Should I Buy a Desktop or Laptop?
Senin, 14 Januari 2008
A common question people are having these days is if they should purchase the very common desktop computer, or should they go for the portability of a notebook (laptop) computer. The answer to that question depends heavily on the person who's in the market for the computer. The questions you should ask yourself before choosing is...
* What are you going to be using the computer for?
* How often do you travel?
* Would you ever like to add or manipulate internal components of your computer?
* Do you have, or plan to have a lot of peripherals (external components such as printers, web cam, etc.)?
These are just some basic questions you should ask yourself before choosing between a desktop or laptop. Let's look at the differences between the two.
A desktop is a stationary machine. Which means that it is not meant to be moved around a lot, it's designed to stay in one spot. That one spot is usually on a desk (hints the name desktop), or some type of table top. Because desktops are stationary and they have more bulky parts to them which come standard such as the stand-alone monitor, the tower or enclosure which holds the internal components of the computer, and the keyboard and mouse.
Because the desktops' enclosure are so roomy, they can generally house components such as multiple memory modules, multiple hard disks, multiple processors, etc. The increasing size of hard disks these days are virtually endless. The size of a typical hard disk for a desktop can range anywhere between 60 GB - 300 GB but can go much higher. Desktop enclosures usually contain multiple drive bays that allow you to expand you storage space by adding additional hard disks to your system. The desktop's memory size is usually anywhere between 256 MB - 4 GB and can be expandable. Today's system boards (motherboards) usually contain expandable memory slots for adding additional RAM to your system also. Another reason desktops will not be going out of style anytime soon is because of the ease of customization.
A lot of people build there own desktops by simply buying the components and putting it together their selves. Howstuffworks.com has a great article on how to build your own desktop. The main reason people build their own desktops is because they want it to do exactly what they want it to do. When you build your own system you have complete control over what goes into your computer and you don't have anything in it you don't put in it.
Shopping for a computer in a store is like shopping for house. You are looking for a house with this many rooms, this many bathrooms, a patio, glass sliding doors, basement, winery, catwalk, etc. It may take you a while to find that dream house, that's why many people opt to build their own homes from scratch, making sure that they get that dream house and everything they want in it. Same idea with computer building. Some people, especially gamers, want that perfect machine and the only way they will get it is to build it their selves.
Laptops (or notebooks) on the other hand were designed for one reason only, and that's portability. Unlike desktops, laptops can be toted around pretty much anywhere. They can be used as a portable DVD player for entertainment on a plane. Laptops are great for giving a presentation to your co-workers at the job. They are also preferred by people who just don't like sitting at a desk, they would rather lay across their bed or sit comfortably on their couch while they surf the web. Laptops come with just one major unit in the box which is the notebook computer itself. The monitor, keyboard, mouse pad, and all internal components are built-in to one incredibly small unit which can sit easily in a user's lap (hints the name laptop). For the compact nature of this system usually comes a steeper price than of a desktop. Laptops can do just about everything a desktop can do with minor limitations.
First of all, laptops generally come with about 4-6 usb ports, so if at any given time you need a web cam, external mouse, usb printer, mic, external hard drive, external floppy drive, 3 flash drives, usb memory card reader, and a usb wireless adapter all connected at the same time, then you're probably not going to enjoy having all of those cables going everywhere, especially since your going to need an external usb hub to seat all those extra usb devices. Laptop's internal hard disk's are usually anywhere between 40 GB - 200 GB in size and can be bigger but not likely. Laptops do not have expansion bays for adding additional internal hard disks, but you can purchase storage volumes in the form of a pc card which can be used through the card slot of a laptop. There are also external hard drives flash drives, memory cards that can be purchased to increase storage space. Memory (RAM) in laptops range anywhere between 256 MB - 2 GB and can go higher. In some laptops the memory is expandable, but expanding memory is notebooks is just not as common and in desktops.
The downfall to laptops for the picky consumer is the fact that they can't be built. You can't just go out and buy a laptop enclosure and components and put together a laptop. This is a problem not just for people that like that customization, but when there is a problem with an internal component, the problem generally can only be fixed by the OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer).
In Conclusion, neither a desktop nor laptop is better than the other, it's all about what purpose it is going to serve for the user. How portable you need it to be, what you are going to be using it for, and do you plan to do any internal upgrades or customizations are the main questions you should ask yourself before choosing which system to opt for.
My name is Sergio Woods and I've been studying computers for over 7 years now. I have a great deal of knowledge in aspects ranging from Internet Administration to software programming to hardware and component installation. In my studies I have come to realize that there are very general things even the most casual computer user should know how to do in order to keep their computer running at its peak performance.
I feel the need to share my knowledge with any and everybody who has the desire I do to learn everything there is to know about the most revolutionary entity in our society. I try my best to explain everything in layman's terms without using a bunch of technical jargon. Also I've realized that there are a lot of people charging people an arm and a leg to give very common computer advise which is not worth that much at all. Sometimes people just need a little push in the right direction, and Computer Maintain.com is here to give you that push.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com
Selengkapnya...
How To Speed Up Slow Computer ?
Selasa, 13 November 2007
Do you want to learn how to speed up your slow computer? I know how frustrating it can feel when your computer starts processing much slower than it should. This article will look at the reasons why that can happen, and what I did to optimize my computer speed again.
1. Why Do Computers Slow Down?
The more software you install and run on your computer, the easier it is for your computer to start slowing down. More programs on your PC will cause it to require more memory from your RAM. You may have known this already, but do you know that there are also many cases where PCs slow down even when there are not many programs installed into it?
2. Registry Errors
A majority of computers, including my own, will slow down because of errors or bad and missing entries in the registry. The registry is a critical component of the computer that stores all the instructions to run every program and application on your PC. These instructions are stored in registry keys, which can become corrupted after a prolonged period of use. To keep your PC running quickly, you will need to maintain your registry cleaner.
3. Downloading A Cleaner Software
There are many registry cleaners on the internet, with many outdated ones that cannot detect many errors too. If you want to download the top rated software that I personally used to speed up my slow computer, you can visit my website link at the end of this article to find out more.
4. Uninstall The Unused Programs
You probably also have several programs on your computer that you really do not need anymore. Unless you have very big RAM space, try not to keep these programs around because they are a huge liability on your PC memory.
You can easily delete unwanted programs from your computer by using the Add/Remove Programs function in your Control Panel. Removing them should free up memory space. But if you find that this does not help much in speeding up your computer, then your registry might be the main culprit.
Are you looking to speed up your slow computer? Read the author's review of the Best Registry Cleaners on the market now at http://www.review-best.com/registry-cleaner.htm and completely clean up your computer registry in 2 minutes!
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com
Selengkapnya...
Download Computer Games - Before Deciding To Buy One
Minggu, 04 November 2007
The Internet is not only a good source of information on about every subject. You will also find many sites that allow you to download new programs and other useful software that you can copy directly to your computer. It also offers files that contain videos, music and games. Before you can use these files, they first have to be copied to your hard disk. This process is called downloading. Web pages usually have links to downloadable files. If you click on one of these download links, your browser immediately copies the files onto your computer's hard disk drive.
Today, there is a very wide range of different kinds of computer games that you can download. Very often big gaming software companies allow you to download a trial version of a game that they have just released. They call these either trialware or shareware. Typically, the companies provide shareware so you can download the games and try before buying it. The games usually are demo versions with limited features.
A shareware is accompanied by a request for payment that the person who downloaded the computer game is required to pay after a certain amount of time has past.
Free trial software is one of the main reasons for the rapid growth of the gaming industry. Today the industry is worth more than $10 billion. With games costing an average of $40, it's a wise decision to download computer games for trial first. Most new video games released have their own dedicated website, so players can be updated on latest news and sequels. Many of the computer games offering a free trial have a specific mission that the player can try out. In this way he can get a feeling for the scenarios and the overall design of the game.
If you want a new gaming software, there are thousands of downloadable games available on the internet including classic games that you may not find in a regular software store.
Nevertheless there are disadvantages downloading shareware. The main drawback when downloading computer games is that the bigger the file size, the longer it will take your computer to write the information on its hard disk drive. This often can be a tedious process that can tie up your phone line for a long time. Another factor that may affect the time it takes your computer to download the game is when there are a lot of other users that are trying to download the same file as you.
http://www.bubblebox.com
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com
Selengkapnya...
