The key to buying the right computer is to select one that meets your needs not someone else's idea of the perfect computer. However as you consider a new machine, here are 5 important questions to ask:

What will you use it for?
Ask yourself what you need a computer for, what are the main uses that you see for this tool? Will it be your home office machine that you will use heavily for the next 4 years as your primary word processing, hypermedia constructing, browser interface? Will it supplement the one you have at the office? Will you use it for the next year and then pass it on to your child. Carefully clarify what you envision using it for as a means of determining what capabilities you will need.

How much can you spend?
Once you clarify what you will use it for and then how much you can spend, then it will significantly narrow the choices that you will have for optional components

Where do you envision using it?
If this computer will be your primary tool and you would like to use it in your home office, on the back deck, at Starbucks, in your classroom at school. The combination of answers to what you will use it for and where you will use it will also help you come to an understanding of what capabilities the computer should have. It should also help you to clarity the software that you will need to purchase.

Do you envision upgrading this machine in the future?
If you envision upgrading this computer in the near future, be sure to get one that has empty slots for PCI expansion cards, empty RAM slots, and the ability for someone to relatively inexpensively alter the hardware. A small all-in-one machine (like the eMac and many laptops) does not offer much ability to upgrade in the future. Conversely, if you know you will never upgrade, maybe it is not worth it to get a computer with great expansion capacity.

What peripheral devices will you need?
Do you need peripheral devices that will go along with it. Things most people also purchase with a computer include 1) Software. While many computers come with basic system software and some basic applications, you will most likely want some specific software. The most ubiquitous office software (MS Office) costs at around $100 -200. 2) an ISP (independent service provider) that will connect you to the WWW (either phone modem, cable modem or DSL. 3) A printer. Many color inkjet printers now come free with computers. A good one will cost $100 - $300. A black and white laser printer will cost more up front, but will cost almost nothing per page for toner. 4) a wireless hub. If you have a wireless card in your computer, a hub will allow you to connect to the internet without any wires. This means you can work in the back yard, in the kitchen, or even on line at many coffee shops.

Anticipate spending:
- between $100 and $500 on software
- between $150 and $600 a year to be connected to the Internet at home
- between free and $300 for a printer ($50 - $100 a year for ink)

When selecting a new computer, here are 10 Variables to consider.

CPU and Processor Speed
The Central Processing Unit is the chip in the computer that is the brain of the machine. There are a number of companies that make these chips including Motorola, Intel, AMD etc. As you select a computer you should recognize that how fast computers can process information is an important variable in the decision making process. While clock speed is one means of measuring processing power, number of floating point operations per second is a more relevant dimension. This results in a comparison of gigaFLOPS( equal to one billion floating-point operations per second) but this comparison is rather esoteric. With the introduction of the Intel chip into the new Apple computers, it is now possible to directly compare clock speed.

RAM
This is the amount of short-term memory that the computer uses to hold information during processing. There are a number of different kinds of memory, the more advanced are Double Data Rate (DDR) and RDRAM chips. Memory is necessary to run the system as well as applications and this is not a place to save money. Increased memory is directly related to faster computer operation so I recommend you purchase all you can afford. Buying anything under 1GB is simply unrealistic. RAM is really cheap at the present I recommend no less than 2Gb for most indivuduals, 4-8Gb for true multitaskers or multimedia use.

Hard Drive Size and speed
The hard drive is your computer's long term memory. This is the piece of hardware that will store all the applications, all your files and documents, and all the other digital sounds and photos that you will collect. In our tech world where the file size of everything is always growing, it is important to consider the needs you will have for storage. Graphics sound and especially movie files are really large and so consider what you will be doing with your computer and buy storage accordingly. If you are doing NO multimedia and only word processing 200 GB might be acceptable, however I would not recommend anything under 250GB. Another relevant dimension is the speed of the drive; the faster the drive the faster the data access rate. So generally a 5400rpm is less desirable than a 7200rpm.

Bus Speed
The bus is the internal wires or the connections through which information flows in the computer. The faster the bus (measured in MHz), the more rapidly it can transfer information. The width of the bus is also important; a 64 bit bus is able to transfer much more information than the older 32 bit bus. The interaction between speed and width can be viewed as a road; clock speed is like the speed limit, and width is the number of lanes on the road. Thus the better the clock speed and the wider the bus, the better the data transfer rate.

Graphics Processor
This is a processor specifically designed to allow the computer to handle and display graphic intensive information on the monitor. There are two relevant dimensions to these processors, processing width; 64-bit processing tends to be the current state of the art, however 128-bit processing is not far of. The other dimension is the amount of Video RAM on the processor. The greater the RAM the better the ability of the computer to display challenging video such as those produced by video games and 3D programs.

DVD and CD Players/Recorders
Your optical media (CD) drive is one of the critical ways that you can input information into your computer. Having the ability to burn Cds and even DVDs, allows you to store, backup, and output information and to share your work with others. A "CD" drive plays CDs. A "Combo Drive" plays CDs and DVDs and Burns CDs. A "Superdrive" plays and records all disks. A dual - layer superdrive records twice the amount of information as a DVD.
Relevant dimensions for comparing drives is the spead of reading/writing, whether they burn rewritable disds, double sided disks, DVDs, and the type of media they uses (CD-R, vs CD+R for example).

Wireless
The ability to access the Web and connect with other computers without plugging in. - Most of the Pacific campus is now wireless as are a growing number of business and schools. A wireless card will allow you to connect to the Web and to your colleagues while in classes which will be quite a useful capacity.

Monitor
LCD vs LED, Discussion to be added

Peripheral Connections
Firewire, USB, USB2, ethernet, Discussion to be added

Other elements
sound card, mouse, keyboard, printers,bluetooth

Cost Issues

Finally, keep in mind that no matter how great a deal you get on your computer, in a few months it will be cheaper and/or a newer model will be out that will have some great features. Recognizing this, you need to get what works best right now for you and that will allow you maximal flexibility for the cost you can afford. Then enjoy it and don't dwell on subsequent price reductions.

For recommendations regarding laptops current as of 4/10/10 please go to

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