Are you in the market for a new computer? In this episode, we learn how to decide what type of computer we're looking for, and how to go about finding one that will best suit our needs.
Guests
Simin Hickman
Simin Hickman
Simin Hickman is the director of Technology Training Center with the Office of Information Technology. She is responsible for providing technology including desktop and enterprise applications, network and telecommunications and video technology support for the University students, staff and faculty. Simin has worked in different areas of support at the University for the last 24 years.
Nathan Hemming
Nathan Hemming
Nathan Hemming is a technical specialist with the University of Minnesota's Academic and Distributed Computing Services (ADCS). In addition to working with ADCS, he spends considerable amounts of time collecting and analyzing field data and working with 3-dimensional computer aided design (CAD) models as a graduate student and research assistant in Machinery Systems Engineering in the department of Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering.
Amy Roering
Amy Roering
Amy Roering is a senior planning analyst for the Hennepin County Department of Environmental Services. She has worked in the environmental field for thirteen years. Hennepin County has developed one of the largest and most mature consumer electronics recycling programs in the country.
For Your Files
Simin Hickman, Director of the Technology Support Center, said there is an essential step you need to take before buying a computer. That step is defining your needs and finding the applications that will perform those tasks.
She also gave us advice on brand name computers. Simon said computers from well known manufacturers tend to have better support, customer service, and warranties.
If your computer is slowing down, Nathan Hemming, Technical Specialist suggested upgrading the memory in your computer is the first thing you should consider. It's usually one of the inexpensive things you can do it will give you the biggest performance increase versus upgrading a processor or putting in a new hard drive.
Bit
The smallest unit of information on your computer. A single bit can hold only one unit of information: a one or a zero. All the data that a computer processes is just a series of zeros and ones.
Byte
Eight bits make up a byte. A thousand of those bytes make up a kilobyte, a million bytes make up a megabyte, and a billion make up a gigabyte. The more bytes a computer hard drive has, the more information it can store.
Footprint
The floor or desk area taken up by a piece of hardware.
Hertz
A measure of how fast your computer can process bits and bytes.
Memory
Computer hardware for storing information.
Processor
A microprocessor chip that does most of the data processing inside a computer.
RAM
(Random Access Memory) Computer hardware for short term information storage.