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decision to upgrade or recycle will be heavily influenced
by what you plan to use the computer for. Think
for a moment. Do you have trouble using all of the
programs that you need to at once? Have you bought
a program and been unable to run it? Or not bought
a program you needed because you knew it wouldn't
work? Has your computer crashed in the middle of
working for no apparent reason? Do you find yourself
often waiting ten or twenty seconds for the computer
to finish responding to your input before your can
proceed?
If you answered "yes" to any of these questions,
you may just need to upgrade.
The simplest, least demanding application is word processing.
If all you need a computer for is writing and printing,
even a five or six year old computer will do a fine
job. However if you need to write in a particular program
like Microsoft Word 2000 or similar, you will need a
more capable machine.
The most common home use for computers these days is
sending email and browsing the web. In order to run
a modern browser and utilize the features of web based
email like Hotmail or Yahoo mail, you will need a minimum
configuration of something like windows 98 and 32mb
of RAM.
Most people need a computer for several uses- browsing
the web, email, word processing, and on top of
that, perhaps using a spreadsheet for finances
or a small business, editing and printing photos
from a digital camera, etc. This will require
more resources, 64mb of memory and at least a
200mhz processor, preferably 350mhz or more.
The more time you spend working or playing on
your computer, the more valuable a faster computer
will be for you. Spending an extra five minutes
waiting for a slow computer to boot up so you
can send an email might be just fine if you only
send one or two a day, but if you live by email,
and are on the computer for several hours at a
time, that time can add up to frustration.
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Check my computer