So keep that in mind when you are out shopping this holiday season for electronics. The cheapest PC may not be a good deal in the long-run.
Though there are new computers in-stores and online in the $200 to $300 range, they typically will perform much slower, don’t offer as many features and have a shorter life when compared to a computer $500 and up.
Typically, computers in the low price range lack the ability to upgrade in the future. Their processor could be soldered onto the motherboard, preventing you from upgrading a crucial performance-related component in the future. They may not offer any expansion (PCI) slots, so you couldn’t add a video card, for instance, if the one integrated on the motherboard fails. You might also find these don’t offer as many USB ports, requiring you to purchase a USB hub.
When shopping for laptops you may find netbooks, a term for smaller and inexpensive laptops. Though cheap, again you get what you pay for. They could be used for simple web browsing, emailing and documents, but aren’t something you’d want to play games on or have as your only computer.
You’ll also see Chromebooks when shopping for laptops, some of which are on the inexpensive side. Among the other general specs to consider, these don’t use the Windows or Mac operating system as you may be used to. They use Google’s Chrome OS, and Windows and Mac programs won’t run on them.
When comparing computers and the performance they’ll provide, two main specs you should compare are the processor and the amount of memory (RAM) they have. There are many types of processors from Intel and AMD, both of which have many comparable characteristics. I suggest comparing processors by their ranking on CPUbenchmark.net.
Some retailers and vendors list their processor model on the box at the store or in the online description, while others do not. If you cannot find it, search the Internet with the PC’s model number and you can usually find the processor listed with its other specs.
Cheaper computers these days usually have a processor that ranks in the 500 to 1,500 range on the CPUbenchmark website. For comparison, the lowest performing desktop computer I sell at $550 has a processor ranking of near 5,000.
Comparing the amount of memory (RAM) computers have is very easy. This is almost always listed on the advertisement, box and online description. Just don’t get this confused with the hard drive or disk space size, as both are listed in the amount of gigabytes (GBs). These days I suggest getting a computer with a minimum of 4GBs of memory, but I would recommend more like 8GBs.
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