1. Buying a New Computer John Lewis On Call Computer Services March 14, 2007

2. Buy a Mac? Advantages Operating System Operating System Fewer crashes Fewer crashes Clean operation Clean operation One vendor (few compatibility issues) One vendor (few compatibility issues) Fewer security issues Fewer security issuesDisadvantages $$$* $$$* Small market share Small market share Less Software Less Support When crashes – tends to crash BIG When crashes – tends to crash BIG It is a misconception that Macs cannot get viruses

3. Sample Computer Package* Gateway® Computer Intel® Pentium® D Dual-Core Processor Windows Vista Home Premium 250GB hard drive 1024MB DDR2 memory reads and writes dual-layer DVDs and CDs 15-in-1 media reader 17" LCD Widescreen monitor Canon All-in-One Printer *Information and photo taken from Best Buy weekly circular – March 11, 2007 Gateway® Computer Microprocessor (CPU) Operating System (Vista Version) Storage (Hard Drive) Memory (RAM) Other Options

4. Microprocessor (CPU) Intel Celeron D Celeron D Pentium D Pentium D Core Duo Core Duo Core 2 Duo Core 2 DuoAMD Athlon 64 X2 Athlon 64 X2 Processors are rated in operating speeds of gigahertz (GHz). Bigger numbers are faster (better).

5. Which Vista is Right for Me? Home Basic* web, email Home Premium web, email, photos, music, (TV) Business corporate / academic environment Ultimate power users *I would probably suggest most users avoid this version and look no lower than Home Premium.

6. How Big Should my Hard Drive Be? Hard Drive is Storage (not memory) Hard Drive is Storage (not memory) Measured in gigabytes (GB) Measured in gigabytes (GB) Where photos, music, emails, etc. are stored – bigger is better Where photos, music, emails, etc. are stored – bigger is better

7. How Much RAM? RAM is memory (where things happen) RAM is memory (where things happen) Measured in megabytes (MB) or gigabytes (GB) Measured in megabytes (MB) or gigabytes (GB) 1 GB = approx 1,000 MB 1 GB = approx 1,000 MB Biggest impact on performance Biggest impact on performance More is better More is better

8. Minimum Requirements Vista Home Basic Edition Microsoft 1 GHz CPU 1 GHz CPU 512 MB RAM 512 MB RAM 20 GB Hard Drive 20 GB Hard DriveJohn 3 GHz CPU (1.5 GHz for dual core CPU) 3 GHz CPU (1.5 GHz for dual core CPU) 1 GB RAM (2 GB recommended) 1 GB RAM (2 GB recommended) 80 GB Hard Drive (120+ GB recommended) 80 GB Hard Drive (120+ GB recommended)

9. What About Video? Microsoft recommends Separate video card Separate video card DirectX 9 capability DirectX 9 capability 32 MB video RAM (256 MB) 32 MB video RAM (256 MB) In reality, buyers have little choice in video configuration. Few current packages offer this set up, so dont worry too much about it.

10. Other Items To keep prices down, manufacturers typically offer little, if any, additional software. Antivirus, word processing, spreadsheets, and other software will all have to be purchased separately. Adding an antivirus program and Microsoft Office 2007 will likely add $300.00 or more to the final price.

11. Sample Computer Package* Gateway® Computer Intel® Pentium® D Dual-Core Processor Windows Vista Home Premium 250GB hard drive 1024MB DDR2 memory *Information and photo taken from Best Buy weekly circular – March 11, 2007 Gateway® Computer Intel® Pentium® D Dual-Core Processor Windows Vista Home Premium 250GB hard drive 1024MB DDR2 memory