You get more power for the price, which will let you do more with a new computer, even on the low end.
Of course, if you're shopping for the latest and greatest, you will pay more for the privilege of being the first on your block with the hottest PC.
A little homework before you buy will go a long way, especially if you know how you will use the computer. Don't spend money on power and extras you won't use. Here's a look at three categories of PC buyers and what they should by shopping for:
Just the basics
The most popular activities don't require a lot of horsepower and big bucks in a PC.
For people who focus on e-mail, Internet access, instant messaging, word processing, and maybe even digital photo organizing, low-end systems for less than $600 will be more than enough to handle the tasks. And the price includes a monitor.
The starting point in any PC buying decision: Determine which processor you'll need. The CPU (central processing unit) is the brain of your computer.
The CPU is often the most expensive part of a PC and, consequently, the basis for the type of system built around it. The Intel Celeron is the chip of choice for low-end systems. You also will see machines running the Duron chip from Advanced Micro Devices, and it too can handle the load. Both will do the job at a big savings if you're not an advanced user.
Another of the more expensive parts of any processor is its on-board cache. Cache is special high-speed memory built directly on the chip. It ensures that the CPU has a steady stream of data and instructions that make it run faster and smoother.
Celeron (and Duron) processors have only a fraction of the cache that the faster, and more expensive, Pentium 4 processors have. Although the Celeron will run the same applications as the Pentium 4, it is not optimized for certain types of applications such as computer-assisted design, voice recognition and heavy number-crunching, so it may not be a good choice for everyone.
Also, Celeron-based systems are limited to a 400-megahertz (MHz) front side bus, which is the main information highway between the CPU and the other devices on your system, such as random access memory and the video controller.
On low-end machines, hard drives for data storage are likely to be about 40 gigabytes, which is plenty unless you do extensive music and digital photo work. Also, low-end PCs may include only a CD-ROM or DVD-ROM drive. You could listen to music CDs or watch a movie but you wouldn't be able to "burn" music CDs, unless you spend more for a CD burner, also known as a CD-RW drive.
Be careful about the amount of random access memory (RAM) that is included with the system. I recommend 256 megabytes of RAM as the minimum, even for a basic system. Many low-end systems come with only 128 MB, which is not enough to handle Windows XP efficiently.
These systems also will include integrated sound cards (built into the motherboard) and graphics controllers that usually have to share system RAM. Shared components such as these siphon off RAM that otherwise would be available so they are not ideal, but it's the tradeoff for a lower price.
Getting more adventuresome
The sweet spot of the PC market is a 2.4GHz Pentium 4 system with enough speed and power to handle digital photo editing, burning music and other activities that require more horsepower. And it won't break the bank, costing only a bit more than a basic system, perhaps $800 with a monitor.
A 2.4GHz system may seem a long way off from the top-of-the-line 3.2GHz Pentium systems, but most people don't require that much power. A 2.4GHz Pentium 4 system will deliver the most bang for the buck.
It will be more than adequate for most applications, from the basics of running a Microsoft Office product, such as Word, an Excel spreadsheet or a PowerPoint presentation, to games and sophisticated digital photography and digital video editing.
For more demanding tasks such as these, I recommend 512 megabytes. Even a computer with the fastest chip will slow to a crawl without enough RAM.
Systems in this range usually will include a 40- to 60-gigabyte (GB) hard drive spinning at 5400 RPMs. That should be plenty of storage for software applications and other data, unless you plan to do a lot of photo editing and music burning. For those activities, you'll want a bigger hard drive.
You also may see an Ultra ATA/100 80GB 7200 RPM hard drive in this range. The faster 7200 RPM disk drive means your computer spends less time moving data to and from the hard drive.
USB 2.0 (Universal Serial Bus) is the standard for connecting peripherals such as printers, scanners, keyboards, mice and photo equipment. It's easy to run out of room to connect these devices. You can buy a USB hub for additional connections, but the more USB slots on a computer, the better.
The 2.4GHz Pentium 4 processor is also the starting point for chips that come with Intel's Hyper-Threading technology. This allows the PC to run more operations at one time more efficiently. The front-side bus also increases to either 533 megahertz or 800MHz depending upon the system.
The Pentium 4 CPU comes in increments from 2.2 GHz up to the fastest 3.20 GHz. Unless you have specific needs, base your purchase more on what else is included with the package (such as memory and peripherals) rather than paying more for a faster processor. The perceptible speed difference between a 2.4GHz Pentium 4 and a 2.8GHz Pentium 4 processor will likely be negligible to you. The same would hold true for the equivalent AMD Athlon processors.
If you do any music or photo editing, separate video and sound cards will perform much better than the integrated type found on the low-end systems.
Video cards have their own memory, which in turn frees the computer from having to do much of the graphics work. Standard sizes are 32, 64, 128 and 256 megabytes. More is better.
Make sure you have both a CD-RW, which can burn CDs, and a DVD drive, which can play both DVDs and CDs. Having both instead of one combination drive will make your life much easier when it comes to making and copying CDs.
Muscle machines
So far, we've covered about two-thirds of the PCs sold. Now we're heading into more power, more functions and, yes, more money. Some top-of-the-line machines aimed at gamers, for example, can cost thousands of dollars.
If you do some serious digital video editing - extensive files of images and advanced special effects - you'll need every speed advantage you can get. This will push the price significantly beyond $1,000. You'll need a minimum of 512 megabytes of RAM, and an upgrade to 1024 megabytes may be justified. A 2.8GHz Pentium 4 should be the starting point in this price range.
In this range you also may want to look into the newest thing in hard drive technology, the Serial ATA interface.
As processors and RAM got faster, advances in hard drive technology were barely incremental. Serial ATA (or SATA, Serial Advanced Technology Attachment) is evolutionary and is the fastest disc interface you can get. Disc access, finding each bit of information on the spinning hard drive, is a bottleneck in digital video processing and is the type of application that may benefit the most from Serial ATA.
Some systems even come with a RAID array, or redundant array of independent discs, a feature found in high-end server computers, that will hold multiple SATA drives while further optimizing disc access.
Of course, digital video can take up tremendous amounts of space on the hard drive, and typical SATA drives range from 160 to 500 gigabytes.
An hour's worth of high-quality video requires more than a normal 700MB CD can handle, so systems on the high end should have a DVD+RW drive that can record both DVDs and CDs.
A note on monitors
The price ranges mentioned above include a typical CRT monitor sold with the systems.
Even if you do nothing but e-mail and Web browsing, you may want to spend extra for a top-of-the-line CRT, or cathode ray tube, monitor or flat-panel display. And why not? It's what your eyes will be looking at for the hours you'll spend at your computer.
The slender flat-panel displays will give you the best visual experience and are beginning to be priced more reasonably.
Keep in mind that a 15-inch flat-panel display has almost as much viewing area as a 17-inch traditional CRT monitor, but it takes up less space on your desk and gives a better view.
Finally, for those upgrading machines, a couple of considerations: Windows XP presents its own set of challenges. If your printer, scanner or other peripherals are more than 3 years old, you should check - before you buy - whether they work with Windows XP. That also goes for older software programs.
Surprises after you buy can be expensive.
- John Torro writes the weekly Solutions column in Personal Tech.
