(Buying a New Computer Part-4) Understanding all Those Fancy Words and Numbers

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Now the next part is to determine what makes a good machine. This can be very difficult so let me give you a few basics. Do not buy a computer that has less than 2GB of RAM if it is going to have Vista installed. Also if you plan to upgrade find out what the max memory is for that system. Each system (depending on the motherboard) will have a different amount of maximum memory. Don’t bother thinking about upgrading a 32bit system past 4Gb it won’t be able to use it anyway. Buying a Mac is a good choice for a lot of people especially now. However, that and Linux will be saved for another day. Vista is not as bad as some would make it. However, I would recommend a video card with at least 256mb, a dual core duo of about 2.3 GHz. I also would recommend nothing less than 80GB for a hard drive with 7200rpm. I guess now I will have to explain what all this means.

MB = Megabyte = amount of storage same with GB = Gigabyte
GHz = Gigahertz = basically speed

The best way I have found to describe this is to imagine your computer is your cubicle at work. The Filing cabinet is where all the files are kept. The Filing cabinet would be what your hard drive is. The GB is the amount of room you have in that cabinet. The RPM is how fast you can get a file. The desk where you work on all your papers is like your RAM. The more RAM you have the bigger desk you have and the more you can have out at one time. Now the processor is how fast you can read it all those papers and fill them out. A dual core is almost the same as having two of you read at the same time. Dual Core Duo = 2 chips with 2 cores each = that makes 4 cores. That is like having four of you reading and filling out paper work at the same time. Now that is almost true because it will depend on how well the software you have will take advantage of having four of you. Now for the video card, I do not have a good analogy for this one. I will keep it simple the more MB the better the card. Now understand this is a basic guide there are a lot of other metrics that determine what is best. This is only meant to get new people closer to understanding their purchase. There are two types of lots of different processors. They can all be split in two different categories. Those two are 32bit and 64bit.

32bit systems have been around for a while. They are slowly disappearing off the market and will probably in the next few years be gone all together. 32bit systems will not be able to read more than about 3.6Gb of RAM. 64bit systems are newer. They can handle 16.4 million terabytes for RAM. Something you will not reach in this computers lifetime. So in the office example above I would say that 1bit would be like being able to read one word at a time. 32bit means you can read 32 words at the same time. 64bit means that you will be able to read 64 words for each “you” there is. That would equal 64 words times 4 if you had a dual core duo. That makes it 256 words at one time.