Fall 1998 Computers and Society
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Last updated: 10/12/98
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Buying a Home Computer
David Bowen
10/12/98

A number of people have asked my advice about buying a Windows computer for the home. Things are changing rapidly, but here goes.

  1. What do you intend to do with the computer? For most people, word processing, email and surfing the World Wide Web are what they want. Add a spreadsheet program if you want to do budgeting, and a personal finance program if you want to manage your personal finances using a computer. For these people, a minimal computer will do just fine. If you want to add creating audio, video or graphics, then more RAM, higher processor speeds, a sound board, and more hard drive space are needed. (If all you want to do is view these, then you can make do with the minimal computer described below.) If you are not sure, my advice is to buy a minimal computer at the start and increase the capacity when you decide for sure. But if you want to create audio, video or graphics, then you should consider doubling the recommendations below. Doubling is less critical for audio than for video or graphics. And of course, for audio and video you will need additional hardware.
  2. New "minimal" computers have fallen dramatically in price. It is realistic, if you wait for a good special, to get a computer with a Pentium chip, CD-ROM drive, fast modem, monitor and printer for $600 to $900, in a package deal. The one brand that I personally stay away from is Packard-Bell. Hewlett Packard, on the other hand, is a well-respected manufacturer. I own an off-brand at home (Pro Prema) and have been pleased with the value and performance. If you are interested in a used or remanufactured computer, keep the above prices in mind; because prices for new computers are falling so rapidly, it can be difficult to get a good deal on a used computer. Dealers for used and remanufactured computers are listed in the Yellow Pages, or try J&R Computer world in New York City, tel 800-221-8180. For a used or remanufactured computer, some important things to ask about are:
    1. What is the warrantee? Where do you have to take the computer if service is needed?
    2. What software is inlcuded? Do you get a full set of manuals and system disks for the computer and all of the peripherals (hard drive, modem, CD-ROM, modem)?
    3. What microprocessor does the computer have? A Pentium 133 MHz or higher is reasonable (assuming you don't want to create grpahics, video or audio). A 80486 will be out of date soon. A 80386 or lower is out of date now.
  3. General recommendations for a minimal computer:
    1. Pentium 133 MHz or higher, any type (MMX, II, etc.). A Celeron processor is also OK. Equivalent off-brands (e.g. AMD) are acceptable.
    2. 16 MB RAM but 32 MB is better. If you plan to spend a lot of time using the World Wide Web, the latest version of Netscape (Communicator, or version 4) runs best with 24 MB of RAM. If you have less than this, it will still run, using the hard drive for virtual memory, but it will run more slowly. You can accept the slow-down, go for 32 MB of RAM, or find an earlier version of Netscape.
    3. A CD-ROM is desirable since most software is distributed this way today. Any speed is OK, unless you want to play computer games or video off of a CD-ROM (that is, without first installing them on the hard drive).
    4. Floppy drive desirable.
    5. Windows95 or Windows98 OK
    6. 1.5 GB or higher hard drive OK
    7. Modem for home use, 33 kBPS or higher OK
    8. I recommend getting all of the software that you know for sure that you want as a package deal with the computer, either preinstalled or separately.
    9. A lot of less expensive computers have the "Monitor sold separately." With Windows, you do NOT need an IBM monitor to go with an IBM computer. And it seems to me that a lot of the monitors that are shown with these special deals are the more expensive monitors. If you are trying to shave dollars, a 14" monitor is more than acceptable, and these can be bought for approximately $150. If you are buying a monitor from a spearate source than the computer, make sure that they know what type of computer you are buying, and in particular what type of video card is in that computer (the video card drives the monitor display).