With all the latest technology in the market, getting a personal computer can bring forth a lot of choices and obviously, you want to select the right one. Since many machines today are designed to fulfill the needs of its users, making them extremely versatile, not all users require gaming machines, servers, or computers specifically made to store data. Some of us prefer the normal stuff; like for homework, creating a PowerPoint presentation or writing a simple HTML code. In short, you should know exactly what it is you are looking for.
What is Right? A Laptop or Desktop?
This is one of the easiest choices to make, simply because cost and personal need will help you along the way. In simple words, if you get a laptop and a desktop – both with the same specification – the laptop is going to cost more than the desktop.
Now, it all comes down to whether or not you want a stable workstation for work and/or gaming. Since a laptop is compressed with technology, it is difficult to keep it cool, and for that, you may require extra components, such as a cooling pad, a portable table with a fan underneath it, just to keep it from overheating. While on the other hand, the desktop remains much cooler than your average laptop, which as a result, gives you optimal performance and a good computer lifespan. Also, with a desktop, you can add and remove hardware as per your needs, keeping your desktop up to date – something not so easy with a laptop.
If you are a type of person who travels a lot, then a laptop is an obvious choice. However, if your travel demands are limited to making presentations or using Microsoft Office, then consider an affordable notebook or cheap tablet. With the money saved from your budget, you can then get a desktop and make it your primary machine. Also worth mentioning, is the fact that if you are buying a laptop for work only purposes, then look after your eyes and get a laptop with a matte screen display, cutting out some of the glare. However, for media purposes, then a standard glossy LCD display will give you good results.
What Processor Should I Choose?
To put it simply: words processors are the brains of your machine. If you are looking for a machine that can quickly open up software and games, then you would want to go for the best one available on the market.
Fundamentally, the basics are simple. The processor is the number of cores, along with the speed, which is marked in Gigahertz or GHz. Thus, the GHz tells us how much information the processor can process in an x amount of time. Naturally, the bigger the GHz number, the better it will work.
However, the cores in the processor work as multipliers, and each one of them has a built-in default indexed speed that they are supposed to work with. For instance, a dual-core processor 3Ghz processor is going to be a lot slower than an octal-core 3Ghz processor. Also, it is important to understand that a processor with multiple cores is good for multi-tasking, as different cores can work on different tasks. And if you don’t multi-task a lot, then save some extra cash on those pricey multi-core processors.
When you go shopping for your system, do ask the technician what sort processor is on the machine of your choice, because two similar looking machines, both of which are housing i3 processors, can have different prices because of the processor generations and gigahertz.
If you would like to compare processors’ performance, then you can visit CPU Boss by clicking here. You can choose a lot of processors on their website and compare them. They also recommend good processors, along with their prices. Also, check the Level 1 or L1, that goes all the way to L4 cache memory. This feature is in the processor to access the data at ease; so the more cache the processor has, the better its performance.
Part 2: Things to Know when Buying a New Computer – RAMs, Hard Drives & Features
Part 3: Things to Know when Buying a New Computer – Operating Systems & Graphics Cards
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