It used to be fairly easy to figure out how good a processor was in relation to another, the main manufacturers (Intel and AMD) had two lines apiece — one budget line (Celeron/Duron) and one performance line (Pentium/Athlon) — and the higher the clock rating (measured in Mhz/Ghz) the better it was. These days the raw clock speed is only one aspect of how fast a processor is and with the chip companies updating their ranges more often, using multiple cores and inventing their own benchmarks, it can be very hard to understand what exactly you’re buying. Now there is an argument to say we don’t need to worry about processors any more. Any chip offers at least enough power to do anything a user wants unless they plan to do lot of video rendering (and even then it’ll just be slower). While that may be true, I still recommend avoiding the budget end of the CPU spectrum when buying a new computer so you have a machine that’ll last as long as possible. The price difference is usually minimal and it’ll be more future-proof (I installed Windows 8 on a six-year-old machine recently, the only upgrade it had received in that time was some more RAM). So knowing what you’re buying is still useful, and it lets you compare apples with apples when it comes to prices.

The Current Market

Intel and AMD are still the big boys in the desktop and laptop markets, if you want to run Windows it’ll be on their chips. If you’re looking at a Mac, they’re powered by Intel chips. The current ranges broadly divide as follows:

To be honest, I spent a lot of time looking at the various chip ranges and ended up more confused than when I started. The Intel i-series chips seem the easiest to follow, which AMD seems to be replicating with an equivalent A-series (the higher the number the more powerful the processor) but there are still some old chip families kicking around to confuse things. Personally, I’d recommend sticking with the newer i-series and A-series/FX chips from the relevant vendor. I get the feeling the others are likely to be phased out over time and they use different physical sockets which makes upgrading problematic. Each range seems to have an equivalent mobile version, so the same applies to laptops. As a rule, Intel chips are more powerful (at least at the upper end) but more expensive while AMD chips are usually usually offer better value for money. So if you want performance, stick with Intel, if you have a budget, look at AMD. Continue reading…

I’d normally buy computers brand new, but at work I’ve found a great source of cheap computers that do the job at knock-down prices: eBay. Businesses are always looking to save money, but most couldn’t cope without their computers. In our case they’re largely used as thin clients, along with running a web browser, perhaps an office suite and some have an email client. If you want to buy a new machine these days you’re looking at something with multi-gigahertz multi-core processors and truckloads of RAM that’ll set you back £250+. It’s overkill for what most people use their computers for.

I found a low-powered Atom processor more than up to the task for the majority of my use. Tablets and smartphones have much less processing power and significantly less RAM than a desktop, yet happily do everything from web surfing to games. Previously, I’ve asked whether Atom-powered computers were worth the money (and decided not). I can confirm that’s still the case because of what you can pick up second-hand.

My latest acquisitions on eBay were two Fujitsu-Siemens workstations with 2.4 GHz Pentium 4 processors and 1.5 GB of RAM. They came with copies of Windows XP Pro and are more than capable of doing what 99% of users need. Their specs weren’t cutting edge and these machines were about six years old. They’re not particularly power efficient, they had signs of wear and they use some non-standard parts, making replacing bits harder if they fail, but they only cost me £25 each (including delivery). That’s less than the cost of a Raspberry Pi!

Now, granted, that was just for a base unit (tower, whatever you call it), no keyboard, mouse or monitor. I could buy new ones of all of those for under £100, but I’m sure I could find them on eBay for much less (in fact I found whole systems — base unit, monitor, etc — for £99) and once you have them you don’t need them again, just upgrade your base unit as and when you need to.

If the specs on my machines don’t impress you, I found a dual-core 2.8 Ghz Pentium PC with 2 GB RAM and a 300 GB hard drive, with Windows 7 installed, for £100 (plus £10 postage). That’ll happily run Windows 8 and, if you’re capable of upgrading the RAM, will happily do almost any task you throw at it for years to come. Continue reading…

I doubt the rise in tablets, laptops and mini PCs will see the end of people building, repairing or modifying their computers, despite many being sealed, so a computer tool kit is invaluable. There are a number of kits available to buy and you only need a couple of tools to do 99% of the tasks you’ll ever attempt. You may even have many of the tools.

If you’re going to buy a specialist computer tool kit they range in size from a handful of tools to a whole briefcase and with prices to match. Having had to support computers both personally and professionally I thought I’d share what has actually been useful.

The Essentials

Part retriever/extractor

This is one of the most useful tools in my kit, especially when a screw gets away from you. Aside from being able to reach places my fat fingers can’t, it’s useful for putting screws back into locations deep in the case, generally you use this to get a turn or two so it’ll hold before you grab your screwdriver. It’ll also save you a lot scratches from the rough edges inside most cases.

Strong magnets generally aren’t recommended inside computer cases (or near electrical equipment in general), so the mechanical claw type is the best option.

Screwdrivers

For PCs it’s really down to a couple of Philips-type screwdrivers.  Sizes 1 and 2 should cover every application you’ll find on a PC as the case, motherboard, drives and expansion cards generally all use the same size screws across every different make and model.

I’d recommend fixed screwdrivers over the kind with removable bits (they’re usually  shorter and the bits can fall out). The removable bit types do allow you to pack a lot more types of screwdriver in a small space though (I do have one in one of my kits), but is this is your only screwdriver look for a set with an extension bar to help reach some of the screws hidden in the depths.

A couple of traditional fixed-head Philips screwdrivers and then one with interchangeable bits would probably be the ideal.

If you’re likely to be taking apart things like Apple computers, laptops, tablets or want to go hardcore on things like hard drives then some precision/jeweller’s screwdrivers and a kit including Torx bits will be necessary.

Don’t worry of they’re magnetised, the power in them won’t be enough to disturb the electronics. Continue reading…