European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - July 12, 1994, Darmstadt, Hesse Page 10 the stars and stripes computers tuesday july 12,1994giving that new unit a Long life by paying More now buyers can extend computers usefulness by Michael j. Himow1tz Baltimore Sun the personal computing world has changed dramatically in the last few years and buyers a even first timers a Are far More sophisticated than they once were. Instead of looking for the cheapest personal computer they can buy to do one particular thing such As word proc Essing or desktop publishing they Are looking at the personal computer As a multimedia information and a entertain rent machine Lor their Homes and . As a result they Are worried that the pc they buy today Rivay be outmoded in a couple of years. They Are also willing to invest More to keep that from happening. Like Many computer fears concerns about obsolescence Are often exaggerated. If you buy a pc and it does what you hired it to do nothing will change until it Breaks Down beyond repair. Given the reliability of pcs today you re Likely to grow tired of your computer Long by fore it gets too tired to work for you. V the problem with an older pc arises when you want to run the latest version of your software or try out new programs. Today a. Popular word processors spreadsheets data bases and multimedia programs. Require a lot of. Computing horsepower More than most bargain basement computers on the Market three to five years ago can deliver. For example word perfect 6.0 wont work on the old at class computers that populate Many of today a offices and the program requires 33 megabytes of hard disk space a More than the storage capacity of some of those machines. The programs on the Market five years from now will undoubtedly require even More computing Power. But investing in a computer with More than the minimum hardware required for today a programs can save you Money and anxiety in the fun. Lure.1 so Here Are my general recommendations for a pc that will still be a Workhorse years a without busting the budget processor the microprocessor is the heart of your computer most machines on the Market today use Intel 80486 series chips but they come in lots of flavors. Be careful. A a to make sure you re getting adequate horsepower look for the letters a cdx a in the Chip designation. A Good buy for the Money today is an 80486dx2-66 processor which runs in Tern Billy at 66 Mhz. Stay away from the cheaper �?o5x�?� machines which do not have a built in math co processor or the relatively Large inboard memory Cache of the. Do Chip. For a few Hundred dollars More you can Hook up with a new 486dx4i00 machine which will run 50 percent faster than 66 Mhz models. For real Speed freaks Intel a new pentium Chip is the hottest thing going although pentiums Are still pricey for Home or Small bus in Ess applications and a dx4 Chip will come close to pentium performance memory get at least 8 megabytes of internal memory. You will need it to run Microsoft windows efficiently. Unfortunately Many Low end machines come with Only 4 megabytes As Standard equipment. The extra 4 megabytes can make Many win Dows programs run twice As fast. Memory is relatively inexpensive about $50 per megabytes go for it when you buy your computer instead of waiting till later. Hard disk storage hard disks Are like closets. With today a huge programs and data files you will eventually fill up All the space you have. The question is when. To make it later rather than sooner find a computer with a 340-megabyte drive or larger. Video make sure the computer comes with a local bus video Board that has at least 1,. Megabyte of memory. The local bus is a supplemental wiring and timing system. That connects the Central processor with video boards and sometimes with hard disk controllers. It was created to make up for a Defi Cincy in the original ism design that limits the flow of data from controllers plugged into the regular system bus. It is particularly important for computers that use Microsoft windows or. Other High Resolution graphics programs. Monitor your Monitor should have a Dot pitch of .28 my or less. The Dot pitch is the distance Between the centers of adjacent pixels on the screen. The smaller the pitch the better the Resolution and the sharper the image. Avoid cheap monitors with .39 my or .42 my Dot pitch. Most systems come with 14 or 15-Inch monitors. This size was Fine in the Days when Dos based programs used Standard character sets with a White on Black screen. But graphical environments such As windows often display text and other objects in smaller sizes that Are particularly Tough on Middle aged eyes. If you can afford it spend an additional $400 to $600 for a Sharp 17-Inch Monitor. You will be amazed at the difference. Cd rom compact disks for computers can store hundreds of megabytes of information and cd rom drives that read them Are the workhorses of the multimedia age. Make sure you get a drive marked a double Speed a or. For Best performance get one of the newer triple Speed drives about $200 More sound Board the other half of a multimedia system gives you computer voice and music capabilities. Get a 16-bit card that is compatible with a creative labs sound blaster series. Sound boards Are often sold with cd rom drives and can serve As cd rom controllers. Buy them As a package to make sure work together properly. The Case get a Case that is big enough for additional disk drives and other devices. For example you May want a 5 a Inch floppy disk drive to supplement the 3vi-Inch drive that comes with most systems. You May also want to add a tape backup or cd rom drive if your computer does no to come with one. Inexpensive machines done to offer this kind of expandability i recommend a vertical mini Tower Case or a larger floor standing Tower unit. How much will All this set you Back i checked a few ads from major mail order companies and found two typical systems the eos Pantera and Dell dimension. Multimedia packages 4s6dx2-66, 8 megabytes of ram and 426-megabyte hard drive with a Standard Monitor for $2,400 to $2,600. That is about $800 More than a Low end system but the extra Money can extend the useful life of your investment for years a a \ a a. A new Packard Bell pcs bring it All together from wire reports los Angeles a Packard Bell electronics rolled out a new line of personal computers designed to Combine Home audio to fax and phone services into a single machine 1 a ten years ago everyone envisioned the Home pc As a a magic box1 that could replace other appliances a said Bony Ala Gem president and chief executive officer. A a a a a. A a Packard Bell has delivered on that the a spec trial line which will hit store shelves in August also will be aimed toward attracting customers by making the pcs More like a consumer electronics product with fashionable touches such As a Sleeker design High Quality speakers and color coded cables. The machines and accessories will come in such shades As Teal and azure. The machines will be priced Between $1,000 for a stripped Down Model to $3,000 for a fully equipped pc powered by Intel top of the line pentium Chip. All will be equipped with a cd rom and come with 27 software titles. Packard Bell the nations fourth largest shipper of pcs last year said the new line would include a built in Monitor that can turn the machine into a television speakers that will give the machine stereo capabilities and a phone answering system that can take messages and create voice mail. 1 he concept of High technology is still intimidating to Many Consumers we be humanized the technology by providing an interface that s both functional and familiar a Beny Ala Gem Packard Bell president the move has some risks for Packard Bell since combination products have had a mixed record. But the company has posted impressive growth by specializing in Selling through mass marketers such As Wal Mart and beating rivals to the Market with innovations such As being the first major Vendor to ship a pc with multimedia capabilities. Packard Bell has also been among the first to ship pentium powered machines and pre loaded software to make it easier for users to run Microsoft a often complicated windows program. It said the Spectra lines Are equipped with a single a a on Button to get started working on the machines. A the concept of a High technology is still intimidating to Many Consumers a Ala Gem said. A a we be humanized the technology by providing an interface that a both functional and Packard Bell of Westlake Village calif., announced earlier this year plans to redesign its desktop machines with a new logo and marketing Campaign As it faces increased Competition from Compaq computer ism and Dell computer it formed a strategic Alliance with Frances group Bull to jointly design and produce desktop personal computers privately held Packard Bell has been credited with pioneering the mass Market for personal computers in the United states by Selling machines with software applications already loaded in making the machines Able to run right out of the Box. Analysts have said it also has benefited from its pioneering strategy of Selling through mass merchandisers rather than computer stores. Packard Bell announced in 1992 it would go Public with a Stock offering that would have raised Between. $70.2 million and $80.6 million but later withdrew saying it wanted to wait until Market conditions were More favourable. Packard Bell which was relatively unknown in the computer business until a few years ago has specialized in Low end computers. It was created in 1985 when three Industry veterans a Ala Gem Alex Sandel and Jason Barzilay a bought the name from conglomerate Tel Edyne inc. Although the original company had produced television sets and radios for several decades it was virtually a Shell at that time
