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Tech Tips - New Year, New Toys, by Todd Columb
The Home Computer - What to buy?
The first big question is usually about a new computer. There are generally two types of buyers, the "I only want it for email, office documents and browsing the web" or "I want it all." The next question is laptop or desktop?
We can answer both of the questions together. First, the easy answer is the high-end machine - it should be a desktop. You'll get more bang for your buck and you'll be able to get all of the options and add-ons that you may want. There are some excellent laptops available from VooDoo, Alienware and even Dell that are targeted at gamers, but you'll probably pay $500 to $1,000 more as compared to a desktop with similar horsepower.
The Monitor
The monitor is usually sold separately. Your choices are traditional CRT displays or flat panel LCDs. Flat panels cost more. CRTs are big and heavy but cost less and are very dependable. So which should you buy? For high-end gaming systems you want the CRT (which is probably the opposite of what you were thinking). The reason can be stated in one word - performance.
Two other primary factors are resolution and screen size. Bigger is better and smaller.
As resolution goes up the dot-size gets smaller which in turn can make onscreen fonts appear smaller while giving you more screen real estate at the same time. So bigger is better and smaller. For most people, the easiest way to decide between a CRT or a flat panel is cost and physical screen size (desk space).
The Printer
"All-in-one" printers provide printing, scanning, faxing and copying in a neat little package. This is appealing in the fact that you get more than just printing and that you have only one thing taking up space on your desk rather than 3 or more.
For printing photos from digital cameras there are dedicated, six-color, high-resolution ink-jet printers designed solely for this purpose. There are also many double duty ink-jets that can be your every day printer and with a quick change of the black ink cartridge become a photo printer.
For nice crisp printouts just like the office, laser technology is faster, produces crisp clean output, and costs more; while an ink-jet can provide commendable color output quality at a much lower cost. You can purchase color laser printers, but they will cost considerably more.
High End Desktop- Basic Specs
Pentium 4, 3+ GHz, 512 MB RAM, 800MHz FSB, 60 GB SATA Hard Drive, Video Card: 256 MB, AGP 8x (ATI - RadeonX800 series or nVidia GeForce series), Sound: Creative Labs Audigy 2ZS,Speakers: Cambridge SoundWorks or Bose, Ports: USB 2.0, FireWire, Windows XPPro
Price Range: $2,000 and Up
With gaming systems you can easily spendover $4,000 for a top of the line system
Recommendation - Dell Dimension XPS Series; HP/Compaq X Gaming GX5000 Series; VooDooRage Series
Average Desktop - Basic Specs
Any new processor on the market now-Pentium, Athlon, Celeron (the faster the better), 512 MB RAM, 40 GB HardDrive, USB 2.0 Port, Windows XP Pro, MS Office 2003 Std.
Price Range: $800 and up
Recommendation - Dell Dimension 4700 Series; HP Pavilion Series
High-End Laptop - Basic Specs
Pentium 4, 2.6+ GHz, 512 MB RAM, 60GB Hard Drive, Mobile Video: ATI Mobility Radeon or nVidia GeForce MobileVideo, Ports: USB 2.0, FireWire, NTSC (TV out), Windows XP Pro
Price Range: $2,500 and up
Recommendation - VooDoo m:780 Series, HP/Compaq nx9500 Series, DellInspiron XPS Series
Average Laptop - Basic Specs
Any new processor on the market new - Pentium, Athlon, Celeron, 512 MB RAM, 40 GB Hard Drive, USB 2.0 Port,Windows XP Pro, MS Office 2003 Std.
Price Range: $1,200 and up
Recommendation - HP/Compaq nc6000 Series, Dell Inspiron 700m Series,Sony VAIO K Series
All-in-One Printer
Type: Laser or Ink-Jet Technology,Scanning, Faxing, Copying, Higher PPM (pages per minute)
Price Range: $250 and up
Recommendation - HP PSC 2410, Cannon PIXMA MP750, Epson Stylus PhotoRX500
Photo Printer
Type: Generally Ink-Jet Technology, HighQuality, Speed: Good
Price Range: $200 and up
Recommendation - HP PhotoSmart 8150, Cannon PIXMA iP6000D, EpsonPicture Mate
Ink-Jet with Photo Printing
Type: Ink-Jet Technology, High Quality,Speed: Good
Price Range: $200 and up
Recommendation - HP PhotoSmart 7400, Epson Stylus Photo R200
Personal Laser
Type: Laser Technology, High Quality,Black Only
Price Range: $200 and up
Recommendation - HP LaserJet 1012, Brother HL-1440 |
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