To all computer buyers, here is an article from the Post, very interesting.
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What Do Cheap PCs Cost You?
By Alan S. Kay
Friday, November 28, 1997; Page N43
The Washington Post
Personal computers now cost a lot less than they used to, but you may wind up paying for your new $1,000 machine in ways that don't appear on credit-card bills. They don't offer the speed, options and capabilities of high-end machines; your name-brand machine may even have been manufactured by a different company (for instance, IBM's Aptiva E14 is built by Acer). But they outperform the competition at one important real-world benchmark: keeping your own money in your bank account.
Here's what you get and give up with today's entry-level machines -- and how much of that matters to typical home users:
SPEED
Much, but not all, of a computer's perceived speed depends on the speed of the brains of the operation, the central processing unit, or CPU, and whether the data you're working with can be held in random access memory (RAM) or must be parked in slower hard disk space.
Cutting-edge PCs today use 233, 266 and even 300 MHz Pentium II CPUs, while bargain computers use "low-end" (i.e., the second-best models of a year ago) Pentiums or Pentium-compatible chips from Intel competitors AMD and Cyrix. The $1,000 H-P Pavilion 3100, for example, uses a 166 MHz MMX Pentium. The AMD K6 MMX 166 (used on the Aptiva E14 and Acer's Aspire 1240 and 1250) is another worthy option in this price/performance ballpark. Cyrix's MediaGX processor (in Compaq's Presario 2200), however, suffers from its total integration -- video and sound functions are handled within the chip itself -- which makes systems based on it difficult, if not impossible, to upgrade.
If games or multimedia are part of your plans, MMX matters; this processor enhancement speeds up some graphics-intensive functions and bumps up the chip's onboard L1 cache (an area of high-speed memory used to stash current data). Equally vital is L2 (Level 2) cache, another fast memory pigeonhole. Many manufacturers leave this out on low-end systems, then obscure that in marketing doublespeak -- for instance, Compaq's Web page on the $1,000 Presario 4505 lists its nonexistent L2 cache as "upgradeable to 512k."
On the other hand, for garden-variety Internet use, word processing, financial management and recreational CD-ROM use, any of these machines will suffice. Remember that the slowest among them would have been upper-middle-class citizens in last year's home-computer population.
When it comes to RAM, Windows 95 needs a minimum of 16 megabytes to run comfortably; 32 Mb is better and is rapidly becoming standard on higher-end machines. With just the minimum of 16 on most entry-level PCs, running more than one program at once will bog things down, as Win 95 must resort to using the relatively slow hard drive to store data.
STORAGE
Two gigabytes (one gigabyte is a thousand megabytes) of hard disk space is the minimum on almost all PCs today (only the Compaq Presario 2200 has a smaller disk, at only 1.6 gigs). If you collect multimedia files, digital images or lots of games, a 2-gig hard drive will be sorely taxed before long, but on the other hand, today's lowest-end computers are also least suited to games, the most rapacious gobblers of disk space -- so if games aren't a priority, you will do fine with even a 1.6-gig drive.
CD-ROM drives have now become an essential component of all computers and, like most other components, have gotten faster and cheaper. Cheap computers do use somewhat slower CD-ROM drives, but the difference between a 16x and a 24x drive (those figures indicate how many times faster a drive is than first-generation hardware) is undetectable in normal use.
VIDEO
Like a Corvette stuck in Beltway traffic, a fast processor can be tripped up by a slow video subsystem -- the RAM and separate chips, if any, devoted to handling onscreen images. High-end machines have separate video cards for these jobs, but low-priced PCs typically handle graphics on the motherboard itself (the machine's core cluster of chips, including the CPU). Whatever video chip exists will have more limited capabilities; more significant, it will have less memory -- usually just 1 Mb of video RAM, rather than the 4 Mb standard on high-end PCs. That will slow down graphics performance and can make it impossible to display more than 256 colors at a time -- meaning many programs will look awful.
Note that many $1,000 PCs don't include a monitor in that price, so expect to spend $250 or more extra for one. The smallest available is 14 inches (measured diagonally), but 15-inch monitors are much less irritating to look at.
SOUND
Expect good stereo sound, but nothing to rattle the neighbors' windows. Many home computers, even ones selling for $2,000 and up, cut costs by putting sound and modem (more about that later) functions in the same chipset, so you can't upgrade your sound card without buying a new modem too. Even if that's not the case -- as, for instance, in H-P's Pavilion 3100 -- the sound card is likely to be a generic "SoundBlaster compatible" unit, rather than a standard Creative Labs SoundBlaster model, which may cause more finicky games to crash. And the included speakers are usually nothing too special. But if the resulting sound is not as crisp as what you'd get on a high-end "wavetable synthesis" card, that annoying Windows 95 startup music and America Online's "You've Got Mail!" sound about the same either way. If you're not planning to use games or multimedia heavily, don't fret over this.
COMMUNICATIONS
To log on to the Internet -- as everyone in the industry expects you to do -- you'll need a modem. Every new computer sold these days includes one, but almost all cheaper PCs only include modems that transmit data at 33,600 bits per second (bps), instead of the 56,000-bps, or 56-kbps, modems standard on pricier machines (IBM's Aptiva E14 is one of the few exceptions to this rule).
This may not actually be an issue. Two different, incompatible kinds of 56-kbps modems exist -- x2 and K56flex -- and unless you and your Internet provider use the same kind, that extra capability won't matter. Even if you do, variations in the phone network can deprive you of that promised higher speed. Note that most manufacturers, if they include a 33.6 kbps modem, will advertise it as "upgradeable" to 56 kbps, but you'll have to handle that yourself (usually by downloading an updater program, although you may have to send the modem itself back to the manufacturer).
Premium modems on more expensive machines can also do Caller ID and double as speakerphones and answering machines, but many owners make no use of these extra functions.
FUTURE EXPANDABILITY
Upgrading your machine's guts can be a cost-effective way to stay current with ever-advancing processor speeds. Top-of-the-line PCs are set up to be souped up: Every component is bolted, screwed or clipped into place so it can easily be replaced, and motherboards and cases leave room for add-in cards and extra hard drives or such "removable storage" devices as Iomega's cheap, popular 100-meg Zip drive.
That isn't the case on most $1,000 PCs, which usually come with fewer memory and expansion slots, lower-voltage power supplies that lack enough juice to run extra components and processor mounting schemes that make it difficult to replace the chip. To keep upgrade options open, look for a CPU in a standard ZIF (zero insertion force) Socket 7 connector, plus at least two free expansion slots and room to add one or more internal drives (the last generally only found in upright "minitower" units).
Note that everything we say here may change with the release of Microsoft's Windows 98 operating system -- due sometime in the second half of next year. Microsoft's advice suggests you'll need at least a Pentium 166, along with more RAM and hard drive space. And no current low and middle-end machines support two of Win 98's most promising improvements: Its "OnNow" power-management system (a souped-up version of the "sleep" mode on many PCs) and the Accelerated Graphics Port, which revs up video performance. |
