Chris Barton: PC buying best tackled in jargon-cracking bites

COMMENT

Buying a PC. It's a task most people approach, quite rightly, with fear and loathing - mainly because of the jargon. To ease the pain and for an efficient way to figure out what to buy, spend an hour or two online. If you haven't got access to a PC, drop into a cyber cafe or a public library.

I was reminded last week how the web has changed the way we shop when my brother, in the process of buying a PC, handed me a sheaf of email quotes to peruse.

He had cleverly attacked the PC buying nightmare via the Yellow Pages, sending an email to a selection of local companies with listed email addresses. Which is fine if you know what you want. But with so many bits and pieces, not to mention acronyms and abbreviations, that go in to making up a PC, where do you begin?

Start with the No 1 PC maker in the world, Dell, by selecting one of the featured special offers that's near to your budget limit and hit "Customise this system". Now fiddle around with the different options - raising the speed of the processor, adding extra memory, and a larger storage disk. Bigger and faster is always better, but don't get too carried away.

At the moment, for Windows-based PC, I'd be aiming for a 3.0 gigahertz (GHz) processor, 1 gigabyte (GB) of memory and a 120GB disk. But I'd scale this back, perhaps dropping to a lower-speed processor, or 512 megabytes (MB) of memory, until I found the right "sweet spot" - the point where budget and desire accommodate each other.

A nice aspect of the Dell site is the "Learn More" link which explains what each of these components is.

But if you're still lost in the jargon maze go to WhatIs.com or TechWeb.

Next, tweak the screen and video card options - and you want a flat panel liquid crystal display (LCD) if you can afford it. The sound card and speakers are important and, unless you're a stereo purist, your aim is multi-channel surround sound.

By now your head is beginning to hurt. But persevere with the choice of DVD or CD drive. You're drawn to the DVD-CD read/write combo drive because you want to burn CDs and DVDs as well as play them.

But then you discover some DVD formats are not compatible with certain drives. You try to figure it all out at the DVD FAQ.

Now you're ready to run screaming from the room and you still haven't decided on software and other niceties.

But if you can get through this "configurator" process you'll be well armed for the next stage - comparison shopping.

As a direct seller of PCs - no middleman involved - Dell prides itself on offering the best bang for buck. Check this out by printing out the configuration you've chosen and taking it to compare what's on offer at retailers like Noel Leeming, Dick Smith and Harvey Norman.

Make sure you've included some Dell after-sale service and support options on your printout so you can discuss with the retailer warranties and getting your PC fixed.

Then you should do some comparisons with locally assembled brands - the so-called "white box" market. There are heaps and you can find those closest to you through Yellow Pages under computers. Most have web sites which should give you a bit of information about the company.

Some, like TL Systems and Eden Computers have online configurators similar to Dell's. Comparing configurations, I found I could get prices at least $500 less than Dell.

So now you're close to making a buying decision and preparing to part with $2000-$4000 - a significant outlay. Whether you choose white box, web, or retail store, at least you can say you shopped around and bought what seemed the best deal at the time.

* Email Chris Barton