1 / 30

Chapter 191

Chapter 191. SHOPPING FOR AND BUYING A PC. HOW DO WE SHOP TO FIND THAT GREAT VALUE?. CATALOGS & MAGAZINES IN STORES ON LINE - THE “W W W”. CATALOGS & MAGAZINES - The practically ancient way to buy PC Magazine PC World Byte Computer Shopper.

nasim-caldwell
Download Presentation

Chapter 191

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Chapter 191

  2. SHOPPING FOR AND BUYING A PC

  3. HOW DO WE SHOP TO FIND THAT GREAT VALUE? • CATALOGS & MAGAZINES • IN STORES • ON LINE - THE “W W W”

  4. CATALOGS & MAGAZINES - The practically ancient way to buy • PC Magazine • PC World • Byte • Computer Shopper

  5. IN STORES - Slightly Old Fashioned Shopping… • BEST BUY • CIRCUIT CITY • COMPUSA • GATEWAY STORES • CDW

  6. ON LINE - THE “W W W”... for the “truly modern person” >Many of the Walk-in stores we previously mentioned have sites > Other PC Resellers and even the Manufacturers themselves such as….

  7. RE-SELLERS • PC CONNECTION • PC MALL • PC MANUFACTURERS • DELL • GATEWAY • COMPAQ

  8. Things to look for on the web sites • Government Employee plans (Caveat Emptor - Compare anyway) • Comparison shop of like items function (e.g. CDW) • The PC “Configurator” and pricer • Refurbished PCs - Warranty

  9. Words of Wisdom from Sam D’ “Take this ideal configuration to your local computer store and challenge the salesman to show you a comparably configured PC on display - check it out and see if it meets your needs and expectations. Then can they match your price, performance and warranty terms - the best value!!!”

  10. QUESTIONS

  11. BUYING A HOME PC 101 Presentation by: Sam D’Agostino

  12. Things to Consider Before Buying a Computer In the initial stages of determining what sort of computer you need to get, at some point you need to ask yourself, what am I going to be using the computer for? If you are looking for a Pentium III based system, expect to pay around $1,100 for a good quality system including software and a monitor.

  13. What is the Main Purpose of the Computer If you have made the decision to buy a computer, there must be a reason or need that you have to get one, other than I have $1200 burning a hole in my pocket and I need to get rid of it! A good reason for buying a computer would be something like writing papers for a class or keeping track of your finances or business. A bad reason for buying a computer would be something like your best friend has one or everyone else you know has one.

  14. Computer Terminology Before we get into our discussion of computers and components, there are a few terms that I should define first for those that are shopping for a computer for the first time: bits, bytes, and megahertz. These are the most common terms that are used to describe a computer's ability to store information and the speed in which it can process data.

  15. Bits & Bytes DefinedComputers only work with binary numbers. A binary number, or bit for short, is the smallest unit of information that is used by a computer and consists of one of two different characters, a 0 (zero) or a 1 (one). When you see the speed rating of a communications device, such as a serial port or a modem, the speed will be listed in bps or bits per second. A modem that has a rating of 56K bps (since K refers to thousand, that is 56,000 bps) would have the capability to sending or receiving 56,000 0s and/or 1s in one second.

  16. Since sending out information 1 bit at a time can be rather time consuming for the computer, information is sent as a package of data or instructions called a byte. A byte is made up of 8 bits of information, such as 00000000 or 10101010. Most of a computer's specifications are represented in terms of bytes, such as the computer's memory capacity or the size of a disk drive.

  17. The following table lists the various terms and their associated values: TermSymbolValue bitb0 or 1 byteB8 bits kilobitKb1,024 bits kilobyteKB1,024 bytes megabyteMB1,048,576 bytes gigabyteGB1,073,741,824 bytes terabyteTB1,099,511,627,776 bytes

  18. Don't Know What to Buy?Some people feel so confused when it comes to buying a computer, particularly their first computer, that they don't want to have to make a decision and would just prefer that someone just tell them what to get.

  19. Here is what I would recommend for a home computer system: Processor 800MHz Pentium III Memory 128MB Hard Drive 10GB or 20GB Floppy Drive 3.5 inch 1.44MB diskette drive CD-ROM Drive 20x/48x CD-ROM drive or CD-RW Monitor 17 inch color monitor Video integrated AGP graphics Sound System integrated audio with speakers Modem 56K PCI data/fax modem Power Protection surge protector Operating System Windows Me Business Software Microsoft Office Anti-Virus Software Norton 2001 or McAfee VirusScan

  20. Monitors - The video display. Monitors come in many sizes, resolutions and pitches. • VGA - Abbreviation of video graphics array, a graphics display system for PCs developed by IBM. • SVGA - Short for Super VGA, a set of graphics standards designed to offer greater resolution than VGA. There are several varieties of SVGA, each providing a different resolution : • •800 by 600 pixels • •1024 by 768 pixels • •1280 by 1024 pixels • •1600 by 1200 pixels

  21. Resolution - Signifies the number of dots ( pixels) on the entire screen. For example, a 640-by-480 pixel screen is capable of displaying 640 distinct dots on each of 480 lines, or about 300,000 pixels. This translates into different dpi (dots per inch) measurements depending on the size of the screen. For example, a 15-inch VGA monitor (640x480) displays about 50 dots per inch. Most mid to high-range monitors (SVGA) are capable of displaying in several different resolutions.

  22. Refresh Rate - The refresh rate for a monitor is measured in hertz (Hz) and is also called the vertical frequency or vertical refresh rate. The old standard for monitor refresh rates was 60Hz, but a new standard developed by VESA (Video Electronics Standards Association) sets the refresh rate at 75Hz for VGA and SVGA monitors. The faster the refresh rate, the less the monitor flickers. Dot Pitch - A measurement that indicates the vertical distance between each pixel on a display screen. Measured in millimeters, the dot pitch is one of the principal characteristics that determines the quality of display monitors. The lower the number, the crisper the image. The dot pitch of color monitors for personal computers ranges from about 0.22 mm to 0.42 mm.

  23. Here is what I would recommend for a home computer system: Processor 800MHz Pentium III Memory 128MB Hard Drive 10GB or 20GB Floppy Drive 3.5 inch 1.44MB diskette drive CD-ROM Drive 20x/48x CD-ROM drive or CD-RW Monitor 17 inch color monitor Video integrated AGP graphics Sound System integrated audio with speakers Modem 56K PCI data/fax modem Power Protection surge protector Operating System Windows Me Business Software Microsoft Office Anti-Virus Software Norton 2001 or McAfee VirusScan

  24. Take a CourseOnce you get your new computer, take some time to learn how to use it. Computers can be very frustrating, especially if this is your first one.

  25. In Closing...We have discussed and defined several of the most important components of a computer in this presentation, but things are always changing. Good luck!

More Related