Technology Section

Don't Waste Money on an Expensive Computer

Most computer users (90%) want their computers to carry out four simple jobs;

1. Email
2. Internet surfing
3. Writing letters, updating simple spreadsheets
4. (maybe) playing music/videos

So why buy an expensive computer when ALL new computers these days will effectively handle those jobs. Excessive computer power is only needed for hardcore gaming and number crunching.

If you walk into a PC World type store to buy a computer there's a good chance two things will happen -

1. You’ll be sold an over-priced machine, and
2. It will be far too powerful for your needs. In many ways it's like living in London, driving a Ferrari but never taking it out of town

Technology Advances Quickly - Prices Are Always Dropping

So what do we know about the computer industry that can help us purchase the best machine for the right price?

Moore's law introduced around 30 years ago states that computer power will double every 18 months alongside halving in price. Therefore the most basic computer bought today will be better and faster than a top of the range machine bought 2+ years ago. And it will also be significantly cheaper by as much as 50%.

Now with the advent of Microsoft's new Operating System Windows Vista all the computer firms will try and convince you that you need a super fast machine. But this is strictly not the case because we have run some simple tests in our office using a bog standard Dell (cost around £400) against a custom made super powerful machine costing over £800.

Yes, of course there was a speed difference in the 2 PCs but it was minor and certainly not worth an extra £400.

We Like Dell Computers

We've been buying Dell computers (desktop models, not Laptops) for the last several years and have never had a problem with them. We refer to them as workhorses, not the prettiest, not the best but reliable and good at their job, especially when you take their prices into consideration.

If you do buy from Dell (see below for the best deals) there’s a very important point to note -

They're American so cannot stop the hard sell trying to dump all sorts of extras, warranties and printers etc. In our experience their computers are usually very competitively priced but the extras are way overpriced.

So if you need a Printer or some other extra check out Amazon because their prices are hard to beat and postage is free, customer support on Amazon in our opinion is superb as well.

The 2 Most Important Components Of A Computer

When you see a computer deal advertised it will always list the specifications such as Chip, Ram, Video card, motherboard etc. Forget about everything apart from these two components -

1. The Processor (often called the chip)
2. The amount of RAM

Right now the only two chips you should be looking at are the AMD Athlon Dual-Core and the Intel Core 2. So steer clear of AMD Sempron and Intel Celeron chips.

As for RAM make sure you buy a machine with a minimum of 1GB.

Where To Find The Best Dell Deals

You can spend days looking for the best Dell deals as their adverts, free flyers and website all seem pretty confusing (prices are different for example). But we like things simple so always use this site because they list the current best Dell deals -

• Cheap Dell Deals (UK only)

Right now for example you can get a great machine with a 19" flat screen monitor running Windows XP, dual core chip, 1GB RAM for less than £400.

Note, to get these deals you want to make sure you select (when ordering) the Collect & Return 1 Year Service Only button. This means that if there's a problem with the machine in the first year you'll have to send it back to Dell rather than them come out and fix it. But choosing the at home/office option is about £100 more and in our view a complete waste of money.

Summary

The marketing departments in the computer industry are masters and selling the message that ‘you must have more speed, more power and the latest chips’. But the author having been working with computers for over 15 years has never found any evidence of this.

So be smart when you buy a new PC, realise that you don’t need a lot of power and hence to spend a lot of money.

• Cheap Dell Deals (UK only)