BY MUHAMAD FUAD

Beside budget, below are the important factors that you should look into when buying a computer. They are the operating system, processor speed, graphic card capability, power supply, hard disk and the monitor. This simple guide will hopefully make you a more knowledgeable consumer when it comes time to purchase your new computer.

CHOOSING THE HARDWARE
Now, we will look into buying hardware for your computer. Your computer hardware determines your computer speed. There are many factors that impact how well your computer will perform.

The faster the processor clock of your processor, the better the performance. As an example, a 3.0 gigahertz Intel Pentium Processor will beat the 2.0 gigahertz version of the same processor. But there are bottlenecks that limit performance in other places, such as the cache’s size and latency, power consumption and temperature.

THE MONITOR
Many prefer an LCD monitor over a CRT monitor. An LCD monitor weighs less than half the average CRT monitor. LCD monitors also require half the power of CRTs and emit much less electromagnetic radiation which can interfere with other electronic devices.

In terms of size, a 17-inch monitor is sufficient for most purposes. However, if you want to keep your computer for a long time or want to use to make it part of your a digital media center, an LCD monitor with a 19-inch screen or larger is typically recommended.

THE GRAPHIC CARD
Photos and videos will require a lot of processing power. Without the help of a graphic card, the CPU needs to handle all the system and graphic processing, so a graphic card is recommended if youwill be processing large images and files or playing video games.

Your choice of graphic card will depend on how you use your computer. If you do not run any games, a graphic card without latest features is acceptable. Just make sure that the graphic card supports the incoming operating system from Microsoft, Windows Vista.

Since a high-end graphic card will require high power for SLI or crossfire function consider a midrange card to save on electricity. Mid-range cards are usually $150 to $250.

POWER SUPPLY
The higher the wattage that a power supply supports, the better. If you want to purchase additional hardware for your computer later such as USB optical mouse there won’t be a problem for you since a decent power supply will supports your need. A good power supply is the power supply that can give out as much 500 watt of power
or higher than that.

HARD DISK
An internal hard disk with the latest Sata 2.0 (serial ATA) support will serve you perfectly. Other than that, the size of the hard disk should be big since you might want to store a lot of pictures, music, and movies later. 200GB hard disk is the regular specification nowadays. If you want to keep your hard disk for a long time, 500 GB would be enough.

How many hard disks should you buy? The minimum is one but I recommend two hard disks for your computer. One will be for main operating system and the other one for storing your personal data. This is essential to avoid data clutter. Moreover, your computer performance might increase if you use two hard disks. This is because the computer can access the operating system files directly from its own drive.

THE OPERATING SYSTEM
Windows XP still dominates the market, making it easier to get support. Although you can use Linux operating system for free, it is not recommended because not all hardware supports Linux.

Your journey to get your dream computer should not end here. Ask your friends for some advice about a good computer hardware shop in town or their past experiences in buying their computer.

Muhamed Faud is the author of the technology Web site Tech-scope.com
Source: EzineArticles.com

Improving PC Performance

By Natalie Aranda

You have probably heard that tweaking your system you can significantly improve your PC’s performance. Although, that statement is true, do not try to do it just by
moving settings or altering the system’s registry if you have no idea about Computer Diagnostics, or at least the basics of your system settings, use and abuse.

In cases like this, PC diagnostics software is particularly rewarding, because not only you can determine if there is any failure or wrong setting affecting your system performance, but also to find where the settings are that you need to modify manually to improve the performance.

After running the PC diagnostics for the first time, try to clean up your system registry on a daily basis. Most users are unaware of the huge amount of useless information that the registry saves. Computer diagnostics often return a list of “orphan” entries recorded in the registered and staying there forever.

Those orphans are the result of installed and uninstalled programs with information that is retained in the registry, the same as unused drivers, spyware and other issues causing conflicts that slow down the system. Running PC diagnostics software or editing the registry manually using regedit.exe or other utilities will help you to improve performance.

However, be carefully making changes to the system register because you can cause major problems. That is why it is preferred that one uses Computer diagnostics applications instead of doing a manual change of the settings.

Another problem causing system slow down is a Recycled Bin full above the 80% mark. Due to the large amount of data that can be stored on modern hard drives, the
Recycled Bin usually sets up automatically a large amount of disk space to let you throw away whatever you do not want...and sometimes what you want, discarded by mistake.

You do not need any PC diagnostics software to know that your desktop trashcan is almost full. Empty your Recycle Bin at least once a week to release hard drive space that improves PC speed performance, even when Computer diagnostics tools are used, as they will not have to scan the useless files when running.

Whether manually or with the aid of PC diagnostics applications, one of the most tedious, but necessary tasks to do in order to improve your PC performance is run your disk defragmentation. Due to the large size of actual hard drives, this process may seem never ending so run it once quarterly, but do it.

Some PC diagnostics software includes a defrag utility, otherwise you need to use that which is part of the Windows operating system, but before starting you need to run another native PC diagnostics application “scandisk”. Without scanning your disk first for possible errors, defrag may refuse to continue its defragmentation routine.

After running the PC diagnostics for the first time, try to clean up your system registry on a daily basis. Most users are unaware of the huge amount of useless information that the registry saves. Computer diagnostics often return a list of “orphan” entries recorded in the registered and staying there forever.

Natalie Aranda writes on information technology and computers.
Article Source: EzineArticles.com

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