Computer Buying Tips For the Every-person
Computer buying guides are easy to find, but the results often lead you guides geared towards gamers, or towards small-to-medium sized business owners. I am here to provide some tips for the ordinary residential computer buyer. This is simply an overview of what to look for, not a drilled-down analysis of specific market items, as markets change in the blink of an eye.
The first thing to ask yourself is what do you use your computer for? Word processing, email and general web browsing have different requirements than video creation, special effects, animation, and editing. In other words, you do not need the latest gaming computer for school or work; but graphics and video creators are likely to need even more than the gamers that use their creations.
Portability is another consideration. Will you be using this computer in one place, do you expect to take it out and about with you? Desktop computers are still the biggest bang for your buck, and the all-in-one computers where the computer components are integrated behind the screen means they no longer take up the entirety of your desk. Still, for computing on the run; a laptop is still the better option. These days there are even laptops with touchscreens that can convert to tablet type forms.
After you have thought about what you will use the computer for, then we can look at specifications. The main one to consider in an off the shelf computer is the central processing unit, or CPU. this is the "brain" of the computer, that controls how the rest of the machine operates. A simplified explanation of CPUs. CPUs generally come in low end (Intel Core i3 and AMD A-Series, Athlon, Ryzen 3), mid range (Intel Core i5,i7 and AMD Ryzen 5,7) and high end (Intel Core i9, Xeon and AMD Ryzen 9, Ryzen Threadripper) Click here for a comprehensive list of CPUs The low end processors are good if you want to limit what can be done on the computer, such as the one you get for your school-age child. Mid range processors will suite most people and have a great range. As well as light computing, mid range processors can handle video streaming and most popular games on the market. High end processors are best for people who play the newest video-rich games and the people that create the content for those games. The next thing to consider is memory (RAM) and drive storage. Simplified RAM explanation While 4GB RAM is still considered minimum qualifications for popular operating systems, I will recommend a minimum of 8GB RAM even for a light duty machine. 16Gb RAM is what I would recommend for a mid range computer, and for the high end heavy use, 32G minimum. Drive storage is not as important now as it has been. With removable USB drives and cloud storage becoming so ubiquitous, you now longer need to store every file in your life on your computer's hard drive. They come in two general types, A hard disk drive (HDD) that has a spinning platter and solid state drives (SSD) that are chip-based. Drive storage explained One note I will make here is that Windows 10 (and presumably Windows 11) do not like HDDs. I have personally replaced HDDs with SSDs in four computers to alleviate drive thrashing and slow performance in Win 10 and Win 11. The final thing to consider is graphics. High end graphics may be detrimental to a productivity only low end machine, you will want good graphics for mid-range multipurpose machines and high end graphics intensive machines. In desktops, this component can be easily added after purchase, in laptops you will need to buy it as part of the computer. Here is a list of graphics cards available at this time. In general, laptop manufacturers will have a graphics card equitable to the CPU and may have several options available per CPU type.
In conclusion, the computer you buy should be tailored to how you expect it to be used. After all, you probably don't want to give your school aged child the fastest and best machine to do their schoolwork on, or you're likely to find them playing games rather than doing schoolwork! Conversely, if you're looking at a new computer because you want to stream you game playing on Twitch, a low end computer will just be frustrating. The good thing is, it is easier than ever to find a computer to properly meet your individual need.