R. Craig Collins >Common > How To: Buy a Computer

How To: Buy a Computer © R. Craig Collins, 2005

The following are items you should look for when purchasing a computer for home use.
Note: laptops are costlier, harder to upgrade, and may require you to replace the whole system if one part fails

• Monitor, at least 15", .28 dot pitch (some specials, such as at Dell, include flat screens)
• Hard Drive, at least 80 GB
• Memory, at least 512 MB. I MB better
• CPU speed, at least 2.3 GHz
• Optical storage, CD-RW, better: CD-RW/DVD
  
• Operating System, Windows Vista or XP
• Anti-Virus, REQUIRED! (AVG on Internet is free)
• Applications
  • Office 2007 (better bundled with system, or buy at Academic price )
    • Word processor
    • Spreadsheet
    • Presentation Graphics
      
      or
      
  • OpenOffice.org is free
  • Personal Finance (Money or Quicken)
• Peripherals
  • Inkjet printer (cheaper models normally have pricier ink, shoot for $7.00 black ink refills and a $80 printer)
  • USB Thumb drive (aka key drive, memory stick, jump drive), at least 16 MB, to replace outdated floppy disk drive
  • Highly recommended: Optical mouse and ergonomic keyboard
• Recommended vendors to compare against: Dell, or Fry's Outpost