Apr 26, 2001 01:50 PM
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To buy or not to buy
That is only one of the question that hits my mind when I think of buying a PC. The other option is a branded computer like Compaq, IBM, HCL, Wipro etc. So I would like to share some information from a regular user point of view.
Branded computer(+)
Certain amount of quality assured
Good(balanced) performance
If you are concerned about looks some of them look really good.
Branded computer(-)
Expensive
After sales service is poor if you buy a single PC for home use. Works out better if you buy 5 or more for office use. But this may not be true with all brands.
Assembled computer(+)
Cheaper
Easier to upgrade
After sales service is good if you personally know the supplier.
Assembled computer(-)
No guarantee of performance
Same goes for hardware.
Now for some basic facts. Know your computer. Many of us have been using a PC for at least last 2 years. But very few are aware of what a PC is made of and how it works. I am not asking you to open it up and recognize each and every component. But at least what is accessible to you through the IO devices.
Umm. IO devices= Monitor, keyboard & the mouse.
Performance. It depends on lot of factors. One of them is RAM. 64mb RAM, 128mb RAM. What exactly are we talking about here. A PC generally runs many applications like MS Word, Windows Explorer, Internet Explorer or Netscape etc. All this application needs certain amount memory to run and most of them are very memory hungry. Not to mention the operating system itself, i.e. Windows 98/ Windows 2000. This memory is supplied in the PC in the form of RAM= Random Access Memory. But most of the time this applications together eats up the entire RAM and starts using the hard disk as temporary RAM. That is when your PC slows down a lot. So you need to decide how many applications are you going to use simultaneously and accordingly equip enough RAM for your PC. Least amount recommended is 64 Mb RAM
Hope you find this review helpful. I will talk about other factors later on.
