Tech Talk
By Jamie Allison
Desktops & Laptops & Netbooks . . . Oh My!
In today’s world, most people rely on the use of computers from paying their bills to communicating with the world and it is a tough decision when buying a new computer with so many options available. Many of us started off using desktop computers with those big bulky CRT monitors we all know and love. These days we live in an on-the-go wireless age where you can check your email and go online from just about anywhere with your laptop or cellular phone.
We all owned a desktop computer at some point in our lives, those big bulky boxes with the 2 ton monitors. It seems these days the desktop is being phased out and being replaced with laptops and netbooks. Unless you are doing some serious gaming or desktop publishing, you don’t need a desktop pc anymore. Even today’s laptops can handle the work load for just about everything. It’s all about portability and going wireless from checking your email from a bookstore or monitoring your stock portfolio before your flight leaves.
If you play online games or do a great deal of multi-tasking, then you might want to go with a much more powerful computer to handle the processing speed. The three main factors you want to consider on any computer you buy are processor speed, RAM (Random Access Memory) and hard drive space. Every time you open a program, it gets loaded from the hard drive into the RAM. This is because reading data from the RAM is much faster than reading data from the hard drive. Running programs from the RAM of the computer allows them to function without any lag time. The more RAM your computer has, the more data can be loaded from the hard drive into the RAM, which can effectively speed up your computer. In fact, adding RAM can be more beneficial to your computer’s performance than upgrading the CPU.
But the question is, what do I need to buy? Well laptops are the way to go. They are small, lightweight and very portable. These days desktop computers are not as popular as they used to be and they can be configured for wireless connectivity as well, but you won’t be packing one up to take with you on your next business trip or vacation. There are so many brands and styles of laptops out there, it’s hard to choose one sometimes. If you are just doing simple day-to-day tasks such as email, searching the internet, creating word documents and spreadsheets even video conferencing, you can get a really nice laptop for under $500.00.
These days even laptops are getting smaller with the introduction of netbooks, sometimes called mini laptops. A netbook is a small, portable laptop computer designed for wireless communication and access to the Internet. Primarily designed for web browsing and e-mailing, netbooks rely heavily on the Internet for remote access to web-based applications and are targeted increasingly at cloud computing users who require a less powerful client computer. Netbooks typically run either Windows XP or Linux operating systems rather than more resource intensive operating systems like Windows Vista. They are the ultimate on-the-go portable link to the online word. Very small and extremely lightweight with screen sizes below 10″, you can carry these computers with you anywhere, just like a laptop but even smaller. The downside to these smaller machines is drive space and processing speed, but as we all know these things always change and technology is always getting better.
Netbooks are perfect for email, internet searching and some basic office document creating. Most of them do not have CD/DVD rom drives and the keyboards are very small and can take some time to get used to. With all the wireless options we have today, a laptop or netbook computer is the way to go.
Jamie Allison, MCSA MCP Net+ A+, can be contacted at PC Piece of Mind Computer Services, jallison@pcpieceofmind.com or at 561-827-3792. AOL IM: pcpieceofmind. Visit www.pcpieceofmind.com.