Choosing The Right PC
It is already understood that the computing needs of different individuals also vary, and the type of computers that can handle such demands must be selected carefully. How do you choose a PC that is right for you?
To be more concrete about selecting a PC, take into consideration the difference in computing needs between an avid professional computer gamer and a student. You can tell right away that there are some major discrepancies with regards to the PC’s that will be right for each individual.
What does a student need a computer for in the first place? Let us try to discuss what kinds of activities that a university student would engage in, so that we can tie that up with the kinds of functionality later. A student would be doing a lot of typing- this is a given. Depending on what he or she is taking up in the university, more or less the computer would be used often as a typewriter, and of course, for printing.
If the student is in architecture and engineering, there are specific needs, but the computing power remains the same more or less. Often, the student would have thousands of saved files on his or her personal computer, and maybe some software like electronic encyclopedias installed. With this in mind, we are simply talking about space.
With regards to the size of the hard drive, at the very least an 80 GB drive would do for the college student, while some may need space as large as 300 GB. After considering the memory of the PC, then you should now think about the computing power, and that depends on the type of processor you get. A processor with speeds like 1.5 GHz and a 512 MB video card would suffice for the student. If you are thinking about these specs for a gamer, however, then there are some changes.
You can say that a gamer uses his PC for two main things: work and play. The most arduous tasks of the PC would most likely be during game time, as it will have to play multimedia non-stop, receive input from the user, as well as run algorithms constantly.
A gamer’s personal computer would need a lot more space than just 300 gigabytes. More likely, if the hefty versions of solid state hard disks are unavailable or just plain too expensive, the gamer would need to install at least two hard disks, to receive and retain the memory load of the games themselves. Some games take up more than five gigabytes of hard disk space- and of course, during play time, they consume virtual memory as you play along.
When thinking about a processor that is powerful enough for the gamer, the basics simply would not do. Intel Skulltrail is one that is highly recommended for these purposes.
Filed under: Computers & Technology