Most are assembled in accordance to the buying power of the market and packaged on what is most likely pleasing to the ear and vivid for the eyes. However, as potential market, we should not just be obscured by these two factors alone as there are still ample of things we should consider.
With my experience to the field, I will try to detail out a basic guide on what should we consider on buying a PC.
1.] Define your NEED - primarily, you would not buy a thing for no purpose at all. Even if you intend to buy something for bragging rights, it still has a defined purpose -- to brag. For PC's the common needs are categorized based on portability, entertainment capabilities and project handling.
- Portability - remote usage; the very first thing you would ask yourself. Then ask yourself why again. Always take note that laptops though portable, have at most 2-4 hours of battery life. In case you plug it in and plan to use it 8-12 hours a day, make sure you could maintain a good atmosphere. Also, the price of a laptop is higher than of a desktop, provided they are of the same specification. Lastly, most high end laptops are heavy unless you buy a mac book air.
- Entertainment Capabilities - gaming, movies and music; who would want to have a PC not capable of handling these. Music could never be a problem as most audio chips are built in within the motherboards today. Movies and games, on the other hand, might require later video cards, especially movies in high definition and games that are nearly realistic. Often, movies that can't be played are due to codec /software issues. Also consider that most laptops have integrated audio and video cards on thier motherboards. Note that most of these cannot be upgraded in case you desire for future time.
- Project handling - projects ranging from typical text document; to coding; to graphics and multimedia. Typical document creation could easily be done thru any PC today. Consideration would start if you plan to use your PC for programming where you need to invest more on RAM. If for graphics, video rendering, 3D stuffs and other multimedia rendering you would be seeing yourself investing on the RAM, Processor and Video Card -- laptops would not be a choice for this. We will talk about those specifications later below.
3.] Identify the BRAND - Branding is not just limited to the name but the services and other intangibles you will benefit from. Ranging from durability, performance and services such as warranties and other customer support.
4.] Select a PRODUCT - Take a peak on those ads of the BRAND of your choice. This would involve a good research and I advice you to read forums and other testimonials from the other purchasers, but also remember to capture only those which you think are sensible and factual enough.
5.] Read the PACKAGE - Marketing strategies of today tend to focus on the aesthetics and promos (freebies and sale). But if you plan to have a decent PC, try to look on those after checking on these: (I will not focus on the branding and architecture -- e.g. Intel / AMD, Nvidia / ATI)
- Processor / CPU - the core of your computer; this is how fast your computer works. Currently, multiple core processor have been released. I strongly advise that you settle for a quad core processor (means for CPU in a single chip). If budget resist, you could go for a dual core processors (means two CPU in a single chip). After determining the number of cores, check the Ghz or Gigahertz; this is how fast your CPU would process the requests. The higher the number the better -- but more expensive.
- RAM / Memory - also known as the temporary storage. To put it simply, when you open a computer program, it does not just loads up to nowhere, it is stored on the RAM; while you are working on a text editing document, or while your browsing this page from a web browser, it takes up an amount of RAM. The larger the RAM (in terms of Megabytes or Gigabytes) the more number of applications you could simultaeneously work with and the more number of requests can be handled which would be then processed by the CPU. For modern computers it is recommended to have 1-2GB of RAM installed. Loading the Operating System (e.g. Windows, Linux, Ubuntu, UNIX) already takes up ample RAM especially the latest ones. Aside from the MB/GB capacity you should also check the DDR; it determines the speed of how it stores the temporary data. Just to iterate, the later version is more powerful than the previous ones.
- Video Card / GPU - video cards of today are already like a mini motherboard; it has it own processor and RAM. The difference is that, it only functions to provide graphics and resolution. Similar to Processor and RAM, the higher the Ghz and GB, the better. For gaming and graphics rendering, powerful video cards are needed. There are also motherboards capable of supporting two video cards but I've not seen any offering yet as a preconfigured package.
- Hard Disk / HDD - your permanent storage; this is where your files are stored. Basically you would consider the storage capacity in terms of GB (similar to RAM); the higher, the more files you can store. Another consideration is whether you choose a standard IDE or SATA I or II. Both refers again to the transfer speed. IDE is already a legacy while SATA is currently evolving. The storage capacity would then be up to your need. RPM as you may read or the revolution per minute dictates the speed of how data could travel in and out of the Hard Disk; again the higher the number, the faster.
You may find Steps 3 to 5 looping until you were able to find a suitable product for your demand. Sometimes your budget would also scale up or down depending to the current market offering of the available products.
Just some tip, always buy electronic items / gadgets during the third quarter of the year (July-Sept). Most SALES and promos happen here. This is due to the trend that companies would be releasing their new products during the 4th quarter of the year for the Holiday seasons -- where prices soar high.