Part of our everyday lives, computers have evolved from a tool at work to a personal calendar, a friendly network facilitator and a necessary guide. Although computers have transformed the way we see things and understand the world around us, because their use imposes physical and mental demands on their users, it leads to several health problems, like Repetitive Strain Injuries (RSIs), eye strain, neck and lower back pains and headaches.

I do not about you, but when I bought a year ago my brand new laptop, I was extremely interested in reading everything included in the package in an effort to take good care of my precious new possession. One of the documents the producer have included in the printed materials I opened to read, was one that directed me to follow specific guidelines on how to effectively and safely use my portable PC. Perhaps I was very lucky, as I later discovered that only recently have manufacturers been forced to include such user guides, or began making an effort to overcome health related issues and complains by introducing ergonomic products and warning labels on some equipment. This is very important, as the designers’ ability to understand that users need simple guidelines in order to be adequately informed of the risks involved and trained on proper body posture, monitor height, elbows distance from the body or recommended hours of use, can prevent computer users, even young, physically active individuals, from suffering in the future.

Specifically, one has to be aware of the hazards of Repetitive Strain Injury (RSI) to the hands and arms resulting from inappropriate use of the computer’s keyboard and mice. People in a variety of professions, like musicians or chiropractics, who repeatedly exercised pressure on their hands, shoulders, and arms, and have injured their tendons, muscles, and nerves, have been reported as the first cases of RSIs victims. Unfortunately, the list is increasing today, as more and more computer users request medical treatments in order to overcome the symptoms of RSIs on their hands, wrists, arms, shoulders and necks. Medical professionals and patients have reported that tightness, discomfort, stiffness, soreness or burning, numbness, and loss of coordination or strength are the most common symptoms linked to RSIs.

Since this serious painful situation is far easier to prevent than to cure once contracted, it is important for people to be educated and understand when and how RSIs can occur leaving ex-computer users permanently disabled and unable to perform simple tasks, such as driving or even dressing, without requesting help. Ergonomic gadgets, palm rests, maintaining the right posture and overall good working habits can reduce the risks associated with computer use and help young users understand how important it is to be always on alert for RSIs symptoms.

A notebook computer is a portable personal computer that can be carried along and used almost anywhere, much like a notebook. The notebook computer typically weighs about 3 kilograms (6.6 pounds) and is small enough to fit into a briefcase. The notebook computer usually has all the functionality of a desktop, but is less powerful, more expensive, and greater portability.

The first notebook computer available commercially was introduced to the public in 1981 and was named the Osborne 1. This notebook computer was understandably bulkier than the ones we get to see these days. Nevertheless, this revolutionary notebook computer — which did not run on battery power and had to be plugged in for AC power — took the business world by storm because of its portability, a feature that is notably absent in the heftier desktops.

Then came the Compaq Portable first made public in 1983 and also ran on AC power rather than batteries. This first-ever IBM-compatible notebook computer proved to better than the IBM’s own Portable Computer that was introduced a year later.

The GRiD Compass 1101, released in 1982, was a notebook computer in the true sense of the term. The brainchild of William Moggridge, this notebook computer had the typical clamshell design — where the screen folds and shuts against the keyboard — that is now practically the industry standard. This notebook computer was not IBM-compatible, ran on batteries and had a prohibitively high price tag. As one may guess, it was used by the specific few — mainly the military and astronauts.

The Sharp PC-5000 and the Gavilan notebook computer, appearing in 1984, are also worthy of special mention. As a matter of fact, the Gavilan was the first notebook computer that was promoted as a laptop and had a cursor control device resembling a touch pad. Both had LCD screens and clamshell cases.

The notebook computer called Kyocera Kyotronic, first introduced in 1983, powered by AA batteries, was a huge commercial success largely because of its portability, battery life and low price.

The first true IBM-compatible notebook computer was the IBM PC Convertible, introduced in 1986 — followed by Toshiba T1000 and T1200 in the following year. In 1989, Apple introduced the Macintosh Portable notebook computer.

From 1991 on, innovations initiated by the PowerBook series of Apple became standard features in the modern notebook computer. These include built-in features like touch pad, palm rest, Ethernet networking, trackball, and 256-color displays. Then followed the Thinkpad series of IBM, which was a very popular notebook computer.

Now almost an essential gadget in the business world, the notebook computer is here to stay.

Normally you go to your local computer retailer to buy a new computer. The salesman may boast looky here this one has a such & such speed, this much memory, a huge hard drive, etc. You read the box and sure enough it seems like a powerhouse. But is it?

What the salesman or the box for that matter, fail to tell you is all computers run on whats called Front Side Bus (FSB). In a nutshell its how fast each component can communicate with each other. FSB’s can be anywhere from 100MHz to 2000MHz.(even 33MHz or 66MHz on very old systems) Its like trying to fill a swimming pool with 1 garden hose as compared to trying it with a few fire trucks with fire hoses. Hence the higher the FSB the faster all of your data tranfers to all the hardware components. For instance the CPU, Motherboard, Memory(ram), Graphics card, Hard drive etc. all are made with different speeds and have a different speed FSB.

Here is an example of various CPU’s
SPEED - INTERFACE - FRONT SIDE BUS SPEED - PRICE
64 3200+ / 2.00GHz Socket AM2 2000MHz $84.99
64 3500+ / 2.20GHz Socket AM2 2000MHz $94.99
64 3800+ / 2.40GHz Socket AM2 2000MHz $114.99
64 3800+ / 2.40GHz Socket AM2 2000MHz $116.99
SP 2800+ / 1.60GHz Socket AM2 800MHz $55.97
SP 3200+ / 1.80GHz Socket AM2 1600MHz $69.99
SP 3400+ / 1.8GHz Socket AM2 1600MHz $75.99
SP 3600+ / 2.0GHz Socket AM2 1600MHz $107.99
355 / 3.33GHz Socket 775 533MHz $69.99
351 / 3.20GHz Socket 775 533MHz $39.99*

As you can see in this example The first cpu on the list(64 3200+) runs at 2 Gigs and has a FSB of 2000MHz. The last cpu on the list(351) is a 3.2 Gig and runs on a FSB of 533. In fact i have seen low end computer makers boast of a computer with a fast cpu but with further examination the motherboard could only run a FSB of 100. The end result is a bottle-necked system. The Cpu does a fast job every few milliseconds only to wait on the data to travel to the other components at turtle speed. You want a system that basically runs at the same or near the same FSB speeds on all the components. That goes for the CPU, Motherboard, Memory and somewhat the Hard Drive.

In the fowolling example i will show the differences in the speed of various Hard Drives.(NOTE by no means am i trying to refer one hard drive manufactorer over the other. I picked these at random. These manufactorers make various hard drives with varying capacities and speeds!)

1. Seagate / 20GB / 5400 / 2MB / ATA-100 / IDE / OEM / Hard Drive
2. Seagate / Barracuda 7200.10 / 400GB / 7200 / 16MB / ATA-100 / EIDE / OEM / Hard Drive
3. Hitachi / Deskstar 7K160 / 80GB / 7200 / 2MB / ATA-133 / EIDE / OEM / Hard Drive

1. The seagate in this example holds 20 gigs of data/ spins at 5400rpm/(ATA-100) has a FSB of 100.

2. The seagate barracuda in this example holds 400gigs of data/spins at 7200rpm wich is 33% faster than 5400. So it delivers data to the mainstream 33% faster and boots up 33% faster. But it only has a FSB of 100.

3. The hitachi in this example holds 80gigs of data/spins at 7200rpm and has a FSB of 133 wich is by far the quickest of the three. So you can see from this example its not the size(gigs) of the drive but the spindle speed and FSB that make it fast.You can even get a SATA Hard Drive wich deliver data even quicker.

I could go on and on with various examples with other computer components but by now you should be getting a good idea by now. Of why some computers give blazing speed while others crawl along showing the hourglass as you wait.

But how do you get this information you ask? Its easy, buy your next system online. At TigerDirect You can purchase a Deeply discounted hi-quality system. Whereas you can check on the speed of each component to be sure you are truly getting a rabbit and not a turtle!

Personally i repair, build and upgrade computers, After years of looking for the best sources of parts, I chose Tigerdirect. Just compare the quality and prices with any other store or site and im sure that you will agree that Tigerdirect is the best.

The numbers are astounding. According to a eMarketer report released in 2005, 39% of children younger 11 years old and younger are online regularly. 73% of teens aged 12 to 17 are online consistently. 31% of all kids have a computer in their room. Back in 2002, comScore Media Metrix found that the 12 to 17 year olds spend almost half an hour instant messaging each other. This same survey reported this age group played online games almost 30 minutes a day, and were on other web sites for about three quarters of an hour. This all translates into a lot of time on the keyboard and in front of the monitor.

There’s trouble brewing with all this computer use. The problems surrounding this issue include:

· children using equipment designed for adults
· children using adult-sized computer furniture.
· children don’t know ergonomic computing techniques
· children are spending too much time on the computer

Kids as young as eight years old are complaining of headaches, neck aches, and back aches. If you look at any child using a computer, you can see immediately why this might be. Young children have to tilt their heads back to see a monitor that is towering above them. The rule of thumb is that the user should have to look down somewhat to see the focal point on the screen. The worst health statistics regarding children using computers are related to laptops. Because laptops aren’t adjustable in any way, they put the most stress on young users.

Child sized computer equipment is available nowadays. Keyboards are designed with little hands in mind. And the keys are color coded to help new readers pick out the correct letters. Keyboards for kids come with software that assists with reading and typing skills. And it’s not just keyboards that need to fit kids. Child sized mice fit small hands. To make the mouse even easier to use, they come with colored dots on the buttons to help youngsters who might be a little weak on telling left from right. (There are probably some adults who could benefit from that, too!)

Many adults aren’t familiar with proper computer use techniques, so it shouldn’t come as a surprise that children aren’t being taught how to compute ergonomically. Parents should become knowledgeable about what constitutes proper posture and typing technique. They should set an example for children by taking frequent breaks, stretching, and using appropriate assistive ergonomic devices. Parents should also be aware of how long their children are on the computer. It’s easy for anyone to get caught up and lose track of time. A kitchen timer set for twenty minutes is a great way to enforce limits.

Any time a child uses a computer, adjustments must be made to accommodate his size. And this doesn’t mean putting phone books on the chair. Children who use a computer frequently should have a child sized work station and equipment, or use the various adaptive devices to make computing comfortable. This is the time to protect the first wired generation from repetitive stress injuries. Five years from now is too late.

Taking the Quantum Leap

While it may seem that the evolution of computers is about at its end, that is not the case. The next generation of computers is quantum computers.

The reason behind continuing computer evolution is the continuing thirst we have for speed and capacity of our computers. Way back in 1947 an engineer and computing expert, Howard Aiken, predicted that all the United States need to satisfy its need for computers were six digital electronic computers. Other scientists and engineers that followed Aiken added to the volume they predicted as being adequately massive, but were also far too conservative.

What none were able to predict that scientific research would produce voluminous quantities of knowledge that needed to be computed and stored, nor did they predict the popularity of personal computers, and the existence of the Internet. In fact, it’s hard to predict if humankind will ever be satisfied with its computer power and volume.

A basic computer premise, called Moore’s Law, says that the number of a microprocessor’s transistors doubles every 18 months and will continue to do so. What this means is that by no later than 2030 the number of microprocessor circuits found in computers will be astronomically high. This will lead to the creation of quantum computers, whose design will use the power of molecules and atoms for processing and memory tasks. Quantum computers should be able to perform specific calculations billions of times more quickly than can the current computers that are based on silicon.

Quantum computers do exist today, though few and they’re all in the hands of scientists and scientific organizations. They are not for practical and common use – that is still many years away. The theory of quantum computers was developed in 1981 by Paul Benioff, a physicist with the Argonne National Laboratory. Benioff theorized going beyond the Turing Theory to a Turing machine with quantum capabilities.

Alan Turing created the Turing machine around 1935. This machine was made up of a tape whose length was unlimited and which he divided into small squares. Each square either held the symbol one or the symbol zero, or no symbol at all. He then created a reading-writing device that could read these zero and one symbols, which in turn gave these machines – the early computers – the instructions that initiated specific programs.

Benioff took this to the quantum level, saying that the reading-writing head and the tape would both exist in a quantum state. What this would mean is that those tape symbols one or zero could exist in a superposition that could be one and zero at the same time, or somewhere in between. Because of this the quantum Turing machine, in contrast to the standard Turing machine, could perform several calculations at once.

The standard Turing machine concept is what runs today’s silicon-based computers. In contrast, quantum computers encode computer information as quantum bits, called qubits. These qubits actually represent atoms that work together to act as a processor and as the computer’s memory. This ability to run multiple computations at one, and to contain several states at the same time, is what gives quantum computers the potential to be millions of times as powerful as today’s best supercomputers.

Quantum computers that have 30 qubits would, for example, have processing power equal to today’s computers that run at a speed of 10 teraflops (trillions of operations per second.) To put this in perspective, the typical computer of today runs at gigaflop speeds (billions of operations per second.

As our cry for more speed and more power from our computers continues, quantum computers are predicted to be a readily available product sometime in the not so distant future.

So you want to know about computers? The most important thing to remember, if you are new to computers, is not to be afraid of them. They are just another electrical appliance, and unless you do something drastic, I promise you they wont blow up in your face!

Trial and error is your best friend when learning about computers and a few tips on computer jargon will help a long way. I love jargon it is so creative- who on earth thought of “cookies”?

Lets begin with some basics, computers were first created in 1936, and Microsoft Windows was born in the 1980s. Since then computers, or should I say programmers, have become smarter and smarter, creating the wonderful array of program freedom that we now enjoy in our daily lifestyle of computing.

So lets get ourselves up to date with the meaning of some of the computer jargon, or what some of the bits are, and what they do in your computer.

The Computer Case

Computer cases are the outside casing of your tower, or box in your computer, these cases come in an array of different sizes and styles. Many people have their cases in fancy styles as a way of expressing themselves, or expressing individuality.

Depending on what you choose, will determine the price you will pay for a computer case. Before grabbing the fanciest thing you find, remember to take some note of what’s ‘inside’ the box, make sure that you choose a tower or box that suits your requirements as well as your individuality!

CPU

A CPU (Central Processing Unit) is the component in a computer that sends instructions and processes information in programs. Since the 1970s single chip processors have been the main type of processor. Usually when people refer to CPUs they mean microprocessors.

The Mother Board

There are many different designs of mother boards available but generally they all look pretty much the same and do the same job. To look at, a Mother Board looks a lot like a green piece of plastic with a heap of wires and chips attached to it. Take care of your Mother Board as it is very sensitive. It is advisable to take precaution before touching it as you may damage the onboard components.

Power Supply

The power supply unit in a desk top computer is a component that converts AC voltage to DC. The ATX style is the most common nowadays, although there are several different styles of power supply units available on the market.

Hard Disks

I find hard disks funny, as they aren’t really disks in the olden days sense, originally hard disks were disks made of hard plastic, and floppy disks were floppy if you shook them. Now a Hard drive refers to the storing capacity inside of your computer. All your files are written onto the hard disk and stored there for future retrival or modification.

Floppy Drive

Floppy discs aren’t floppy at all! They are infant hard plastic square things that used to be a popular way of transferring data from one computer to another. The computer reads and copies the information to a small metal circular disk set in the plastic casing.

CD ROM

ROM means, Read only memory, ROM chips are used in many appliances not just computers, a CD ROM is a device that stores information or data permanently. Once it’s on there you cant delete it like you can with your hard drive or floppy disk unless you are using a CD-RW.

CD’s are a standard means for distributing large amounts of information easily, since CD’s are so cheap. You can use a CD ROM on your computer to create your own music and photo CD’s.

Now you know some ‘inside info’ you should be ready to go and explore the endless options of computers and devices that are open to you, just remember- To err is human, to mess things up requires a computer!

Happy Computing!

Notebook, notebook computer, laptop, and laptop computer are different terms for a small computer, which is mobile, and weighing about 1 to 6 kg or 2.2 to 18 pounds, depending upon the model. In 1979-1980, Bill Moggridge of GRiD Systems Corp. designed one of the first laptops and named it as the GRiD Compass 1101. It featured the clamshell design where the flat display folded shut on the keyboard. In May 1983, Gavilan Computer Corp. introduced and first marketed as a laptop, known as Gavilan SC. About this same time, Sharp Corp.Ltd., announced their laptop Sharp PC-5000.

In 1989, Compaq introduced Compaq LTE, which was a laptop of a smaller size, about the size of an A4 paper notebook, and it popularly came to be known as a notebook computer or notebook. Thereafter the terms laptop and notebook began to be used interchangeably. Nevertheless, the terms, notebook and laptop are incorrect terms, as due to the heat, many laptops cannot be placed on top of the lap, and most notebooks are not the size of an A4 paper notebook. However, what manufacturers usually call as a notebook, end-users prefer to call it as a laptop; hence both the terms are used.

According to the functions and the models of notebooks, they are generally classified as: Ultraportables (screen is diagonally less than 12 inches, weight is 1.7 kg or less); thin-and lights (screen is diagonally from 12 to 14 inches, weight is from 1.8 to 2.8 kg); medium-sized laptops (screen is diagonally from 14 to 15.4 inches, weight is from 3 to 3.5 kg); and desktop replacement computers (screen is diagonally from 17 to 20 inches, weight is 4 to 6 kg).

The concept of laptop was to make a device that could use the same software of a desktop computer, but much smaller in size to enable mobility and support mobile computing (ability to use the computer while in transit). Thus, further innovations have introduced transportables (which can be moved from one place to another without supporting mobile computing); tablets (which feature touchscreens and support mobile computing); ultra mobile PCs (which are very small and compact tablet PCs); internet tablets (which support internet and mobile computing); personal digital assistants (PDAs), which are pocket-sized and support mobile computing; handheld computers, which represent expensive tablets or PDAs; and smartphone, which is a PDA or a handheld computer with cellphone integration. Over the development phases, these classifications got blurry at times, and many machines fused functionalities of other categories.

Notebooks can be used for various purposes. Commercial purposes like attending phone calls, receiving and sending emails and faxes, typing out letters and printing them, making presentations with pie and bar charts, and taking data from one place to another can be achieved by any standard notebook. However, high fliers prefer thin-and-light notebooks and for regular office work, ultraportable notebooks are preferred. Both are wireless notebooks so they can be remotely accessed. Scientific purposes are best suited with a notebook that features fast computing speed, good 2D and 3D graphics display, and a large memory, like desktop replacement notebook, and a thin-and-light notebook. Artistic purposes require animation, 2D and 3D drawings, interior & exterior designing, arranging music compositions, post-production audio-video work, etc., which can be fulfilled by desktop replacements, gaming notebooks, and mainstream notebooks.

Educational institutions normally do not prefer notebooks due to its high chance of being stolen. Additionally, they prefer that their assets do not move around within the premises in the hands of students who may be careless. However, to keep up with the times, and to be considered as techno-savvy, they do invest in notebooks. The types of notebooks best suited for educational purposes are mainstream notebooks, and desktop replacements. Students need a notebook to do projects, prepare study notes, and to play some games in their spare time. They need to take the notebook wherever they go, hence, size and weight are major considerations. The type of notebook that fulfills student needs is a thin-and-light notebook with locking facility so that they can lock it with their backpack. Most students report late submission of projects due to their notebooks being stolen.

So no matter what the purpose one might have for using a notebook, it seems that mobility will always seem to be the main reason for such a product purchase. Nowadays with so many models being offered with affordable prices, it seems that notebooks will always be a product in demand. After all it is one of the best selling computer hardware for quite some time. And that says it all.

Because it is so easy to purchase a personal computer on the Internet, people do not understand why people go laptop computers shopping in the normal laptop computer selling environment of a bricked-in storefront in the City. At least in that location, people know that they can see the item up front and personal and can see what they are purchasing.

The reason why people go laptop computers shopping at a retail website that is located at a web address on the Internet is because there are great discounts to be found there, that are not offered by laptop computer merchants in their own hometowns.

In fact, many merchants who operate online storefronts, also have stores that are made of brick, aluminum or any other building material, and they still do not offer the same discounts as they do at their online stores. That is one reason why people go laptop computers shopping by using the online merchant locations.

There are multiples reasons why people go laptop computers shopping on the Internet. One person might think it is because they can use discount coupons to receive further discounts than the listed sale price that is posted on the laptop computer on the website. This is possible because they may have earned that discount opportunity through previous purchases they have made online.

The rewards people receive when they make any purchase at an online retailer is another reason why people go laptop computer shopping on the Internet. If the purchase meets a certain dollar amount, then the merchant will give them a dollar amount to take off their next order.

People can find discount codes to use online for purchasing laptop computers, and receive a 5% or 10% discount off the purchase price. These discount codes could give the laptop computer buyer the option to purchase a printer at a low price. Additional accessories and printer discounts are good reasons why people go laptop computers shopping at an online retail merchant location.

Computer enthusiasts know why people go laptop computers shopping on the Internet. They are routinely online, and make it a point to visit the various merchants to find out what the latest crazes are in computer gaming Industry.

Staying current with their computer technology minded buddies is why people go laptop computer shopping on the Internet.

These laptop oriented computer gaming people also prefer to have more than one laptop computer in their home that they can use strictly for their accelerated speed demon games. The opportunity to purchase discounted computer laptops with free shipping, and fast processor speeds at a good price, is why computer oriented people go laptop computer shopping at an online gaming retailer.

I have always ignored sites on the internet that offered FREE electronics or other expensive items, Such as plasma tv’s, laptops, i-phones, i-pods, digital cameras, Xbox 360 and other costly items.

In my mind I thought it could not be true, there has to be a catch. More often than not I thought that the reason I am being offered this very attractive FREE offer is that it will be extremely difficult or impossible for me to get the Free gift that is promised.

This lead to me doing some research on how and why many businesses are offering these expensive electronic gifts for FREE. I already understood that this was a form of advertising. What I did not understand was how beneficial this form of advertising or marketing is to everyone involved. Let me explain.

Every day businesses spend millions of dollars advertising their product or services. Advertising is not a option for most businesses, they must advertise in order to survive. When a business spends money on advertising they are trying to get noticed by as many people as possible.

You have to consider that even when their advertisment is seen by many people, only a small fraction of the people that see the advertisment become paying customers. This makes it very challenging and costly to get new customers.

The incentive offer of giving away a FREE name brand expensive electronic gift helps to solve this problem. For Example, let’s say that a business called (XYZ Books) needs more customers, in other words they want to sell more books.

Since advertising is so expensive, they hire a marketing company not just to advertise for them, but to actually deliver to them paying customers and or customers to try them on a free trial basis.

What makes this arrangement so good for (XYZ Books) is that instead of paying the marketing company just to advertise for them, which may not bring in any customers, (XYZ Books) pay them based on the actual customers they help them get.

And many times this customer is trying (XYZ) Books on a free trial basis which is good for the customer because it gives them a opportunity to cancel within that FREE trial if they should choose to do so.

In the mean time the marketing company has already acquired from the manufacterer or distributor an expensive FREE electronic item like a plasma tv, iPod, Xbox 360 etc……

Now this is where the fun begins. The marketing company offers the potential customer an expensive name-brand electronic gift for FREE if they would do Two things.

(1) Make a purchase from (XYZ Books) or try them on a free trial basis.
(2) Refer some people to do the same thing.

Now, let us tie it all together. The customer want or would like to have an expensive electronic item like a laptop, plasma tv, etc…..So they make a purchase from (XYZ Books) or try them on a free trial basis. The customer refers some people to do the same thing, of course keep in mind they do not have to do try the same offers, they will be given a choice.

There you have it! Everybody wins, (XYZ Books) gets more customers to try them. The marketing company is paid very well by (XYZ Books) for every customer that trys (XYZ Books). The customer now owns a name brand expensive electronic gift that would normally cost them hundreds of dollars.

Nowadays desktops and laptops are much more durable and dependable that they were just five years ago. Therefore, buying a used or refurbished computer is becoming more of a trend.

Suppliers replace their computers on average every 6 months and companies frequently upgrade their equipment. Buying one of these used or refurbished computers can save you a lot of money while still using a quite up to date technology. This is even more relevant if you are not a heavy user (i.e. most of your time on a computer is spent online, you may use a few standard applications once in a while). Even modestly priced computers will more than suffice for these types of demand.

Thinking about buying a used or refurbished desktop or laptop?

Buying a computer is not at all an easy job, one has look get detailed information of the available computers of good and reputed brands. One must take into consideration the size, color, configurations, features etc… While your computer should correspond to your personality and lifestyle, you should always keep in mind the reputation of the brand in the market. Brand counts a lot; you can render good service by the manufacturer if your computer is damaged.

Important handy Tips before buying a computer…

* Verify if the brand is reputed and always buy a good reputed brand. Read about customer service experience for that specific computer issues
* Check the warranty/guarantee of the computer (seek out computers which still have warranty/guarantee remaining)
* Compare the price of the new model in the market with what price your buying your used computer, try to get the best bargain. i.e. a two year old computer should not be bought for more than half of its original price.
* Check if the computer is outdated (if out of production it is difficult to get spare parts)
* Is the operating system current (Windows Vista/Windows Xp). Earlier versions probably run slower (windows 2000) and would not be advisable unless your needs are limited (i.e. web surfing, Word…). In any event, stay away with computers running on Windows 98 (granted you don’t find many anymore). Also be aware of Windows Vista. Many users are reverting back to XP and that is even more obvious in the corporate world. Why? Vista looks nice but doesn’t bring many technical improvements; therefore IT managers are not willing to implement something new when what they have works just fine. Some domestic users just don’t like the new way of navigation within the Vista Operating System.
* Check if the configuration of the computer you are buying is good.
* Check the speed of the processor. If possible start the computer and see how long it takes to fully turn on. If its slow just turning on, imagine the lack of speed once you start adding software..

Additional Tips for laptops

* Is the battery life good? (search for the computers with a very good battery backup (2 hours minimum).
* Check for the screen size of the computer your buying and see to it that it is not exceeding the Normal (normally the screen size should be between 15-17). Less than that generally translates in older computers and increases the chance of age failure. Once the screen breaks, you are often better of changing the whole computer.
* Review the connectivity of the computer (Network, USB, Video, Audio…) look to it that it has a good connectivity including wireless
* Check out the weight. Ensure the computer is light enough for you to carry (light 7pounds)

Where to buy used computers:

* Online auctions. Pro: Often offer the best prices. Cons: Cannot validate the accuracy of the described item. No warranty. Tip 1: Some companies will offer warranty for up to two years, the cost is about 12 of the purchase price. Tip2: Buy from sellers with great feedback, do not hesitate to contact the seller with questions prior to bidding
* Online marketplaces: Pro: Set prices and quantities - Sometime warranty is available. Cons: Prices can vary a lot, do your homework
* Craiglist.com Contacting sellers on Craiglist.com in your local area gives you a chance to meet with the owner and physically test the computer before the purchase

Where to buy refurbished computers:

Refurbished computers can be a great way to buy as they have warranties and are generally sold by manufacturers or companies affiliated with them.

* Manufacturers websites will tell you how to buy directly from them or from their authorized sellers. Pros: Warranty, established companies. Cons: Prices are higher than regular auctions (you pay more for peace of mind)

Buying a used or refurbished computer can be a great way to save money. If you use some of the advice discussed above you can avoid many pitfalls. One last thing concerning laptops, make sure you have a good bag to protect your computer from a fatal accident. Your bag should be big enough for a 17 inch screen computer as it is rapidly becoming the norm, you will probably change your computer within a few years, the bag you may keep a lot longer.

Good Buy!