How to Buy a Computer

Hi Bob

Great article, but why suggest people buy Microsoft Works when they can do more with the free Open Office suite you mention? It can easily be set to default to MS Office formats if thats an issue. In my experience, unless you work in a corporate environment with Exchange server, etc, you don't need the cost of MS Office. MS Works I find a bit odd so harder to support. Open Office is so similar to MS Office that its easy to support and to migrate. I migrated a year ago and all my Office spreadsheets, presentations, and docs all were fine. Never have any trouble opening files people send. And I got rid of several problems I was having with MS Office.

And finally, Open Office supports the international standard Open Document format. MS does not. Ever tried to open 15 year old Word files? No issue with the Open Doc standard. Big issue with the latest MS Office formats.

As a side note, you can get Star Office from Google Apps for free. Star Office is very similar to Open Office but has some extra templates and cliparts and such.

About Macs - if you are buying a budget system, I agree you should be looking at a PC. But of you are going into the mid or higher level, I would take a look at the Macs too. They are competitively priced in that sector now and the Intel Macs will run Windows as well. And they support a quality level thats hard to find in some brands of PC's.

Bob, Once again, good points and suggestions. For a senior citizen, I would highly recommend a 19" monitor and no less. It really is easier on the eyes.

Now, for those who wear Bi-Focals or the No-Line Progressives, get yourself some inexpensive magnifying glasses at Wal-Mart, Sam's Club, K-Mart or any place like that. Find the diopter (1.25, 1.50, 2.0, 2.25, and etc.) that works best when you are reading, then only use them, when you are on the computer. Trust me, this simple suggestion will save your neck and shoulder muscles. By doing this, it will be much easier to read your email, computer screen, so on and so forth.

While, I really do agree with your suggestion of NOT purchasing a 'used' computer, I will have to disagree with one exception. IF ... note I say, IF ... you have a good friend, who is computer savvy, I have used a web site that sells 'used' Dell, HP or Compaq Work Stations, with a 6 month guarantee and I have purchased several for a couple of friends of mine. Plus, all the computers that I have purchased for them, are still in excellent working order to this day. The only problem is, you have to install your own operating system, that is where your savvy computer friend comes in.

They have plenty of bang for the buck, are solid computer cases and you can find what you are usually looking for both in Laptops or Desktops or Towers or SFF. Check it out yourself. http://www.computer-show.com

Bob, they really package their computers for shipment excellently. They cover the whole computer in plastic, then 'blow' a plastic foam over the plastic wrapped computer, into the shipping box. I was totally amazed the first time, I saw this. Plus, their shipping and handling is quite reasonable. Heavens, you don't EVEN get that with a brand, spanking new computer system!!!

The hard drives in these computers have been 'wiped clean' with plenty of "0's" and all the components have been checked out. They tell you upfront that there may be 'blemishes' and when an item is in Grade B condition, as opposed to Grade A condition. I think, that is being pretty up and up, in my book.

No, they won't be a 4GHZ CPU, but, many are Pentium 4 3.20GHz, with 512MB or even 1GB DDR Memory, many with 40GB or 80GB or 120GB hard drives, as well as CD-RW's or DVD's or DVD-RW's. Sometimes, they will even have 'Computer Bundle Sets', meaning a computer, monitor, keyboard, mouse and speakers.

The choice is yours, as little as you want or as much as you want. To me, this is always a viable solution to suggest, for those who help senior citizens in learning computers, for basic things, like surfing the Internet, Word Processing and getting into the Email 'game'.

Senior citizens don't need power computers, just one with the simple basics. Microsoft Works is an excellent suggestion, it is just so easy to use their templates to create a lot of different things and a few favorite games, like Solitaire or whatever.

Now, I have a 40GB hard drive and do quite well with it, I still have about 20GB's left. Plus, I do have LOTS of games, Windows XP Pro, Windows XP Office, Works 2000 and a good Anti-Virus program, I have used AVG's for about 6 years now, and love it. The price is exactly right for my fixed-income ... FREE!!! My husband, who only plays his games and some emailing, is doing fine with his 20GB hard drive and he has about 10GB's left on his.

So, for senior citizens and don't forget kids, these kinds of computers are great for their needs.

Just thought I would mention that this article will be out of date in less than 4 months. At the end of Jan., all Windows-based new computers will HAVE to be sold with Vista which requires far greater horsepower than what is listed in this article. The people this article is targeted at will have to either settle for a used Windows computer or get a computer with Linux on it instead. I'm a Mac user and would agree that it's not for someone on an very tight budget. Of course, neither is a reliable Vista computer.

EDITOR'S NOTE: It will be a sad day when Vista is mandated on all new computers. Even the experts and power users are still saying there is no compelling reason to move away from XP. As for the minimum Vista hardware reqs, this is what Miscrosoft says: 800MHz processor, 512 MB of RAM, 40 GB hard drive. So I think my recommendations actually exceed those. Of course a little extra RAM and CPU power is always nice!

NEWS FLASH: Microsoft is extending the deadline for computer makers to sell new PCs with XP installed, all the way to June 30, 2008.

Dell sells refurbished computers and in the same section offers "Off Lease" computers. These are real bargins. Check it out!

I do think this needs to be updated for today, when all budget computers sold in retail stores come with Vista, not XP. So like it or not, the target audience of this article will be getting Vista.

Having had a Vista laptop for a month (my old one got fatally ill all of a sudden), I think Bob's minimum requirements need to be revised upward. A 40-gig hard drive is completely inadequate for Vista. 80 gigs is tight for the system, applications, data, and restore points, but might be an okay starting point. The Vista system needs a minimum of 1 gig of RAM. 2 is much better. 512 is not acceptable and the system would crawl. Just about every inexpensive PC sold in a retail store has a fast enough processor. I'd look for dual core, though.

People should be aware that Vista is not compatible with everything they may be using (software and hardware) under XP or an earlier Windows. I have had good luck with program compatibility, but a few programs wouldn't install, period. Vista has a Compatibility Mode that might enable some older applications to be installed, but success is certainly not assured. I installed most of my old programs the regular way and had to use Compatibility Mode for just one--I don't remember which one.

EDITOR'S NOTE: I'm just repeating Microsoft's OWN hardware specs for Vista... but note that I recommended 80gig, not 40. And extra RAM is always a good thing! And here's more good news -- Microsoft has extended the deadline for computer makers to sell new PCs with XP to June 30, 2008.

how do you measure for a screen, the whole monitor

or the in side.

EDITOR'S NOTE: The monitor is measured along the diagonal of the viewable area of the screen.

Bob what about Graphics card

EDITOR'S NOTE: I've bought many computers over the years, and I've NEVER been concerned about the graphics card. They all seem to work just fine for my purposes. Maybe serious gamers will want to spend more on a high-end video card, but not me.

I do not like dark colors and refuse to buy a black computer. What do you suggest?

EDITOR'S NOTE: It does seem that most computers come in black. But you can find white or grey computers if you look around. I just visited TigerDirect and found a Lenovo 3000 K100 and the HP DC7700 which are not black.

I want to buy a home computer but I only want: (1)email, (2)word processing, (3)internet surfing and lots of shopping. I DON'T want to take up computer room or pay for: (1)watching movies, (2)playing games, (3)downloading music, (4)doing anything with photos. Any suggestions? Thanks so much.

EDITOR'S NOTE: If you buy anything from a large PC vendor, it will come with lots of pre-loaded software that you probably don't need. But you can always delete the software packages that you don't want. And hard drives are generally so large that you can just ignore the stuff you don't care about. So any low-end home PC from Dell, Gateway, etc will probably be just fine for you.

I am having to finance a computer and have bad credit. I have to go to one of those sites online that say they will finance anyone. So my choices are limited. When I try an check out the info and specs on the computer... to see if the match your reccomendations but the way they list them confuses me. My choices are Dell Inspiron 518, 530, 531 and also Dell Vostro 400, and HP Pavilion A6000. Would you reccomend any of those? I hope you can take the time to help out it is most appreciated and I thank you in advance if you can.

EDITOR'S NOTE: I've looked into some of these computer financing companies, and they usually charge a HUGE interest rate and you end up paying much more than the price of the system. Since at least one of those Dell systems is under $300, I'd recommend that you try to save the money first and then pay cash.

I am wondering why you recommend purchasing Microsoft works when there are a range of free suites that provide these features, e.g. Open Office.

EDITOR'S NOTE: Yes, I have written about free office suites (see http://askbobrankin.com/free_office_software.html) and should have mentioned them in this article. I will update that section, thanks.

Bob, you say "I suggest you purchase Microsoft Works, which will give you MS Word." I believe Word was bundled with Works Suite 2006, which is no longer available. Works 9 can "Share & edit Works Word Processor and Spreadsheet files with Microsoft® Office Word and Microsoft® Office Excel and vice versa."

http://www.microsoft.com/products/works/ProductDetails.aspx?pid=003&active_tab=Features

BTW, I enjoy your newsletter, and appreciate you sharing your expertise.

EDITOR'S NOTE: I guess I should say "something similar to MS Word." Thanks for the update.

Listen, we are talking about many senior citizens who are on a limited budget, but, want to keep in touch with family and friends. They won't be BIG gamers at LAN parties or heavy graphics users.

Off lease computers is the way to go. They have all the power, memory, hard drive size that most senior citizens will ever use. You can even find some with Windows XP Pro installed.

I personally recommend www.computer-show.com. This place has off lease Dell workstation computers with a variety of configurations and they sell them very inexpensively. Some computers are even 'bundled' with desktop/tower, monitor, keyboard and mouse and operating system. I have helped purchase about 8 computers for family and friends from Computer-Show.com.

They check out every computer and ship the computer in excellent packaging. They cover the tower/desktop with plastic and 'blow' in foam. All the ones that I have purchased have arrived in excellent condition and worked right out of the box. Yes, the ones that I helped purchase, had to have an operating system put on and I did it. Simple, just time consuming.

EDITOR'S NOTE: You can save $100 or so buying a used computer, but you just never know how its been used or abused before you got it -- or why it was returned. And if you're going to (legally) install Windows on these boxes, that will cost around $100. So where are we left?

I love the direct straight forward info on your site. Please note that Gateway is in big trouble now and not providing any tech support at all. I have had 5 Gateway computers over the years and have always been fairly satisfied - until now. They sold their tech support division to a company that is now bankrupt! This - after Gateway sales sold me a 2 year extended warranty.

EDITOR'S NOTE: It's true that MPC, the company that was providing Gateway warranty support, filed for bankruptcy in Nov 2008. And that has apparently left some customers with a worthless warranty. But I called Gateway today and asked about a warranty on a new computer. They told me that warranty support on anything purchased now will be provided directly by Gateway.

This is a good starting place for "what to know when deciding to purchase a computer". Thank you for the insight and recs!

I would review the documentation for the system board in your computer as sometimes the AGP slots are particular in what they can and cannot take. An example of this would be the voltage the card requires to work. Some take 1.5V while others take 3.3V.

IT Outsourcing

Bob
Im from Cebu City Philippines, as a newbie your recommendation helped me a lot in buying a new computer but what about graphics card for games hope you could help me with this...
Thanks a lot ......MORE POWER TO you...

MIGRENIO V. AMORES

I think you left out one thing. It should come with a windows disk . So If you have problems you can fix them with the disk. What do you think. I learned this from reading thing you put up. And if it wasnt for the reboot diskI dont know what I would have done a few times. Thanks

This was one of the most helpful outlines I have read on how to buy a computer. Thank you for making it simple and straight forward for those of us that aren't really techie.