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| Definitions |
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| Buyer's
Tips |
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| Follow these tips before you spend lots of
money when buying a new PC or other devices. |
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| First Steps |
- Ask yourself on how you will use your pc. Is it for home,
gaming, or office.
- Gather information on the Internet, computer magazines or
a buddy who has a technical "know-how" to find out
what products are the best and have favorable ratings from
the tech industry.
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| Standards and Windows |
- PC '99 (or later) compliant Windows-based computer
- 500 MHz (or faster) Intel or AMD processor. Avoid Cyrix
processors.
- 128 MB (or larger) memory (RAM); either SD-RAM, RD-RAM, or
DDR-RAM. Avoid EDO-RAMs.
- Motherboards supporting the latest technologies like:
- GHz processors
- 512 MB (or larger) RAM; either SD-RAM, RD-RAM, or DDR-RAM.
- UltraDMA (UDMA) /66 or UDMA/100 hard drives running at
5400 rpm and 7200 rpm
- ACPI and VESA compliant BIOS dated 2000 (or later)
- AGP 2x/4x (2.0) and PCI (2.x) slots. No ISA slots.
- 2 or more USB onboard ports.
- Networking capability
- Creative-based or AC '97 compliant sound cards.
- Plug N' Play capability for an easier device installation
- 56k (or faster) v.90 (or later) internal or external
modems
- ATX 2.0 (or later) compliant casing. Avoid AT.
- Look for the "Designed for Microsoft Windows"
logo for a better integration and compatibility with
Microsoft Windows Operating Systems.
- Supports the last two latest Windows release (like Windows
2000 and Windows XP)
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| In-depth look |
- For gamers, consider buying graphics cards that uses
NVidia's RivaTNT2 or the more powerful GeForce-based
cards.
- For graphics designers, choose graphics cards that have
multiple-monitor capability like Elsa's TwinView, ATI's
Radeon, and Matrox's DualHead.
- 15-inch (or larger) SVGA monitor with a screen resolution
of 1024 x 768 (or higher) using 32-bit True colors.
- Before buying a monitor test it in the store and make sure that
it has 4 sharp corners and not rounded corners.
- The flatter the screen, the better.
- Avoid monitors that has a .28 (or higher) dot pitch.
- See if it has an Energy Star symbol and passes VESA 2
compliance test.
- Low radiation is a must.
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| Body and Power |
- ATX 2.0 (or later) compliant casing. Avoid systems that
still uses the old AT standard.
- Automatic Voltage Regulators or AVRs are good. But a UPS
or Uninterruptible Power Supply is much better because it
can handle power shortages and surges caused by a lightning
that may cause serious damages in your system.
- Avoid systems that has 230 (or below) watts of system
power.
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| Store-O-matics |
- System balance. Don't be fooled by some manufacturers that
offer really cheap Pentium III based systems. You might
think that those system are speedy. Not! Those systems
are cheap because it has older-slow graphics cards,
generic sound cards, small and not reliable hard
drives, slow CD-ROM drives, 32 MB of RAM, and other low-end
parts. Even a Celeron based pc that has a Riva TNT2 and
higher amount of RAM is faster than a Pentium III based
system with a low-end setup.
- Avoid "no-name" brands. This manufacturers have
poor product performance and no long term technical support
when something bad happens.
- Look for computer shops that offers at least a 1-year
warranty on parts and services.
- Ask if the PC has software bundled or installed like
operating systems (Windows Millennium Edition or Windows
2000 Professional Edition), home and office programs
(Microsoft Office 2000, Microsoft Office XP, Microsoft
Works, Corel WordPerfect Suite, etc.), anti-virus
programs, utilities, etc.
- Always ask for discounts or rebates.
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| Others |
- Buy ergonomically designed keyboard, mouse, chairs and
desks to avoid stress caused by 'carpal tunnel syndrome'.
- For backup jobs, choose a CD-RW drive rather than the
cheaper CD-R drive. Why? In CD-RW you can write and re-write
your file on a CD-RW disc while the CD-R cannot.
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| More about . . . |
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