What Personal Computer To Buy? By WILLIAM T. SUNLEY Engineer of Local Roads and Streets

Have you thought about buying a PC lately? Do all personal computers look the same to you? Do you know what each computer can accomplish? What other equipment do you buy to go along with your computer? Does the $650 printer look the same as the $200 printer? Do all these questions make you not want to buy a computer? Here are some quick answers to some of your questions.

There are five basic types of MS-DOS computers available on the market.

8088 (XT) — Sends 8 bits, one character, at a time. This was a good computer for a long time and will still execute most programs. It will not run programs written for 80286 and 80386 machines.

80286 (AT) — Sends 16 bits, two characters, at a time. It is a good entry level, non-engineering machine which will do all word processing, database, and spreadsheet programs. It will not run any new programs written for 80386 machines.

80386sx — Sends 32 bits, four characters, at a time internally and 16 bits at a time externally to your printer. This new entry-level machine will run all programs written and use all peripherals (printer, modem, etc.). A good engineering machine that will cost approximately 10 percent more than the 80286.

80386 — Sends 32 bits, four characters, at a time. A good machine for the host of a Local Area Network, Computer Aided Design, complex engineering programs, etc. Has more power than needed for most programs.

80486 — Sends 48 bits, six characters, at a time. Newest, greatest, most powerful personal computer yet. Just on the market with not many programs written to use all the power available.

There are quite a few other additions to the computer that you should know about also.

RAM — This is the area in memory where the program under execution is located. Most older programs ran using 640K of RAM. Most newer programs and

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updates to older ones use more memory. The minimum to buy now is 1mb.

Math-coprocessor — If you are going to run a lot of complex math calculations, this is a must. It does the calculations in about a third of the time.

Hard disk drive — This is a must for any computer purchased. Stores all your programs in one area. You can buy 20mb to 360mb; the minimum purchased should be 40mb.

5 1/4 floppy disk — This stores 1.2mb of memory on one floppy disk. Most computers use this type of floppy which can be purchased rather inexpensively.

3 1/2 floppy disk — This stores 1.44mb of memory on one disk. These disks arc smaller and more expensive. They are not a floppy but are made of hard plastic.

Dot Matrix printers — Most users need a fairly good dot matrix printer. This will accomplish 90 percent of the jobs executed on a personal computer. The difference in price is usually determined by the speed at which it prints characters per second. The faster it prints in draft mode and near letter quality mode, the more expensive the printer. Decide on how fast of a printer you need, get some examples of the print quality and make a choice.

Other printers — If you want to get into Desktop Publishing (newsletters, magazines, newspapers) then purchase a laser printer. Laser printers offer a type set quality print and are getting very reasonable in price. If Computer Aided Design is your next step, a plotter is what you need. Plotters are still fairly expensive.

Monitor — Whether you want monochrome (black and white), or a color monitor, VGA graphics is the way to go. It is the latest graphics and will run all other graphics.

Modem — This is the device that lets two personal computers talk to each other. If you find that you need to communicate with another computer, adding a modem later will be no problem. Modems are quite inexpensive.

The first step in buying a personal computer is deciding what tasks you want to automate. Once you decide this, you can purchase the computer that will best accomplish those tasks. •

Page 18 / Illinois Municipal Review / August 1990