I am often asked what type of computer system should I buy. Invariably the answer is a question. "What do you plan to do with it?".  Some people have a tough time answering this question, particularly if it's the first computer they are purchasing. I'll explore some of the common things people do with computers then I'll explain some of the computer types and finally I'll tie it together so that you can make an informed decision.

Common computer uses:

• General use
  • General use include activities like surfing the web, reading/sending email and typing an occasional letter.
• Business use
  • Business use includes everything in General use plus running database applications and/or mission critical applications.
• Gaming use
  • Gaming use involves playing computer games either as stand alone games or online games
• Specialty uses
  • Specialty uses may include video editing, Computer Aided Design (CAD), Computer Aided Manufacturing (CAM), or Computer Aided Engineering (CAM)

General Use

Most home users and some business users fall under General use. They tend to surf websites, do occasional online research, pay bills online and occasionally play games that do not require much power from the computer's processor or video graphic's card. The computer software needed for General use tend to be a web browser such as; Microsoft Internet Explorer,  an email client that allows users to download and send email. Outlook Express, Incredimail and Endura are good examples of popular email client. I might note, that some online sites, such as; Yahoo.com, and MSN's Hotmail.com allow users to check email without using an email client. The web browser, in effect, acts as the email client. Other software found on general use computers may include a word processor and spreadsheet such as Microsoft Word and Microsoft Excel or Open Office - office suite. (If I've lost you with the names of the software don't worry about it.)

The computing power required for General use task are low to modest.  Almost any entry level computer will handle these task with relative ease.

Business Use

Business users requirements can range greatly. However, most business users tend to need to store information for later retrieval and processing. Database programs are among the main applications that business users seek. In addition to letter writing, and spreadsheet processing businesses need to store customer/client information. This information can be stored in the accounting software database, such as; QuickBooks or a custom developed accounting program. Since the database can be mission critical to the business - meaning that the lost of this information could result in huge financial losses, Business use computers tend to have more redundancy and fault tolerance built in. Business use computers may have special memory that checks itself for errors - known as ECC RAM or Error Checking and Correction RAM. Additionally, hard drives that make carbon copies of data on one or more hard drives are also found on business systems. This copying process is known as mirroring and the drives are often referred to as a RAID. RAID stands for Redundant Array of Independent Disks.

While most business users will not need an extremely powerful computer processor, fault tolerance and redundancy offers these users the stability they need.

Gaming Use

Gamers use gaming systems. Serious games require lots of computer power. All computers ultimately process everything as either an "on state" or an "off state" or a "1" or "0". Confused yet? Ok. Take the letter "a". To a computer the letter "a" looks like this: 01000001. Another way of putting it is the letter "a" to a computer looks like: "off, on, off, off, off, off, off, on". This is known as a byte. For a game to generate real time graphics and sound it requires a computer capable of processing an extraordinary amount of information (bytes) very, very fast. The faster it can process these bytes the smoother and better the game feels to the user. Since these bytes are transmitted as electrical pulses - computer processors in gamming computers often generate a lot of heat. With that said, you can now appreciate that gamming computers tend to incorporate the most powerful computer processors (CPUs) available. But it doesn't stop there. Gamming computers need extra memory to store the data that's waiting to go to the processor. Ideally the memory should be among the fastest available.

Since games are graphics intensive, the video adapter should include its own processor (known as a Graphics Processing Unit or GPU), and memory (RAM). While the computer is busy calculating and processing the gamming code, the video card is busy calculating and processing the graphics code. Without the GPU the CPU would have to do it all and the game performance would suffer. Finally, a high end multimedia sub-system adds  realism to the gaming experience by delivering 5.1, or better, Dolby® digital surround sound quality. Fault tolerance is not as important to Game users as raw computing power.

Most of the popular games as of this writing, include titles like DOOM, Half Life and Far Cry plus a host of others..

Specialty Use

Specialty users use computers called workstations. Workstations often incorporate the best of both Business use computer systems and Gamming use computer systems. Additionally, workstations often incorporate additional components to suit them for a given task. Some workstations may incorporate two or more high end video adapters to allow them to power 4 or more monitors at the same time. Other workstations may resemble servers (not discussed here) with multiple computer processors in a single computer. The cost of workstations often put them out of reach of most users.

Now that you now more about the common computer uses you can think in terms of what you intend to do with yours. Bear in mind that there is some overlap between uses. For example, you may want to occasionally play a graphics intensive game or even produce your own home movie. Most entry level systems will handle these task but not as fast or efficiently as high end systems. Even if you are building and storing vital information for your local PTA or Fraternity, you can develop manual backup practices that will provide you the fault tolerance equivalency of a Business use system. Probably 90% of the home users are happy with their entry level computer. On the other hand, I wouldn't recommend an entry level system if you are an Accountant and planning to process payrolls for your clients. You'd want to invest in a computer that would help you recover from disasters.

Continued >> Computer Types
 

 Articles Index

Discus this article