First, a brief overview of processors, often referred to as “CPU chips”; the two major competitors are Intel and AMD, both of whom produce a variety of chips. The premium chips are Intel’s Pentium, and AMD’s Athlon. Both are generally satisfactory, and the rule of thumb is the faster, the better, but faster often means more expensive. For many modern computers the CPU chip, often not much larger than a postage stamp, is the most expensive component. Generally, the AMD Athlon chips with the same performance rating as Intel Pentium chips, are less expensive. According to side-by-side comparisons published by several of the major computer magazines, Athlon chips also generally outperform comparable Pentium chips of the same clock speed when used in real-world applications. Pentium chips are typically named with their rated clock speed, or how fast they can operate internally. The new Athlon chips are named not by their real clock speed, but how they compare to an Intel Pentium chip. For example an Athlon XP 1800 chip, while actually having a clock speed of 1.53GHZ, has about the same actual performance of a Pentium 1.8GHZ chip, but has a price (just for the chip) of about 1/3 to ½ less than the Pentium 1.8GHZ chip, according to the listings at pricewatch.com. Both AMD and Intel also manufacture a budget line of CPU chips. These chips are the Intel Celeron and the AMD Duron, currently being phased out by AMD. These budget chips, costing about ½ again less than their premium counterparts, have a lower degree of performance, even with the same clock speed, because they lack some of the more advanced features of their higher priced counterparts, such as less on-board cache memory, and less sophisticated video and multimedia support. “Putting my money where my mouth is”, all of the computers I have built or purchased for my family in recent years have had AMD chips in them. While not all computer manufacturers offer a choice of chipmakers, recently I have almost always recommended Athlon chips over Pentium, based on both their price and performance advantage. For kids’ computers, purchased today, I would not recommend either Celeron or Duron chips, as today’s kids are more likely to make extensive use of multimedia and graphics intensive applications, such as video games, and MP3 and DVD players. It is these applications specifically that Celerons and Durons generally lack the enhanced capability of their premium big brothers. For a child’s computer today, I would pick an Athlon CPU chip over a comparable Pentium chip, if available. As the speeds of CPU chips on the market increase, the marginal benefit of those increased speeds to the “kid” user decreases, as the cost increases. The latest “gee whiz” speeds may be impressive to friends, but using that increased CPU’s additional cost for other features, rather than the highest speeds, may increase the functionality of the computer.
Memory, almost as much as chip speed, is a major contributor to computer performance. In recent years, the price of memory has plunged. While there have been some up-and-down price fluctuations, memory is often one of the less expensive components. Rule of thumb is the more memory, the better, up to reasonable limits. 128 megabytes of memory is about the minimum for new computers, with 256 megs becoming more common on new computers. Many new computers currently on local store shelves have 512 megs of memory, or more. There are different memory formats and speeds being used by different manufacturers. The type of memory used is often listed in the computer specifications. DDR memory is generally faster than the more common and less expensive PC133, but the difference in price is usually not very much. The computer I am using to type this has 256 megs of memory, which with my Windows 98 has been adequate. The computer I built last winter for my youngest daughter has 384 megs (3 - 128 meg sticks of PC133 speed memory), along with an Athlon 1.33 GHZ (266 “Front Side Bus”) CPU chip. Memory sticks, of most major types, are fairly inexpensive and readily available from most computer, electronics and office supply stores. If the kids want more memory at a later date, it is usually an easy “do-it-yourself” project. Two of my four daughters have added memory to their computers, all by themselves.
New computers will also usually show the speed and type of video installed. Many manufacturers, in order to keep the cost down, use an on-board video chip that uses “shared” memory; this means that the video card is also using the computer’s regular memory. This reduces the memory available for applications, and reduces performance. A separate video card, preferably referred to as an AGP card, will have its own video processor and memory. Again, the faster the video card, and the more memory on the card, the better the video performance, but the more expensive the computer becomes. If the kid wants to do a lot of intensive gaming, or play DVDs on the computer, the better video may be worth the extra money. The computer I recently built for my youngest daughter has a very fast AGP 4x video card, with 64 megs of its own memory.
Some of the other factors that influence both usability and cost are the hard drives, CD and DVD drives, modems, network cards, and other items.
Recently, when comparing desktop computers at several local stores, the smallest installed hard drive I found was a 20-gigabyte, with 40 to 80 gigabyte hard drives common. Now that hard drives have become relatively inexpensive, large hard drives are becoming the norm rather than the option. One of the classical rules of computing is “Whatever size hard drive you have, you will manage to fill it with clutter.” This is as true today as in the past. Almost any hard drive installed in a new computer will be adequate for normal use, but if the child is involved with downloading MP3 music files, ripping music CDs, or into video editing, then a larger hard drive would be preferable. Another hard drive consideration is the speed of the drive. Often they will be labeled as ATA-66, 100, or 133 speeds. This is a relative comparison of the speed when reading or writing data. Within a similar price range, faster is better. Last summer I built a computer for one of my daughters before she went off to the University of Texas at Dallas (Richardson). I put in a 20-gig ATA-100 speed drive, which I thought would be adequate. With the broadband access available in her dorm, she downloaded many MP3 music files, and videos. Her 20-size drive quickly filled up, and I recently gave her a new ATA-100, 7200 rpm, 40-gig drive to install in her computer as a second hard drive. Almost all new computers can handle an additional hard drive at a later date, if more storage is necessary, as most computers can support, without additional hardware, up to four hard drives, CD drives, and DVD drives.
CD-RW (rewritable CD drives) drives have become ubiquitous as their prices have plunged, and in some new computers, are even intended to replace the traditional 3.5” floppy. I would not recommend an old style CD player (play only) in a new computer, unless it is used in addition to a CD-RW drive for making copies. CD-RW drives are listed with three sets of numbers, such as 32x10x40. The numbers represent the relative speed when writing a CD-R disc, writing a CD-RW disc (a slower process), and reading a CD. The faster the better, but when comparing computers, the differences in CD-RW speed are not significant unless the user intends to “burn” many discs. The discs themselves have plunged in price, with bulk spindles of the one-time writeable CD-R discs often advertised as “free after rebate.” The more expensive CD-RW discs are rewritable, and can also be used to supplement a hard drive, as they can be written to over-and-over again.
Also, as prices have plunged, DVD drives (players) have become common. On some computers, they are integral with the CD-RW drive, and in some computers DVD players are a separate drive. If the child already has a separate DVD player, then the computer DVD drive is redundant, although it can often be used as a “host” drive when copying CDs. When DVDs are played on a computer, the quality of the video and sound is often superior to being viewed on a TV, because most new computer monitors are far higher resolution than all but the newest digital TVs. Becoming more common on the market are DVD writers. They and the blank DVD discs they use are currently expensive, and there are several competing but non-compatible formats on the market. While some manufacturers are starting to produce “universal” DVD writers that can read and write most of the competing formats, they are quite expensive. Until standards are decided in the market place, and the price of blank DVD discs inevitably drop, I would not recommend a DVD writer on a new computer unless the child just has to make DVDs. Be aware that some formats of computer burned DVD discs may not be playable in conventional DVD players, just as some computer burned music CDs may not be playable in conventional CD players.
While broadband internet is becoming more common, a telephone modem is still often an inexpensive necessity. While most factory built computers now come with the inexpensive, and less desirable “controlerless”, “Winmodems”, or “softmodems”, if a computer is custom built, a real modem, with its own processor, is generally superior, but slightly more expensive. Almost all new computers now come with an industry standard “Ethernet” 10/100 network card installed. While there are some differences between the brands, they have become so standardized that they will generally work fine with any network or broadband service.
As integral items on most new computers are a variety of connectors for external peripherals. USB and Firewire are becoming the universal standards. Typically there may be two or more USB ports, and one Firewire port. For peripherals, Firewire is much faster (and usually more expensive) than the older USB 1.1 standard, but the new USB 2.0 standard, which is also downwardly compatible with the older USB standards, is a direct competitor to Firewire. There are many peripherals, such as printers, digital cameras, MP3 players, and scanners that generally come with USB connectors. Inexpensive external hubs can be used to increase the number of USB ports. Firewire, and the newer USB 2.0, is commonly used for recording and editing video and other high-capacity uses.
A rule of thumb is that locally built computers are typically easier to maintain and upgrade then the name brands, and can be readily customized for the child’s use, and should be considered.
As with all big-ticket items, shop around, and compare. An informed shopper is a wise shopper.
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