I've often been asked the question "Which computer is the better buy?", so I wrote this article to make it easy for everyone to understand what to look for when buying a new computer, and to help make your buying choice much easier. (You can also post a question to me at the bottom, if you want me to review the 2 computers you are considering buying). Buying a new computer can be confusing if you are not a techie, so I will explain this in simple terms to help you make your decision.

1) First off, you need to know how you plan on using your new computer. This will have a huge impact on your buying decision. For example, I write software, play very high end games which demand the fastest and best graphics cards, and I need the top of the line computer as I'm very picky. Very few people will need the same computer I need, and although some still pay much more and buy this anyways, the performance is never actually used. Everyone knows that you need to "browse the internet, use instant messaging, or email", so thats a given. Just asking a generic question without knowing what you want the computer for, is like asking someone which vehicle should they purchase? ... and then finding out later that you told them to get a great gas mileage vehicle so they could drive across the country, only to find out that they planned on racing with it instead. So its important to know what you want to do with the new computer. If you are just browsing the internet, reading email, etc., then a very basic computer is fine. I once had someone ask me about getting the best graphics card because they wanted their screen and pictures to look "clear". Thats a ridiculous question, the best graphics cards are for guys like me, playing high end games, not reading email or browsing the web. You need to understand that all graphics cards are good for basic stuff, its not going to be "fuzzy" browsing webpages. I could put 2 computers side by side, one with a high end graphics card and one with a very low end graphics card, and you won't be able to tell the difference browsing webpages.
The bottom line with all this is simple. If you are just a basic computer user as 90% of the people are (meaning browsing, email, IM, etc.), then you can go low end with your computer purchase and save money, no reason to go high end as it won't matter anyways for your use .

2) When you buy a new computer, remember that you are paying for basically 2 things, the chip and the graphics card. I say these 2 things because these are the 2 most expensive items in the computer, and the 2 most expensive items that will raise your computer cost if you upgrade them. In other words upgrading your hard drive or memory won't add much to the cost, but if you go to the higher end graphics card or higher end chip, you will pay a premium. When I say chip, I'm talking about the part that says "Intel" or "AMD", etc..... lower end chips are usually found in cheaper computers, thats why the computers cost less. When I say graphics cards, these are things like "ATI" or "NVIDIA", or even "INTEL" now has its own graphics card. Graphics cards have their own storage on them also, so high end cards usually have more storage and are faster processing graphics. I would not upgrade to a high end graphics card unless you are playing high end video games, or doing lots of graphics related conversions or development, as the trade off in cost vs. use will be substantial. The main point I'm making here, is that when buying a new computer, the cost is determined by the graphics card and computer chip, those 2 things are normally the difference between high end and low end, not memory, hard drive space, etc.

3) Should I upgrade to a high end chip on the new computer? At the time I wrote this article, most computers were around 3.1 ghz, 3.4 ghz, 2.8 ghz, etc. Forget that you may not understand it, in simple terms the higher the number, the faster the chip in the computer. Note that if 3.8 ghz was just realeased, you would pay ALOT more to get the best chip. I would not recommend doing this. Even slow computers today are still FAST, again depending upon what you are doing with it as stated earlier. Chips are so fast today that most of them are never even fully used. I wouldn't get the lowest one, but most would never even notice any difference between 3.1, 3.4, and 3.8, so don't pay alot of extra money upgrading here. You won't get a big bang for the buck.

4) Should I upgrade to a high end graphics card on the new computer? If you are asking this question then you probably don't need it and the answer is no. Most high end gamers already know alot about graphics cards because its so important to them. You will pay alot more for a high end graphics card, it could be a few hundred dollars or more just for the next level of graphics card alone, but the prices are always changing. The main point here is you can save money with a low end graphics card if you are like most, just doing email and web browsing, etc. If you are playing high end games (not card games, but high end like first person shooters against others), then you will want the high end graphics card and you have to pay more for this performance. Basically high end graphics cards have more storage on them, so more data is loaded on them and the data is swapped much quicker, leading to faster load times and better performance when playing action games. It won't have hardly any effect outside of the games, as the games demand all that storage and productivity while nothing else requires it.

5) Should I upgrade memory? If it states that the computer comes with 1 gig of memory, but I can upgrade to 1.5 or 2 gig of memory, should I do this? My answer to this is almost always yes. I say yes because memory is cheap compared to graphics cards and chips, a 1 gig chip is around $60 at the time of this writing, so upgrading the memory to 1.5 would be even cheaper (the smaller the memory stick, the cheaper, so a 512 memory stick is cheaper then 1 gig, so you can upgrade a little here for less money if you don't want to max it out the memory). When you upgrade memory, you will see things open much faster, like MS Word, AOL client, or other demanding software programs. Some of you may not need it, so it depends what you plan on doing with your computer as stated earlier. Note also that memory prices are always dropping, you can easily upgrade this later if you want, and it will be cheaper later.

6) Should I upgrade hard drive space on the new computer? Today, at the time I wrote this, hard drives are up around 400 gig, most computers are sold with 160 gig, 250 gig, etc. I remember when my 2 gig hard drive was HUGE. :-) Upgrading hard drives is cheap, and you can upgrade this for very low cost. I usually recommend "not" doing this, even though its cheap. The main reason is if you have a 200 gig hard drive, you may never use it all or even get close to it. I have tons of music and videos on my computer, and its not over 120 gig, so why pay the extra to upgrade from 200 gig to 400 gig, etc.? Most likely you will never use that anyways, again it comes down to what you are going to do with your computer. If you are a video producer, and plan on storing many 5 gig (which would be HUGE) video files, then you are the 1% thats different from everyone else and may require that. I couldn't even tell you how many videos and music files I have, its alot.... and I'm no where close to that amount of storage just to give you an idea how much storage that is.

7) What computer brand should I get? Personally, I've used many different brands, had custom built computers, etc., and I don't think it matters at all. Most of the parts are just relabeled anyways, so don't get too caught up in the brand. In other words if one was an Acer, one was HP, one was Dell, etc.... I would not choose based on the brand but based on which one is the best computer, thats more important to me. Some makers have computers that are easier to work on, etc., but if you plan on taking the computer apart to change things inside it, then you probably wouldn't be here on this site. Personally I prefer HP, mostly because I think they have the best computers for the best price, but Dell is also known to be good and prices are always changing, so compare computers and prices. I've also had parts go bad in all different machines, it can happen to any brand, and I've even had customized parts go bad that were considered the "best hardware" money could buy. So don't get to caught up on one having better hardware inside it then another, any part can go bad occasionally no matter which brand it is.

8) What about other misc computer items? Other misc items that you may see are things like DVD and CD burners, USB, smart card readers, etc. All computers today have DVD and CD burners, I wouldn't put much emphasis on this other then reading that they have it. USB is on all computers today also, these are where printers, keyboards, and the mouse connects. I like computers with alot of USB ports. (Meaning plugin locations, but again, most computers have alot of USB ports today). It is also where you connect thumb drives, etc. I wouldn't be too concerned here either, as all computers have these today. One thing I would recommend, is that you have the slots on the computer for plugging in your camera memory sticks. These are things like smartmedia, MMC/SD memory slot, MS Pro, and compact flash. Don't get confused, these are just 4 tiny slots on the front, one for each different type of plugin as digital cameras have different memory used based on the maker. The advantage of having these 4 on the computer is simply that it makes it real easy to transfer your pictures or video from the camera to the computer. Chances are you will only use one of them anyways. Most computers now have this, so its convenient. You may also read the term "firewire". This is also nice and many computers have it today. It makes it easy to upload home videos to your computer and make video clips, and firewire is a fast connection. Note that all these things are just connections to make it convenient to connect stuff to you computer and to exchange pictures and video, etc. Don't get caught up in the terms used, you just need to know that these are convenient to have.

I hope this clears up alot of the confusion, keep it simple as most people get caught up in all the details and spend more money to get more computer power then you will ever need or use. If you are really confused and want me to look at 2 computers to give you more advice, feel free to post the link to both of computers you are considering (Post your computer question here. I answer questions there alot and I can look at your choices if you are still not sure, just make sure you post both links in there for each computer and I can check out the specs and give you my opinion. Be sure to also include your plans on using the computer, as I stated above its very important. If you are lazy and don't care to type the details, chances are I don't care to look anything up either and will ignore any post that is short on details.

This site provides a list of interesting subjects, tips, and tricks. Although it is mostly computer tips, there are also tips and tricks related to various other helpful topics besides just computers. If you have an important tip that you think should be listed, feel free to post it below. Although I still take tips via email, I often scan and review posts on the page below and prefer that method.