What components should you look at when buying a computer?

Question

Which parts are important and how can one know whether the parts are good or not?

What is the best type of PC a common person can buy?

Something well priced and good?

Is it smarter to buy different parts and then join them together?

How can one upgrade a 6-7 year old PC?

Lots of questions but thanks?

Answer 1

the most important part of a computer today is ram, processor and video card (this is a must nowadays)

todays harddrive are enough for everyday task, even gaming.

likewise, computers that has a good processor, ram, and videocard 'usually' comes with a good motherboard so you dont need to think more about it

the best type of pc you can buy is a quad core processor with atleast 2gb ram and a dedicated video card...

if you arent sure, dont build it yourself... although its cheaper, it would be a risk if this is your first time... read, watch and learn on how to build a computer before you do it

Answer 2

Your first and foremost if you are buying from a store is asking if it has expansion slots namely PCIEx16 slot.  Second is at least a 3.0ghz dual core processor minimum.  

Really it is smarter to buy parts and build your own.  Lastly no you will waste your money one even upgrading a 5 year old computer...

Answer 3

The most important parts to look at are. Ram size, Processor type/speed and hard drive size.

I would say the best common well priced pc would be hp pavilions. You would only buy different parts if you knew what you were doing and how to put them together.

Answer 4

First off, which do you prioritize?

a) internet & email

b) entertainment

c) ultra portable

d) gaming

e) small business

Then, 5 things you need to know:

1) portability -- many laptops weigh less then 6 lbs, but ultra portable can be as little as 1-3 lbs (ideal if you want to travel with your laptop often)

2) display size -- 4"-"13 for ultra portables all the way to 17"-20" for entertainment laptops. quality in brightness, sharpness and color tends to be uniform across the board, these days.

3) processor -- the brain of the computer, impacting speed and performance, as well as price. * more crucial if your are planning for this computer to be your primary computer, or if you plan on using it for demanding activities such as multimedia or gaming applications.

4) system memory -- AKA ram, this is the physical memory a computer uses to run applications and the operating system.therefore, it directly affects speed and performance. 1GB is recommended for Windows Vista or Mac OS X (2GB preferable), and at least 512MB for all other Windows or Mac operating systems.    

5) hard drive -- indicates how many gigabytes (GB) of electronic information (such as applications, pictures, music and videos) can be stored. The amount you need is proportional to how you plan to use it.

Go Here:

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?...

Find what you are looking for :)

G'luck.

Answer 5

The things you should look out for when you buy a computer are:

Hard Drive (memory space, 250GB is enough for ya)

RAM (performance on your computer, 2GB is good enough)

CD/DVD-ROM combo drive with the fastest reading speed and the

fastest burning speed (If you want go for blu-ray drive)

Video Card 250MB memory (If you ever decide to play video games on your computer)

CPU 1.8 GhZ or higher is nice (Intel Pentium core duo processor is nice, 2 heads are better than one)

HD monitor (If you want one, original monitor is ok)

Personally, I would built your own computer. Buy the parts you need to build a computer, put it together, and you will have a nice, strong, and fast computer. You spend about 800+ when you build your own computer.