Just the mindless blathering of a bored nerd

The top 5 phone calls any geek receives are the following:

1. Hey, my computer’s broken. Help me.
2. Hey, my internet’s not working. Help me.
3. Hey, my computer says I don’t have enough Javas. Help me.
4. Hey, I’m buying a new computer. Help me.
5. Hey, my computer’s broken. Help me.

Busy social life we have, right?
Anywho, in this particular post, I will be helping you out with item 4. I’ll have to save the tutorial on getting more “Javas” for another day.

Note: If this post proves useful, leave a comment. Or, if there are some questions about another item that you want to know about, drop me an email at DavidJGranado@gmail.com I plan on updating this periodically based on evolving technology and your feedback.

Simplifying the complicated answer

Similar to buying a car, there are a large number of things to consider. But, for the most part, unless you’re car freak, you really don’t care if it’s a dual overhead cam or what company manufactured the flywheel. There are just some simple, high level requirements that you keep in mind. These are the important things such as 4 wheels, no dead guys named Vinnie in the trunk, and fuzzy dice.

So what are the simple things to look for in a computer? From a general user’s point of view, there are two, high level requirements: it has enough storage space for our requirements and it runs fast.

Storage Space

A computer’s storage space is determined by your hard drive.

What is a hard drive?
A hard drive is where all your programs, music, and other files are stored. Every file and program occupies a different amount of space here. As of now, this size is measured in gigabytes (GB).

How much space is enough?

Over the years, you have probably heard insert prefix herebyte words thrown about. The units are your standard number fare:

A gigabyte is roughly 1000 megabytes (MB)

A megabyte is roughly 1000 kilobytes (KB)

A kilobyte is roughly 1000 bytes (B)

To bring thes unit into perspective, Windows Vista alone (your likely default operating system) will occupy about 15GB of space, a music file will take about 5 MB, and a document running a few pages in Microsoft word will take a few hundred KB.

If you do not plan on downloading very much, then you can do alright with about 150GB. Otherwise, you will probably want to look for 250GB+.

Speed

The two largest factors that determine how smoothly a computer runs are the CPU and RAM.

What’s a CPU?
The CPU (central processing unit or processor) is the brain of the computer. Every instruction that is executed runs though here. The number of instructions the CPU can process per second is measured in gigahertz (GHz).

How fast is fast?
Obviously, we want a higher number here. But how high? That really depends on your requirements. I’m assuming that since you’re reading this, you are not planning on buying a hardcore gaming rig. You simply need something for internet, email, office applications, and maybe a little music and other media. These are very simple tasks that won’t require a computer with a price tag of $2,000 and a kidney.

As of this writing, anything above 2GHz is more than enough to hold you over for quite a while.

One other important CPU feature to consider is a multi core. This just means that the CPU is actually more than one brain acting together as one. As of now, the most common is the “dual core” with the “quad cores” rising in popularity. I would recommend not wasting your money on a cheaper single core computer, because the small extra that you invest in a dual core will more than pay off in the extended longevity of your system.

What is Ram?
RAM (random access memory), in it’s most simple terms, is where the computer stores data with which the computer needs to work. This, like the hard drive space, is measured in GB.

Imagine you’re an office worker. Think of your filing cabinet as your hard drive. In order for you to get to work, you find the file in your cabinet that you need, sit down, and organze the papers on your desk.

Now imagine having a tiny desktop. If you have only a small space to work with, then you will only be able to bring out a small number of files at one time. You’ll constantly be stopping, getting up, and going back to your file cabinet and exchanging files. The more desk space you have, the more relevant files you will be able to pull out and have within arms reach. This desktop space is your RAM.  The can be accessed incredibly fast in relation to reading the hard drive.

Zzzz…huh? Oh, you’re done? Yeah. Yeah. How much RAM do I need?
For a basic system, you can do fine with 2GBs. Short, snappy, and to the point.

Quick recap

Once again, these are the specifications of a machine that will be more than enough for your requirements as a general user. Anything beyond these numbers is just icing on the cake, provided you’re not paying an arm and leg.

Hard Drive: 150 – 250 GB
CPU: 2GHz/Dual core
RAM: 2GB

Ah, yes. The age-old debate that’s gained new traction in the last 10 years and will likely persist to the end of days. This, my friends, is the old “Super Nintendo vs Sega Genesis” debate for grown ups.

Awe crap. Not another <blank> rules post

If you do a Google search for operating system comparisons and opinions, you will find more baseless garbage than can be found in the entirety of the series “Sex and the City”. And I, for one, am not looking to add to that steaming pile. I am more than capable of creating my own personal steaming pile!

The goals of operating systems

There’s an old saying in the programming world: “You can ask a man to change his religion, but never ask him to change his text editor”. I believe this same saying can be applied to power users and their operating systems of choice.

And it is from people with the strong preferences that you will hear many thin arguments that basically translate to “Your operating system sucks. My operating system rules!” But what these people forget is each one has its own set of operating goals.

Mac OS X
Goal – Provide stability and ease of use via proprietary control of the hardware and software.

It’s not often that you will hear a Mac user complaining about driver issues or system crashes. That’s because the strength of Apple products are that “they just work”. And for most of us, that’s about all that matters. When your boss or professor is expecting a report to be completed, they will have very little interest in your .ini file typo or printer driver conflict. All that matters is the final product.

In exchange for this protected environment, there are certain restrictions on what users may or may not do. While the options have been growing over the years, Apple still, for the most part, keeps the user on a protected path.

Linux
Goal – Provide stability and flexibility to the power user.

This free and open source OS does a great job of accomplishing it’s goal. It can do just about anything that can be done on a commercial OS (sometimes more). And due to it’s limited amount of fluff, often times, it can do it better and faster.

The draw back to this is the lack of fluff. It’s much like a chunk of meat with no fat: very dry, very little flavor, and gets caught in your teeth. While this may be ideal for the health nut, the average person would demand to know where they would be able to find a bucket of grease to flavor this bad boy up.

And this leanness is not necessarily a bad thing. Personally, I’m not a fan of the bubbly interface trend of modern day applications. Linux provides me and other tech-head’s a retreat from the large cutesy-wootsy worlds of OS X and Windows.

Windows
Goal – Provide balanced ease of use to the general user and flexibility to the power user

Ah, the largest, and therefore the most targeted of the operating systems. This idea of being “everything to everyone” is what I believe has garnered so much resentment towards Microsoft over the years. Linux is largely geared towards geeks. Mac has traditionally been geared towards the general user (though, in recent years, it’s been working to appeal to power users).

But in the case of Windows, it’s just always been there. And as long as it works, we as users are, for the most part, happy. It is not until we run into problems that we make the change. The general direction of market share traffic is from Windows to another platform. This makes it statistically easy to find anti-Windows bias among these crowds. Not very many are raised with a Mac or Linux and transition to Windows

That being said, the question remains “does Microsoft accomplish it’s goal?” In my opinion, as of XP, the answer was a definitive “yes”. However, I think, it’s been well established, that they dropped the ball with Vista. Despite this failed product, the overarching goal of the “Windows” brand remains the same. With this current iteration, we can say “Vista is broken” and cite several specific reasons, but we cannot make the blanket statement “Windows sucks”.

Aligning with your needs

It is important that a person selects an operating system based on what tasks need to be completed and how well it helps you accomplish these. Unfortunately, there are many OS zealots out there (on ALL sides) who simply need a finger jab to the eye.

What these rabid masses need to understand is that when it comes to a selection of operating system, there are different fits for different people. And though that time won’t come soon, hopefully you will be one less person touting the “your OS sucks!” rubbish.

One last thing…

This post didn’t leave me too many opportunities for bad jokes. So I’ll leave you with a picture from FrenchFriends.info of a guy hitting another guy’s knee with his crotch…

Man... Looks like the guy in red is in pain.