How to choose the Computer family and models via the second way

How to choose the Computer family and models via the second way

Finding requirements for hardware | Determination of Your Tasks | Choosing Software for Task Realization Analysis of System Requirements | Calculation of total system requirements | Model choosing

Finding requirements for hardware

For this goal you can use the following "step-by-step" way:

Determination of your tasks
Choosing software for these tasks
Determination of system requirements for this software
Compiling the list of requirements for hardware.

Determination of Your Tasks (Table of wishes and requirements): On the page "Choosing the type of computer" you could see in the tables those tasks for Home and for Small business. Obviously, the more tasks you need to solve, the more advanced must be your computer. To pick a best computer, you need to build a "Table of wishes and requirements". In the first column you should write "Tasks" , which is what you want to solve on your computer in the next 2 years. In the next column write down information about your software needs. And, in the rest columns write down the founded System Requirements (information concerning the type of processor, speed, RAM and HDD).

Choosing Software for Task Realization: Software falls in to two parts: operating system and application packages. The Operating System (OS) manages all computer work. Besides the operating system, you need to describe and find the requirement for all tasks that are important for your work on the computer. Below we listed several of the most important and widely popular tasks for many cases of computer use. When you will make a real analysis, you need to include all communication software-for internet access, email, utility for backup, application software for printer, scanner, CD burner, intellectual mouse, multimedia system, etc.

Analysis of System Requirements: For most computer programs, software vendors will give you information about needed system requirements. You can find some of this at site www.chumbo.com. It is obvious , that if several programs demand the different types of processor, you need to select a more powerful processor. Speed and RAM must be a maximal. You can find information about processors for the IBM-compatible computers on the processors manufacturers sites, such as www.intel.com. To calculate the capacity of the hard drive (HDD), you have to summarize all rooms for each program.

Table of wishes and requirements

Determination of tasks		System requirements
Task
Task	Software	Processor	Speed, (MHz)	RAM ( MB)	HDD ( MB)
Operating system's (OS) tasks	Windows XP	Intel Pentium/Celeron family, or AMD K6/Athlon/Duron family, or compatible processor recommended	300	128	1540
Word processing -writing letters, reports and other text-based documents	Microsoft Word 2002	Pentium	133	32	44
Repetitive calculations, building charts and graphs.	Microsoft Word 2002	Pentium	133	32 MB+ 64 MB for operating system + an additional 8 MB of RAM for each Office application running simultaneously	140
Preparing presentations, speaker support, publishing	Microsoft PowerPoint 2002	Pentium III	1024 (1GHz); 933, 866, 850, 800, 750, 733, 700,667, 650	+ 64 MB for operating system+ an additional 8 MB of RAM for each Office application running simultaneously:	230
Database management, keeping structured records, list of product or parts	Microsoft Access 2002	Pentium III	1024 (1GHz); 933, 866, 850, 800, 750, 733, 700,667, 650	128	170 MB of available hard-disk space is required for the default configuration of Microsoft Access with 115 MB on the hard disk where the operating system is installed
Programming Kit	Borland C++ Builder 6 Enterprise - New User	PentiumII	400	256	750
Digital Photo and Digital Video Editing	Dazzle Digital Photo & Video Maker	Pentium	200	32	200
Utility	Norton Antivirus	Pentium	150
Total		The Best- Pentium 3	Max speed - 1GHz	Max -256MB	3,189MB
Total list of system requirements (corrected)		Pentium 3	min 1 GHz	min 512 MB	min 30 GB

Calculation of total system requirements: Because it is impossible to evaluate the system requirements of all possible programs, and since you can not even predict what programs you will use in the future, received digital results for speed and RAM must be multiplied by 1.3-1.5 times. Capacity of HDD must be enlarged 10 times. If you want to count the market trends concerning changing speed and RAM within 2 years, you should multiply received values also by 1.5 times.

Model choosing: When you know the type of processor, speed, RAM and capacity of HDD you'll need, you can repeat as well as for the first way, the procedures of the preliminary and final selection.