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How do I know what to look for ? (Buying a Computer, Part 2) Here are some pointers on what to look for when you have decided on the main functions of your new purchase, but always remember your budget. Before we begin, in order to help you understand some of the jargon I will explain a very simple way of comparing the main 3 computer components to an everyday life situation: Imagine a person working at their desk in an office with a filing cabinet beside them and they are working on customer accounts. The processor or CPU is the person working as fast as they can when required and doing very little when it is not necessary. The memory, also known as RAM, is the size of their desk. The larger it is the more accounts they can work on at once, without having to put the related customer files back into the cabinet. When the desk is full some files must be put back in the filing cabinet before another is taken out to work with another customer account. If the desk keeps filling up more work has to be done to put files away and take new ones out so the person has to work harder. The other alternative is to get a larger desk, (or in the computers case more memory). The Hard Disk is their filing cabinet. When new customers? files are created they are put in the cabinet. Files are taken out when a change is required to the customer account, then returned when a customer?s accounts are completed. Old customer account files are taken out and thrown away or stored elsewhere, either when the cabinet is full or on a regular basis. This may be once a year. In computing terms we call this housekeeping and archiving. That's it Simple as That. IP | ||||
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