What do you need to know in order to choose a new Computer?

by Mark Townsend
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31 Mar, 2022
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When faced with Computers ranging from £299 to £2,999 which one do you go for?

One of the most common questions I get asked is How do I know what to buy when purchasing a new Computer? It can certainly be a difficult choice when faced with a huge number of Computers looking much the same but with vastly different prices. I will run through the basics here today and this will mean that you can enter a shop armed with the right knowledge to choose your own or at least have a conversation with a salesman. The focus of this article is just on a standard machine for work, home, or school use. Specialist areas like Gaming Machines aren't covered.

Although outside the scope of this article I will briefly touch on why you might be buying a new Computer. You may have received a message that your old Computer cannot be upgraded to Windows 11 and you may also feel it's quite old and slow. The first thing to note is that Windows 10 will be fully supported up until October 2025 and that Churchdown Computers can carry out an upgrade that will allow you to enjoy the next three and a half years with a much faster Computer. If you are interested in this option rather than buying new then just contact us as below.

You may wish to buy a Traditional Desktop PC, an All in One or a Laptop but the same basic principles apply. Once you have a grasp of these you can apply the knowledge to any type of Computer that you choose. There are obvious factors that might increase the price of a Computer like a 17" screen on a Laptop rather than a 14" and these are personal choices so I will just concentrate on the main components. In this article we will be focusing on the Processor, RAM (or memory) and Hard Disk (HDD) or Solid State Drive (SSD). The scenario you instantly find yourself with when buying a Laptop for instance is that there's one with a deal on for £299 and one right next to it that looks the same for £450. Surely the £299 one will be fine won't it? In the vast majority of cases more money means better performance unless as previously mentioned you are paying for a much bigger screen.

I will begin by covering the choice of Processor which is one of the three main components that you need to look at. One of the most popular range of Processors is the Intel i series and typically you will see Core i3, Core i5 and Core i7 although i9 are also available. There are also a range of older Intel Processors called Intel Celeron and Intel Pentium. AMD are another popular Processor manufacturer and they have a range of processors called Ryzen 3, Ryzen 5 and Ryzen 7. They also have older processors which were known as Athlon and are typically called A4, A9, A10 etc on the Product label. The most important thing to note here is that if you are choosing to buy on price and buying a £299 Computer you will almost certainly be buying an Intel Celeron or Pentium Processor, or an AMD A series processor. My simple advice is DON'T. I have lost count of the customers that ring up and say 'I've just bought a new Laptop and it doesn't seem any faster than the one I'm replacing'. In many cases the laptop they are scrapping cost almost £1,000 and was top of the range 10 years ago and the £299 laptop that they have now bought is bottom of the range and as they have already stated isn't much faster than the old one.

My advice is to stick to the Intel Core i series and AMD Ryzen series and at least buy an i3 or Ryzen 3 and if you can afford to go higher like i5 or Ryzen 5 you will be buying a faster performing machine.

The next component is RAM or memory and this is very straightforward. 4GB RAM has been the standard offering for many years although many are now coming with 8GB as standard. The higher the number the better the performance, so again if you can afford a machine with 8GB or more it will be a faster performing machine.

Finally we come on to the Hard Disk Drive (HDD) or Solid State Drive (SSD). The way to speed up a slower machine always used to be to buy some more RAM but now the best way to get a much faster machine is to install a Solid State Drive. Solid State Drives are 10x faster than a standard Hard Disk Drive and the performance can be seen from the minute you press the ON button with 7 - 10 second start up times. They started off as quite expensive items but now the price has fallen making upgrades more affordable and they are also fitted as standard to most new machines. The obvious advice is therefore to go for an SSD if you can. However, I need to provide a bit of additional information here to ensure that you make the right choice. In order to keep prices low most manufacturers only fit a 128GB or 256GB SSD whereas you may well have had a 1TB HDD in your old Computer. For many people this is not a problem because they only used a fraction of the available disk space on the old Computer, however if you filled it with Photos, Music and Videos you may have a problem. When you get home and attempt to transfer your Data from the old Computer to the new one you may run out of space. There are of course ways around this. Some Computers have a 500GB SSD option at a higher price, some have a Hybrid System with a 128GB SSD to run Windows and a 1TB HDD to store Data on, and thirdly you could just buy an external drive to store your Photos on.

Once you understand the basics regarding the Processor, RAM and HDD/SSD you will be able to look at any product label in a Computer shop or chat to any salesman and have a good idea of what you are buying, how fast it will be and why it is priced as it is. Although Churchdown Computers do not sell Computers we offer free advice to those about to buy a new Computer. We also offer a full range of services from setting up the new Computer through to getting your Data transferred across, Programs installed, Printer and Email setup. Just call Mark on 07557 483438, e-mail mark@churchdowncomputers.co.uk or fill out the form at the bottom of the Contact page