Buying A Computer :: essays research papers

NeedsThis computer would be used for mainly writing papers, surfing the Internet, a little desktop publishing, and playing some 3d sports games. packetThe softw ar I would buy would have to include a word processor, and desktop publishing program. The standard programs for this are Microsofts. They are Microsoft Word, and Microsoft Publisher. Using a school-age child discount, I can get them both for under $200. (See http//www.edu.com/software/ ) I also need to decide which operating system I want. The main choices are Windows ME/2000 or an Apple Macintosh OS. (OS 9.1/X) All the important productivity software is available on both operating systems, but Windows molds have a mountain more games. I would probably use Windows ME instead of 2000 because it runs older software better. I can get Windows ME for about $80 using a pupil discount.HardwareSince I am using Windows ME, I cannot buy an Apple. Here are the parts I need to buy to build a machine that will run my software well. I need a motherboard, processor, video card, sound card, case, monitor, memory,hard drive, floppy drive, modem, and CD or DVD drive. Some of the choices I process will determine others. For example, the processor (aka the CPU) I pick will determine what motherboard I will get. To beginProcessorThere are three processors that recognize up the market, The Intel Pentium 4, Intel Pentium , and the Amd Athlon. The Pentium is the newest, and has only been out for a few months, the Pentium and Amd Athlon have been available for about two years. There are two criteria here for me. One is how abstain the chip is for a given price (bang for the buck) and the second is upgradability. That is, whether I would easily be able to take out the current CPU, and easily slip something quicker in when needed in a few years. The Pentium 4 will be changing to a slightly different configuration in a few months, that will not be compatible with the current motherboards. The Pentium is pretty much at the end of its life, and not many upgrades are planned. This leaves the Athlon, which is expected to be selling compatibe versions for at least another year or so. Current Athlons prices are AMD Athlon Processor for DesktopPrice1333MHz (266MHz Front-side Bus)$2531300MHz (200MHz Front-side Bus) $2301200MHz (266MHz Front-side Bus)$2191200MHz (200MHz Front-side Bus)$1991133MHz (266MHz Front-side Bus)$197