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First Things First

Buying a new computer doesn't have to be a confusing or intimidating experience. You can confidently navigate your way through the seemingly endless array of hardware, software, peripherals and accessories, as long as you can answer this simple question: What do you want to do?

Buying the right computer depends entirely on what you want to accomplish with your system. Are you looking for a home computer to help you and your family complete school assignments? Do you want to play games on the Internet with friends? Maybe you want to explore the vast expanse of the Worldwide Web. Or send and receive e-mail. Share photos with family and friends? Maybe you need a new work computer, or a home-based system that will augment your work computer and let you share files from the office.

What do you want to do? Your own personalized answer to this question will help determine your software needs, which in turn will help determine your hardware needs.

Software (Click here for software info)

Internal Components

Power, Speed and Memory

After reviewing your software's suggested requirements for power, storage and speed, make notes and use this information to customize a system that meets your needs - for the present and future. Important considerations include processor speed, RAM and hard drive capacity, including potential capacity.

You'll likely want to add on to your system in the coming years - for example, more software, more memory and additional components such as scanners, digital cameras and sound systems. Look for features that will expand your computer's potential capacity, such as a large hard drive, room for more memory, extra expansion slots and USB ports, and more sophisticated video capabilities.

Processors

The Speed Factor

The Central Processing Unit (CPU) is the brain and speed center of your computer. Measured in megahertz (MHz) and gigahertz (GHz), where1000 MHz = 1 GHz, the clock speed of a CPU determines how fast a computer processes information. Think of a CPU's clock speed as a speed limit on a highway. For example, a Pentium III 1 GHz system has a lower speed limit, or clock speed, than a P4 1.5 GHz, which in turn is slower than a P4 2.0 GHz.

While a CPU's clock speed is certainly an important factor in the make-up and cost of a computer, other factors can also affect a system's overall speed and performance. For example, the amount of Level-1 cache in the CPU's chip, and a computer's speed when talking to its RAM memory and add-on cards (also known as the bus speed) also influence a computer's performance. Because of its design differences, a Pentium III running at 1 GHz is much faster than a Celeron running at 1 GHz.

Choosing the Right Processor

Is speed an important factor in your software's performance? How much do you want to spend? Answering these questions first will help you narrow your search for the right processor.

Upgrading vs. Expanding

Processors can't always upgrade to the latest model on the market. In most cases, a processor upgrade requires a new motherboard, which costs almost as much as buying a new computer. Today's system upgrades usually involve the addition of extra RAM, storage or a high-performance graphics card.

Memory

Maximizing Your Workspace

We've all heard about RAM, but what is it really? Random Access Memory (RAM) or Dynamic Random Access Memory (DRAM) is a computer's internal working memory. Think of RAM as an active workspace - a handy place to put your programs when you're using another application. When you want to work on a file, the CPU moves the file into RAM, keeping it within easy reach. The bigger the workspace or RAM, the more programs you can have open and working at once. However, RAM is only a temporary workspace. Once you turn your computer off, the contents of the RAM disappear forever (don't forget to save!).

RAM is usually measured in megabytes, which roughly translates to one million bytes of memory space. Adding RAM creates a larger work area for advanced applications and extremely large files. Most computers are configured with a minimum of 64MB of RAM, but many software applications require 96MB or even 128 MB to run effectively.

Your motherboard and CPU determine the type of RAM your computer needs, as well as the maximum amount of RAM you can add to your system. You may wish to look for a computer that uses SDRAM, which provides the fastest access to your computer's hard drive. Since it runs at faster speeds than other types of RAM, having lots of SDRAM can actually make your computer run faster.

What Do You Want To Do?

How much RAM you should add depends on what you want to do with your new system. If you plan to work with graphics, desktop publishing and digital imaging programs, expect to generate extremely large files, which will in turn require more RAM. Most multi-media games also require lots of memory - as much as 96--128 MB. Individual business software applications may not need a lot of RAM to run smoothly on their own, but having more RAM does help if you plan on hopping back and forth between programs. And of course, extra RAM lets you enjoy the sophisticated graphics and animation found everywhere on the Internet.

Cache

Boosting Performance

Cache is a special, very fast block of memory that speeds up the performance of another device. Frequently used data are stored in the cache - the computer looks in the cache first to see if what it needs is there.

Level 1 Cache is located directly inside the CPU itself, and stores frequently used bits of data or commands. Although relatively small, Level 1 Cache has the most direct effect on overall performance. Level 2 Cache is located on the motherboard. It stores frequently used data from the computer's RAM. Advanced Transfer Cache represents improvements made to Level 2 Cache, in which the cache memory operates at processor speed - as much as four times the speed of standard Level 2 Cache.

Motherboards

The Brawn Behind the Brain

Think of the motherboard as the body of your computer. All critical subsystems are wired directly to the motherboard, including device controllers, the expansion bus, memory, cache and the CPU. The interconnections among these components also form part of the motherboard. On the back of a computer, several connections or ports link external devices to the main computer. It's the motherboard that controls these connections, so it's important to make sure your motherboard has enough expansion space to accommodate what you want to do with your computer.

Expansion Bus

When you're ready to add memory or new devices to your computer, you simply insert a special card into a slot on your motherboard. Typical expansion cards include:

Video accelerator cards
Network cards
Modem cards
Sound cards
Controller cards

Again, think of your motherboard as a 64-lane highway with a speed limit of 66 km/h having to suddenly go over a bridge with 16 lanes at 8 km/h. Think of the traffic jams at rush hour! The larger and more powerful your motherboard, the larger and faster your computer's highway can become.

Peripheral Connect Interface (PCI)

Peripheral Connect Interface (PCI) supports a feature called Plug and Play. In the past, whenever a card was added to a computer, a considerable amount of effort went into making the card work. Now, if the card is PCI plug-and-play compliant and the computer uses Windows 95 or better, the PCI card works with little or no setup.

Accelerated Graphics Port (AGP)

This new expansion slot was created to fulfill the need for faster, more detailed graphics than what PCI slots offered. Running at 133 MHz or faster, AGP is connected directly to the system memory, enabling graphic information to travel faster and be stored in system memory without sacrificing performance. The benefit of this power shines in 3D applications. Image quality and detail surpass those of PCI video cards, since AGP ports have no video memory limitation. Overall, Windows speed is also fastest with AGP because of AGP's greater bandwidth. Future technology such as 4X and 8X AGP promises unimaginable speeds of over 1 GB per second. Perhaps the biggest advantage of AGP, though, lies in its ability to bring high-resolution graphics and silky smooth animation to educational software and games.

USB

While it is not an expansion slot, USB represents a major development in expansion. Many devices that once required an expansion card can now plug directly into a USB Port (i.e. a digital camera). Find out more about USB in the Connections section.

Drives

The Importance of Storage

Because computers process such a vast amount of data, storage is an absolute necessity. The more storage you have, the faster and more efficient your computer will be.

Data are stored and directed to a number of places in a computer system. The hard drive is where most software applications and files are stored. CD-ROM drives and burners, DVD drives, tape backup drives, Zip drives, Jazz drives and floppy drives also have varying storage capacities and data management capabilities.

Hard Drives

Size and Speed Matter

The hard drive of your computer stores all your programs and data. Unlike RAM, which is a computer's memory, the hard drive is where all the software and files are permanently kept in your system. Hard drives are measured by their capacity and speed, and are measured in Gigabytes (Gb).

How much hard drive space you need depends on what you want to do. You must allocate enough space for each program that you load into your computer, as well as for the data files that you create while using these programs. If you plan to work with digital imaging and graphics programs, the faster and bigger the hard drive, the better the results. Games also gobble up acres of hard drive space.

Hard Drive Cache: Cache is like a drawer in your desk - things that you are working on now are located on the desktop. Things that you seldom use are across the room in the big filing cabinet (the hard drive). But things that you need frequently, like pens, a stapler, important papers, etc., are in your drawer (or cache) where you can get to them more quickly and easily.

Data from the drive are read and stored, en route to the CPU, in the cache. The next time the CPU requests the data, it looks in the cache instead of the hard drive, thus improving the computer's total response time.

Controllers: A controller is an expansion card that lets the computer know how to operate a mechanical device, such as a drive. The hard drive is connected to the computer via a controller card. There are two main types of controller cards: IDE and SCSI (pronounced "Scuzzy"). The faster interface is SCSII, but is rarely used, since the IDE interface is almost as fast and a lot less expensive. A controller card also allows for the addition of drives (both hard drives and CD-ROM).

A new type of interface has entered the market, called Enhanced IDE, which accepts the addition of four devices (vs. two on the older IDE), and has much faster speed, approaching that of SCSI.

CD-Drives

Economy and Portability

Because they are portable and can be manufactured very inexpensively, CDs have become a powerful medium for data transfer and storage. Utilizing the same optical disk technology as that of conventional audio CDs, computer CD-ROM drives are now standard technology on most systems. Encyclopedias, training manuals, games, software and government information are usually distributed via CD. Digital image programs have also been developed that allow storage of up to 100 pictures on a single CD.

CD-ROM Writers

A new kind of CD-ROM drive has entered the market - CD-ROM writers or "burners" - which are growing in popularity as prices fall. Looking and behaving like ordinary CD-ROM drives, CD burners differ in their ability to write to blank CD-ROM discs. Now people can use CDs to copy data and programs - even music. Bear in mind though, that you can only write to a CD-ROM once. As soon as you burn something onto the disk, it can't be re-used.

Re-Writable CD-ROMs (CD-RW)

A CD-RW is a CD-ROM drive that can read, write, erase and re-write data to a compact disc. This is an ideal device for backing up hard drives or distributing large files (i.e. audio & video) to others who do not have special removable media drives (everyone has a CD-ROM reader today). CD-Writers are now the widely accepted standard for storing and sharing files.

CD-ROM Speed

CD-ROM drive speed is rated according to access time and transfer rate. Access time is measured in milliseconds (ms), and refers to the time required for the drive to find the information. Transfer rate indicates how fast the drive can transfer information to RAM, where it can be used. This transfer rate is measured in kilobytes per second (KBS).

Different applications benefit differently from CD-ROM speed. If you have a database containing all your customers' names and addresses on your drive and you need that information many times during the day, it is important for your computer to have a fast access time. If the information you are looking for is large, such as a video clip, then it is more important to have a fast transfer rate, as the amount of information needed to send to RAM is huge. With a slow transfer rate, the video will look jerky, and the drive may even drop frames because it will not be able to keep up.

DVD-Drives

Unmatched Versatility

When this technology was first introduced to consumers, DVD stood for Digital Video Disc, as DVDs were initially created to hold movies for television viewing. But since DVD technology has expanded to computers, the definition of DVD has been refined to mean Digital Versatile Disc.

In the world of video equipment, DVD players are quickly gaining popularity. They use a double sided (and double layered) CD-ROM. When using both double-layered sides of a disc, up to 17GB of data can be stored, allowing storage of more than eight hours of video on a single disc.

Special hardware cards are required to make the most of DVD. These cards are actually controllers, bringing MPEG2 compression ability, which in turn provides quick video and Dolby surround sound to your PC. If you're looking to add DVD to your computer, consider purchasing an MMX processor, which can keep up with the large multimedia files stored on DVD discs.

Types of DVD

DVD I: Equal to a 9X-speed CD-ROM
DVD II (2X DVD): Equal to a 20X Max CD-ROM and compatible with more CD formats, such as CD-R and CD-RW
5X DVD: Equal to a 36X-speed CD-ROM and can send out a Dolby digital signal

Removable Drives

Zip, Jazz, Floppy & More

Removable drives have become a necessity, since they let you share data from one computer to another. Floppy discs, CD drives, Zip discs, Super discs, Jazz drives and tape backups are all different types of removable drives. Most computers today have at least two types of removable drives.

Floppy Drives: Disc drives (or floppy drives) store data on a spinning magnetic disc that is similar in concept to an audio cassette. A single high-density 3.5" floppy disc lets you store more than 500 pages of information - approximately 20 word processing files or one high-resolution image file. Floppies are also used to create emergency boot discs for certain software programs. While they are limited in their storage capacity, floppy discs are still widely used and are standard equipment on most computers.

SuperDiscs: These discs let you store as much as 100 times more data than traditional 3.5" floppies. SuperDiscs look exactly like 3.5" discs, and SuperDisc drives can even read 3.5" drives, which makes them faster and more versatile than standard 3.5" drives.

Zip Drives: Zip drives are really just larger versions of 3.5" floppy discs. Able to hold up to 250MB of information, Zip discs have become popular for backup and storage of larger files. Keep in mind, though, that Zip drives can only read Zip discs, not 3.5" floppies.

Connections

Let's Talk About Ports

Ports connect your new computer to your external equipment - for example, your scanner, digital camera, mouse and keyboard, and your joystick and printer. Located at the back of the computer, ports come in several different shapes and configurations. It's wise to have all of them installed in your motherboard, since different equipment utilizes different plugs and ports.

Parallel Port: Printers are the most common peripheral for the parallel port, which can be found on every computer. Scanners and storage devices, such as parallel CD burners, scanners, tape drives and zip drives, also connect to a computer's parallel port, but don't work as quickly as they do when they're connected elsewhere on the computer.

Serial Port: Often called Com ports (short for communication), serial ports usually connect to the modem, and sometimes the mouse. In the past, the mouse was the most common device plugged into a serial port (serial mouse). Today, mice use a PS/2 port instead, which leaves the external modem as the only common peripheral that uses a serial port. It's important to note that some internal modems use an external serial port as well. Serial ports are also used for direct cable connection to another computer for data transfer. Serial ports are dedicated to one device at a time and are slower than USB.

Mouse & Keyboard - PS/2 Port: New computers now have two PS/2 ports - one for your computer and one for your PS/2 mouse. While they appear identical, the ports serve different functions and can't be interchanged.

USB Port: A small, triangular port that supports true Plug and Play technology, USB lets you connect 57 digital devices or 127 analogue devices, all daisy-chained to the USB bus. USB is in fact more flexible than SCSI, in that it can replace almost all the common ports on the back of a computer. This is because USB can support devices from joysticks and mice to scanners and hard drives by offering an analogue and a digital interface. Most computers now have two USB ports - one for your analogue devices and another for your digital devices (this is preferable since digital is faster).

Digital Flat Panel Port (DFPP): This digital connection provides a stunningly high-contrast image, which makes pictures look better and text look sharper.

Game Port (Midi Port, Joystick Port): This port is usually located on the back of the sound card. You can plug in a joystick, game controller or keyboard here. It may be necessary to purchase a splitter cable or a new two-port game card if you want to use two joysticks at the same time.

Phone Jack: On the back of your modem, there is a port resembling a phone jack. Often there will be two ports - one for the line from the wall and the other to send a line out to your telephone or answering machine.

IEEE 1394 (Firewire, iLink) : This new high-speed port is designed to digitally transfer photographs and video from your computer to external equipment, such as digital cameras and camcorders. The port can connect up to 63 devices and features an incredibly fast data transfer rate.

Sound In/Sound Out: Every sound card has a place to connect external speakers. These ports appear identical to the headphone port on a portable CD player and to a microphone or other audio line in. These ports can't be interchanged.

Video Cards

The Power Behind the Picture

When sending critical information from your computer to your monitor, a video card produces the colour, depth, clarity and tone in the images you see onscreen. A video card has its own graphics accelerator and RAM, which are dedicated to the task of bringing sharp, vivid images to your desktop. The more powerful the video card, the higher image quality you can expect from your system. Resolution Quality & Colour Depth Screen images are made up of grids with dots or pixels. The more dots, the better the image quality and the more information that can be displayed at higher resolutions. The more colours displayed, the better the image will look. The computer must also attach a colour value to each pixel on the screen. The more colours that it must choose from, the more memory that it must allocate to the task. The higher the resolution and the higher the colour depth, the more Video RAM (VRAM) is required to handle it.

MPEG

Motion Picture Experts Group (MPEG) is a method of compressing large video files into a smaller, more manageable format. MPEG can shrink a video file by as much as 10 times, which lets your computer transfer and manipulate the file much more easily. Previous to MPEG's advancements, full-motion video could only be seen through a tiny window on the computer - expanding the image meant losing speed and quality. Now, MPEG enables your computer and monitor to display full-screen, full-motion video.

If you're looking for the best MPEG performance, add a video or expansion card to your motherboard. A less powerful software MPEG program allows for 24 frames per second, is upgradeable and is relatively inexpensive. You can even opt for hybrid MPEG, which combines hardware and software, with a mix of their respective advantages. Used in conjunction with DVD players, MPEG2 displays high-quality video and decodes Dolby Digital (also called AC-3). It is important to note that this upgrade may require installation of an expansion or decoder card. Other video compression methods include QuickTime (MOV) and Indeo (AVI).

3D Graphics Accelerator

If you want a computer that will can play the best games and run the best graphics software in the next few years, invest in a 3D graphics card. Designed to aid the computer in rendering 3D images, 3D Graphics Accelerator technology has had a profound impact on both the computer games market and on the World Wide Web, not to mention the movies. An advanced type of this hardware was used to produce movies such as "Toy Story" and "Jurassic Park", which showcase 3D animation at its best.

Sound Cards

The Evolution of Audio

Getting great sound from your computer is now entirely possible, thanks to recent technological advancements in sound cards. Many software programs - especially games - rely heavily on the use of sound. With the advent of CD and DVD, it is now possible to enjoy an audio CD while working on your computer, or even watch a movie with Dolby digital sound.

Enabling your computer to connect to amplifiers, speakers or microphones, sound cards plug into a PCI expansion slot at the back of your computer. Buying the right sound card depends once again on what you want to do with your computer.

FM Synthesis: Prior to the advent of new audio technology, the most common type of sound was FM Synthesis, which duplicates any kind of effect or instrument, with the end result sounding computer-simulated.

Wavetable Synthesis: With a chip containing digital samples of actual musical instruments, this sound card creates exceptional sound quality, surpassing that of FM synthesis. Almost all computers today use wavetable synthesis.

WaveSynth: This sound card combines the best of FM and wavetable synthesis by composing complex calculations that model the effect of an instrument. This system requires a lot of CPU power, but any of today's CPUs are up to the task.

3D Sound: A 3D sound card produces a more realistic, three-dimensional sound by directing specific sounds to the left and right speakers. This effect is particularly dramatic with certain video games and multi-media applications.

Environmental Audio (PCI Sound Cards): Until recently, sound cards were typically installed in ISA slots, which have a slower 8MB/s data transfer rate. But the new and improved sound cards send data over multiple channels, thus requiring the data transfer rate of PCI slots. Multiple channels mean you can connect, with the help of a Dolby Digital receiver, up to five speakers and a subwoofer. Environmental Audio, designed by Creative, accurately positions audio objects in a 3D space by using two or more speakers to create real-time panning and mixing of multiple sound sources.

Storing Sound in Computers

Space to Work In

When it comes to storing recorded sound on a PC, a whopping 1.5 MB of memory is required for each second of uncompressed quality stereo sound. The solution is to compress the data in some kind of digital format.

MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface): This technology efficiently saves digital representations of sounds (or wave tables), which take up less space than the actual sounds. WAV (Wave) files are another common format used to compress and store sound.

Speakers

Big Sound in Small Packages

The best quality sound card will still only produce so-so sound if you don't have the right speakers. Matching your sound card to your speakers is the key: look for high-wattage PC speakers that effectively utilize the space around your computer to produce a top-quality stereo sound. You might even want to add a subwoofer to enhance the bass.

There is a critical difference between PC speakers and home speakers. PC speakers feature specialized electromagnetic interference shields, which protect both your computer and monitor from possible interference and data loss.

The Internet

The Power of Global Communication

Since the advent of the World Wide Web, the Internet has revolutionized the way we view and communicate with our world. With the help of computers, modems and Internet service providers (ISPs), we can visit websites and communicate with people and businesses from across the globe. If you plan to do a lot of work on the Internet, look for a fast modem and a cable or DSL service provider, rather than dial-up access.

Modems Internet Transmission A modem is a device that allows a computer to send information over the telephone line. This information could be text, a picture, a program or even your own voice. A modem modulates (or converts) the digital signal from a computer into an analog signal (a series of tones and other sounds), which can be sent over the telephone lines. A modem on the receiving end demodulates the signal back into digital form so the recipient computer can understand. Modems transmit data at a standard pre-set speed.

Voice Fax/Modems: Today's computers all come with a voice-capable fax/modem, which functions like a regular modem but which has some additional features, such as speaker phone, answering machine and automatic fax detection. Full Duplex vs. Half Duplex: Full duplex allows both modems to send information at the same. With a full duplex modem two people can talk at the same time and still hear each other, just like on a real telephone. Half duplex is a modem that acts like a CB radio - only one can transmit at a time.

Full Duplex vs. Half Duplex: Full duplex allows both modems to send information at the same time. With a full duplex modem, two people can talk at the same time and still hear each other, just like on a real telephone. Half duplex is a modem that acts like a CB radio - only one can transmit at a time.

Digital Simultaneous Voice Data (DSVD): DSVD is a newer kind of modem that supports both voice and data communications simultaneously. For example, two DSVD modem users can connect two computers together over the phone line and a play a game. While the computers are sending data about the game back and forth, the two users can talk to one another. This feature is a requirement if you wish to use many of the "Internet Video Conferencing" products on the market.

Digital Modems: Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) or Asymmetrical Digital Subscriber Line modems and high-speed Internet service represent the latest in data communication technology. DSL modems use regular telephone lines to bring subscribers high-speed Internet access that is up to 30 times faster than that of 56K modems. DSL allows your computer and telephone to share your existing telephone line, letting you talk on the phone while you're connected to the Internet. You don't have to share your high-speed connection with anyone.

Unfortunately, DSL is not available in some regions. Call your telephone company or local ISP to see if you are eligible for this type of high-speed Internet service.

Cable Modems: In many regions, it is possible to go through a local cable company to gain Internet access. These "cable" modems use the high speed of TV cablevision to bypass the limitations of ordinary telephone lines. If cable Internet service is available in your area, and you need very high access speeds, this may be an attractive option. Keep in mind that you will probably need to change your Internet Service Provider and rent special equipment.

This article was written by by Melinda Andersen for Future Shop Customers, however Melinda failed to include few more points outlined below. 

Our Company's  Final Advice: 

PROPRIETARY VS. GENERIC TECHNOLOGY