This area of the site is dedicated to you, the consumer. I will list some of the things that are important to look for when buying a system from us or anyone else for that matter. One thing to keep in mind is that the majority of todays business software will run fine on a 233Mhz - 333Mhz processor, very few apps are currently designed to take full advantage of top speed processors (350Mhz and up). You can disregard this if you plan on doing graphic intensive work or play games because those apps can utilize the higher processor speed. OK, get on with it. Here's some of the things to look for when buying a PC.

• Processor - This is the brain of your PC. Stick with 233Mhz or better if you want to run common apps of today. One thing I can't stress enough, your processor does not have to be made by Intel to be good. Another thing to remember is that you will be paying 100 - 200 dollars more for the Intel name for the same processor you could get from AMD. You should go with an Intel chip if you do heavy graphics work(CAD) or heavy gaming, the AMD doesn't handle floating point operations quite as well as an Intel chip.
• Memory - This is the work area of your PC. This is where more is better, up to a point. Most apps will run ok with 32MB of RAM but to be safe and to make your machine run smoother I would recommend at least 48MB. If you plan on running Windows NT I would say you need at least 64MB to run smoothly with some apps installed.
  With the 100Mhz system bus came the PC100 memory standard. This is a guide line for memory makers to produce memory that meets Intel's standards. Buyer beware, there are many places selling what they say are PC100 RAM but what you really end up getting is 10ns 100Mhz memory which is NOT PC100 compliant. (Geek Tip: Real PC100 RAM runs at, at least, 125Mhz internally which makes it 8ns if you do the math.) We sell only 100% compliant PC100 RAM from a major distributor that supplies the larger PC companies with their RAM.
• L2 Cache - This is usually built into the processor and stores frequently used code for faster access. More is better here too but try to at least get 256KB with 512KB better yet.
• Hard Drive - Hard drive prices have come down so much recently that you can afford a fairly large one for cheap. Three to Four Gig drives are perfect for office use but if you have a lot of crap like me you might want to go bigger (I've got a 750MB NTFS drive just for burning CD-Rs). Also be aware that the smaller drives(less than 6.4GB) are becoming harder to find now, you might have to wait longer because they are back ordered at my distributor.
• Video Card - For a basic PC with a 15-inch monitor a 1, or more commonly now, 2MB graphics card works great. On a 17-inch monitor the bare minimum is 2MB although you will most likely see a screen flicker with this amount of video memory. 4MB is a lot easier on the eyes for the 17-inch models. This would be ideal for office PCs where users are looking at their screens most of the day. If you play games or use graphic intensive software you would be better off with a 8 - 16MB or above card. The 16MB video cards are mostly for very serious gamers or people that use apps like AUTOCAD or Photoshop on larger monitors. There are also AGP (Advanced Graphics Port) cards now, all you have to really know about them is that, in theory, they will be able to use your main memory more efficiently than a PCI card. They also free up a PCI slot in the process. These come standard on most motherboards now but that doesn't mean you need an AGP card. If you have your heart set on that killer PCI card that may be a little cheaper then get it. Also, if you want top of the line graphics and the largest game support you might consider an AGP main video card with a PCI 3D accelerator card.
• Monitor - This is what you're going to be looking at all day. Monitor prices have recently fallen also so I would recommend a 17-inch monitor. What you have to watch out for here is the dot pitch. They start at about .28mm and go to roughly .25mm. Lower is better here and also translates to clearer too. The thin flat panel monitors are great for conserving space but expect the price to be quite a bit higher than a normal monitor until they become mainstream hardware.
• Audio - A basic 16bit card will be sufficient for most users unless you plan on using your PC as your main stereo in which case you will want better. Also, more than 2 speakers is a waste unless, as above, you will use it for a main Stereo system or be heavily into gaming.
• CD-ROM/DVD - The majority of software will run on a 8X CD-ROM so those top speed CD-ROMS are nice but not a necessity. Also, DVD drives are nice for some games but who really wants to watch a movie on their PC? Not me.
• USB - Universal Serial Bus - Make sure you have at least two because more and more hardware, such as scanners and keyboards, support it and it will eventually make installing these devices easier.
• Removable Drives - These are nice for archiving, back-ups, and whatever else you can think of. One thing to keep in mind is, what are other people using? This is so you can use your media on a variety of systems along with your own. Zip drives have become almost the standard.

Here are a couple of tips to keep service charges down. These things will save you some money, and in the long run, time. Some only apply to a specific service but you may want to read them all.

• Manuals and Drivers - This is the thing I can't stress enough, no one has worked with every piece of hardware or software available. Things go much more quickly when I 1) don't have to dismantle your system to make sure exactly what parts you have, and 2) don't have to download the drivers or other information from the Internet. (Unless there are more current, stable drivers available.)
• Bring it in - You can save some more money if you are close to Polo, IL by bringing your system to me. That's $20 you just saved. Most of the time I will only need the PC case. (The box that everything else plugs in to.) If your problem directly relates to a peripheral such as a monitor or printer you may have to bring more parts with you. If you are in a situation where nothing works, or you're not sure how to put everything back together once it's fixed you may want to go with the house call.
• Adequate Lighting - This may seem petty but if I'm making a house call and I can't see what I'm working on it's going to take me that much longer to complete my task.