Computer Buying

It's that time of the year when the retailers are regularly advertising deals. Carmen Vitanza from Vitanza Creations will be sharing his technical/computer skills to help with computer buying.

2020 has taught us two things adaptation and change. 2020 has also shown us how much computers and technology rule our daily lives. Between meetings, shopping, paying bills, and remote working are being considered the new norm. With these constant demands and technological upgrades that companies are doing their systems, computers that are five to six years old are becoming slower and obsolete.

Here are some helpful tips and questions that can help you find the ideal machine for your computing needs. But before we start delving into what computer you need, make sure you know all of the software you are using. This can make or break your stress levels. If you are not sure about things. Ask the store clerks/IT department coworkers/ tech-savvy friends for help. This is so you can avoid compatibility errors with any software that you need to have on your new computer. When compatibility errors happen, this is when it gets costly.

Some things you could need to do are:

• Upgrade your Operating System

• Add more memory to make the computer run more efficiently.

• Upgrade your hard drive to handle the amount of space you need to store files.

Here are some common types of computer uses to help you better understand your computer needs.

• Standard Home/Office PC- Standard PCs come with a sufficient amount of hardware to support the minimal requirements of typical office and home use. These programs are set up to use basic programs like Windows, MS Office, QuickBooks, Firefox, or Chrome. Most of the time I advise people to look at Staples, Walmart, Target, and Mircocenter ads. The biggest programs they are running are MS Office and Quickbooks.

• Gaming- We're not talking Solitary or a simple puzzle game, we're talking games like World of Warcraft, Assains Creed, and Crusader Kings. To handle the demands that many computer games like I listed above have, these machines require more than just the Standard Home/Office PC. Some of the common features range from:

• Fast processors

• A lot of memory. We are talking at least 16 GB to handle the demand that a computer game will put on a machine.

• High-end audio and high-end video cards to enhance the graphics and audio of a game.

• Design Machines: Computers that are made with the intent for graphic and CAD designing. These computers are a step-down or on the same length as a gaming machine. Being in the design field, graphic designers love MACs as they clearly view images to assist designers and photographers.

• The primary requirement for a design machine is a large, high-quality monitor to calibrate to accurately display colors.

• Design computers need to have a fast processor.

• Large Hard Drives to accommodate the large file sizes that some graphics files have.

• A lot of memory to help with the demands of design software like Adobe Creative Suite, Affinity Design Suite, and GIMP.

• Audio/Video Editing: Audio and Video editing computers require as much firepower as designers to handle the demands of audio and video editing software. These machines will need many USB and connection ports to allow things microphones, instruments, cameras, and other audio/video editing items to connect to the computer. Hardware-wise, these computers will need large hard drives to handle the large file sizes that audio and video files can have. Also, they will need excellent sound and video cards to help produce high-quality sound and video. These machines often use two or more color-calibrated monitors, with the video stream on one monitor and the video editor on another monitor. Finally, these machines often use custom keyboards that act like dials to adjust audio and video controls.

• Portable and Mobile Machines: These machines can be broken down into several categories for portable computer usage.

• Laptops: If you are using them more like a computer and run non-web-based programs to do what you need to do.

• Chromebooks: These are cheaper than laptops. They are a hybrid of a tablet and a laptop computer. They are an excellent choice if you are net surfing, using Google Docs, using Internet-based software like Wix, and small apps. You need to be connected to the Internet to work. They run on Google OS and does not compete with MAC or Microsoft.

• iPads and Galaxy Tablets: They are mostly mobile for using apps and anything you would use a smartphone for.

Below is a simple checklist to help you with what type of computer you will need.

DVBPNComputerBuyingGuide.pdf

Download PDF • 472KB

If you would like to have Vitanza Creations help you with your creative needs, please feel free to visit their website at vitanzacreations.wixsite.com/vitanzacreations.