Buying a New PC – Some Helpful Hints - IT Panel Article 2003

This article does not aim to be a comprehensive guide but to offer some points that you should consider before making a decision to purchase.

Where do I start?

Decide what it is you want a new PC for e.g. word processing, e-mail, Internet or presentations. Do you want to access your chambers e-mail or connect to chambers network for access to your files? If portability is a main consideration you will need to purchase a laptop. The answers to these questions will help to determine the specification and software you need.

Don’t be afraid to ask your IT Manager and colleagues for advice and to explain technical jargon. Your IT Manager should be specific about software required to connect to and be compatible with chambers.

If you have previously bought a PC, technological advances mean that there may be terminology that will be unfamiliar to you. For computer novices and intermediate users consider purchasing “Computer Active”, a weekly magazine recommended by the Society for Plain English, which sells for £1.30.

Budget

It is unlikely you will need to buy a “power” PC but will be considering either a budget PC, under £1000 or a superbudget PC, under £800. Note that prices quoted can exclude (reclaimable) Vat and essential peripherals such as the monitor, keyboard or mouse. Laptops are generally more expensive, power laptops generally cost upwards of £1500 and budget laptops up to £1200.

The general rule is to go for a big name such as HP (Compaq) or Dell for desktops. However there are many other suppliers such as Mesh, Evesham and Systemax which are also highly recommended. Toshiba, HP, Panasonic and Sony are among the leading laptop brands.

The market is geared to multi-media hardware and some of these added features might not be needed in a Chambers environment. Instead, invest in high specifications for those parts of the PC that you need such as the processor, memory, monitor and disk space. Systems in both price ranges should be capable of being upgraded in the future and have additional expansion slots and ports for adding extra devices.

Basic Specification

You do not need the latest high-end processor. Look for a system with either Pentium 4 2.2 – 2.8 GHz or equivalent. A 60 Gb hard disk will be more than sufficient for storing your operating system and any programs. The more memory (“RAM”) the PC has, the more activities it can do at one time and the easier it will be to handle large files. 256 Mb RAM is generally suitable. The PC should have a CD Drive, and more often than not this is now a CD-RW that will allow you to store data to CD as well as read standard CDs. The speeds of these drives are expressed in 3 figures. For example 48/48/24 means that it reads at 48 speed, writes to CD-Rs at 48 speed and writes to CD-RWs (re-usable CDs) at 24 speed. DVD drives are often included, but watching films is always better on a normal TV. DVD re-writers are also hitting the market but should be avoided until industry standards become compatible. The PC will require a modem to connect to the Internet; the faster the modem, the faster data will be downloaded.

Software

Software that is purchased with your PC generally has a special licence that is tied to the specific PC and cannot be transferred to another computer. If you replace your PC every 2-3 years you may want to consider buying a retail copy of the software. Be warned, retail copy can work out very expensive and in 2-3 years there is bound to be an upgraded or new product. In many cases older retail copy may not be compatible with new operating system software and you will have to buy an upgrade version which, though cheaper than a full retail cost, is still an additional expense.

Many PCs and laptops are shipped with Microsoft XP Home operating system. If chambers run a Microsoft environment and you want to access your e-mail you will need to spend slightly more and purchase XP Professional to do this.

A number of bargain laptops have Windows ME. This was replaced by XP Home and therefore cannot authenticate to the chambers domain. In addition, ME will not work in a Novell environment and therefore cannot be recommended.

Voice Dictation software is extremely useful for those with limited typing skills. Be aware that this can be heavily memory intensive. Double the amount specified as the minimum RAM needed to run these packages. Investment in a high-end sound card and microphone is also a must.

Chambers generally run MS Office so a version of Office XP standard will be compatible. Again check the special licence price against an outright retail purchase.

(Published in the Bar News supplement to Counsel April 2003)