A Byte of Help on School Shopping
The cost of jeans and socks, pencils and notebooks, pales in comparison with that lion of all back-to-school supplies, the personal computer. Yet more and more parents are shelling out the money for a student desktop.
“In talking to people, they tell us getting a computer is important because they want their kids to have it when they’re going back to school,” said Ruben Ramos, assistant manager at Office Depot in Costa Mesa. “It’s such a growing trend that parents now are buying them for younger and younger children.”
With some bargain-hunting on your part--and now is when computer stores are offering back-to-school specials--it is possible to buy a passable computer for your scholar for less than $1,000. Possible, but not necessarily attractive.
Against the price savings for a basic computer that will do the basic tricks of the school trade, you have to balance how quickly that computer will become completely outmoded. After all, you don’t want to head back next fall for a new one, and computers get outdated faster than high school fashions these days.
Good computers that can help your child prepare research, write reports and even play the latest computer games are available at bargain prices ($799-$999) in time for back-to-school shoppers.
But what will work for your child now may present some frustrations down the line as the newer programs require more power and memory than you now need. There are some little perks you can forgo: surround sound, a sound card with MIDI/game port or a DVD-ROM to play movies.
But the computer should offer Internet access and word processing, two of the most important computer features for students, says Tami Girsky, vice principal of Hillview Middle School in Menlo Park, the heart of Silicon Valley. These capabilities are vital for middle and high school students, she said, and are advisable for elementary school students too.
“Kids need Internet access because that’s where the entire world is moving,” Girsky said, adding that many students use the Internet for research and for downloading art of the United States or the California Gold Rush, for instance, for use on reports. Don’t forget to monitor your child’s use of the Internet, she cautions.
As for word processing, she said, “there’s no doubt that the teachers love to read reports done on the computer,” and “I can’t imagine a profession where you don’t need those skills.”
A spell-checking program is a good idea, she believes, and an encyclopedia program can be helpful. Younger children tend to use the dictionary programs more; older students tend to grasp meaning from context. A calculator, which is a standard feature, probably is unnecessary. It’s easier to manipulate a hand-held calculator.
As for the extras, you would want to consider a 16-bit sound card with MIDI game port--basically a computer outlet--only if you want to plug in a keyboard for piano lessons or to play with Microsoft’s new computer interactive Arthur and D.W. Actimates dolls. Also, there will be upcoming lines of DVD software, available as early as September (the Learning Co.’s The Oregon Trail, Body Works 6.0 and Compton’s Interactive Encyclopedia), that may make you wish you had that option too.
For the Mac die-hards, there’s the new iMac--a streamlined, loaded and relatively low-priced ($1,299.97 at Comp USA) Power Mac with integrated monitor that could appeal to Mac fans wary of paying the usual Power PC prices. Not all software is configured for the Mac, as it is for the PC, but you can always install Virtual PC for about $60, which would enable you to run PC programs on it.
The first thing to look for in any computer is the processor speed (the brains of the computer), or megahertz. You can slog by with a 486 microprocessor (66 MHz) for most of today’s games--if anyone sells anything that slow anymore. But what you really want is a Pentium (increasingly the standard speed) or, if you can afford it, a Pentium II (even faster), which should keep your computer current longer in this rapidly evolving industry.
The newest games, such as the Learning Co.’s The Oregon Trail 3, popular in schools and at home, require a Pentium. So will Humongous Entertainment’s upcoming Blues Clues.
And you can be sure that new games are going to continue to need at least that much if not more in the way of system requirements. As Debbie Galdin of the Learning Co. says, “If you’re going out to purchase a new system, why not get a Pentium? By next year, a good number of programs will need that.”
Once you have decided on speed, you need to consider hard drive space (gigabytes or megabytes) and memory (megabytes of RAM).
Most current computers will offer 1 to 2 gigabytes of hard drive space (long-term memory) and 16 to 32 megabytes of RAM (short-term memory). The newer programs need a minimum of 8 megabytes of hard drive space and 16 megabytes of RAM. And again, if you can afford to go for as many as 3 gigabytes of hard drive and 32 megabytes of RAM, you will have a machine that can do just about anything that comes down the line for the next couple of years.
Other things to consider: a dual-speed CD-ROM drive might suffice, but the newer programs require at least a four speed (4x), and you might want to get as much as 6x. Also, you need a monitor with a Super VGA (800 by 600 resolution) display in 256 colors. A larger monitor, with a resolution as high as 1024 by 1280, would help you see multiple pages simultaneously, but that may not be necessary for your child’s school needs.
You should expect your computer to come loaded with Microsoft Windows 98, Microsoft Word (for word processing) and Microsoft Excel (for calculations and spreadsheets) if it’s a PC (Microsoft Power Point helps with presentations, but it is a little more difficult to use); the iMac includes Microsoft Internet Explorer Plus, AppleWorks, Quicken Deluxe 98, Total Access Internet and such frills as Williams-Sonoma Good Cooking and Nanosaur.
In addition, a 56K modem is the latest standard for Internet access. If you already have a printer in the household for another computer, there should be no need to invest in an additional one for your child. If not, a laser printer isn’t necessary. High-quality inkjet printers do just about as well and give you color capability at relatively low cost, always helpful for graphics and report covers.
While the under-$1,000 computers might suffice, you can do fairly well in the under-$1,500 range. Remember that while newer technology costs more, it lasts longer. That said, don’t expect it to last forever. If you buy the top of the line now, it probably will be on the bottom of the line in two years. But at least, unlike today’s bargains, it shouldn’t be obsolete.
