Things to consider when shopping for a new computer

  With the numerous brands and models of desktops, laptops, notebook, and netbooks the choice has become more sophisticated as which one would suit your needs best at the most economical price.

The Processor:

The most important part of your new computer is the processor.
The processor is the driving power of your computer, the most distinguished specs of a processor are: the number of cores, cache size and its speed in GHZ. The higher these numbers are the more powerful the processor is.

There are two main manufacturers of processors: Intel and AMD

AMD has gained a lot of popularity and market share lately mainly because of its more economical prices Due to limited budget many home users will opt to buying a computer with an AMD processor which is sufficient for basic users.
As for business use Intel powered computers is a must, there is no use in putting productivity at a higher risk just to save few dollars.

How much memory do you need for your new computer?

The rule of thumb for a PC running windows 7, 4 GB of memory is the least you should have but of course the more the better and depending on the application you will be running on the new computer if you will run a heavy engineering software like CAD application or interactive games or any other application that rely heavily on memory you should review the memory requirements from the software developing firm most of the those specifications are published on the web.

You should also consider how many applications you will be running simultaneously so if you are running CAD, a web browser, mail client, ..etc at the same time you will need 6-8GB for the computer to run smoothly without feeling a performance degradation.

Kingston is the brand Trinity Technologies recommends.

Hard Drive (Storage size)

Hard drives became reasonably cheap and larger sizes are being released to the market every so often, for desktops the 2TB is becoming more popular and in the range of $100, for laptops and netbooks the 500GB is the minimum you should get, especially if you are downloading movies and songs. The space needed to store them can exponentially increase from day to day.

Western Digital and Seagate are the most recommended brands in the market.

What type of video card should you be looking for?

IF you will have dual monitors on your computer make sure that your video card has at least 2 interfaces to plug the monitors.

Recent interactive games require specific features to run like pixel shading v1, v2, etc. So if you will need to run those games make sure that your video card meets their requirements but for basic users any video card will do.

The Operating System

The only preloaded operating system that is provided by all manufacturers at the time of writing this article is Windows 7, Lenovo is offering a downgrade to window XP and we as a Lenovo Business Partner can assist you in that regard please contact us.

Warranty

Most computers sold at retail stores come with a one year warranty and you have the option to purchase an additional extended warranty which becomes quite pricy when purchased separately.

Lenovo on the other hand offers computers bundled with a 3 years warranty at competitive prices compared to the price you would pay when purchasing the price as a separate item.

Our recommendation for businesses is to always purchase computers that carry 3 years warranty to avoid any costly repairs down the road.

Which monitor should you get?

Currently the 22” – 24” LCD monitors are the most common and recommended monitors.

We hope this article has shed some light on the different aspects you need to consider while shopping for a new computer.
If you have any questions or inquiries, feel free to contact us via phone, email or submit an inquiry form.