FREE Independent advice on buying and maintaining a home computer - PCAdviceNow

Base Specifications

The purpose of this page is to provide base specifications for anyone looking to buy a new PC or laptop.

I have assumed that the user will want to do the following:

• Browse the internet
• Use and Office application e.g Microsoft Office
• Store and Edit Digitial Media
• Watch DVD movies

You can go lower then these and still get a good package, however I have assumed that the computer will need to last at least 3 years before being replaced and the specifications reflect this.

If you are looking for a bargain low end PC or Latop then I would visit EUR*PC who advertise on this site. Their link is below on the right.


Desktop

CPU - AMD Athlon 64 x2 3800, Intel Pentium D 3.2ghz or above

RAM - 1GB DDR Ram and the ability to upgrade to least 2GB

USB Ports - Minimum of 6, these are useful for connecting peripherals e.g cameras, printers, scanners

Monitor - 17" or 19" Flat Panel, look for a response time of less than 8MS

Graphics Card - Nvidia 7600GS, ATI Radeon 1600 XT or similar

Hard Drive - 160GB

DVD Writer - 16x, you need one of these if you want to store you digital media on a DVD

Operating Sytem - Windows Vista Home Premium or Windows Professional SP2

A PC with this specification should be well under £500


Laptop / Notebook

CPU - Intel Core Duo T23000, AMD Mobile Turion 64 Mt-34 or above

RAM - 1GB DDR Ram and ability to upgrade to least 2GB

USB Ports - Minimum of 4, these are useful for connecting peripherals e.g cameras, printers, scanners

Monitor - 14" with a Resolution of 1280 x 800

Graphics Card - Nvidia GeForce GO 7600 GS 256Mb or similar, onboard graphics are not always that good so avoid if you want to watch DVD's and play games

Hard Drive - 60GB

DVD Writer - 8x, you need one of these if you want to store you digital media on a DVD

Wireless Network Support - Minimum of 802.11g but Draft / Pre N would be good

Operating Sytem - Windows Vista Home Premium or Windows Professional SP2

A Laptop / Notebook with this specification should be less than £500.

The above is for suggestion purposes only, if possible you should go for the best processor that you can and then look at memory, hard drive, graphics card as these are somewhat easier to upgrade in the future.


Gaming Desktop or Laptop / Notebook

If you want to play the latest games then you will need a higher specification computer over and above the base specifications

Desktop CPU - AMD Athlon 64 x2 5000, Intel Core Duo 4400 or above

Desktop RAM - Minimum of 2GB

Desktop Graphics Cards -

ATI Radeon X1950 Pro - £100 or less
Nvidia Geforce 8600GT - £100 or less
ATi Radeon X2600 / 2900 XT - £125 +
nVidia GeForce 8800 GTS with 320 / 640MB - £125+

Dedicated onboard sound card from Creative or similar


Laptop CPU - Intel Core Duo 2 T5600 or above

Laptop RAM - Minimum of 1GB

Laptop Graphics Cards -nVidia Gefore Go 8600 GS / GT


Graphics

One of the most exciting developments in Windows Vista is the groundbreaking graphics technology. Many of the newest Windows games will take full advantage of the next-generation graphics technology in Windows Vista called DirectX® 10.

This new technology will only be available with Windows Vista, currently there are only a few games that support this standard. In addition to Windows Vista you will need a high graphics card to play games with acceptable performance e.g. nVidea 8800 GTS

New games will appear on the market over the next couple of years and these will probably include rewrites of older classics to take advantage of the new technology.


The above is for suggestion purposes only, if possible you should go for the best processor that you can and then look at memory, hard drive, graphics card as these are somewhat easier to upgrade in the future.