Questions when purchasing a new computer

The holiday season is upon us and many will be flocking to the nearest Best Buy or online to purchase a new system as a preset or for themselves. 

As you wander over the variety of desktops and laptops, several questions may come into mind when buying a new computer.

How much memory (RAM) do you need? 
What kind of processor comes with it?
Do you want a laptop, desktop or hybrid? 
An all-in-one system or a desktop that that you can upgrade the internal components for? 

To answer these questions it all comes down to one thing. - 
"What do you plan to use the system mostly for?" 

* Light use: Surfing the Web, paying bills online, e-mail and social networking, organizing and sharing digital photos 
* Average use: Storing and streaming music and movies, tasks like spreadsheet and document creation 
* Demanding use: Serious gaming, sophisticated graphics and photo editing, video production, high-resolution multitrack audio recording 

 If your new computer will live in an isolated location like a dedicated home office, a traditional desktop may be ideal. If, however, your computer will be in a more centralized location for family use, a compact desktop or stylish all-in-one PC may be more suitable. Consider a portable all-in-one or smart display if you want the option to take it places.





Planning on heavy duty gaming?
Most computers come standard with "integrated" graphics, meaning that the graphics processor is built into the chipset that houses the main processor. This is more than sufficient for general computing, but some applications require more imaging power. If your plans involve multiplayer 3D gaming, video editing or multimedia production, you'll probably want a standalone graphics card to make the most of your experience.