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Computers are typically thought of as either for personal use or business use. I'll talk about both in the next few pages.
Computer systems are a necessity for today's business needs. Inventory control, customer lists and contact information, customer account information, vendor account information. The list goes on and on.
Time is money in the business world. The days of maintaining records on the 3x5 or 5x8 card are inefficient and time consuming. Not only are they time consuming, but a backup copy of such records is a monstrous task. Do any of you even remember the 3x5 card filing system?
Do it right! Get a computer system with the storage capability to store all of your business records on the hard drive. Get the software required to manage your inventory and finances for your business. It is extremely easy to maintain customer data records on a computer. And, with the proper software, you can launch new sales events easily by producing flyers and mailing them to all your customers. You can also track and send routine maintenance reminders to your customer list. You can contact your vendors online for inventory replacement, automatically, which ensures you have product when the customer wants it.
What type of computer do you need? Do you build it or have it built for you? Do you purchase from a national dealer?
Whatever your answers to the previous questions, get a minimum of a 500 megahertz processor with 256 megabytes of RAM and the largest hard disk drive you can afford at the time.
You should also consider, very strongly, a DVD/CD Rom drive that allows you to create or "burn" your own DVD/CD's. This will allow you to back up your data on a regular basis.
You will need an Operating System also. The most common is Windows, but Linux and Mac OS are also becoming more popular.
New Dual Core Processors are out now. Basically you end up with the processing power of two processors on your motherboard. Of course you will need an Operating System that will support dual processors. Windows 2000 and above as well as all versions of Linux will support dual processors.
Your application software will also need to support the dual processors to take full advantage.
Better yet are the 64 bit processing chips and motherboards coming to market. Again, you will need an Operating System and motherboard to support these processors. Windows currently has a 64 bit version of Windows XP and Linux will always support 64 bit operations. Add on board suppliers will need to write drivers for their equipment to make them work in 64 bit environment.
Both these new technologies have become viable in mid 2007. They greatly enhance all your computing needs.
The specifications I gave above will allow you to work without waiting for the computer to respond to your requests. I have found though that a 1.2 gigahertz processor running Windows XP as the operating system is noticeably slower than a 233 megahertz processor running Windows 98 for routine tasks. XP is also slower than a Windows 2000 system running at 500 megahertz.
What I am trying to tell you, is that the latest and greatest may not always perform better than technology that is dated a few years.
If you will be crunching numbers or customer lists on a frequent basis, then the faster processor will give you better overall performance. Also, if networked, the faster processor will perform better as a file server than one with a slower processor.
You might consider different configurations for your computers depending upon intended use. For personal use you can get by with the budget PC sold by almost any retailer. If you intend to run a small business at home (Internet Marketing ?) then get the most you can afford or one that will allow easy expansion as your business needs increase.
As I write this today, late 2007, the availability of top line computer systems has truly became much easier than just four years ago. I personally use Win98 through Vista in my office. And although the computers keep getting faster, the software will not always work on the newer systems.
That in itself has been the reason for maintaining more than the two computer systems we have used for almost 10 years. Office 2000 SBE will not run on Windows Vista Home edition! Even my website building software will not run properly on Vista. Go figure!
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