How to Find the Best Equipment
First-time computer buyers face a daunting task. Valid, unbiased guidance is hard to find for a purchase that ranges from expensive to very expensive.
The best approach is to divide and conquer. Break the process up into a series of smaller decisions and you’ll more easily control what you are doing.
First, where to buy? If you are a student, faculty or staff member of a college or university, you probably can get the best price through the school. But selection may be limited, and you may have to wait some time for delivery.
If you work for a large company, chances are that you can buy through the firm, either from an employee store or with a referral from the company’s purchasing department. You’ll probably get a better discount than you would walking into a store on your own. Again, selection may be limited.
If neither of those options is available, you have your choice of going to a computer store, shopping at a discount or warehouse store (selection will be very limited and usually aimed at the lowest end of the market) or buying from a mail order vendor.
Shoppers new to computing who lack the help of an experienced relative or friend are better off going to a computer dealer, even if they pay a little more.
You shouldn’t trust computer advice you get from a discount store employee, and you are strictly on your own to set up the computer and install software and accessories.
There are many reputable mail order houses advertising in the computer magazines and often the order clerk can give good advice, particularly about which pieces of equipment work best together. But if something is wrong with the machine when you get it, making an exchange is really inconvenient.
The best way to choose a dealer is to follow recommendations of others who already have purchased. If that’s not possible, look for dealers that have been in business for five or more years. (You can look up old newspapers on microfilm at the library to find which stores were advertising in past years.)
Now that you know where to buy, what should you buy?
You are assured of being firmly in the mainstream of personal computing if you buy either an Apple Macintosh or an IBM computer or one of the many machines compatible with IBM.
The IBM and Macintosh worlds are separate, however. Neither family of computers can run software designed for the other. So buy the one you are most likely to use at work or school.
However, either IBM or Macintosh can communicate quite well with larger computer systems at the office, if those systems allow outside access by telephone.
Macintosh is the easiest computer to use and the easiest to buy because there are fewer choices to make. It also tends to be the most expensive, especially compared to many of the IBM clones.
The big advantage of the Mac is that its programs use graphic images--pictures of file folders, a page of text, or a program’s logo--to help you understand what you are doing.
A mouse is used to control a screen pointer and to highlight commands and images on the screen. Many tasks are performed simply by pointing at a name or image, clicking the mouse button or dragging the image across the screen to another location.
For instance, files are erased by dragging their images to a symbolic trash can at the bottom of the screen.
Macintosh computing tends to be more expensive because Apple has no competitors to force its prices down. Also, its graphics need more computing power to run satisfactorily and also, you really do need an expensive laser printer to put all that fancy typography and imagery properly onto paper.
The IBM world is much more confusing.
Most IBM and compatible computers use programs that are written for the MS-DOS operating system. MS-DOS is special software that does the basic housekeeping of the computer, allowing its keyboard, disks, screen and memory to all work harmoniously.
Most versions of MS-DOS require you to type commands to perform tasks. There are no catchy images on the screen for you to drag around as on the Macintosh. Thus if you want to get rid of a file, you type the command ERASE followed by the directory location and name of the file. It is quite a powerful and efficient way to do things, actually, but it is harder to learn.
A more powerful operating system, called OS/2, that has graphic images and lets more than one program run at a time, is available. But it requires a fast computer with lots of memory, and there is not much software available for that system. However, it looms on the horizon and you’ll likely find computer salesmen urging you to buy the more powerful computers.
Before you get talked into buying too far beyond your present needs and abilities, remember that anything you buy today will be superseded with faster--and probably cheaper--models within a year. It has always been that way in personal computing and it shows no signs of ending.
Three families of IBM and compatible computers are available, based on the microprocessor that serves as the brains of the computer. The least powerful have Intel 8088 or 8086 chips and are usually priced around $1,000 to $1,500 with a hard disk for extended file storage and a monitor.
These are the machines on which Lotus 1-2-3 and WordPerfect became leading business software for millions of workers, and they still are just fine for basic word processing, basic spreadsheet and small database applications. But they are too slow for complex word processing, spreadsheet, database and any graphics programs such as desktop publishing.
Next are the 80286-based computers, which are often found in the $1,200 to $2,000 range for basic configurations with hard disks and monitors. They have enough power to run graphics software and can be expanded to handle OS/2.
They are losing a lot of their luster as bargain-priced performance machines these days because for just a few hundred dollars more you can buy the same computer equipped with an Intel 386SX chip. The 386SX is a slightly detuned version of the popular 80386 chip and if you can get it without much of a premium over the 286 chip, it is better to have it. You need to be aware as you go shopping that as you go up the performance scale, everything goes up in price.
Add a laser printer--absolutely worth the money--and even a basic computer system comes in at about $3,000 to $3,500 with just a small selection of software. If it’s Macintosh, figure on $5,000 to $6,000. And if you’re a closet techie just waiting to break out, you’ll be amazed at how quickly you could spend $15,000.
MS-DOS users need the least amount of RAM. The basic 640 kilobytes is fine until you get into complex graphics or big spreadsheets or programs that work with Microsoft Windows. The next jump should be to 2 megabytes. Consider 4 megabytes the bare minimum for OS/2 and add more if you can afford it.
For Macintosh, I’d recommend 2 megabytes unless you do complex graphics. Then it’s 4 megabytes for black and white and 8 megabytes for color.
For disk storage, 20 to 30 megabytes is fine if you only use one or two programs and don’t do graphics. If you intend to collect software, become a power user, or get into desktop publishing or other graphics software, you can’t buy too much disk storage.
Finally, should you buy IBM or a compatible machine? There’s is no technologically “right” answer to that. Design and construction quality of IBM and the many name-brand compatibles is high.
