Computer Corner

There are several different types of computer users.  Most of you are the classic “Internet & Email” user, very few of you may do some picture and/or video editing and the last of you are gamers.

Standard Internet User

Whether it’s a laptop or a desktop computer, these are the minimum specifications you’d want.  Obviously, more is better, but this is what I would recommend to fit your needs for now and the future.

• 2Ghz Dual-Core Intel or AMD Processor
• 2GB RAM
• 60GB Hard Drive

The rest doesn’t really matter.  60GB Hard Drive is there for the typical user with a decent sized MP3 collection to have plenty of room.  If you feel you’re this user, but also take and store a lot of pictures, you may want to consider a bigger hard drive as well as an external hard drive for backup purposes.  Video card is pretty irrelevant, along with any other features not listed above.  The rest is personal preference… like the brand of the computer, CD/DVD writer (which usually comes with every computer now), and monitor size.

Photo/Video Editing User

This type of user will demand computing power to do what they want in a reasonable amount of time.  Hard drive space and backup storage should also be on your mind if you care about wasted time.  Whether you want to burn a DVD or put your files on an external hard drive, keep that in mind when you’re budgeting a new computer.

• 2.4Ghz Dual-Core Intel or AMD Processor (Quad-Core CPU if you can afford it)
• 3GB RAM
• 160GB Hard Drive – very minimum.
• Video card with at least 256MB Dedicated Memory on it (not shared) – 512MB Dedicated recommended.

Like above, monitor size, CD/DVD writer, etc. are up to you.

Gamer – On a budget.

I’m not talking Solitaire here… This type of gamer can be a first-person shooter type gamer, or a real-time strategy user.  Whether it The Sims, Call of Duty, World of Warcraft, you should be okay with this setup, but you may want more.

• 2.4Ghz Quad-Core Intel/AMD Processor
• 3GB RAM
• 250GB Hard Drive
• Nvidia GTX200 or ATI Radeon 4800 Series Video Card.

This should run most any game in pretty good detail with minor hiccups.  However, there’s always better.

Gamer – Serioius Business

You’re likely not buying this computer from Best Buy or any other local store.  There are a few stores online you can custom order machines that are beyond powerful, but if I was building a machine right now, it would include these parts.

• Intel Core i7 920 CPU
• 6GB RAM
• (2) Radeon HD 4890 1GB or (2) Nvidia GTX275
• Intel SSD 80GB Hard Drive for Primary, 500GB for Secondary storage

Those are the highlights, but of course you can always go bigger.  That setup would run games for a couple years with no issues.  Video cards are pretty much the most important thing in a gaming system.  You can get dual GPU Video Cards, but you can usually get (2) video cards for cheaper than a single dual GPU card.  There’s a lot more into building this kind of system, but if you really are interested let me know and I’ll gladly help building this with you