By Budi Wahyu Jati
For most people, buying a new computer can be an exhausting experience. Usually you are asked a friend who considered kapada experts, to obtain input and seek information from the rubric and computer ads in newspapers or magazines, not over here you still will be given a variety of other information from the seller at the store you visit.
It’s good to know as much information as possible, but sometimes the information you receive from others is still not sufficient to answer your main purpose in buying a computer, but which will use the computer is your own. Not a friend, a newspaper reporter who adan read, or store clerk, but your own.
It seems simple, but you will be surprised that there are still many people who do not know what the purpose of buying a computer, the following tips in the form of rules to consider before you buy a computer
First: For what purpose?
The first rule to keep in mind is what will you do with your computer. Why do you need a computer. Do you often make multimedia content or a fan of games? Is your computer will be ignored for days? Do you need a desktop or laptop be? How do your custom work and spare time? How often do your friends and family or the people you contact most often use their computers?
Of course only you can answer these questions.
If you already know the answer to the first rule is, you can follow the following rules.
Second: What kind of performance you need from the computer?
Central Processing Unit (CPU) is the center of the entire computing system. Known as the “brains” of a computer, the CPU is the most important thing that determines the performance of a computer. If you want to buy a new computer, it is important to understand the functions of a CPU. Also known as the processor, the CPU is a deal and do almost all commands from the computer hardware and software.
When you enter a computer store, there are many other things that will be promoted. Like for example Gigs or RAM, or graphics card, as well as data storage (storage). There are many other components that may interest you. However, always make the processor as the first consideration, because that’s ‘brain’ of your PC.
Most people use a computer to perform several activities at once, read e-mails while listening to music online and browse the Internet simultaneously. Therefore, the computer must be able to “think” quickly to follow the habits of people who like to do several things at once. Modern computers have multiple cores ( “brain”) that can process several activities at once. Therefore, the newer processors more quickly and usually have extra computing power that makes buying your PC into a wise investment.
Unfortunately, consumers often buy a computer at the time also “upgraded” some komponenn computer, but only get computer performance small reply.
Third: What are the mistakes that often happen?
Some people buy extra memory, extra hard drive and even an extra battery, whereas they really need is to buy the best processor at the time of purchase to obtain better performance, and at the same time reduce expenses by not buying extra components that are not needed.
RAM is a memory to store data temporarily on a PC. For PC users in general, 2GB of RAM is sufficient for everyday purposes. You can use almost all the software, play 3D games, edit video, Internet browsing, playing iTunes, write documents and send e-mail – at the same time.
Adding / upgrading RAM from 2GB to 4GB often led to improved performance only slightly, compared with 2GB of RAM and upgrade the processor with a higher level, which will give a performance much better.
You probably will get input from friends who are considered “experts” about the “clock speed”, ie the speed of a processor in completing a task. Velocity has units Gigahertz (GHz), used the higher number means the faster the processor performance.
But not anymore.
Processor technology advances in recent years has enabled the CPU to have higher performance without requiring a clock speed faster. Intel processors have some extra power when needed with Turbo Boost Technology. Turbo Boost is not active when not needed, to save electricity consumption, but will light up automatically when needed and help the CPU to operate more quickly than its clock speed.
It is also necessary to remember that comparing the “clock-speed” can only be done between processors from the same brand. Because the number of cores – the processor units in each CPU – may be different, which is also the technology and how the CPU is made of each brand is very different, therefore, to compare between the CPU clock speed of different brands may not provide meaningful information for you.
Most of the top chip / High End has two (dual core) or four (quad core) core. However, comparing the number of cores in processors from different manufacturers are also very difficult. The more cores does not always mean giving a better performance. For example, an Intel dual-core processor in your CPU performance up to 37% higher than the quad-core CPU other brands. If translated in terms of computation, this means you can convert 25 songs into MP3 in 5 minutes, or change the size of more than 42 pictures in one minute.
Fourth: Graphics Card, Inlaid or separate?
Other things you should consider is the graphics card when buying a PC. When playing games, watching videos, or install the Blu-ray movies, the consumer is now starting to think the quality of their PC graphics. You have a choice between an integrated graphics chip in the CPU or a separate graphics chip.
Common mistake is to purchase a computer using graphics card on a separate board that expensive, which coupled with the processor board under / low end, unfortunately the combination will only slightly improve the performance of graphics display.
To watch video online and Blu-ray disc, or even browsing the multimedia websites such as Facebook, you do not need a computer that uses a separate graphics card is expensive. Integrated graphics chip in new computers today have been designed to perform these tasks, and if you want to improve your computer’s performance in applications such as computer use mentioned earlier, it would be better if you upgrade your processor using one CPU tech Core Intel, which will improve the quality of graphics as you see fit, as well as improve the performance of other aspects of your computer.
If you are hardcore 3D games, using computers for application architecture or engineering, or create complex graphic design, or professional video editing, then buy a separate graphics card is expensive is not necessarily benefit the 3D graphics performance is perfect as you expect, if not paired with the appropriate CPU upgrade.
Keep in mind that any computer application executed by the CPU. A benefit of moving the process into a separate graphics card system, is limited to some features of some PC applications related to the graphical display only
Processing speed is a priority for computer users in general, and better performance can be obtained with the CPU upgrade.
So, which one should be purchased?
Buying a PC is a big decision. Although you may spend more money to buy a house or car, now the PC has become one of the most important part of your home, both for communication and entertainment. Purchasing a PC must be thought out and based on the activities you want to do, as well as the performance you need. Most important thing in determining the appropriate performance is to select the CPU, ‘brain’ PC, the right.
Therefore, do not bother about the upgrade or additional components that are not needed. Simply make sure that you have chosen the right CPU, then you will get the perfect PC performance.
The writer is Country Manager, Intel Indonesia
