Smart ways to buy a PC

Choosing the correct computer is a time consuming, painstaking process but taking your time is essential if you want to get a PC that fits your needs.

Computeractive's reviews are one way to ensure that you buy a good computer but we can't test every PC, component and peripheral on the market. It means that you need to be in possession of a few important facts if you are going to get a great PC.

Ending up with a bad PC is often associated with getting one that is under specified or over priced, two things that often go together. But buying a computer that is over-specified is just as bad because you'll be paying out far more money than you need to, buying features that you won't use.

Chips not so cheap
The fastest Intel Pentium 4 processors run at speeds of 3.2GHz but, as with all aspects of computer technology, the fastest components often represent the worst value.

At the time of writing, the new Intel 3.2GHz Pentium processors had yet to appear in the shops, but even adding a 3.06GHz Pentium 4 will cost £150 more than a 2.6GHz one.

The difference in performance between the processors is clear if you test them in a lab but the difference in performance in day-to-day use will barely be noticeable to most people.

Most computer users don't do anything that requires that extra performance and wouldn't notice it in normal use anyway, but they are quite likely to notice an extra £150 in their wallet, as it would make it uncomfortable to sit down.

Cut the cards
It's a similar story with graphics cards. A top-of-the-range ATi- or nVidia-based graphics card will cost around £450 and, wherever you do your shopping, that's a lot of money.

That card will be superb for playing the latest games at high resolutions, with all the various settings and graphics features set to maximum. But you need to ask yourself whether that is really necessary.

Even keen gamers don't need the very latest graphics cards. In the case of nVidia-based cards, a range-topping GeForce FX 5900 Ultra from Gainward will cost £465.

The next model down in the range is the straight FX 5900, which costs £336 and will offer equivalent performance on any games you have or are likely to have in the near future.

Going further down the ladder, the FX5600 Ultra offers performance that isn't far shy of the FX5900 but can be yours for £215.

There isn't a game on the market that the card won't be able to play now or in the next two or three years and, at less than half the price of the FX5900 Ultra, it's definitely the best bet as far as we're concerned.

Thanks for the memory
The amount of memory in a PC is a slightly different matter. For a start, a memory upgrade is significantly cheaper than a processor upgrade.

We looked at the costs involved when buying a new, big-name PC and upgrading the standard 256MB of memory on one of its cheaper computers to 512MB.

The price increase was under £30 but our lab tests showed us that doubling the memory in a PC can have a positive effect on performance, often by as much as 25 per cent.

At present, if you're buying a new computer, 512Mb of memory is a good balance between performance and price. While 256Mb is adequate, the small cost of doubling it suggests that it is a worthwhile upgrade.

Going beyond this is not necessary unless you are in the habit of editing enormous photographs or digital video.

Some PCs are offered with as much as 2,048MB of memory but this is overkill for normal use. The extra money you will pay will not give a corresponding increase in performance and consequently isn't really worth the extra outlay.

Capacity is king
In hard disk terms, capacity is king. The common adage is that you can never have enough hard disk space but, with models now offering capacities of 300GB, it pays to be sensible and plan for your future needs.

Windows XP will occupy just over 1GB of hard disk space and, after your office application and other essential software is on there, almost 2GB will be gone.

Most new PCs will come with an 80GB hard disk, which should be adequate for most people. But if you are going to get involved in digital video editing or storing lots of MP3s, it may not be enough.

If you are buying a new Dell PC, for example, boosting the hard disk from 80GB to 120GB costs just £30, but going up to 200GB costs another £160.

If you are worried about running out of space on an 80GB drive, an upgrade to 120GB is good value. But beyond that, it's not worth considering unless you know you'll use that space.

Sounding off
The final aspect of PC specification to take note of is the sound card. If you are a budding Rick Wakeman then the onboard sound card on a modern PC may be too weedy for you. But for everyone else, it's just fine.

All modern sound chips support surround sound and the latest game standards. Separate sound cards sitting in a PCI slot are still the best for ultimate performance but advances in integrated sound mean that it's not worth upgrading unless you really need to.

Most new PCs come laden with all manner of surround sound speakers, which is great if you want surround sound. If you don't, the yards of cable, fiddly set-up and the effort of finding homes for as many as eight speakers, is easily dispensed with.

A set of reasonably good quality stereo speakers costs around £10 on top of the cost of the PC, while 5.1 surround speakers can add £60 to the price. What would you rather have - music from all around you or £50?

Screen savers
Monitors are harder to make savings on. The monitor is a vitally important part of your PC package but few of us give any real consideration to it.

A 17in CRT monitor is standard issue with most entry-level computers but 19in models and TFT screens are getting cheaper, better and consequently more common.

If you can afford the extra space they occupy then 19in screens are fine; the high resolutions they can run at makes them the preferred upgrade path for gamers.

Upgrading to a 15in TFT will add around £100 to the cost of a new PC system and will leave you a lot more desk space than a 17in CRT. On the downside, TFTs still aren't that great for gamers and don't offer as good a picture as a CRT.

Getting a TFT display larger than 15in will also significantly increase the cost and is difficult to justify unless you really need to save room and want a lot of screen space at your disposal. The main reason for a TFT upgrade is to show off.

Snap happy
Digital cameras are another area where pose value is more important than pragmatism to many buyers. Prices have dropped sharply over the past year, and very high-specification cameras are arriving on the shelves at affordable prices.

Many buyers soldier on under the misapprehension that more megapixels is the first thing to look for, but that's not the whole story.

If all your photography is of the holiday snap variety, there is little point in buying a camera that can capture more than three megapixels.

That will allow you to take photos that can be reproduced at approximately A4 size without a noticeable drop in quality.

A five-megapixel camera will allow your photos to be blown up to the size of a small poster but, if you aren't going to do that, why pay for it?

At the moment, there is a huge choice of excellent cameras between £200 and £300 sporting a three-megapixel resolution. Unless you are a real photography enthusiast, buying anything more capable than this is unnecessary.

Hand-some devils
The final area where being cost conscious can save you pounds without a noticeable loss in owner happiness is the mouse and keyboard.

If an upgrade to an optical mouse is offered, it will typically add around £15 to the cost of a new PC and we consider that a cost worth bearing.

There's no more stubborn cursors darting elusively between corners of the screen or time spent chiselling the grime from the innards. An optical mouse is maintenance-free and, as a result, definitely worth having.

The same cannot be said of wireless mice and keyboards. If you find your keyboard and mouse cabling restrictive, we'd suggest you concentrate on sitting still while you work, rather than shell out the £40 to £50 premium and suffer the paralysing inconvenience of your batteries running out mid-surf.

What about warranties?
While the average PC salesman won't be too pushy about upgrading your processor or hard disk, he may have your arm pushed up your back trying to get you to commit to an extended warranty.

Any new PC will come with a one-year warranty - it's required by law - but some will come with more. Actual component failures in computers are quite rare. Usually if a computer works first time, it will carry on doing so.

Software is a different matter. If Windows goes belly up, your computer won't be working, neither will you and neither will the majority of warranties, which often specify that only problems arising from hardware failure will be covered.

If you suffer a problem, you'll often find it cheaper to take the computer into a shop for a one-off repair rather than paying for continuous cover that you're unlikely ever to use.

Why not try our new Best Prices and Best Buys guides for an easy way to find the perfect kit for you?