Sorry guys..I am kinda busy nowadays so i could not post articles regularly like i used to, I hope you will understand :) So today i am sharing this useful information on choosing the computer that is just perfect for you.
First you need to make up your mind on what type of computer you need. I mean is it for gaming or for just normal use or for official use or for rendering videos and images. The same goes with Laptop as well. Although you will find branded desktop computer, i recommend you built your own desktop computer. Its not rocket science, you just need some information on the hardware you will need. And here i will provide you those information and guidelines on how to do it. For laptops, the case is different cause you can not just assemble it, so i would like to describe about it at the end.
Now that you have made up your mind, you need some basic information on the hardware you need to purchase.
First let's talk about the processor. Now there is not much to say about it cause most of the people prefer Intel. I agree AMD, Cyrix are also good to go but i am personally using Intel processor so i would recommend to go for intel to you too. But what to look for into a processor is really important.
1. The first feature a processor needs to have is the heat sink. When a computer is operating, a processor can reach very high temperature so to avoid heat problems and to allow it to remain cool; a heat sink is really important. Another heat sink that is attached to the processor also needs to be compatible with the processor and needs to function properly. I recommend dust proof for this one. And yeah make sure that their is the thermal paste over the processor as well as on the bottom of the heat sink or the cooling fan. This will prevent further heat problem.
2. The next thing but the most important thing to look for is the processing speed of the motherboard. These are normally labeled as GHz (Gigahertz). So higher the GHz the better is the processing speed of the processor and the more better choice for you.
3. Since you will find different series in the processor like Intel has Pentium, Pentium pro, Pentium II and III, Intel Coppermine, Intel Flip Chip, Intel Celeron and the latest Pentium IV processor; AMD has AMD K6-2, AMD K6-3, AMD Duron, AMD Athon, and the latest AMD Thunderbolt.
For normal home use i recommend to go with Intel Flip Chip or Intel Celeron or AMD Athon. For official and gaming or advance use go for the Intel IV processor or AMD Athon.
If you can i recommend to go for Intel IV processor for any use.
Now let's talk about the motherboard. Now when it comes to motherboard, the brand name really matters. According to the poll of this recent years and from my personal point of view i recommend you buy "Asus" motherboards. Believe me; They are reliable as well as durable. Yeah MSI, Gigabyte, EVGA are also some customer's choice but are far better than these motherboards.
One of the most important feature, a motherboard needs to have is the "solid capacitor". Asus board use original Japan made solid capacitor in their motherboards. So you might be thinking what the hell is that and why is it so important? well, Let me clarify it.
This is a typical picture of solid capacitor used in motherboards. A capacitor simply store the electric charge and controls the charge/current flowing in the board. After regular use, the capacitor forms this bulky structure and your motherboard begins to show signs of errors. These case normally happens in ECS, Foxconn, motherboards. Although MSI do use solid capacitor, they are not as good as the capacitors Asus use.
Now another feature to look into the motherboard is its specifications. Remember you will need specific motherboards for specific processor. Intel processor needs motherboards designed for Intel processor and AMD processor needs motherboards designed especially for them. Motherboards also have different series depending on the memory module they use.Motherboards like G- series, P- series are common in the market. Just read and compare the specifications of the motherboards you choose and select the best one among them. G-series are good for home use. For advance use you can go for P- series or higher G-series.
The motherboards need to support the latest DDR3 RAM. Although DDR2 RAMs are still conquering the computer market, i recommend you buy motherboards that support DDR3 RAM. I will describe about RAM in another paragraph. But you need to remember the memory slot DDR3 use does not support DDR2 or DDR RAM. Recently Asus has released motheboards that support DDR2 and DDR3 RAM. These boards have four memory slots; two for DDR2 and another two for DDR3. It is equally important that your motherboard supports at least 8 GB RAM.
Another feature to look for into the specification of the motherboard are the output feature of VGA, Sound and LAN card. A motherboard needs to support at least 5.1 surround sound. It needs to have internal LAN card. The VGA output does not really matters if you are planning to buy external graphic card. However a typical motherboard needs have at least 256 MB internal graphic memory and needs to support Direct X 10 or 11. And make sure that the motherboard you are planning to buy will support windows 8 that will be released soon
The recent motherboards support SATA as well as PATA. I know you may not know about this but just remember that SATA are the newer version of data exchanging between motherboard and drives such as hard disk and DVD ROM. They have red data cable where as the SATA have a thick grey data cable. The below picture can clarify it in much better way.
Now let's discuss about the RAM. This one really is important because this affect your overall system performance. Now there are three types of memory modules DDR, DDR 2 and DDR 3. The overall performance of RAM are measured in MHz (Megahertz). The higher the MHz the better the RAM modules. The DDR3 RAM are the latest memory module that has 1000 MHz to 1600 Mhz speed whereas the DDR2 RAM can perform from 400 MHz to 1000 MHz. Although the DDR2 RAM is still commonly used and available in the market, i recommend to go for DDR3 RAM cause they are faster and use less power. And good news they are cheaper then DDR2 RAM modules. Corsair is the best brand for RAM out there.
The total memory of RAM is also equally important. I recommend buying at least 2 GB memory RAM. For advance use you can buy 4 GB or 8 GB or 16 GB depending on how much you can afford. But remember like i mentioned earlier, DDR3 RAM and DDR2 RAM needs different memory slots so specific motherboards are needed.
External Graphic Card are nowadays almost compulsory when buying a computer. However it does not mean that you have to buy them. If your motherboard has 256 MB and is just for home use or official use and you don't like to play games often then you don't need to buy an external graphic card. The graphic card is compulsory for those who likes to play games or those who renders videos and images.
Now when it comes to choosing the right graphic card, there are certain things you need to consider.
First is the brand name. Nvidea and AMD are two main graphic card manufacturers who have almost completely dominant the market. Nvidea is a better option for gamer while AMD is better for those who renders videos and images. Asus and MSI also manufacture graphic card; however when it comes to graphic card the two manufacturer Nvidea and AMD are the best choice.There are different series available in the graphic card as well. No matter which you choose, you better look for these features.
The first one is the GPU (Graphic Processing Unit) it uses. The GPU type needs to be from the latest series. For example in Nvidea the latest GPU is from GTX 690 series. The graphic card needs to support Direct X 11 and should have high resolution for better visual experience. Remember the more the Render output unit the better. A graphic card capable of parallel processing is a great one to choose. Some graphic card have VGA as well as DVI port. DVI feature is better then VGA, however the monitor needs to have DVI port to use the function. The next one and one of the important feature is the memory. If you are planning to get an external graphic card then i recommend to go for at least 1 GB memory. GDDR3, GDDR4 and GDDR5 are the memory modules like RAM with greater performance, so make sure that your graphic card has GDDR5 memory. Another thing is the total bit of the graphic card. Normally they have 64bit, 128bit, 256bit and 512bit graphic card. Advance graphic card has higher level of beat. So this one is also important to consider. I recommend you compare the graphic card specifications and choose the best one.
Now let's talk about other hardware. Hard disk; the more the memory the better. The data storage rate also is an important feature you need to look into the hard disk. Western Digital (WD) and Seagate are some famous brand for Hard disk.
For DVD RW go for the one with higher writing speed. For example 24x writing speed is better then 22x. Yeah you need to go for SATA DVD RW than PATA DVD RW. Sony and Samsung are recommended brand for DVD ROM.
It is equally important to choose the right power supply for your computer. Higher configuration computer needs higher power. You will find 250 watt, 350 watt, 450 watt and more in the market. For normal home use go for 350 watt, for higher configuration at least 450 watt is recommended. Corsair power supply are well known for its great performance.
The casing also needs some attention. The casing needs to be well ventilated and should provide enough spaces for your hardware. The screws needs to be plated by non corrosive metal and should not give away after opening the casing regularly for cleaning purpose. The front panel chassis needs to be well labeled and should be fixed properly so that they won't come out easily while cleaning your desktop.
Other hardware like internal TV card and sound card are optional. While buying internal TV card i recommend buying PCI rather then USB. And try to get one with both digital and analogue TV signal capable. Unlike external TV card, Internal TV card have the function to save any program you want onto your hard disk. You can also pause any ongoing program. Asus and MSI manufacture quality internal TV cards. External TV cards are plugged into the monitor via VGA cable so you do not need to power on your computer while watching a program. However an external TV card does not allow you to pause or save the program. Frontech and Intex are reputed manufacturer for external TV cards.
If you do audio mixing and composing then you might need a sound card as well. Although most of the motherboard have internal sound card, an external sound card will give more performance on sound. Creative is one recommended brand for sound cards.
I don't need to say much about the monitor i guess. For those who don't know much about monitor, go for LCD or LED monitors. Dell, Hp, Lenovo are some reputed brands for monitors. And i suggest you go for the one that have DVI port as well as VGI port. If you can afford go for larger monitor, they provide you real life experience when playing games and watching movies. I really love that feeling :D
Speaker; Go for 5.1 surround at least. Brand name really matters here as well. Just make sure that it has great bass and treble. Creative and Logitech are some good brands.
Keyboard go for multimedia and mouse needs to be optical. Here the brand name matters as well. If you do native typing in addition to English typing, make sure that the keyboard has your native characters. Logitech is an reputed brand for keyboard and mouse.
A UPS (Uninterrupted Power Supply) is a necessary hardware. Make sure you get one of these. This will prevent hardware damage as well secure your data during sudden power cut or power failure.
Now this one is really important when buying a computer/laptop. Even pro people forget this while building their computer. It is "Always go for recent manufactured products". This rule applies to every electronic and mechanical products you buy. So you should never forget this; om'kay? xd
What i mean is that you should buy the hardware that are manufactured recently. Most of the times in the market, we are shown old stock products that are about 6 months and even years old. Now you might be wondering why the hell is this important? well let's discuss it further.
The manufacturer companies are always collecting opinions and feedback from the customers of their products. And depending on these information they are always updating their products. This means that even the similar series of motherboards are different if they are manufactured in different time interval. Also new operating systems and software are released every time; the manufacturer update their products so that they are ready for these new releases. There are still motherboards in the market that were manufactured before windows 7 was released; although they may be capable of using the operating system, they will not give 100% output like the same motherboard that was manufactured after windows 7 was released. The same goes with graphic card and other hardware. Sometimes a hardware may show some errors like when installing an external graphic card or updating memory; these errors are often fixed in new releases of the hardware. So make sure that when you are buying any hardware; they are manufactured recently or are the latest released hardware.
Now after buying all the hardware, it is time to assemble them; for this you can refer the "disassembling your desktop computer" article.
As promised, let me point out some important things when buying a laptop. The brand name really matters. Apple, Dell, Hp, Lenovo, Acer are some reputed brand when it comes to laptop. However the configuration plays a key role.
A laptop needs to have a processor with high processing unit. Recent laptops have new Intel core i5 processor which is a better choice.
The RAM memory is equally important for laptop performance. I recommend at least 2 GB DDR3 RAM. And make sure that you can upgrade it to at least 8GB if needed in the future.
The size does not really matters; it should be just right for you. The graphic card needs to be at least 512 MB. Nowadays Laptop use virtual memory as the graphic memory and may show 2GB but in reality it is not. So make sure that it has dedicated graphic memory and has great visual performance or output.
The next thing is the battery life. The longer the battery life the better. Some may provide extra battery or back up battery; which is a good feature.
A laptop needs to have strong WiFi signal capturing ability. Also make sure that you do not need additional LAN card to browse internet via Ethernet cable.
Bluetooth and internal web cam are some additional feature a laptop needs to have. The laptop needs to have good sound output and internal microphone for audio chatting.
For more information about the hardware like graphic card, processor and RAM, you can read the above description. Make sure you buy a cooling pad when buying a laptop.
Well, that's all for the topic. If you have any questions or confusions regrading the topic then feel free to ask me. I am always here 24/7 ^_^
No comments:
Post a Comment