| Desktop computers are computers designed and | | | | and its speed. |
| made for use on a desk at your home or office, and | | | | Memory or RAM - it is important to get the optimum |
| are clearly distinguishable from mobile computers such | | | | RAM available to allow your system to run at its |
| as laptop notebooks and PDAs. Also known as | | | | maximum capacity. The minimum amount of memory |
| microcomputers, desktop computers come in four | | | | available is 512MB; 1GB provides better performance. |
| types - home computers or personal computers, | | | | When purchasing memory, opt to buy as few DIMMs |
| work stations, servers, and communications | | | | as possible - this way, you can upgrade your |
| computers. | | | | memory whenever needed. |
| Desktop PCs are the most affordable computers in | | | | Hard Drive - consider the capacity and speed of the |
| the market and are ever present in households, | | | | hard drive. A hard drive capacity of 80GB should be |
| schools, and business offices. These computers are | | | | the minimum. As for hard drive performance, getting |
| generally used for tasks such as organizing photos, | | | | a 7200 rpm drive will be the best choice. You should |
| editing videos, office work, and surfing the Internet. | | | | also look for drives with 8MB or 16MB cache. |
| Coming in different case styles such as towers or | | | | Optical drives - DVD/CD burners and readers have |
| smaller form factors, all desktop computers are built | | | | now become a basic part of all desktop computer |
| modularly, allowing for the replacement or upgrade of | | | | systems. Getting a multiformat DVD writer that |
| parts and components. | | | | provides support for +R/RW and -R/RW formats is |
| The main components that make up desktop | | | | recommended. Recordable speed should be at 16x. |
| computers are the display or screen - either LCD or | | | | Video Card - new video cards come out every six |
| CRT, the motherboard, CPU or microprocessor, | | | | months or so, so choosing the right one might be |
| memory or RAM, expansion cards, power supply, | | | | difficult. A card that supports DirectX 9 with a |
| optical disc drives or ODD, hard disk drives or HDD, a | | | | minimum of 128MB for memory can give you future |
| keyboard, and mouse. Other components include the | | | | capability. |
| fan, CPU cooler, graphics card, speakers, sound cards, | | | | External Connectors and Ports - upgrades and |
| modem, floppy disk drive, and network card. | | | | computer peripherals are connected through ports |
| This type of computer is very common in the | | | | and other external interfaces. Systems with about six |
| market, you can buy a ready-made computer or you | | | | USB2.0 and one IEEE1394 should be a good buy. |
| can buy one using specifications you created. If you | | | | Monitors - you can choose between CRT and LCD |
| want to buy a desktop computer system, you will | | | | monitors. CRT monitors are relatively cheaper than |
| have to do a lot of research to make an informed | | | | LCD monitors. LCDs do not take up as much space |
| decision. Here are a few items you can look into | | | | as CRTs but they have limited capabilities. Aside from |
| when buying desktop computers: | | | | the type of monitor, you should also consider the |
| Processors or CPUs - when looking at processors, | | | | size and resolution. A 17" monitor with a display |
| you will need to consider two things: the CPU's brand | | | | resolution of 1280x1024 pixels is recommended. |