When purchasing a new computer, there are many different options to consider. The first things you should decide are: what are you planning to use the computer for, and how much are you willing to spend on your purchase. By weighing these two factors, you can decide what options you need, what you can do without and how to get the best computer for your needs while not spending too much money for your budget.
The biggest question to ask yourself when buying a computer is, “What am I planning to use this computer for?” Computers can be used for a wide variety of tasks. The most common are: browsing the internet, downloading media, listening to music, watching videos, keeping track of finances, using for school/work, and playing video games. Others use their computers as a creative environment for recording music, editing videos, graphic design, etc. Decide what you want to do with your computer and what programs you will need to do it. Any computer program out there will have specific minimum system requirements in which your computer must possess. Components you should pay special attention to are the Processor, RAM (Random Access Memory), Hard Drive, Graphics Card, and Input/ Output devices.
Once you figure out your price range and uses for your computer. Your first choice is on the type of computer you will purchase. Computers come in different formats including compact PC’s, all in one PC’s, laptop PC’s, and traditional tower PC’s. Compact PC’s offer a small size but often lack in hardware capabilities and their ability for upgrades. All-in-one PC’s come with all components built into the back of the screen. Some have touch screen capability, but are high in price, and upgrade ability is limited. Laptop PC’s offer portability, but are also limited in their ability for upgrades. Tower PC’s are bigger and require all components to be connected to it, but they offer the most power and can be upgraded easily with additional RAM, hard drives, and better graphics cards.
Next you should choose an operating system for your computer. Either way you go the operating system should come preinstalled on your computer (unless you are building your own computer). So Windows or Mac is the question. Windows OS offers a more cost effective computer; therefore there are more Windows users and more programs available to choose from. Mac however is more user friendly and poses less of a risk for computer viruses.
Finally we get to the guts of your computer. Your processor is where it all starts. The faster the speed of your processor, the faster your computer can complete any process it’s given to do. No matter how big of a hard drive you get or how much memory you get, you are always limited my your processor’s speed. There are many different kinds of processors available today: single core, dual core, quad core, eight core (two quad core processors working together). I recommend at least a dual core processor.
Next comes the RAM or Random Access Memory. Information is temporarily stored in your RAM. RAM is used to run the operating system, programs, and data being currently used. It communicates with the processor faster than a hard drive, which needs to be searched to find the data it contains. The more RAM you have the more programs you can have open simultaneously without bogging down the computer’s speed. I’d recommend at least 4GB of RAM to keep your computer running smoothly.
Hard Drives store all your computers information permanently. It stores your operating system, programs, and all files including documents, music, videos, etc. The bigger your hard drive is the more data you can store. I like hard drives to be at least 500GB, but 1TB is preferable.
Your Graphics Card connects to your display and controls how many colors your computer outputs, and the rate your computer outputs graphics. In my experience any one works fine, but I’m not a hardcore gamer or video editor. If you plan on playing games or editing video I’d recommend that you purchase a higher end Graphics Card.
Your Input Devices consist of a keyboard, mouse, printer/scanner, CD/DVD/Blu-Ray players and burners, Firewire ports, USB ports, webcam, microphone, etc. It’s up to you to decide what you need. You can always purchase these later and add them on as long as you have an input on your computer for it.
That being said, I am an audio engineer/music producer, so my needs for a computer would most likely be much more than the average consumer. If I bought a computer today, I would purchase a Mac because I am familiar with the operating system, and it is widely used by professionals in the music industry. I would purchase a tower, because I already have a laptop and a tower offers much more power and upgrade ability. If I had the money for it I would most definitely purchase an 8-core Mac Pro with dual 2.4GHz quad core processors, 8 or 12 GB of RAM, and two 1 TB hard drives. It must have a DVD burner and a decent graphics card but nothing a hardcore gamer would need. It also must have a Firewire port and a few USB ports, as these are necessary to connect an audio interface, and keyboard controllers for music production. Other input devices I would get are a keyboard and mouse as these are needed to do anything with a computer.
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