my computing recommendations
Saturday, 26 January 2008 12:46 am by noelposted in tech | tags: computer, gadget, tech
being known as the “computer guy”, a good number of people ask me for recommendations of what computer to get or what computer-related “toy” to buy. and i get asked these questions quite often warranting this post.
get a laptop.
honestly. laptops are cheaper these days. almost everything you need is there and you can fold it up and go. i don’t think you can do that with a desktop. 
some specifics:
try not to get the ones with the uber speed cpus. leave that to the desktops. you just want to get something that can handle the type of work you will do on it plus some. you’ll save some money that can best be spent on more memory. do get one of those dual core cpus — either amd or intel would do although amd is usually cheaper. get the maximum memory that the laptop can handle. seriously. if its 2 gig, get that. if its 4 gig, buy it. you’ll thank me for it. the minimum should be 1 gig. 80 gigabytes is usually the standard capacity for the hard drive. if you have some extra, try to get a 160 gig drive instead. the optical drive should be at least a cd burner although dvd burners are common now. and lastly, if you can get an extra battery pack, why not?
operating system:
laptops usually come with windows pre-installed. i would not wish on my friends the trouble that is called vista so if you can get xp pro that would be better. being the geek that i am, i would recommend getting linux as an operating system. its not as fancy and polished as windows but its almost there. it gets the job done and its free. i’m using it now.
brand:
for the brand of laptop, well, there are a handful of good ones. stick with a manufacturer that is well known. hp comes to mind as well as asus and lenovo. fujitsu and sony has been around for some time as well. but if you prefer the mac then by all means. what ever brand you get just make sure that they can give you the technical support you need when the time comes.
26 January 2008 6:35 pm at 6:35 pm
i had to get a completely new computer when i got to canada and everything but everything has vista on it. we’ve heard, read, etc. that vista doesn’t particularly work well on systems that have been configured for xp or other os, but since our whole computer and every single part and accessory has been configured for the first time as a package with vista running everything, it’s been working pretty well. it’s just that not all downloadables are vista compatible, so there’s a limit to what we can get. still, aside from a few glitches at the start–needing to re-install certain drivers and constantly upgrade–it’s pretty good. it just isn’t completely compatible with mozilla firefox, which is the browser i use. i only use my explorer when i check my mailbox there simply because i needed a hotmail account to register my microsoft office and live one care packages. best thing i like about it is my new hi-tech flat screen. you can actually keep it away from your face without trying, because it sits all the way at the back of the computer desk.
27 January 2008 3:47 pm at 3:47 pm
you’re one of the lucky ones. but since the computer was assembled with running windows vista in mind, the manufacturer would have thought about which components work with vista and put those in. and if you’re not having trouble running vista then it also means that you’re running a pretty good computer. yey! i like your computer already.