This document provides guidance on purchasing a savvy computer. It discusses key factors to consider such as level of experience, intended use, budget and components like processors, memory, hard drives, batteries, CD/DVD drives, monitors, and operating systems. The document recommends asking yourself questions on current and future needs before purchasing. It provides tips on choosing components like investing in faster processors and memory, larger hard drives with faster speeds, and longer battery life. Finally, it outlines differences between PCs and Macs and provides contact information for additional support.

1. The Savvy Computer Purchase Scot Gerardi SJG Computer Associates Phone: (908) 852-4266 Email: scot@scotfixespcs.com http://www.scotfixespcs.com

3. Where are we?

4. Preliminary questions to ask yourself

5. Processors

6. Memory: RAM

7. Hard Drive Size, Speed

8. Laptop Battery Life

9. Components: Types of CD-DVD Drives, Monitors

11. Intermediate

13. Games

14. Add’l peripherals?

15. Video or photo work?1. Level of experience? 2. Years of experience with computers? 3. Future needs?

16. Questions To Ask Yourself What am I going to be using it for? Where will it be used? Who else will be using it? What are your / their future needs? How much can you spend on this venture? What’s the trade-off between upgrading existing PC versus “Buy new”? Desktop or laptop?

17. Laptop Processor Comparison

18. Summary On ProcessorsCaveats, Best Practices, and Buying Principles Pay a little more to look for an Intel chip Laptop chips are almost 1/3 slower even at the high end Some chips are significantly faster than less speedier chips Bus speed is not always stated If not stated check manufacturer specs via web site

21. Faster FSB matched with a faster CPU results in a smaller ratio which leads to better performance

22. Example: A Pentium processor that runs at 2.4 GHz may have an FSB speed of only 400 MHz. The CPU to FSB ratio would be 6:1. A Power Mac G5, however with a 2.0 GHz processor, has a 1.0 GHz FSB. Therefore, it’s CPU to FSB is 2.1.Source: http://www.techterms.com/definition/fsb

23. Windows Operating System Lesson!: Match your RAM with your OS; opt for a 64 bit system Source: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa366778(VS.85).aspx

24. Summary on MemoryCaveats, Best Practices, and Buying Principles Buy as much memory as you can afford Choose a computer with DDR2 or DDR3 given your budget The smaller the CPU to FSB ratio the more efficient the processor will work Faster front side bus leads to faster overall performance Avoid a fast processor with slow bus speed

26. RPM: 4200, 5400, 7200 (Reads data faster)

27. Look for SATA Interface (Serial version of IDE interface)

31. 320 gigabytes – 1 terabyte

32. RPM 7200: Standard for desktops . . . for now

37. LCD TV’s also available

38. Size varies:

39. Netbooks range 9 – 12 in.

40. Average laptop 13 -15 in.

42. Same principles apply in choosing

43. Reputation, reliability, service, value reported

44. Both run Windows based apps

45. Windows 64 or 32-bit version is available together

46. You should choose 64-bit

47. MACs more expensive

48. All your old PC software will not run under MAC OS unless you run Windows