited, but should become very common soon.  These processors are FAST and powerful.  If you want the best possible performance, you want a Core i7.

Architecture

Currently there is a transition between 32bit and 64bit operating systems.  Windows Vista and Windows 7 are both available in 32bit and 64bit versions.  Without getting too technical, 64bit allows for using more memory than 32bit.  With 32bit, you are limited to 4GB of RAM, of that really only about 3.3GB would be used.  With 64bit, the memory is expandable to over 1,000GB of RAM.  Not something you’ll reach anytime soon.  There might still be some compatibility issues with older software and hardware on 64bit operating systems though.  However, updating the software and hardware should resolve the issues.

Memory

Generally speaking, more memory is better.  It is used for running more applications at once.  Not having enough memory can cause poor performance, but having excessive memory doesn’t provide any benefit.  So plan accordingly.  I recommend a bare minimum of 2GB of RAM.  4GB is suitable for most every application you would run regularly.  More RAM would only be needed for virtualization, or very high end video rendering.

Network

With a desktop computer, this is easy.  A wired connection is the fastest, most reliable way to connect to a network.  With a laptop, or a desktop without a wired connection available, you need to focus on wireless technologies.  We’ve covered the various options here and here already.  The bottom line is that if you are buying a new machine now, 802.11n wireless is the way to go right now.

Monitor

Many computers are sold bundled with a monitor.  If you do not yet have a widescreen LCD monitor, this is a good time to adopt the technology.  It gives you more space to display information and applications than with a non-widescreen monitor.  It also gives you an opportunity to watch movies on the computer. When shopping for a monitor, look for response time, 5ms or less is desired. 

Video

This is a different category than the monitor.  It refers to the actual card or chipset that drives the monitor.  With more economical computers, the graphics are integrated into the motherboard.  This is inexpensive, low-power and effective for most tasks, even watching videos.  A separate (or discreet) video card is needed for high-end gaming.  Also the processor built into a discreet video card (Graphics Processor Unit or GPU) can be used to help power some intensive processing applications, like video rendering as part of a video editing project. 

Hard Drive

Generally more hard drive space is desirable.  However, it is easy to overspend here.   Music, photos, and videos will take up the most space.  If you are using the machine strictly for business, you will not need a large hard drive.  160GB is more than enough for most situations.  Storing lots of videos can easily push the requirement up beyond the 1TB (1,000G range.  Don’t forget to backup all that data somehow.

Optical

Floppy drives have been gone for a long time.  CDs DVDs and Blu-Ray disks (BD) have replaced them.  Being able to write to a DVD or a CD is now critical.  Being able to read BD will become critical soon.  Software will start shipping on BD in the next year or two.  Being able to watch HD movies on the computer is another use for BD.  Writing to BD is still fairly expensive.  The costs are set to start coming down over the next 6mos to a year though.  So you may avoid spending the money for BD writing drives now, but plan for upgrading down the road.

If you have other suggestions for our readers, please include them in the comments section below.