What Makes a Good Computer

A GOOD COMPUTER
Most people are confused by advertisements for computers. They do not understand why two ads for similar looking computers with the same CPU, same amount of RAM, same size of monitor, same capacity hard disk drive, etc., can have a price difference of $1000.00. The answer is simple -- hardware features and performance.
Design differences of components can yield vastly different performance ratings for computers. Let's compare two recently advertised computers that look very similar in the ads at first glance. One system is priced at $1500.00, the other at $2500.00. They differ by $1000.00 in price!
PLUG & PLAY BIOS
With the introduction of the new Windows '95 and Windows '98 Operating Systems, it is much easier to add new hardware components to your computer. With a standard ROM BIOS, and prior to Windows '95, adding components was no easy task.
For example, if you added a new telephone modem to your computer, you also needed to install a software driver, reconfigure your start-up files, and often experiment with re-setting various hardware jumpers on the motherboard. WHEW!
Most people left this up to the dealer that sold them the modem. Those that tried to get the modem working by themselves often gave up in frustration, and ended up bringing the entire computer back to the dealer to do the job.
Newer computers contain a Plug & Play BIOS. This BIOS works in conjunction with Windows '95 to immediately recognize and initiate any new hardware that's installed into the computer. Add the new hardware, turn on the computer, and everything works. No fussing, no playing with jumpers, no re-programming your computer.
Three ingredients are required for the Plug & Play concept to work:
1) the computer must be equipped with a new Plug & Play BIOS chip
2) the operating system must support Plug & Play, as Windows '95/'98 does
3) the component being installed must be engineered under the new Plug & Play guidelines
Looking at our comparison of the two computer systems, the bargain system does not contain a Plug & Play BIOS, whereas the higher priced system does.
300 MHz CPU
The pricier computer contains an Intel brand name PENTIUM II CPU. The other one contains a CYRIX CPU. The CYRIX chip is not necessarily inferior, however, Intel sells 85% of the CPUs in the marketplace and you pay a small premium when you get the top name brand. Occasionally, there are compatibility problems with non-Intel CPUs.
THE MOTHERBOARD
Both systems are advertised as 300 MHz computers. However, the expensive motherboard is engineered to support newer and faster PENTIUM CPUs when they become available. The bargain computer comes with a motherboard that can never be upgraded beyond its current configuration. This means that if you want a 200% faster computer in a year or so, you'll be looking at replacing the entire motherboard. The better computer is easy to upgrade simply by replacing its 300 MHz CPU with a faster chip. Are you really saving money with the cheaper unit?
64 MB RAM
There is RAM, and there is RAM! Are you confused? RAM is rated by its refresh rate. The time is measured in nanoseconds (ns) or billionths of a second. The shorter the time, the better. The costlier computer contains newer SD-RAM (Synchronous Dynamic) RAM chips rated at 10 ns. These are more costly than the 60 ns EDO-RAM chips in the other computer, but they offer 6 times speedier throughput of data on the motherboard.
512 KB RAM CACHE
This is also referred to as Pipeline Burst Cache or External Level 2 Cache. The cheaper ad does not mention this component because its computer doesn't have any! This RAM consists of special high speed chips. Instead of having to retrieve information from the normal RAM, the CPU can look at the high speed RAM cache first. This feature alone can increase the effective performance of the computer by 35%.
4 GB HARD DRIVE
This capacity is 4000 MB (megabytes). But there's more to hard drives than capacity. The key factor affecting performance is access time. Access time refers to the average amount of time it takes to find data anywhere on the drive. A good fast time is 8 ms (8 milliseconds), which is less than 1/100 of a second. You guessed it -- the low priced computer has a hard drive with an 11 ms access time. That's 40% slower than the better drive!





source:www.adita.com