Here are 5 things to note:

• Processor
• Memory
• Graphic Card
• Hard Disk
• Monitor

Let’s go over each one of those in brief.

People keep telling us  we should know our goal for buying a new computer before we grab one. It is true, if we are just going to browse Internet, not burn any CDs, play some simple games, then we go for low-end PC - the cheapest one.

As time goes by, we will want more from our computer, play better games, may be make a video, edit a video, or do some photo editing and one day we will say G O D.. why did we not get that much powerful computer in the first place?

Most of us will be happy with Vista Home Premium. Rumors go, Vista is the most resource hungry operating system ever developed as of today. VISTA can use 1GB itself at times making all programs halt or run like a turtle.

Recommendation: Mid range PCs with 2 to 3GB RAM, 256 to 500MB Graphic Card, and Intel Duel core Processor, 500 GB hard disk should be enough. Monitor? Pick any but bigger the better if you are using programs that use lots of tools such as those you can find in video editing or photo editing with tools like windows for colors, tool bars, etc. You can place them away from your working area.

If possible, ask your vendor to put extra hard disk to be used Internally. Install all programs etc on that disk also use it as a scratch disk for video editing software or others. By having Internal hard disk, the data transfer will be much faster than through USB connected external hard disk.

Conclusion: Budget PC will ask you for more as your requirements grow. Because VISTA is a great operating system and to enjoy it fully you need  a nice PC, perhaps the term would be fully loaded one!

Save now, buy a good one. Otherwise, you will be upgrading RAM, upgrading graphic card and so on. Yeah, you won’t be happy when you have to wait for 30 minutes just to upload photos from your digital camcorder which happen to accidentally record a video in between your snaps…… lol !!

Most PC manufactures classify their computers into these categories and bring bunches of models out in the market adding and replacing this or that (basically adding or reducing these; RAM, and/or Graphic Card and/or Processor And/or Size of the Monitor) In my view, Most of your money will goto Graphic Card than any other. Processors, Motherboards have become cheap, and so have the monitors.

Typical Classifications Made by PC Makers

• 1. Home & Home Office (or Everyday Computing )
• 2. Small & Medium Business (or Versatile Computing)
• 3. Large Business or (or Gaming PC )
• 4. Government, Education, Health-Care & Life Sciences (or For Rich People Only)

Forget about all those classifications. If I goto a store with those classifications, I will be even confused. Home and Home Office. What exactly are they trying to sell us ? A computer for Home Office ? Home ? Makes me laugh just by those classifications. VISTA is hungry in resources, so try to buy everything more. Forget the classification as shown above (listed here if you have learned that before)

And one more advice….. Say no to SLIM if you are buying a desktop. If you decide to upgrade, it will be much easier to add ram or other components if there are more spaces inside. Slim, Compact desktops are difficult to open and operate inside. Imagine this– You want to add just 1 GB ram, what if, you had to remove the hard-disk ? Desktop should be big, fully loaded with resources not Slim. Slim desktops seems to heat faster than bigger ones. That’s my experience but I don’t know if there is a fact to back that.

Enjoy buying your VISTA.

Ruben
C U Soon.