Best computer: What does it mean, the best computer? It is not the same as the best car. We can use the best car for  3 to 5 years or even longer. The best computer can become obsolete in one to two years. A car is a complete system. A computer, as a rule, is a part of computer system or network, and its performances can be associated with the demands of these systems or networks (local or global). The second big difference between a computer and a car,  is its ability to be upgraded. By changing its parts or software you can  periodically upgrade a computer  to maintain  the best performance for a long time. On the other hand, the best computer is a customized computer (custom built). Customization can be done during the purchasing and/or upgrading  processes. And finally we need to think about the reliability  and support for the computer system.

Search Criteria:  The best computer must be chosen with the help of 3 main criteria:

• Performances: This is the total effectiveness of a computer system. For example,  computer  clock speed and  memory  is  a measure of computer "power" ( amount of work that a computer can do in a given time period), capacity to save information, and so on.

• Integral Reliability:  This is the computer's capacity to demonstrate the same performance over its life time. Integral reliability consists of two parts: reliability of product (either hardware, or software, or both) and reliability of support (accessibility, friendliness, accuracy of service, plus quality of computer’s performance after repair).  For products being manufactured by big name companies, supposing that integral reliability equals 100%, you may assume that 90-99% of it is product reliability and 1-10% is support reliability. This means that, for a big name manufacturer, 90-99 cases out of 100, you won't need any services during the warrantee period. For no name companies, product reliability could equal 70-80% of the total, while support reliability could equal 20-30%.  Imagine the following scenario: you bought a no-name computer with 1-year warrantee. In nine months or so, when something goes wrong, you try to find the manufacturer and can't, because it either disappeared, or went bankrupt. In this case, your product’s reliability (70-80%) cannot be compensated by the reliability of support (20-30%) to achieve total 100% reliability.

• Cost: This includes  the price, tax and shipping, and cost of  installation  and usage. For example,  you can buy a computer for $500 without any software, a modem, CD burner, and so on, but after that  you spend an additional  $1000 on the above-mentioned equipment and software.  Or,  you can buy a fully equipped computer for  $900 at the factory. Just remember about hidden costs!  Keep in mind, too, that  a new system may bring many costs you may not have considered. These could include maintenance cost, costs related to the purchase of additional  equipment or software, security costs, staff training, and more. A rule of thumb is that you can expect to spend for example two or three times the cost of the software on the  entire installation itself.

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Brand name, IBM-compatible or Apple: You can save yourself a lot of time by choosing the right brand early.  The computer industry is  extremely competitive.  Approximately every two years,  main computer performances like  speed and memory capacity double. That means that  the computer  manufacturers are  in  the race and under pressure all the time.  Most computer models   released to  the market  appear to have  some flaws. Because of   short developing period,  it is impossible to test and fix all  problems  of a given new design. The extent  of these flaws depends on  the manufacturer's  culture  and tradition.  Big name companies have a minimum number of defects before shipping, or they can    find  and fix  them faster.  Therefore, if you buy a computer or its parts with a reputable   brand name (Dell, Gateway,  Hewlett-Packard, Compaq, IBM,  Apple, etc,) you may protect yourself from future troubles.  

In the beginning,  you'll have to decide upon   a computer (or any computer product)  brand.  You must choose whether to purchase an IBM-compatible (PC)  or a Macintosh computers (Macs). PCs manufactured by  IBM,  Dell, Gateway, Acer, Hewlett Packard, Compaq, Sony  are IBM-compatible.  Macintosh computers are manufactured by Apple Computer , Inc.  PCs  are very popular and currently dominate the computer market (90%), particularly in large firms and financially-oriented departments. Although PCs run the widest range of software applications, now the Macs run the same,  most important in our practice applications: Microsoft Office, Quicken, Adobe Photoshop, Macromedia Director, FileMakerPro and so on.. Macintosh models are very strong in the educational, graphics, and multimedia segments of the Market. Macs are very easy to use and require less technical knowledge for tasks such as networking or connecting peripherals. PCs  and Macs can work in one network. One argument is very important for Internet users: in the cyber world, there are over 100 times less Mac viruses, than PC viruses. 

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Types of Computer assembling

On the Computer Market you can find the following types of computers  assembling:

• complete assembled computers like notebooks or PDA,

• complete equipped computer like desktops, equipped with monitor, keyboard, mouse, sometimes speakers.

For manufacturers or vendors  both  types of computer's assembling   are available to ship  ("Ready-to-Ship") within 24 hours.  Very often brand name manufacturers and several assembly companies suggest to user to buy a customized computer, that is assembled  to enforce  given performance needs. This means that customers can order computers with given performance built, and  the manufacturer will do it, but in this case computer is available to ship more than  in 24 hours. These computers are called "Custom Built Computers" or "Customized computers".  

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