Confused by CPU? Ruffled by RAM? Learning the Lingo May Help
More than 60% of Americans still don’t have a PC at home, and for much of the population, RAM still refers to a male sheep or a Dodge truck. There are even people on this planet who think of fruit when they hear the word “Apple.”
If you think the world of computers has left you behind, don’t despair. Getting a rudimentary education in PC vernacular isn’t that hard.
Let’s start with the basics. PC stands for personal computer, but it is sometimes used interchangeably with the term “IBM-compatible personal computer.” Apple Macintoshes are also personal computers. The difference is that they run Macintosh software, while IBM-compatibles run software designed for MS-DOS, Microsoft Windows or, in some cases, IBM’s OS/2 operating system.
IBM compatibles can’t run Mac software, but it’s possible to equip a Mac to run Windows or DOS software, albeit a bit slowly.
When you’re shopping for a computer or thinking about upgrading one you have, you’ll hear a bunch of numbers thrown around. Some people think the numbers were designed strictly to confuse, but they’re really not all that confusing once you learn the code.
The first number you may hear is the name or speed of the machine’s central processing unit, or CPU, also referred to as the microprocessor. That’s the main chip that controls and coordinates most of the other parts of the machine.
Like the engine in your car, the CPU is the most influential component when it comes to speed and power. But also like your car, there are other important factors that influence performance. Intel, which dominates the CPU market for IBM-compatible machines, used to give its CPUs numbers, such as 286, 386 and 486 (the higher the faster), but it changed this practice a few years ago after it was determined that it couldn’t keep its competitors from using the same numbers.
Intel’s current line of CPUs are called Pentium, but there’s still an important number attached because chips are rated by speed. If you see an ad for a 75 MHz Pentium or a “P75,” that means that the chip is running at 75 megahertz, or 75 million cycles per second. That’s fast, but Intel also offers chips that run at 100, 120, 133 and 166 MHz.
Faster CPUs, all other things being equal, let the machine process your work faster. But all other things are never equal. As with horsepower in a car, there’s no need to buy more power than you need, and I don’t recommend you buy the machine with the fastest CPU. Other factors, including memory and disk storage, are also very important.
Macs and Mac-compatible machines use CPUs from Motorola. You can save money by getting a Mac with an 68040 CPU, but for best performance get one with a PowerPC chip. These, too, are rated in megahertz--the higher the number, the faster the CPU.
Random Access Memory, or RAM, are chips that act as a temporary storage area for the material you’re using. If you’re working on a word processing file or drawing, for example, most of the material you’re editing, as well as much of the software you’re using, is held in RAM while you’re working. Think of it like the top of your desk. The bigger your desk, the more stuff you can work on at one time.
RAM isn’t just for data. It holds the software you’re using, as well as the operating system. Windows 95 and Macintosh System 7 operating systems take up a lot of memory, which is why you need at least eight megabytes of RAM. I recommend 16 megabytes for most Mac and Windows 95 users: The more RAM, the faster your machine will run, at least up to a point.
Your computer’s disk drive is like a filing cabinet, holding all your programs and data. The size of the disk, measured in megabytes or gigabytes, determines how much data and software you can store. These days, programs take up a lot of space, so it’s not uncommon for PCs to come with a gigabyte (1,000 megabytes) or more of storage.
A single program can easily take up as much as 30 megabytes, and a graphic file--such as a photograph or drawing--can take up a megabyte or more. Files that contain mostly text tend to be fairly small, but even those can add up. So my rule of thumb is to get at least 750 megabytes. If you already have a PC that’s running low on disk space, you usually can add a second hard disk drive pretty easily.
When it comes to buying a monitor, there are lots of options. The first issue is size. The larger the monitor, the more expensive. Most people get by with a 14- or 15-inch (measured diagonally) monitor, though people in the publishing world prefer larger models that let them look at a page or two at a time.
Besides size, there are lots of specifications to befuddle you, but the most important is dot pitch, which specifies the distance between the dots or pixels. Look for a number of 0.28 or lower. A higher number means that the dots are too far apart, resulting in a fuzzier image.
Salespeople love to show off monitors with impressive color graphics, but that’s not a good way to judge a monitor. If, like most people, you plan to work with words or numbers, you should insist on looking at small text (12 point or smaller) to see which monitor is crisper and easier to read.
There are lots of different types of printers on the market, but most home users opt for a color ink jet printer. Good ones, such as the Hewlett Packard 855c and the Canon BJC-4100, produce high-quality black text, as well as good color graphics. Laser printers do a slightly better job with black text but, unless you’re willing to spend about $5,000, they don’t print in color. Ink jet printers start at about $250 while laser printers start at about $450.
If you want to surf the Internet or log on to an online service like America Online or CompuServe, you’ll need a modem. Bargain basement modems operate at 14,400 bits per second, or BPS, but you’re much better off getting one that runs at 28,800 BPS. The faster the modem, the less time you’ll spend waiting for information--and especially graphics--to appear on screen.
That can mean less time online, which sometimes translates to lower online bills, not to mention less hand-wringing. You can get an internal or external modem, but I prefer external models because they’re easier to install and configure and have lights that indicate if they are operating properly.
Lawrence J. Magid can be reached by e-mail at magid@latimes.com. His World Wide Web page is at https://www.larrysworld.com
