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Choosing a computer

My ageing Amstrad's died. Now what?
First things first.

There are more opinions about what computer to buy than there are (a) journalists who write about them, (b) people who own them, (c) people who use them (d) people who manage them, (e) people who sell them and (f) the number of protons in the universe! Since this is written by only (b), (c) and (d) we pay deference, inter alia, to (f) and do not consider this a definitive overview.

Decide what you want to do with your computer. Is it just for polishing off the next 1,000 word feature? Or for a bit of web site creation? Or are you serious about getting into image manipulation, computer aided design, editing your own videos? Or perhaps playing the latest version of Quake?

The kind of work you will do (and what your family and anyone else you know will do!) with your computer will to a large extent determine your choice.

Desktop computers have become so powerful that for routine writing and accounting type work, they are already overpowered. Unless you are thinking of the more complex tasks like image manipulation, CAD and video, (or serious game play!) a basic entry level machine will almost certainly satisfy your needs. Think about paying £500-700 (2004) for such a machine.

If you want to do anything with images whether still or motion, then buy the best machine you can afford. Bear in mind that for a 'cutting edge' machine, you are unlikely to get an enormous amount of change from £2500.

Whichever computer you buy you should ensure that it has as much memory (RAM - Random Access Memory)as you can afford. 512MB is probably the minimum you should even think about and 1GB or even 2-4GB (2048-4096MB) will be preferable if you are going to be using/manipulating images. Hard disks are seldom undersized nowadays (usually between 40 & 120GB and extra disks can be added later, either internally or externally as the need arises. An internal CD rewriter or an internal DVD writer are a good bet for both storage and back up. A DVD holds around 6 times as much information as a CD.
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Date added: 2001-08-05
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