Making a Value Judgment When Buying a Computer
Is there an easy way to compare computer prices when all the advertisements cite different system specifications?
--D. Brooks, Sherman Oaks
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There are two ways to approach this problem. I like to call them the “cut and fill” and “car buying” approaches.
Cut and fill is more work, requiring you to add and subtract amounts of various computer offerings to compensate for their differences, much the way a builder levels hilly ground for a new subdivision.
The car-buying approach is a little more casual, even though some people do buy cars with a cut-and-fill approach. The basic idea in car buying is to focus on the model you want and avoid those loaded with stuff you don’t want. It works the same for computers.
If you want to use the much more demanding cut-and-fill method, good sources of comparison prices are computer magazines specializing in mail-order ads as well as visits to computer superstores that carry wide selections of computers and components.
Matching prices can be a tedious business because there are so many variables, including--roughly in descending order of importance--processor speed, quantity of RAM, hard drive size, CD-ROM speed, available expansion slots and so on. But the principle is straightforward.
Pick a base model and configuration that’s close to what you want, then do some research and find out the price of each of its major components. Then, when looking at a system you want to compare, find out the prices of the second system’s components.
If the difference in the system price isn’t pretty close to the difference in component prices, then one of the machines is a better deal. Repeat this process a few times, and you’ll discover the best bargains and get an accurate fix on how much various enhancements will actually cost.
The car-buying approach is much simpler and lets you factor in other issues like brand and store preference, which are hard to value in dollars. With this approach you need to know what system configuration will do the job you want to do.
If it’s a business computer for basic word processing, simple spreadsheets, database and basic accounting, you probably don’t need the fastest multimedia machine. But if it’s for entertainment, graphics design or desktop publishing, you probably do.
Once you know what configuration you want, anything more powerful really has little added value for you, and anything that doesn’t measure up isn’t worth considering, unless an easy dealer-installed upgrade like extra memory will take care of it.
But don’t sell yourself too short. For most uses, a midrange computer in terms of speed and storage capacity represents the best compromise between price and eventual obsolescence.
* Richard O’Reilly, The Times’ director of computer analysis, will answer readers’ questions of broad interest in this column. E-mail questions to cutting.edge@latimes.com or mail to Answers, c/o Richard O’Reilly, Editorial, Los Angeles Times, Times Mirror Square, Los Angeles, CA 90053.
