What to Look For: Monitors/Displays

When I received my first computer back in the mid-90's, a monitor was usually included in the price of the computer.  In fact, it was usually assumed that when you purchased a new computer, you purchased a monitor to go along with it.  Now, monitors are completely separate devices.  While most manufacturers will offer to sell you a monitor with a new desktop computer, a monitor no longer comes in the package.  The assumption is that we all have one or more monitors already, and if we are happy with our current monitor, there is no need to change.

In today's tip, we will not focus on selecting a monitor.  We will instead focus on making sure that a new computer will be compatible with your current monitor and how to get the most out of your computer's display.

With phones and tablets, you have no choice of the display you receive, and you will be unable to change it.  However, remember that you can usually connect your device to an external monitor or television.  You can do this through a cable that runs from your phones miniUSB or lightening port to an HDMI or DVI port, or you can sometimes connect through a wireless device such as a Roku player.  I can actually connect my phone to the Roku player on my network and play Youtube videos from my phone on the TV.  Both the wireless and wired connections are usually easy to set up and use.

With a laptop, you are also not going to be able to change your primary display, but you often have more options for external connections.  If you are going to be considering connecting a new laptop to an external monitor, make sure your laptop has a port compatible with the monitor.  If you are interested in connecting your laptop to a television to watch movies, you will want an HDMI port.  (I will discuss these ports in the next paragraph.)

With a desktop, your choice of monitor is completely up to you.  However, if you are going to use your current monitor with a new computer, you will want to make sure the computer has a port for it.  Most new computers still have a VGA port.  While this port will not provide the best quality output, the fact that almost all monitors and computers still support it make it very useful.  Additionally, your monitor may have a DVI port or an HDMI port.  Of the two monitors that I use, one has VGA and DVI ports and the other has all three.  To determine what ports you have on your monitor, look at the back and compare it to the pictures in the links I provided.  Then, go to the manufacturer specifications for your computer and compare that to the video ports the computer has.

Finally, there may be circumstances where you will want to install a separate video card for a desktop.  Installing a video card can replace a faulty video chip built into your computer or provide additional power for processing graphics.  If you are using your computer for high-end gaming or complex graphics rendering, you will probably want to install a video card.  If you decide to purchase a video card, you will look for the necessary ports listed on the box or specifications for the card.

My Recommendations:
Phone or Tablet for Basic Use:  You are not going to be able to change your display, but if you want to connect your device to a monitor or television, check to make sure your device will be able to connect.
Basic Internet/Office Use:  Using the VGI port will provide ample quality, but you will get a crisper picture if you are able to use DVI or HDMI.  Make sure that your monitor and computer have a compatible port.
High Usage/Multitasking/Video Streaming:  I would recommend using a computer and monitor that can use either the DVI or HDMI port.  If you are going to be streaming video and want to connect to your television, make sure your computer has an HDMI port.
High-End Gaming/Video Editing and Rendering:  A high-quality video card would be a good purchase for these tasks, and DVI or HDMI capability on the video card will be important.

What to Look For: Hard Drive

The amount of hard drive space you will need in your computer is probably the most difficult topic to address when assisting with purchasing a new computer.  The hard drive is where everything in your computer is stored.  When you shut off your computer, the data in the rest of your devices is cleared and transferred to your hard drive.  In our office analogy, we said the hard drive was like the desk drawer or file cabinet.  It is where the papers are put away for safe keeping until the next time the employee is at the desk.

The amount of space you need is dependent on what you plan to do with your computer more than the computer itself.  Drives today can range from 80 Gigabytes all the way to 2 or 3 Terabytes (1 Terabyte is approximately 1000 Gigabytes).

The best way to address this issue is to look at the amount of space your data currently uses.  To do this, go to the "My Computer" window in Windows XP or Vista, the "Computer" window in Windows 7, or the "This PC" window in Windows 8.  (In XP, Vista, and 7, you can access these options from the start menu.  In Windows 8, you will need to open File Explorer from the start screen or the taskbar.

From there, right click on the drive that contains your data.  (It is usually the C: drive.)  In the menu that comes up, select properties.  You should see a pie graph in the center of the Properties window that will show you how much free space you have remaining on your drive.  Just above the pie graph, you should see the data for free space and used space on your hard drive.  This will show you approximately how much space you need for your <u>current</u> data.

However, you will obviously want to make sure that you leave ample room for new files and data.  For this reason, I recommend that you double the amount of space you are currently using to determine the minimum size you should consider.  Looking at my primary computer, I am currently using 108 GB of space on my drive.  Therefore, using my rule of thumb, I would not consider anything less than 216 GB if I were looking for a new computer.  Most computers today will come with much more, and having extra space will do little harm.

If you are planning to use your computer differently (for example, you are considering a career in photography or video production), your storage needs may change.  In this case, it would be best to speak with someone already in that field who can advise you on how much space you will need to start.  The hard drive is the easiest part of the computer to upgrade on desktops and laptops (tablets and smartphones are much more difficult), and you can also add more space through external hard drives and flash drives.

One final note about hard drives:  there is a new type of drive on the market called a solid state drive.  Traditional hard drives are prone to failure because they have many moving parts.  Solid state drives do not have moving parts, so they are less prone to failure and they also work quicker.  However, solid state drives cost a lot more than a traditional hard drive of the same capacity.  (A 250 GB traditional drive will cost in the range of $30-$40, while a 250 GB solid state drive may cost $150-$200.)  At this time, I would only recommend a solid state drive in a few special circumstances.

My Recommendations:
I do not have a specific recommendation for hard drive size because it is more dependent on your computer usage.  For phones and tablets, you are usually stuck with the size chip that they install at the factory, but most Android devices can usually be expanded with a MicroSD card.

For laptops and desktops, I would recommend a hard drive size a least 2-3 times the current space of your data.  Since traditional hard drives are relatively inexpensive, extra unused space will not be hard on your wallet.

What to Look For: RAM

Now that we have looked at how to identify different types of processors, the next important factor is RAM.  In our office example, we said that the RAM was like the desk.  Important work is placed in the RAM (on the desk) until it is needed by the processor (employee).  If you have a small desk, you will be spending a lot of time shuffling papers from the desk drawers on and off of the desk.  If you get a bigger desk, you can have a lot more paperwork on your desk at a given time.

RAM works in the same manner.  If you have a small amount of RAM, your computer will spend a lot of time shuffling data around.  If you increase the RAM, your computer will be able to store more data where it is easily accessible to the processor, and it will be able to spend less time shuffling data around.

However, there comes a point where adding more RAM is a waste of money.  The programs that you use will only need a certain amount of RAM; most programs require 2 GB or less.  While you may want more so that you can use several programs simultaneously, it is unlikely that you would need more than 4 GB unless you are using your computer for high-end gaming, complex video editing, or rendering 3-D graphics.

It is also important to note that operating systems (like Windows) come in two different categories, called architectures:  32-bit and 64-bit.  32-bit operating systems can only use around 3.25 GB of RAM, even if more is installed.  While other components on a computer can use a small amount of memory outside the operating system, you will certainly be wasting anything over 4 GB with a 32-bit operating system.  If you are looking to purchase a new computer, the manufacturer would certainly be aware of this and will put 64-bit Windows on anything with 4 GB of RAM or more, but if you are considering adding more RAM to your computer, you will want to be aware of this limit.  While 64-bit operating systems do have a theoretical limit, that limit is currently unattainable by today's technology (it is in the range of petabytes, which is 1000 terabytes or 1,000,000 gigabytes).

My Recommendations:
Phone or Tablet for Basic Use:  I would recommend at least 1 GB of RAM.  It is certainly possible to get by with less, but your device may be slower than you want.
Basic Internet/Office Use:  Since Windows Vista, 7, and 8 almost always require at least 1 GB of RAM (with the exception of a couple versions of Vista), I would recommend that any computer you consider have at least 2 GB to ensure there is ample space for other programs.  Choosing a computer with 4 GB might be advisable if you can stay within your budget.
High Usage/Multitasking/Video Streaming:  I would recommend 4 GB.  You may see a slight improvement in speed if you choose a computer with 8 GB, but I would not consider this upgrade a high priority.
High-End Gaming/Video Editing and Rendering:  8 GB to 16 GB of RAM would be recommended for these tasks.  You will also want to consider a separate graphics card, which will include additional RAM that will be dedicated to producing the images on your screen (more on that later in the week).

What To Look For: Processors

As a computer technician, it is not uncommon for someone to come up to me, show me the technical information for two different computers, and then ask me, "Which one is better?"  The truth is:  "better" depends on what you need, not what is actually inside the device.  While one computer may be a "better" computer (more hard drive space, more RAM, faster processor, etc.), you might be able to sacrifice a little performance for a lower cost.  This week, my daily tips will focus on helping you understand how to understand the differences between different devices and determine what is best for your needs.

The first item we will examine is the processor.  The processor is the heart of the computer.  The processor takes the streams of electrical signals from all over the computer and the internet and manipulates them.

To understand some of the major parts of the computer, I will use the example of an office.  The filing cabinet will represent the hard drive, the desk will represent the RAM, and the employee sitting at the desk will represent the processor.  We will discuss hard drives and RAM later, but the processor (employee) will take data (papers) from the desk (RAM) to read and use throughout the day.  Since almost all of the data in your computer has to move through the processor, the processor is an important part of your computer.

There are two major factors to look at when considering processors:  cores and speed.  Cores are the number of physical processing units located within the processor.  Lately, the trend in computing has been to keep adding cores instead of making the processor actually work at a faster speed.  The speed represents how fast each processor core is working.  Let's take a closer look at each of these factors:

1) Cores - As I mentioned earlier, the number of cores in a processor represents the number of processing units within the processor.  If you go back to our office analogy earlier, cores could represent multiple employees working at the same time.  Obviously, you will get more work done if you have four employees handling paperwork instead of two (assuming you don't have lazy employees!)  Processor cores work the same way.  Each core can only be manipulating one item at a time, so if you have multiple cores, the processor can be handling multiple pieces of data simultaneously.

Older computers had only one processor core, but newer computers almost always come with at least a dual-core (two core) processor.  Higher-end computers might come with a quad-core (four core) processor.  The computer I use has a six-core processor.  I have also seen eight-core and even sixteen-core processors on the market, but computers with them are obviously going to be very expensive.  Occasionally, there will be a computer with another number of cores (such as a 3-core processor), but 2, 4, and 6 are the most common ones I have seen.

If you are looking at a list of the technical data on a computer, you can recognize the number of cores by looking at the processor information.  There are two major manufacturers of processors.  Intel's processors will usually always say "Dual Core", "Quad Core", etc.  AMD's processors will shorten it to "X2" (Dual Core), X4 (Quad Core), etc.

2) Speed - The speed of a processor tells you how fast each core can handle information.  Speeds for processors usually range from around 1.50 GHz to 3.50 GHz.  Faster numbers mean that the processor will be able to handle more information in a shorter time.  There are processors outside both ends of this range, but they are either older (for slower speeds) or very high-end computers (for faster speeds).

The speed is usually listed in the technical data along with the number of cores. I did a quick search for a processor, and the first one that came up stated "Intel Xeon E5-2690 2.9 GHz 8-core Processor". Looking at this, you can see that it is an 8-core processor running at 2.9 GHz. Since both the number of cores and the speed are at the high-end, you can expect that this processor would be expensive.  (And it is!  The processor alone retails for over $2000!)

It is important to remember that the speed of the processor is listed for each core.  So a 3.00 GHz quad-core processor would be expected to process twice as much data as a 3.00 GHz dual-core processor.  Obviously, it is important to remember that this is its capability.  It will not need to use all the cores every second if you are not pushing it to its maximum capability.

One final note regarding processors:  those into high-end computer usage may be considering overclocking.  I have read that Intel and AMD processors have similar rates of failure for normal use, but when overclocking, AMD processors begin to fail at a much higher rate.  If you do not know what overclocking is or you are not planning on doing it, then brand should only be a minor concern (unless you are completely determined to only use a particular brand).  If you plan to overclock, then I would only consider Intel.

My Recommendations:
Phone or Tablet for Basic Use:  I would recommend going with at least dual-core processor, but a single-core processor would be acceptable.  Because of the need to reduce heat, most phones and tablets have slower processors in the 1.00 GHz to 1.50 GHz range.
Basic Internet/Office Use:  A dual-core processor running 1.50-2.00 GHz should be fine, but don't be afraid to go a little higher.  Browsers and office software are becoming more complex, so you want to give as much room so your computer.
High Usage/Multitasking/Video Streaming:  Something a little faster than the processor mentioned above would be ideal.  Either go with a dual-core running closer to 3.00 GHz or any speed quad-core.
High-End Gaming/Video Editing and Rendering:  A quad-core or above will almost be required.  For these tasks, go with the fastest overall processing speed you can afford.  And as I mentioned earlier, if you are considering overclocking, stick with Intel only.