How do I know what computer is right for me?

Dell? Asus? HP? Acer? Alienware? Mac?

So, your old computer from 2001 finally bought the farm and you’re looking for a new computer. With all the brands out there, you’re no doubt overwhelmed with all the technical jargon that’s got you more confused than when you got your first computer. That’s why we came up with this helpful guide to picking out a computer that’s right for you. This guide will hopefully lessen the pain of having to compare the Gigabytes to the Terabytes and the quad-cores to the duo cores and the flux capacitor to the dilythium crystals of the warp core.
What did all that mean? Absolutely Nothing. It was made up…. most of it.

So, the first thing you need to ask yourself is, “What will I be doing with this machine”? If all you want to do is to surf the web and read emails, then you really don’t need anything fancy. However, if you want to be able to:

• Do budgeting (in Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Works, Open Office, iWork, etc.)
• Do Web Development or Programming (in Adobe Dreamweaver, Microsoft Visual Studio, iWeb, NetBeans, etc.)
• Do photo editing (in Photo Editor, Photoshop, MS Paint, GIMP, Aple Aperture, etc)
• Do Video editing (in Adobe Premiere, Movie Maker, iMovie, etc)
• Do Serious Gaming (World Of Warcraft, Minecraft, Halo, Crysis, Starcraft, minesweeper, solitare, etc.)

You need a machine that’s going to do everything you want it to — and still be able to handle some things you didn’t realize you wanted. Now, we’re not saying you should get a gaming computer just for you to do your taxes; such a setup would be overkill. You need to make sure it can handle the things you want it to, regardless of the brand name you decide to go with (as that is personal preference and cost preference).

Let’s break this down.

SURF’S UP!

You want to surf the net, read emails, check into Facebook, and play bejeweled. You don’t care about saving pictures, or doing anything fancy, just take a ride on the Information Super Highway and do it while on the go. Then for you, we recommend a notebook computer or even a “ultrabook” computer. You can find relatively inexpensive models starting at around $400. They come with an adequate size hard drive (for any storage you may or may not need to use), and enough memory (RAM) for just surfing the web.

Numbers and Letters, Oh My!

You want to work your budget, balance your checkbook, check your email, and surf the web. You are a author, a journalist, a technical writer, or an avid blogger. You need a system that can handle the Microsoft Office Suite, the Free Open Office Suite (openoffice.org), Microsoft Works (standard on every Windows machine), or iWork (on a Mac). For Windows users, an inexpensive, base model computer is simple, but it can handle what you need, and help you define what you don’t. For Mac users, a Mac Mini (starting at $599 BASE MODEL) would work as well.

Bits and Bytes

You want to build web applications, desktop programs, design newer and better social networks and communicate with the world. While you don’t need a truly sophisticated machine to handle the programming needs, you do need a lot of space and a lot of memory to run the software development environments needed for web and application development. (utilizing: Microsoft Visual Studio, Adobe Dreamweaver, Sun Microsystems’ NetBeans – not to mention some photo editing programs that may or may not be included with some web design packages from selected companies). Here, the previous category can be used, but with more drive space (probably at least 500 gigabytes of storage) and at the very least 4 Gigabytes of memory. (For desktop development, a Windows machine would be better – however, on a Mac, you can develop in Java, using NetBeans from Sun Microsystems. On the flip side, you can do web development on both – Adobe Dreamweaver runs on both platforms, and Microsoft Visual Studio runs on Windows Only.)

Say Cheese!

You want to edit photos and be creative with logos and photo manipulation. You’re in luck! Both platforms support some of the best software available. A recommended windows machine for creativity would be a Dell XPS 8300 (starting at 699 BASE MODEL) supported by a 1 Terabyte Hard Drive, a 64 Bit operating system, and 6 Gigabytes of memory That’s more than plenty to handle the creativity in you. A recommended Mac machine would be the 21.5 inch iMac (Starting at $1,199) supported by an upgradeable 500 Gigabyte Hard Drive, 4 Gigabytes of memory and is wrapped up in a 1920 X 1080 Resolution Monitor with the Apple Magic Mouse, and a Wireless Keyboard. The best part is, BOTH Support Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, and the entire latest collection of the Adobe Creative Suite – Design Premium package.

On The Scene

You want to handle small time – personal (or small home business) video editing and movie making – and in some cases, you want to handle special effects, motion graphics, and possibly even 3D modeling. With that in mind, you need something with an obscene amount of hard drive space – probably even a secondary hard drive to hold all of your video files, preview files, rendered files, project files, photo files, plug-ins, ad-ons, and more. You will need at the very least 8 Gigabytes of memory – of which 2 gigabytes will need to be devoted to Video Memory for faster video processing and rendering.

You’re in luck! The HP z800 workstation is perfect for video work (starting at $1,1813.00) and can be upgraded to the amount of memory and hard drive space needed to get started. It comes with 12 memory slots, Windows 7 Professional (64 Bit), 4 internal drive bays, an HD audio card, and an ATI FirePro graphics card.

Now for the Mac user, a Mac Pro is ideal for the video and graphics generator (Starting at $2,499) and can be configured to match your needs – from Quad-Core to 12-core, you can add memory, hard drives, displays, and more.

Both systems support the Adobe Creative Suite – Production Premium, along with Maxon Cinema 4D (3D Modeling), Autodesk’s Maya (3D Modeling), and each comes with their own movie suite for the amateur editor.

Mario Meets Master Chief!

You want an ultimate gaming machine! You want fast! You want furious! You want storage… and you want to play as many games as your parents or significant others will allow! If you Google “Gaming PCs”, the first link that comes up, every time, is Alienware.
The next high quality gaming machine is the Dell XPS High Performance Laptop. It’s built not only for gaming, but for some of the other purposes listed here – like the creativity category, and the video category.

While most of these listed are just suggestions, we encourage you to find what’s right for you. Do a little digging. Find out what consumers say – not through certain magazines that have paid reviews – but use the tools at your disposal. Google is a great place to start. But also keep in mind that we are one of your resources, too (330.208.2625). You can talk to us. We’ll be glad to help you find a solution that’s right for you.