• The computer is the "box" on the floor or your laptop. Sometimes people call the box the hard drive but the hard drive is only one component.
  
  The computer contains many components:
  • The processor is the brain in the computer.
  • A main bus (aka a mother board) connects everything in your PC together.
  • The power supply gives even power to all components.
  • The video card sends signals to your monitor.
  • The hard drive stores all your programs and data.
  • RAM memory holds and transfers data to your processor to manipulation.
  • CD/DVD drives read and store information.
  • Sound cards bring the multimedia to life.
  • Keyboards, mice, writing tablets, microphones are input devices.
  • Expansion bays support installation of additional cards like firewire, scsi and others for room to grow.

With the new version of Windows Vista on the market, it is important to know the difference between a pc that is Vista capable and Vista Premium Ready.  The difference is the minimum specs to make Vista work but not necessarily enjoyable vs. a system which can run smoothly and take advantage of the features of Vista and newer applications

The best way to find out if your computer is ready for Vista is to run the Vista Upgrade Advisor from the Microsoft Website.  I am happy to help you with this procedure and advise you on the risks and costs for an upgrade.

• The monitor presents what your computer does to your eyes. Tube monitors, or crt displays ruled the past but new flat panel displays are now and the future.

• The video card sends signals to your monitor. You can have one video card for one monitor or one video card that allows you to have two monitors for greater efficiency.
  
  Video cards are important in the decision process since Window Vista puts greater demands on hardware than previous operating systems and more applications include multimedia.  Large amounts of video memory make the card work faster - 128mb or more is preferable. Support for the latest version of DirectX and other Vista requirements are important.

• Hard drives store the operating system, your programs and data like accounting information, pictures, documents and more. They function like a filing cabinet with drawers, hanging folders and files. Data is saved after you turn your system off. 
  
  It is CRITICAL to back up your data because every hard drive will crash eventually.
  
  Data is the information you create, download or input into your system. Programs are installed either from CD's or downloaded from the internet (not preferred method). Backing up means copying the data from your hard drive to a device that detaches from your hard drive like a tape drive or DVD/RW.
  
  Hard drives that store 160Gb and up are common in business systems.
  
  Along with the size of the drive (how much you can store), the average time it take to get information off the drive is important. Many factors go into this average such as rotational speed, cache memory and the way a drive is formatted. Access time on a drive is important in the balance of your system. Fast hard drives rotate at 7,500rpm's or faster.
  
  Geek Speak: A link to info on hard drives, how they work and their history.

• RAM Memory (Random Access Memory) operates like your desk surface. When you start a program or bring up a file, it travels from the hard drive, through the main bus to the memory where it waits for the processor to act on it. 
  
  The more memory you have, like a larger desk, the more things you can comfortably work on at once. Memory upgrades are some of the best investments you can make with a system.
  
  RAM memory is designed a number of ways. Sometimes you need one memory card for an upgrade and sometimes a system will require a pair of cards.
  
  Here is a link to lots of information on Ram and here too.

• The processor is the brain of the system.  The rest of this section is important but gets into Geek Speak pretty quickly...
  
  Processors have increased in speed to the point where controlling heat is a problem.  Therefore, processors now are doubled up on a module to create a 64bit processor capable of doing twice the work of earlier models. A fast processor runs at 3.4Ghz (giga-hertz). Geek Speak: Here's a link to Intel processors for all the facts.
  
  Something to watch for in a processor is the cashe memory that feeds information to and stores information from the processor. This information comes from RAM memory and to make the system faster, the cache can act like ram memory but right in the processor for frequently used data. The more cache memory and the faster it is, the faster your system will be. Typical cache memory will be 2mb L2 or 4mb L2.
  
  The mother board, also called a bus board is the part of the computer that everything plugs into. Most of the time, you do not need to worry about mother boards. The size of the box helps determine how may slots are available inside for upgrading later in a computers life. More and more things are integrated right into the mother board because it makes the system faster.
  
  The ports on the back and front of the computer are important too. You will find ports for your monitor, printers, internet/network connections, sound, keyboard, mouse, USB, fire wire, and digital media. There is more room in the front of the computer for USB and digital media ports now that the floppy drive is extinct.
  
  One thing to consider is the speed of the mother board. This is also called front side bus speed. It has to do with how fast information is relayed around the inside of your computer. 1066Mhz is consider fast by today's standards. Again, balance is important. A slow mother board slows down the entire system since everything must pass through the bus. Geek Speak: Here's a link for more info on mother boards.

• Communications devices include modems, network cards, hubs and routers.
  
  Modems use your phone lines to connect to the internet or other computers.
  
  Ethernet network cards connect your computer using category 5 cable to hubs and routers which in turn use ethernet cables to connect to other computers and/or the internet. Wireless network cards connect your computer to a wireless router or access point and then to other computers or the internet. Ethernet cards typically communicate at either 100mb (megabit) or 1gb (gigabit).

• Peripherals include printers, scanners, cameras, USB devices and even your mouse and keyboard.

• These devices either read a disk or can read as well as write information onto a disk. The DVD/RW burners can write 4Gb of of data onto a disk. This is a good choice for backing up your computer.

• Everything else includes cables, surge protectors, battery backups, external hard drives and more.