Knowledge Is Power: How To Buy A Computer

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programs he wants
to run. For many buyers, this creates a problem. They cannot buy a computer
until they know what they want to do with it, but they cannot really know all
of the uses there are for a computer until they own one. This problem is not as
tough as it seems, however. The consumer should go to his local computer store,
and look at the software that's available. Most programs explain their minimum
hardware requirements right on the box. After looking at a few packages, it
should be pretty clear to the consumer that any mid-range system will run 99% of
the available software. A person should only need a top-of-the-line system for
professional applications such as graphic design, video production, or
engineering. Software tends to lag behind hardware, because it's written to
reach the widest possible audience. A program that only works on the fastest
Pentium Pro system has very limited sales potential, so most programs written in
1985 work just fine on a fast '486, or ...

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speed usually will not double the performance. A 133MHz Pentium
system may only be 50% faster than 75 MHz Pentium system, for example. That's
because there are a lot of other limiting factors. Memory is a prime example.
One may be better off buying a 75MHz Pentium system with 16MB of RAM than a 133
MHz system with 8MB. Even if buying the top machine did double a machine's
performance, however, it still might not make as big a difference as a person
might think. If his software performs any given task in under a second, doubling
its speed saves the consumer less than half a second.

No products change as quickly as computers. Considering the pace of this change,
it does not make sense to ...

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