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BUY RIGHT: Computer Hardware

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PCQ Bureau
New Update

There are simply too many variables involved in any IT-buying decision that a straight answer to such a question is simply impossible. So where do you start?

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There are IT products and there are IT products. So where do you start when you set off to buy? The first thing to do is to start with your budget. There are products that suit every budget. Take the case of the simple PC. You can buy a brand new PC for under Rs 20,000 and you can buy a fully configured one at over a lakh and a half. So, if you have a budget of say Rs 50,000 per PC, that is obviously your first decision point.

Next come questions related to the type of work you intend to put the product to, and the kind of support you need. Obviously, if the PC you buy will be used for work like word processing, surfing the Web and playing audio, then you don’t need a very high-end configuration. So try to save as much as possible on the basic PC configuration, and spend the remaining on external peripherals such as a UPS, printer and scanner.

For deciding upon the basic PC configuration, start by deciding what processor and motherboard you need, because everything else, such as the kind of hardware you can put on it or upgradability is based on these two. For instance, an Intel Celeron or AMD Duron CPU on a motherboard with onboard graphics and video would suffice for all common productivity tasks. In fact, even these entry-level CPUs have entered the Giga-Hz range, so they won’t become a bottleneck. There are less costly options also, such as the new Via Cyrix CPUs.

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For more graphics intensive work, the ideal choice would be anything above an Intel PIII or AMD Athlon. As the PIII will be phased out soon, the next option is the P4. A high-end processor isn’t the only thing you need. To really extract the potential of these CPUs, you need a configuration to match. So opt for an external graphics card rather than onboard. Ensure there’s sufficient memory, with 128 MB being the bare minimum. Add to this a 7200 rpm hard drive to give you the performance you’re looking for. In all, ensure that you have a balanced configuration. The fastest CPU will not be able to do anything if you have onboard graphics and 64 MB or lower RAM.

Finally, support is extremely important. Try to work out the best support from your vendor. Onsite support with replacement guarantees for various components is the best option available.

In the following pages we have given brief outlines of how to buy some sought after IT products–MP3 player, multimedia system, display card, monitor, CD drive. In the months to come, we will add

to this.

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