How to Buy a Computer :: Essays Papers

How to Buy a Computer Even though computers are a great technological bargain, you can still get burned, and it's best to have a plan before acquiring one. Many computer shoppers make these mistakes they, buy a computer, then they buy some programs, then they learn how to use the programs, then they learn about the computer itself. This is exactly backwards. I would like to take you through these four steps, in the correct order; learn a bit about computers, learn a bit about programs, select the type of programs you want, and how to choose a computer. A computer is different from other machines because it needs a program to tell it what to do. Some companies make computers, while others write programs. This means if a certain kind of computer becomes popular, more programs will be written for it, and this will make the machine even more popular. Eventually one computer has become the standard. In the real world this computer is the IBM clone. In becoming the industry standard most programs are written for IBM’s and you have a greater selection and diversity to select from. Another popular computer model is Macintosh. So far, no company other than Apple makes this computer, generally because Apple prevents other companies from doing so. As you would expect, because only one company builds the Macintosh, it is more expensive than the IBM clone. On the other hand, many Macintosh owners find it easier to learn and use. I will focus my attention on IBM clone computers since they are the standard. A computer has to do many tasks. It has to accept your inputs, either from a keyboard or a mouse, it has to do some processing, both logic and arithmetic, under the direction of a program, it has to display its results, it has to keep some information temporarily in its memory, and it has to store information permanently on disk drives. When you shop for a computer, you will want to notice the size of the hard disk in gigabytes (10 or more recommended), the size and quality of the display screen (17 inch recommended), the kind of processor (Pentium III recommended), the amount of memory (128 megabytes recommended), the clock speed (100 MHz recommended), and the modem for getting on the Internet (56K recommended). The computer's clock keeps everything synchronized, and generally the faster the clock, the faster the computer can process information.