(Buying a New Computer Part -3) About Desktops

Image by Private Pestilence (in your pants) (ClintJCL) via Flickr

Now about the desktop, price will likely drive your choice. You always have trade off. If you were a gamer and looking for an affordable computer than you will probably be looking in the $700 – $800 range. The more recent the game and the longer you want to game on it the more it will cost. I recommend that you get a box you can upgrade. This means get a larger size box, and one that has a couple of expansion slots in the back and the front. They will look something like long narrow metal slots in the back. In the Front they will typically be 5 ¼” blank plates the size of a DVD drive or the 3 ½” blank plates the size of the old 2.44MB HD2 floppy disks. In the picture if you look at the computer on the right you will see the these slots on the bottom half of the computer.

Many people think of a large and bulky desktop when they think about desktops. This no longer has to be true. Desktop computers can be as small as a cigar box. In fact there have people who really did put a full computer inside of a cigar box but that is for another time. Yes they can also be those huge towers. The smaller you choose the more difficult it will be to upgrade and the more expensive the computer. Consider your options carefully.