What to Look for When Buying a Computer

Need to know what to look for when buying a computer?  First, you will need to decide how you plan to use the computer.  Whether you choose to use the computer as a office computer, Internet computer, gaming computer or all three you need to consider what is most important to you.  So lets take a look at the different needs for each category:  office computer, Internet computer or gaming computer.

1.  Memory.  You will need lots of memory when running a computer for office and gaming needs.  There are a lot of computers now days that come with 2GB RAM.  This is important to have because many business programs run better with lots of ram.  You could get away with just 512MG RAM, but only for a short while.  The other portion of memory you will need to be concerned with is ROM, hard drive memory.  You will want at least 250 GB of memory.  However, the more you have the better. 

2.  Wireless NIC.  You will want to be able to connect to the Internet so you need to get a computer that has both wireless Internet connection ability as well as ethernet connection. 

3.  Video Cards.  You will want to get one of the following video cards for your computer gaming:  GeForce GTS 250 or a  Radeon 4850 series.  Both are really good video cards that are available at local retail stores. Sometimes the video card you need doesn't come with the computer, but you can buy the video card and get help installing it. 

4.  Sound Card.  For business purposes you don't need a special sound card.  However, for gaming you will want to get a better sound card.  I would recommend the Creative Sound Blaster Audiogy series or the Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi series.  Those who love to play music would benefit greatly from one of these cards. If using a computer for Music production or creating homemade DVD's should consider buying a Macintosh.  Macintosh is a top notch computer for music and video use. 

5.  CD/DVD Drives.  You will want to make sure the computer comes with a DVD drive.  CD-ROM is getting outdated but the DVD-ROM is on the rise and is recommended.  Some notebooks come with out a CD/DVD drive, but it is recommend to pay a little more for a notebook that includes a CD/DVD drive.  You never know if you will need to install some software or repair the operating system sometime down the road. 

Note:  If using the computer for only Internet purposes all you need is to make sure the computer system you are buying has the ability to connect to the Internet by either using a modem, wireless NIC or ethernet connection.  If you plan to travel and use the computer other than at home I would recommend getting a computer with a wireless NIC.  However, many computers now days come with a wireless NIC.