More Ways To Spend Your Money

Now that you have a basic

PC configuration decided, it is time to look at

additional components—items that add more oomph to

your PC! There are a lot of accessories available in the

market. Which ones you choose depend upon the kind of

work you do. Here’s a list of most of the additional

accessories that are becoming quite popular in the

market.

SCSI

cards

SCSI devices are very

common in niche areas like graphics and multimedia, as

well as on network servers. If your motherboard does not

have a built-in SCSI bus (thereby adding to its cost!),

you need a SCSI card. Some SCSI devices like scanners

come with a bundled SCSI card. Though some of these

devices are also available in parallel port

versions—like scanners, ZIP drives, etc–the

SCSI versions are often preferred due to their superior

performance. The sad part about SCSI is that there are

too many standards around. SCSI-I, SCSI-II, Fast SCSI,

Wide SCSI, Ultra SCSI, SCSI-III, and combinations of all

these may just help in confusing you. If you are planning

to get SCSI devices for your computer, go in for a SCSI

III card, as that is the latest one. SCSI cards from

Adaptec, such as the 7880 and 2940 UW are among the

popular ones, as they are very easy to configure, and

most of the operating systems support them.

Ethernet

cards

This is an absolute must

when you have more than one computer in the same

premises. There are hundreds of network cards out there.

Out of these, the NE2000 compatible 10 Mbps ISA cards are

the cheapest. But these can be a pain to configure

because of the need to manually do the IRQ settings. That

is why we recommend going in for PCI cards, preferably a

10/100 Mbps one. They are slightly more expensive than

the ISA ones, but they were the most hassle free cards we

found.

Storage

options

This area has seen a lot

of action over the recent past, and all of it is not just

restricted to hard disks and tape drives. A large range

of storage options and media is now available in the

market. Among the portable ones, most popular is the

Iomega Zip drive with compact disks of 100 MB. These are

parallel port or SCSI devices, with larger capacities,

robustness, portability. Ease of setup is their major

USP. Then there is the 120 MB SuperDisk from Imation that

is backwardly compatible with the floppy disk. Another

form of storage media gaining popularity is

Magneto-Optical drives, or MO drives. These are SCSI

devices that function as external hard drives, and are a

good desktop option. Their main advantage is that the

media, unlike magnetic tapes, are insensitive to magnetic

fields and are lot more robust. Common ones are from

Philips and Mitsubishi with capacities ranging from 650

MB to 2.6 GB.

Modems

A modem is a must in

today’s connected world. Whether it is for your

home, office, or notebook, a good modem and access to the

Internet is fast becoming a prerequisite for effective

and productive computing. Do not buy anything slower than

33.6 kbps. 56 kbps modems are also available, but the

speed is not supported in this country. Otherwise, we

have seen these modems work well at 33.6 kbps speeds.

Good 33.6 kbps modems are today available from around Rs

4000 upwards.

Pointing

devices

Talk of pointing devices

and you generally think of mice. Today, you have a range

of options starting with mice and going on to track-pads,

joysticks, game-pads, and more. Even mice come with

assorted features. There are wireless mice that can be

used from as much as 20 feet away. Then there are mice

with special features to help in Web navigation. There

are also a large number of different trackballs

available. An inverted mouse, (a beakball for all

practical purposes) supposedly give you more pointing

control, and is used by CAD and image editing

professionals.

A track-pad may be a

better option than a plain vanilla mouse. If you are into

graphics, particularly illustration in a big way, then

you will be well advised to invest in a Pen Tablet. And

if you are an avid gamer, then there is no way you are

going to be satisfied with a simple mouse. A good

joystick is the bare minimum. Joysticks have been around

for quite some time. They reduce wrist strain, keyboard

wear-out, and games are so much more fun with them.

Joysticks also have lots of different options like number

of buttons, sensitivity control, and some also have a

feature called tactile feedback. With this

feature, the joystick gives you a small vibration when

you get shot or are otherwise hurt in a game. The market

for gaming accessories is extremely competitive

internationally, but this market has not matured enough

in India yet. So, you may have to really look around a

bit if you are in the market for anything more

specialized than a joystick.

For

leisure

Computers are not meant

just for work and business or games. Today, your computer

is fast evolving into a one-stop entertainment console.

Speakers, sound cards, FM cards, TV tuner cards, DVD-ROM

drives, and MPEG cards are just some of the things that

you can add to your computer.

TV

tuner cards

Till about one year ago,

TV-tuner cards were weren’t very popular. For

starters, they cost a pretty penny, and quality of output

was nothing to write home about. But today, there is a

whole range of TV cards available at affordable prices.

The basic ones let you watch TV programs or listen to FM

radio while you work on your PC. The more advanced ones

have video capturing capabilities, and even let you

connect your PC to your television. While buying a

TV-tuner card, try to get one that lets you watch TV in a

window, thus allowing you to continue working (if you

aren’t distracted too much). Some TV cards use the

entire screen for display, and you need to switch back

and forth to continue working. Most TV-tuner cards today

come with remote controls so that you can channel surf

with ease. These remote controls let you do everything

that software controls do, from controlling brightness

and contrast to fine tuning channels.

MPEG

cards

There are other options

available too for your system. These include add-ons like

an MPEG card. However, it does not make sense to go in

for a separate MPEG card when you can get one that

supports the latest MPEG-II standard with all DVD-ROM

drives.

So, go out, take your

pick, and lighten your pockets.