Just Ask Phil

If you are in the market to buy a new computer here is a few things to keep in mind.

1. At any Discount, Department or Electronics store, pretty much all of the computers are going to have Vista, except the Macs. You need at least 2 GB of ram for just a basic systems. Stay away from the ones with 1 GB or upgrade them to 2 GB.

2. Almost all the software are that new PC is trial software. It’s for the benefit of the computer manufacturer and not
you. Remove it all or have it done at the store if they can do it.

3. You need a decent antivirus and spyware protection application(s). Don’t get on the Internet without.

4. If you are buying a laptop, chances are you are going to need an extended warranty or insurance. If something happens to it, outside the manufacturers warranty, you’ll be better off buying a new one. If it is under the manufacturers warranty, then you will probably need to ship it back to them at your cost.

5. If you are going to being playing games or doing video editing then that really cheap Compaq or eMachine will probably not do the job. Look for something with an actual video card - 256 MB or 512 MB of ram.

6. Research on the Interent before going to the stores. Have an idea of what you want, how much you want to spend and what you are going to do with the computer. If you are going to do anything above surfing the Internet and burning CDs, then you’re going to need additional software.

7. Unless your computer is fried and you have to have one today, give yourself a month, just in case they don’t have the computer you want. Deals happen every week and you may just find a better computer then.

8. The best time to buy a computer is when you really need it. A better computer for the same amount or less will be out just after you bought you new system.

I love Linux. My main desktop is running Ubuntu. As for the times that I might need to run certain Windows appications, I have a licensed copy of Windows XP installed on a virtual machine, but that is a story for another day.

I sell computers and quite often I have people visiting me asking for the cheapest laptop we have in stock. While doing a search on the directory, I came across the Asus Eee. We don’t carry it in the store, but I directed a customer to our web site.

I later did some research and found this handy little laptop with 512MB of Ram was running Linux! I was thinking to myself, “What a great idea!”

Windows Vista would never run on a laptop with 512 MB or ram, but with Linux it should run quite nicely.

The Eee comes with many standard Linux applications like OpenOffice.org (comparable to Microsoft Office) as well as the Mozilla Firefox web browser.

Now, for the user that must run certain Windows applications, they maybe able to do so by running the program alongside, or through, a program called Wine. It will let you run many Windows applications under Linux, but my experience has been that most of the ones I’ve needed didn’t work.

For those that need Windows, this is not the machine for you; at least not until the Windows XP model is released.

This computer retails from between $300 - $500, depending on the specs and the retailer. The computer buyer who needs a very basic computer, this is a perfect buy.