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HOW TO BUY A COMPUTER FOR UNIVERSITY

 

It’s the time of year when young students leave home and head off for university leaving behind the household computer and needing one of their own. How do you know which one to buy? There is so much jargon associated with pcs that it is difficult to know which one is a good buy and which one isn’t. So let’s try to make your decision a little easier.

 

 The first choice to make is whether to choose a desktop computer or a laptop. A desktop, with a separate system unit, monitor, mouse and keyboard, is fine if you have lots of space and is versatile in that you can add to it and replace parts that develop faults. However, space is usually pretty tight in student accommodation so a laptop is probably the better option. Laptops can have the same processing power and storage capacity as desktops and with prices so competitive today there is very little difference in price. Although there may be a slight concern that parts such as the keyboard and monitor are expensive to replace on a laptop, they are very reliable these days so when you consider that students like the occasional trip home and won’t want to leave their computer behind then a laptop is the sensible option.

 

Processor

 The most important part of a computer is the processor so let’s have a look at some of the issues here. The processor is the “brain” of the computer. It handles all calculations and issues instructions to all the other parts. There are two main manufacturers: AMD and Intel but this is not an issue you need worry about as you will not notice any difference between the two. However, there are different grades of processor that you may need to consider. The lower priced laptops will use budget processors, such as the Intel Celeron, which do not have the processing capacity of more expensive ones. However, if you’re only using the computer to surf the net, chat online, play music and perhaps compose the odd thesis, then the budget processor will be perfectly adequate and will only struggle if asked to perform complicated engineering or scientific calculations or serious gaming applications.

 

Hard drive

Let’s look at the hard drive now. This is where all the applications are stored e.g. Word, Internet Explorer, Windows, etc. It’s also where you save all your documents, photos and perhaps most importantly, where all your music is saved. So how big does the hard drive need to be? The smallest hard drive you’re likely to be able to buy today is 120 gigabytes and when you consider that 10,000 songs will use up about 50Gb then you’ll agree that a 120Gb hard drive will probably be big enough although you obviously can’t use the whole drive just for music. 

 

Memory (RAM)

 The processor does not access data or applications directly from the hard drive but issues instructions to load the data into the computer’s memory (RAM) so that it can read it. Therefore it is important that your computer has enough RAM. How much RAM do you need? Windows XP will run quite happily with 500Mb but most pcs now have Windows Vista installed and this is much more hungry for RAM so while the recommendation is for a minimum of 1Gb, your computer will run better with 2Mb.

 

 

Software

 A PC needs software and the most useful piece of software is Microsoft Office which varies in price from about £80 to £350 depending on which version you buy. The least expensive version, “Office for Home and Student”, should be adequate providing a word processor, spreadsheet and Powerpoint which is essential for those presentations that universities love.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Printer

 Although a lot of university work can be submitted by e-mail now, a printer is still essential. While it is obviously true that the more you pay the better the printer, it isn’t necessary to buy an expensive printer as the cheaper ones will still produce quality prints but perhaps not as quickly as the more expensive ones. All-in-one printers are particularly useful as they can be used to scan and copy documents as well while photo printers will produce good quality photographs on photo paper.

 

Accessories

  There are many accessories that can be connected to your computer and most will connect via a USB port so it is worth checking the number of USB ports there are on the pc. While it is possible to increase the number of ports with USB hubs it is much easier to connect directly to the pc so make sure the laptop has three or four ports. A built in card reader is also useful as it enables you to take the memory card out of your digital camera and plug it straight into the pc without the need for cables and camera software as the pc will read the card as if it were another disk.

 

 An important part of student life is listening to music so it is worth considering a set of speakers as the speakers built into the laptop won’t produce very good sound. For a reasonable price you can buy you a decent set of speakers with a subwoofer for those bass notes so important in modern music but remember that the walls in the halls of residence are usually pretty thin so you will not be popular if your next door neighbour doesn’t share your taste in music.

 

 Another important consideration is the security of the data on the computer. Hard drives do occasionally fail and if you don’t keep copies of your important documents, photos or music files then you could lose everything. External USB drives are useful for backing up large quantities of data but even an inexpensive USB memory stick can be used for keeping copies of university work.

 

 Virus protection is essential on computers as viruses can be picked up very easily from the internet or university networks. Your computer will probably have a trial version of an anti-virus software package installed when you buy it but this will eventually require an annual subscription of £30 to £40 to enable you to download updates as new viruses are continually being introduced. This is money well spent.

Your anti-virus software should protect against viruses, spyware, pop-ups and phishing as well as having a firewall to block unauthorised access.

 

 Obviously, you can pay £1,000 and more and get a top quality pc but this guideline is for an inexpensive pc which should be adequate for a student’s needs. However, if you’re in to serious computer games then you’re going to be disappointed with a budget laptop.

 

 

Still Confused?

 Peninsula IT Services can supply a student package delivered to your door and set up. 

For further information please visit www.peninsulait.co.uk or call 0151 238 0660.