Computer Repairs

Buying a computer

Computers are now very powerful, there are many desktop pc’s that are as or more powerful than many of the servers I have repaired.

Even the most basic computer is capable of performing some very powerful tasks, buying the top of the range is not always necessary.

Computer Brand
Everyone knows Compaq, Hewlett Packard, Dell and IBM, these are some of the main personal computer manufacturers, buying a Compaq, Dell or any branded name means you have a reputable company behind the design of the computer, this used to mean a price tag to match, with the competition building computers the main manufacturers have brought down their prices to match some of the clone manufacturers.

Although some of the branded names use clone components at times normally the branded computer has a machine specific component, this being the motherboard, power supply etc, this is OK provided the computer is working or the computer is in warranty, as soon as the computer is out of warranty you are in a situation where in the event of a breakdown you can only buy the parts from the manufacturer or a manufacturer authorised supplier, this leaves them in a situation to control the price, should the price be too high you can only buy second hand or buy a new machine.

Clone Equipment
Clone computers are computers that are freely available to anyone, there are manufacturers normally in China and Taiwan that build components for computers, they sell these components through distributors in the UK and the rest of the world, any computer shop can buy these components and build their own machines badged with their own logo, if you buy a clone machine, when the warranty has expired you can take the computer anywhere to be repaired, any company can get replacement parts and there is no artificial price control.

Technology
I remember when the 486DX2 66 came out, we had one on the bench in our workshop and I went over to look in awe at the ultimate in power machine, these were £2000 plus (new) at auction and ridiculously high from branded manufacturers, I wondered how something so powerful could be reliable.
That 66Mhz machine is not powerful enough to run many of the modern scripts and programs today, we are now looking at speeds of 2Ghz plus, there are limits to the speed with current technology, these speed limitations are being minimised by fitting more than one CPU on a chip, duel and quad core, no doubt as technology advances there will be other ways emerging but at current technology 2ghz is about the normal maximum.

Things to consider
Unless you want a computer for a specific use there are very few things to take into consideration when buying a machine, even the most basic machine will serve as a powerful platform for a word processor, accounts package or games machine, some of the following things are things you may want to consider when looking around.

CPU
The fastest the better, there is often very little price difference between most speeds of CPU’s, then you will see a huge difference in the next level, this has always been the case, the top of the range is a lot dearer than the next one down, look at the current speeds and compare the prices buy the one that is the highest spec at the lowest price range.

Memory
Memory is cheap, buy as much as you can fit on the system board, when computers first came out the amount of memory that was directly usable was 640K and a hard disk of 40meg was huge, because of this programmers built programs that used little resources such as memory and disc space, Billy Gates brings out Microsoft Windows and the Bloatware was born, Windows demanded more memory the world memory companies supplied it and the price fell, the 640k memory limit was removed, hard drives increased in capacity programmers no longer needed to write small files and memory efficient programs, they could bloat out their programs knowing that the PC world would need to keep up.

Hard Disks
As with the CPU there is a specification level where the price goes up in a large step, my advice is to buy the largest capacity before the huge price increase.

Monitors
CRT monitors are heavy and bulky, LCD monitors are now cheap enough for anyone’s budget and should be a priority when purchasing, 17″ is fine but buy what suits your situation.

My mate can make a computer
This is a quote I have heard from many of my customers, if a friend says they can make a computer or they have a friend who can make a computer for you think twice and ask them the question, “Do they have an anti static workstation” if the answer is what is that or no then the chance of your computer lasting until old age is minimal, I ve seen on forums people saying “I made my computer on the carpet and it still works” it may or it may not but it wont last for long in most situations.

Bristol and Bath Computers
At Bristol and Bath Home Computers we do not actively sell computers, if requested by customers to make them one we will source the best value components and build the computer at our anti static workstation, we buy all components when required so you get the latest technology.