Computer Buying Guide

When choosing a desktop computer there are a few choices to be made in how you will choose your system. Here are the main options at your disposal. Choose the one most appropriate to you.

• The Best Desktop Computer will help you to choose the latest computers, having the latest parts, but being a little more expensive than the other choices below (usually $1000 and up, without the monitor).
• Cheap Desktop Computers shows you how to get the best value, starting from as little as $400 usually, without the monitor.
• Refurbished Desktop Computer offer slightly older technology, at great prices.
• Build your own Computer will show you how to make individual choice of all the parts and then assemble.

If you are looking for portable computers, then you should see “How to pick a laptop computer” focusing on more powerful, bigger models, or “How to pick a notebook computer” which focuses on smaller, more portable computers.

Or check out our guide to all the components of laptops, notebooks and desktops.

Wholesale computer parts can save you money. Wholesale computer parts can get you what you want quickly and conveniently. Wholesale computer parts are widely available and well-priced.

But…

Wholesale computer parts can sometimes not live up to expectations. Wholesale computer parts are provided by dealers with less than perfect service. Wholesale computer parts are inconvenient to return.

So you’d like to upgrade your computer as cheaply as possible and would like to do so from the convenience of home. Well, there are a few things to bear in mind.

When dealing with online retailers you are dealing with a market that is very competitive. There are a few retailers out there and they are fighting each other for your business. This means that prices will be very good all around. You will often not save much be getting wholesale computer parts from one retailer and not another.

I personally recommend tigerdirect as they have a wide range of products and there service is good.

Browse around their site and carefully choose the products you want. It should be clear if there is no stock available, sometimes they will contact you after your order to tell you they are out of something. Once you have made your order, check again that it is all right and contact them if you have to make any changes, anything sent back will require further postage charges, negating any savings you have made.

OEM parts are a another way to get good prices. Let me clear up some misconceptions about OEM products. They are not retail products and are often missing things like boxes (they might have some other nondescript replacement instead), they will often be missing cables and other little extras. Bear these in mind and don’t get caught out by not ordering the necessary extras that you will need. Retailers are usually quite clear about what you will get, don’t assume anything extra.

Make sure you know what you are getting. Take any saleperson’s opinion or online descriptions opinions to heart, but do your own investigating. Searching for online reviews are an easy way to assess the quality of popular items, especially if they are a little older.

Getting wholesale computer parts can save you money and you can reduce the potential headache by just following these steps.

Was it software that made my computer crash? Was it hardware that made my computer crash? Was it my new whatyoumacallit that made my computer crash? What if my computer is completely non-functional after a computer crash?

A computer crash can be caused by a huge number of things, many of which are not serious. A friend of mine who ran a server from his office couldn’t understand why there was a computer crash everyday at the same time. One day he went there at that time to find it was the cleaning lady unplugging the computer to vaccuum and then plugging it back in afterwards.

Assuming the computer was not accidentally turned off or reset here are a few common ideas to check out.

If there is a lightning strike many parts of your computer could be damaged, but checking the power supply for life would be a good start and then work your way through.

If it won’t turn on, or there is just a quick flash and then nothing, it could quite likely be the power supply that needs to be replaced.

If your computer overheated, it will shut down, but it should turn on again later and you can install software to monitor the temperature. Check fans are working and that ventilation is adequate. Processor fans are essential, except in specialist setups.

Hard drive failures often result in the computer appearing to freeze if it is on. A scraping sound is certain data corruption, stop using it immediately if you want any chance of recovery using a specialist company. Other non-detrimental failures can also be recovered, but at a price.

Other parts can have problems, but don’t often result in a complete computer crash.

If your computer works fine before installing something new and then you have a computer crash, chances are it is the new part that is causing the computer crash. I had and still have a printer that caused my computer to crash if you turned the printer on while plugged into the computer. That was solved by upgrading the drivers for the printer.

Finding the source of a computer crash can be difficult, but mostly just requires systematically identifying what is not guilty.

Computer memory makes your programs run better. Period.

Computer memory can be the best upgrade per dollar you can make. Computer memory offers good speed increases with relatively little outlay. Computer memory is often known as Random Access Memory. This computer memory is very fast, temporary store of data. Data in computer memory is only retained while power to the computer is on. The computer memory is lost when it is turned off.

More computer memory is better and for most of us the speed of the memory is set, and depends a lot on the processor you are using, and therefore, motherboard.

Computer memory, or RAM is where information your computer is using a lot is stored. It is much faster than your hard drive, but more expensive per MB. It is still not as expensive or fast as L1 or L2 cache on the computer processor.

When your computer is loaded, things that are being used are stored in memory to allow programs to work faster and fetch information quicker. When your computer is loaded for example, many things that the operating system, most likely Windows, use are loaded into memory. By keeping them there, it is able to run everything faster without having to access the hard drive, which is much slower. From that moment, programs that are in the system tray and any other program that you load, puts a certain amount of data in the computer memory.

There are two main kinds in use today and they are DDR and DDR2, they share a name, but there shape and makeup are different and are not compatible with each other. DDR is the older kind, and DDR2 is a newer, faster replacement for it. Although DDR2 is newer, there is still a huge market for DDR, which I still have in all my home computers.

Nowadays 256MB is the minimum computer memory, but I don’t recommend it unless you use a Linux OS like Ubuntu, which will work fine with that little. With 512MB of computer memory, Windows XP will work fine and load quite a large number of applications. If you intend to use Windows Vista, 1GB would be my recommendation.

Computer parts are the heart of a modern personal computer. Computer parts make your system breath. The wrong computer parts make your life frustrating. The right computer parts make your computer a life-long friend. Being able to choose computer parts are what make Personal Computers so great. This is a distinct advantage over many other electronics and other computers like Apples, in that all the computer parts can be chosen, switched, upgraded and changed to suit the kind of tasks you want to perform with your computer.

Although you may buy a computer pre-assembled, it is really just a manufacturers choice of computer parts bundled into a case to make it look snappy, and with their logos. But the computer parts that it is made of can be bought seperately from any computer parts wholesaler online.

I, personally, would sum up computer parts as those parts that would be essential for a computer to function and includes basically all the stuff inside the computer case.

Those computer parts include the computer case, computer processor, motherboard, power supply, fans and cooling fins, hard drives, optical drives, floppy drives, cables, any cards you could put into your computer and the case itself.

These computer parts make up almost everything.

Choosing the right computer parts can make the difference between a frustrating experience and the situation where you hardly notice your computer at all, because it does everything you want, just like it should.

A computer processor should never be the fastest available, there is just no value for money there. It should not be so old as to make you pull your hair out waiting while its “thinking.” If you do need the fastest then take the plunge, but for almost all everyday tasks, my AMD Athlon 800MHz still does the trick, and costs almost nothing compared to the latest processors. Considering dual-core? This new technology offers very little benefits for you everyday office computing experience because your software isn’t designed for it, give it a few years if you’re patient.

The motherboard is the link between all the other computer parts in the computer and should have as much built-in as possible. Computer parts such as network capabilities and sound should be built-in, unless you are a producer of some kind. I chose my motherboard because of its SATA RAID options, making it a little more expensive, but offering protection from data loss, in case of a hard drive failure.

Memory is one of the computer parts that yields great speed returns for you dollar. With power hungry Vista needing over 1GB of memory to perform well, you will have vast improvements with a little more memory than the premium of a slightly faster processor.

Your computer power supply pumps life into your system, it should be reliable and stable. The no-name brand you might find in a pre-built system gives the computer better value, but its just a matter of time before it gives up the ghost.

Make the right choice in choosing your computer parts, browse around and use our search and get to know about the computer parts you are choosing.

Is computer repair a black craft? What will you encounter if you attempt a computer repair? Will your computer repair result in smoke and flames? Should you just leave the computer repair to a professional?

Most of my friends are computer dorky kind of people and they insist on doing computer repair themselves. I’m much like that too, computer repair can be fun, but its not for everyone.

There is a lot of computer repair that you can do with simply a philips screwdriver and bit of finesse.

If you are uncomfortable with computer hardware in general, if you bought a pre-built computer and have never plugged of unplugged the outside cables yourself you’d probably be better going to a computer shop to get things done. Ask your friends or other people in the office where they get their computers fixed. A lot of people can open a computer and fiddle, but not as many can truly repair your problems, offer you honest advice and predict future problems. If you trust your computer repairman you’ll have a lot less worry about keeping your computer running smoothly.

For those who like DIY or those who are just adventurous there is not too much to the computer itself.

The case comes undone with screws at the back.

The sides slide off to reveal the inner parts.

The power supply gives power to all the inner parts. Cables are shaped to avoid connecting incorrectly.

All the parts connect to the motherboard.

Expansion cards go in the slots that show out the back.

The processor connects to the motherboard with a large fan on it.

Completely disconnect power, disconnect what you need to remove, unscrew it and wiggle it out.

Just reconnect at the end, plug in the computer and things will run again.

Alright, computer repair is a little more complicated that, and there are a few little things which require a few trickly movements, but really there is not much to it. The hard part is finding what exactly is wrong and what needs to be fixed or changed.

Computer repair with software is a much more complex thing and usually involves Microsoft Windows. Being the most widely available and most commonly used operating system there are a multitude of things which could go wrong, but which don’t happen too often. The days of “the blue screen of death” are mostly behind us, but regular backups of you data will ensure that even complete operating system failure will not mean the end of you data.