12/08/2018
What to consider when buying computers
First you must know how and for what purpose you are going to use the computer. Then you can base your choice based on your reasons.
Desktop vs Laptop
- If you are going to use the computer in one place and you are sure you don't move it from place to place, then you better buy a desktop. But, if you have to move it from place to place, laptop is preferred due to portability.
RAM
- RAM is associated with speed. Larger RAM size, higher speed. If you use your computer for software like word, excel, reading pdf documents, watching movies etc, a RAM size of 2GB is more than enough. For software like video editing, engineering, programming, etc, higher RAM size is needed.
Hard disk
- Hard disk is where your files and other software and system files are put. So, the larger your files, the more the hard disk space needed. Files of word, excel etc (text based media) take less space. Audio files such as mp3, wav, etc take more space than text based files. Video files such as DVD movies, mp4, avi, etc, take the largest space.
So, if you are going to accumulate so many movies in your PC, then you need higher hard disk such as 500GB or 1TB. If you are going to have only text documents such as word, excel, etc, even 160GB hard disk can be enough.
Processing speed
- Generally, the higher the processor speed, the higher the speed of the computer. But, this is commonly offset by RAM size for most uses. So, if you are not highly professional user, focus on RAM.
Used vs Brand new
- There is no problem in buying used computers if you can be sure it's hard disk is not defective and all parts function normally. For example, instead of paying 20,000 birr for new computer, you may buy a used one for 10,000 birr with the same specification. If it's a laptop, also check how long the battery life stays.
Thank You!
