Stay away from Brand names
Jul 20 '00 (Updated Apr 13 '01)
The Bottom Line In my humble opinion everyone would be better off if the brand name computer's would just go away.
In my opinion if you are looking for a really good PC for your home your best bet is to skip your local Best Buy, CompUSA and other chain stores and visit your local computer shop. Sit down and talk with person running the store. Tell him what you are looking for the computer to do for you and he will help you setup a PC that best suits your needs, not what the Brand name manufacturers want to sell you. Most of the time to get the faster processor or more memory you have to put up with extra you just don't need or have a much higher price tag.
I would recommend for a really good home PC you first start out with a Intel Pentium III 600 processor, very fast and reliable with this processor you will be able to run any software programs that you will run at home and it will also allow you to surf the internet with little trouble.
Now for the second most important factor to consider in a PC, is the amount of memory, this will determine how fast your programs will run, more and more software program are using up system resources or memory, so to keep this from happening, you need to ensure your system has enough memory to run the program before you buy it. The standard amount of memory nowadays is 64 MB and the type of memory is SDRAM (Static Dynamic random access memory) and it also come in two different bus speeds PC100 and PC133. The type you need will be determined by the type of motherboard that is installed in your system. I recommend you go with 128 MB, because the more memory you have the more programs you can run at the same time or what is known as multitasking.
The next thing on the list is the hard drive and which one to choose. This is a hot topic for debate amount PC builders, is it size or speed that matters, well I think it is both. The size matters if you are going to be dealing with large files like sound and picture or video. If we are talking about graphics like games you are going to want a faster drive which has a faster seek or access time. I would recommend a 10-20 GB drive with a 5200 rpm speed. Unless I am building a gaming PC then I would go with a 7200 rpm.
The CD-rom is next, the CD-rom drive is a necessity because most of the software is only available on CD's. Which of the many types of drives do you choose. Well I recommend you stick with a 50x CD-rom that refers to the speed at which it spins the disk inside. There are also CD-R, CD-WR and DVD, CD-R means it is recordable or you can write on the disk, the drawback is you can write only once. On the other hand the CD-WR is rewritable, you can write to it over and over again. The DVD is a digital movie player, it will allow you to watch movies on your PC.
Next on the list is the video, and I recommend a 8 MB AGP with a Rage chipset. There are a lot of different video cards available, and also more memory( 16 and 32 MB) but I have found that a 8 MB AGP (accelerated Graphics Processor) gives me excellent resolution on the web and running the programs my family and I use. If you are going to be playing graphic intensive games then I would go with the 32 MB what is called the Gforce chipset, I cant really be very specific because i don't know a lot about the Gforce chipset.
The next thing is the sound card, in my opinion know one makes a better sound card then Creative Labs, there Sound Blaster series is second to none. I would recommend the Sound Blaster 128 PCI card, outstanding sound at a decent price the top of the line is the Sound Blaster Live and from what I hear it is a awesome sound card.
The next thing is the modem, I recommend a US Robotics 56k voice fax. If you are using what is called a dial-up connection (AOL, Prodigy, etc...), then you want at least a 56K modem, there are no special connections needed just a phone jack and a wire and you are connected, but of course there are other choices now in modem connections to the internet (ISDN, DSL,Cable modems) they all require extra equipment or special lines from your phone or cable company. You will also need a network card installed in your PC for the DSL and Cable modem connections, so if you plan on using the DSL or Cable modem in the future you should have a network card installed when you have it built.
Next you will still need to have a 3.5" floppy drive installed because a lot of software drivers are still written on diskettes.Plus for copying small files nothing is better then a 3.5" diskette.
Keyboard and mouse are the last things you need, getting a comfortable keyboard is important and a good 2 button mouse.
The last thing I will talk about is removable media, tape drives and Zip and Jaz drives. If you have really important files on your computer (financial or picture files ) you may want to consider a tape backup system, this allows you to save files and in case your hard drive crashes you can restore the files. The zip drive allows you to copy files and store files that maybe to large to store on your drive or it will allow you to copy large documents and bring them to your work or home from work. The zip drive comes in 2 sizes 100 MB and 250 MB, and the Jaz drive comes in 2 sizes also 1 GB or gigabyte or 2 GB.
My recommendations
Intel Pentium III 600 Mhz processor
128 MB SDRAM
10 GB Hard drive
50x CD-rom
8 MB AGP Rage chipset video
Sound Blaster 128 PCI
US Robotics 56K voice fax modem
Removeable Media if you have important files (250MB Zip)
These are only my recommendations I would suggest you check out some of the other reviews on this subject and then make an informed decision. I hope this was some help to you.
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