Tips or Guides for Choosing a PC

For most people, buying a new computer can be a tiring experience. Usually you ask a friend who is considered an expert to get input and then look for information from the rubric and computer advertisements in newspapers or magazines. Not yet finished here you will still be given various other information from the seller at the shop you visited.

It’s good to know as much information as possible, but sometimes the information you get from other people is not enough to answer your main goal in buying a computer, even though the one who will use the computer is you, not a friend, or someone else. It may seem simple, but you will be surprised that there are still many people who do not know what the purpose of buying a computer is. The following tips or guidelines in the form of rules that need to be considered before you buy a computer.

First: For what purposes?

The first rule you should pay attention to is what you will do with your computer. Why do you need a computer. Do you often create multimedia content or fanatics of games? Will the computer be left on for days? Do you need a desktop or laptop? What are your work habits and free time? How often do your friends and family or the people you contact most often use their computers? Of course only you can answer that question. If you already know the answer to the first rule, you can follow to the next rule.

Second: What kind of performance do you need from the computer?

Central Processing Unit (CPU) is the center of the entire computing system. Known as the “brain” of a computer, the CPU is the most important thing that determines the performance of a computer. If you want to buy a new computer, it is very important to understand the function of a CPU. Also known as a processor, it is the CPU that handles and carries out most of the commands from computer hardware and software.

When you enter a computer shop, there are many other things that will be promoted. Like for example Giga or RAM, or graphics cards, or data storage (storage). There are many other components that might interest you. But always make the processor the first consideration, because that is the “brain” of your PC.

Most people use computers to do several activities at once, reading e-mails while listening to music online and browsing the Internet simultaneously. Therefore, the computer must be able to “think” quickly to follow the habits of people who like to do several things at once. Modern computers have multiple cores (“brains”) that can process multiple activities at once. Therefore, newer and faster processors usually have additional computing power that makes purchasing your PC a wise investment. Unfortunately, often consumers when buying a computer also “upgrade” some of the computer components, but only get a small increase in computer performance.

Third: What are some common mistakes?

Some people buy extra memory, extra hard drives and even extra batteries, while what they really need is to buy the best processor at the time of purchase to get better performance, while at the same time reducing expenses by not buying additional components that are not needed.

RAM is memory for storing data temporarily on a PC. For PC users in general, 2GB of RAM is sufficient for daily use. You can use almost all software, play 3D games, edit videos, browse the Internet, play iTunes, write documents and send e-mail – at the same time. Adding / upgrading RAM from 2GB to 4GB often only results in a slight increase in performance, compared to using 2GB of RAM and upgrading the processor to a higher level, which will provide much better performance.

You might get input from friends who are considered “experts” about “clock speed”, namely the speed of a processor in completing a task. The speed has a unit of Gigahertz (GHz), the higher the number used to mean the faster the processor’s performance. But now it’s not like that anymore.

Processor technology advances in recent years have enabled CPUs to have higher performance without requiring a faster clock speed. Some Intel processors get extra power when needed with Turbo Boost Technology. Turbo Boost is not active when not needed, to save electricity consumption, but will turn on automatically when needed and help the CPU to operate faster than its clock speed.

It’s also worth remembering that comparing “clock-speed” can only be done between processors of the same brand. Because the number of cores – processor units in each CPU – may be different, where also the technology and the way the CPU is made from each brand is very different, therefore, comparing the clock speed between CPUs from different brands cannot provide meaningful information for you.

Most high end chips have two (dual core) or four (quad core) cores. However, comparing the number of cores in processors from different manufacturers is also very difficult. More cores does not always mean better performance. For example, one Intel dual core processor in your CPU has up to 37% higher performance than other brands of quad core CPUs. If translated in computational terms, this means you can convert 25 songs to MP3 in 5 minutes, or resize more than 42 photos in one minute.

Fourth: Graphic Card, Combined or separate?

Another thing that you should consider is the Graphics Card when buying a PC. When playing games, watching videos, or installing Blu Ray movies, consumers are now beginning to think about the quality of their PC graphics. You have a choice between a graphics chip integrated in the CPU or a separate graphics chip. A common mistake is purchasing a computer using an expensive, separate, top-tier graphics card coupled with a low-end / low-end processor. Unfortunately, this combination will only slightly improve the performance of the graphics display.

To watch online videos and Blu Ray dishes, or to browse multimedia websites like Facebook, you don’t need a computer that uses an expensive separate graphics card. The integrated graphics chip in new computers has now been designed to perform this task, and if you want to improve the performance of your computer in a computer usage application as mentioned earlier, it would be better if you upgrade your processor by using one of the CPU technology Core Intel, which will improve the quality of graphics as you wish, while increasing the performance of other aspects of your computer.

If you are a hardcore 3D game, using a computer for architectural or engineering applications, or making complicated graphic designs, or editing videos professionally, then buying an expensive separate graphics card may not necessarily give you the perfect 3D graphics performance advantage you would expect, if not paired with a suitable CPU upgrade. Keep in mind that every computer application is run by the CPU. The advantage of moving the process into a separate graphics card system is that it is only limited to a few features of a number of PC applications that relate to graphical displays Processing speed is a priority for most computer users, and better performance can be obtained by upgrading the CPU.

So which one should you buy?

Buying a PC is a big decision. Although you might spend more money to buy a house or car, now the PC has become one of the most important parts in your home, both for communication and entertainment. Purchasing a PC must be carefully thought out and based on the activities you will be doing, as well as the performance you need. The most important thing in determining the right performance is to choose the right CPU, ‘brain’ PC.
Therefore, do not worry about upgrading or additional components that are not needed. Just make sure that you have chosen the right CPU, then you will get perfect PC performance.