PC Tip #2: Choosing the right PC for you

Purchasing a new PC may seem like a daunting task to some. That’s hardly the case. With just a bit of knowledge, you can make your PC buying experience quick, easy, and fun.The first step in purchasing a PC is deciding whether you really need a new one or not. If all you do is surf the web and word processing, a 3 to 4 year old PC will do. However, if your old computer died, you’re into playing the latest games, doing intense graphics work, or something of the sort, then you probably need a new computer.

The second step in the purchasing process is deciding if you need a desktop or a laptop. Laptops have gained popularity in the last few years due to the reduction in price, size, and portability. They’re also very powerful now. They come in all shapes and sizes, suited for all purposes. If you’re just performing basic tasks such as surfing the web or doing word processing, a laptop should do just fine. And you can find some great deals online if you look hard enough. But, if you want to do more intense things with your computer, such as play games or do graphics work, then a desktop would probably be a better choice.

Ok, now you’ve decided between a desktop and a laptop. The next step is choosing what components to buy in your computer (the components you choose will determine how fast your computer will be). Some of the biggest mistakes people make when purchasing new computers are component related. It’s important to understand your needs in order to properly judge what you should buy. I’ve created a table showing what I think the different levels of computer users are.
Desktop

NOTE: If you don’t need a monitor, subtract $150 from the price.

	Needs	Typical Components	Typical Cost
Typical home user	Word processing, Internet browsing, Listening to music.	Low-end Core 2 Duo processor, 2GB of RAM, 100+ GB hard drive, low-end video card, Windows Vista Home Premium, 19-inch monitor.	$699
Gamer/Intense Graphics work	All of the above + playing the latest and greatest games	Quad-core processor, 4GB of RAM, 200+ GB hard drive, high-end video card, windows Vista Home Premium, 22-inch monitor.	$1500

Laptop

	Needs	Typical Components	Typical Cost
Typical home user	Word processing, Internet browsing, Listening to music.	Low-end Core 2 Duo processor, 2GB of RAM, 60+ GB hard drive, low-end video card, Windows Vista Home Premium.	$750
Gamer/Intense Graphics work	All of the above + playing the latest and greatest games	Quad-core processor, 4GB of RAM, 200+ GB hard drive, high-end video card, windows Vista Home Premium, 22-inch monitor.	$1500+

Final Word

I recommend buying computers online; they are much cheaper online than if you were to buy them in retail stores. Places like Dell, HP, and Lenovo offer great PCs and great deals.

Remember, the key component in buying a computer is deciding what you actually need, so once you do that, you should be fine. Always do your research before you buy; don’t let a salesperson tell you what you should get.

Good luck!

Thoughts on Digital Music

One thing I’ve disliked about online music sales is the price.  At first, 99 cents for a song seems like a bargain.  But, when you start purchasing a lot of songs, it starts to add up.  Buying an album on iTunes is almost the same price as buying a CD!  Why on Earth would you buy an album on iTunes when you could get the CD for almost the same price?  A CD would free you from the effects of DRM and give you a physical copy, all in better quality than iTunes.  The only situation in which it makes sense to buy songs on iTunes is when you’re buying a single.  The situation is still the same when you’re buying from other online services, such as Amazon.  Even though Amazon has no DRM, the tracks are still compressed.  If you buy a CD, you have the tracks in an uncompressed format.

This isn’t the merchant’s fault either; it’s the record labels fault.  They are getting the most profit from the online music sales, somewhere in the neighborhood of 70 cents per song.  The rest of the money goes to bandwidth and other costs associated with selling music online.  This gives the merchants only a few cents profit.

Think about it.  The current 80 GB iPod Classic can hold up to 20,000 songs.  That’s twenty-thousand!  Going by the iTunes store price, that would cost you around $20,000 to fill up.  Nobody is going to pay $20,000 to fill up their iPod!

If the record labels would stop demanding so much of the money from each song sold, I bet they would sell many more songs.  If the price of a song was only 33 cents, people would buy much more.  The record companies would make up for the lost profit in no time because sales would rapidly increase!  Three songs for a Dollar!  That sounds great!  Not to mention the reduction in piracy.

I think that the record labels will eventually realize that 99 cents is too much.  Give it a few years and I think things will become more reasonable.  Eventually people will stop buying CDs and just download online, once the price is right and the process is simple enough.

Apple Releases New iPhone and iPod Touch Models

Today, Apple announced the availability of two new products.  The first is an upgraded iPod touch that has 32 GB of storage space.  The second is a new iPhone that has 16 GB of storage.  Both new models are priced at $499.  The only changes in these devices are the storage capacities, everything else remains the same.  These new products are available now and should be arriving in stores in a few days.  The lower-capacity versions of these products (the 8 and 16 GB iPod Touch and the 8 GB iPhone) do still exist, though they incurred no change in price.

The upgraded capacity of the iPod touch should make some people happy, as it makes the iPod Touch a strong competitor to other portable video players.  Before, with only 16 GB of space, despite being a beautiful device with a very nice screen, the iPod Touch couldn’t hold much content.  But now, with the upgraded 32 GB, the iPod Touch now has more than sufficient storage for movies, music, and more.

The upgraded capacity on the iPhone is nice too, but I’d still like to see new features added, such as 3G and Flash support.  I suspect that an upgraded iPhone with these features will make an appearance later this year, but we’ll just have to wait and see.

One thing that bugged me was the fact that Apple didn’t reduce the price of the lower-capacity iPod Touch models.  $399 for the 16 GB iPod Touch isn’t cheap, and $250 for an 8 GB version isn’t great either.  Similarly priced competitor models exist with more storage (namely the Archos 604 with 30 GB of storage), thus making the iPod Touch a less-attractive buy.

Maybe Apple will reduce the prices of these models, in the same way as their infamous iPhone price cut.  Or maybe they won’t.  We’ll just have to wait and see.

Microsoft bids for Yahoo!

Microsoft’s recent bid to try and score Yahoo! was unexpected, to say the least. There are all kinds of rumors surrounding this offer, some good and some bad. All we can really do right now is wait and see if it actually happens and what will become of it. Here are my initial thoughts.I think the only reason that Microsoft is doing this is to gain users. There’s no other reason, frankly, that I can think of. They want to gain users in order to compete with Google. They need to address the Google problem before it gets too big. I think they’ll dissolve the Yahoo services and morph them into the existing Windows Live and MSN services to create a more integrated environment. After all, Microsoft already provides many of Yahoo’s existing services. Yahoo should disappear shortly after this happens.

Also, I don’t think Yahoo is the only company that Microsoft has its eye on. There are plenty more companies out there and there are plenty that Microsoft could benefit from buying. Ultimately, I think Microsoft’s goal is to build up a strong user base to compete with Google, because if they don’t, they’re going to be in trouble.

I think Microsoft’s decision to expand will work out for them in the end.  Microsoft is a good company (despite what some say) and I’m sure that this venture will help them combat Google.  I’m interested to see what will become of this.  We’ll just have to wait and see what happens.

Windows Vista: One Year Later

It’s that time of year again! Vista’s first birthday has recently past, and I think this would be a good time to look at some of the changes that have occurred since its release back last January.When Vista first debuted, it was getting criticized left and right. The general consensus of any new operating system is usually terrible at first, but that’s just the initial reaction. People always think new = bad, even when it’s not the case (and it clearly isn’t with Vista). Nowadays, Vista’s criticism has reduced. More and more people are adopting Vista now (although that may only be because people are forced to get it with new computers), and I see less complaints. Most of the Vista hysteria has died down and people are actually starting to take a serious look at the operating system.

Microsoft is doing a good job of fixing Vista’s problems. More and more drivers are being released, in addition to the steady flow of patches. SP1 is due soon, which should make some people happy (the beta is out now).

Initially, people complained that Vista’s system requirements were too high. These days, however, PCs are shipping with more-than-adequate hardware to run Vista. Almost every new PC on the market can and does run Vista very well.

I’m sure that Vista will meet with high regard; it’s just a matter of months now. It has great technologies and is extremely slick. Also, Microsoft is going to pull XP from the sales channels soon, and it will reach its end of life eventually. That should be incentive enough for most people.

Vista isn’t without its flaws, though. There is still some hardware that doesn’t work with Vista, even though it should. Some people purchasing new PCs are still having issues with Vista and their hardware, even though Vista came on their PC (although the number of these occurrences is small). Some software still doesn’t work too but all that should be fixed soon.

All things considered, Vista is a wonderful operating system. It works well, has neat features, and is pretty. It does what people want it to do, and it should satisfy the needs of most people. It has no problems running major applications (Word, Firefox, iTunes, etc…) and it works with most hardware. All in all, Vista should be just fine for you, and I encourage you to give it a try. I’m sure you’ll like it.

The iPhone, the iPod, and why Apple is heading down the wrong path

The iPhone is a ground-breaking device. It single-handedly revolutionized the mobile phone industry. It is exactly what consumers have wanted all along: a device that combines their favorite devices into one. It does everything people want it to do, all in its trademark style. It’s the best handheld device out there. Or is it? Many have said that the iPhone lacks some basic features that are found on almost every other mobile phone. Features such as Flash and Java support, support for 3^rd party applications, and even the fundamental features of copy and paste are absent from the iPhone. Some have questioned Apple’s lack of inclusion of these features. What reason could Apple possibly have for choosing to forgo such basic necessities? The reason roots back to Apple’s dominance in the MP3 player market.

Back in 2001, when Apple first released the iPod, the MP3 player market was plagued by bad hardware, complex software, and a poor selection of music. This all changed with the iPod. People marveled over the iPod because of it was stylish and easy-to-use. And, with the introduction of the iTunes Music Store, people finally had an easy-to-use solution for obtaining their music. It became an instant success overnight. Apple earned the title of “the people’s company” because it made its software and hardware easy to set up, manage, and use. They molded the MP3 player market in such a way that it caused consumers to trust anything it did. This caused them to achieve an unparalled level of dominance in the MP3 player market.

Fast-forward to 2007. The mobile phone industry was suffering from some of the same things the MP3 player industry was. People clamored about the complex nature of smart phones and the ugly hardware that encased them. They longed for a simple, easy-to-use solution that catered to all their needs. This is when Apple stepped in. They announced the iPhone. Touted as an iPod, internet device, and mobile phone all-in-one, the iPhone received more hype than any other mobile phone ever. People were so caught up with its revolutionary design that they ignored its shortcomings. Then, when Apple finally released the iPhone, people were ecstatic. People were so happy that the phone was released that they bought it regardless of its faults. They flocked to the device just because it was made by Apple. Apple was now at the point at which they could do whatever they wanted with their products and people just wouldn’t care.

Apple knew this. They were perfectly aware that people would scramble to the device just because it was made by Apple. Because of this, they knew that they could exclude some features and people would still buy it. There’s no reason that Apple couldn’t include support for 3^rd party applications and copy/paste in the original iPhone software. By excluding these features, they will force people to buy a new phone just to get them. When the iPhone 2 comes out, the fact that the original device did not have some features will people to upgrade their devices. And they will upgrade, for one reason, and one reason only: they are obsessed with Apple products and they will buy whatever they make. They won’t care that they bought a new phone either, because they’re so caught up in praising Apple for the phone. This effectively doubles Apple’s profit.

What Apple did with the iPod and the iPhone shows that Apple is very good at a few things. First, it shows that they know when to enter a market. The timing of the iPod and the iPhone was a key factor in their success. Also, they know how to shape the market exactly the way they want it. Their mind-manipulating ability and hype-generating ability lets them create a user base that focuses totally on their products positive points and nothing else. The fact that Apple can do this yields them a key advantage: it lets them do whatever they want with their products.

A prime example of this can be seen in the iTunes Music Store. As the iTunes Music Store became more and more popular, so did its dominance. Eventually, due to Apple’s arrogance in wanting to control everything, the record labels became dissatisfied. This created tension between the record labels and Apple, which caused the record companies to try and combat Apple. This spawned a number of serious threats to Apple, such as the Amazon MP3 store, which sports DRM-free songs as opposed to Apple’s DRM-encased songs. Only one of the four major record labels has allowed Apple to sell DRM-free tracks. Apple is finding that they are loosing ground in the digital music market.

It is becoming more and more evident that Apple’s domination is starting to make them monopolistic, as some have accused Microsoft of being. Their control over the prices, lackluster delivering, and their situation in the iTunes store are just some of the characteristics that point to this. It is still unclear as to what the future holds, though. Even though it looks like Apple is journeying down the wrong path, things may change. Only time will tell what happens.

As someone once said, “With great power comes great responsibility.”

PC Buying Tip #1: Vista

Any new PC you buy these days will almost certainly come with Windows Vista. And that’s a good thing, because despite the constant bashing that Vista receives, its actually pretty good. It runs everyday applications, like Word and Firefox, just fine and does everything that normal people want it to do. It’s fine for most people. The only reason you should opt not to get Vista is if you need a certain application and it doesn’t work with Vista (if it is a modern application, a Vista version will probably come out soon).

Also, you can’t wait forever. Sooner or later you’ll have to switch to Vista. So why not make things easier and just take the plunge now?

However, Vista does have some hefty system requirements, so make sure your PC is adequately prepared. Don’t follow Microsoft’s recommended system requirements – they are too low. In order to run Vista with smooth and effective performance, you will need:

• A modern dual-core processor (almost all PCs sold today have one).
• At least two gigabytes of RAM (this is the area in which many PCs are lacking, make SURE that you have two gigabytes or more, otherwise Vista will run slowly).
• Any modern graphics card with 128 MB of RAM or more (almost all PCs sold today have one).

If your system meets or exceeds the above specifications, then you should be happy running Vista. It’s prettier than XP and it does offer some handy new features. Try it. I’m sure you’ll like it.