Computer specs for beginners
August 11, 2006 4:05 PM Subscribe
What are some great sites for teaching people the basics of computer specs?
I've been in charge of occasionally cleaning and fixing my neighbor's computer for a few years now... they're among the computer naive. Recently, the 14- and 11-year-olds were talking about new computers (theirs is 4 years old) and I realized, they really don't know much at all. I was trying to explain that older computers can't run newer games because they don't have enough memory, or speed, etc. The 11-year-old said to me, "Dells will run anything though, right?" (They have an HP.) I sighed and said that no, it depended on a lot of other things.
So do any of you know of any great sites for beginners to computers? It doesn't have to be for kids specifically, but it needs to explain the difference between processor speed, memory, disk space, etc, in simple language. I'd like personal recommendations over Google results... the first several pages of Google really didn't have what I was looking for.
I've been in charge of occasionally cleaning and fixing my neighbor's computer for a few years now... they're among the computer naive. Recently, the 14- and 11-year-olds were talking about new computers (theirs is 4 years old) and I realized, they really don't know much at all. I was trying to explain that older computers can't run newer games because they don't have enough memory, or speed, etc. The 11-year-old said to me, "Dells will run anything though, right?" (They have an HP.) I sighed and said that no, it depended on a lot of other things.
So do any of you know of any great sites for beginners to computers? It doesn't have to be for kids specifically, but it needs to explain the difference between processor speed, memory, disk space, etc, in simple language. I'd like personal recommendations over Google results... the first several pages of Google really didn't have what I was looking for.
And clearly the how stuff works page is too complicated for an 11 year old, but that's the best I've got..
posted by Chuckles at 4:38 PM on August 11, 2006
posted by Chuckles at 4:38 PM on August 11, 2006
I'm interested in this too. The last time I looked around, I was unable to find anything between really beginner stuff and the complexity of Toms Hardware and Anandtech. I ended up just spending half an hour or so explaining the basic concepts to a friend. Everything on the net is probably going to be designed for other hardware nerds.
posted by JZig at 5:23 PM on August 11, 2006
posted by JZig at 5:23 PM on August 11, 2006
Go to the library. It'll be out of date, but you might as well start with the basics and the librarians can help you find age appropriate stuff. Getting an idea of how computers have changed over the years is, I think, valuable for kids today who take computers for granted.
posted by MadamM at 5:45 PM on August 11, 2006
posted by MadamM at 5:45 PM on August 11, 2006
Helping non-technical friends buy computers, by teaching them about the mechanics of computers is a losing proposition, because if they had the slightest interest in such, the world is awash in resources, at all levels. An 11 year old kid that is interested, can be pretty informed in a month, and still keep up with his homework. The Dell Web site approach is pretty instructive, because people buying Dell PC's come from a pretty broad range of technical savvy, as well as complete and intentional non-savvy, and what Dell does, and what most manufacturers do now, is pre-configure processors, chip set/mobo combos, drives and packaging, into reasonable "bundles" at various price points.
If consumers stick to the bundles, they'll get a decent machine, built in significant volume, for a decent price, market economies being what they are. If they spend $600, they'll get a basic student desktop machine. At $1000, they can start to get decent laptop options, with the $400 increment going for form factor and mobile access convenience. At $1200, they can return to a desk machine, but get about 3 times the performance of the $600 econobox, and maybe a better screen, better printer option, whatever. Etc., etc. More than that kind of "bang for the buck" simplicity is overkill, for most PC buyers, and any additional money they spend is going into software or display options, or media management specializations, beyond what the basics are, anyway. Nobody with any economic sense upgrades PC's anymore. Nobody thinks they're buying a lifetime system, or even something that will still be worth running in 5 years. PC's are disposable junk for the vast majority of users, and are cheap enough that spending a lot of time worrying about their innards is less and less an interesting or useful past time for most people, with good reason.
But even beyond those rationales for sticking with the Dell Web site approach, unless you're going to 64 bit computing, with very high end hardware, you're flat up against the internal limits of 32 bit Windows operating systems [MS SCSIport vs. Storport whitepaper PDF] as Microsoft admits, with virtually any bundle you can buy. Literally, unless you've got high-end hardware that is 64 bit clean, and are willing to use specialized 64 bit O/S versions, Windows is I/O bound, and has been for years.
posted by paulsc at 6:09 PM on August 11, 2006
If consumers stick to the bundles, they'll get a decent machine, built in significant volume, for a decent price, market economies being what they are. If they spend $600, they'll get a basic student desktop machine. At $1000, they can start to get decent laptop options, with the $400 increment going for form factor and mobile access convenience. At $1200, they can return to a desk machine, but get about 3 times the performance of the $600 econobox, and maybe a better screen, better printer option, whatever. Etc., etc. More than that kind of "bang for the buck" simplicity is overkill, for most PC buyers, and any additional money they spend is going into software or display options, or media management specializations, beyond what the basics are, anyway. Nobody with any economic sense upgrades PC's anymore. Nobody thinks they're buying a lifetime system, or even something that will still be worth running in 5 years. PC's are disposable junk for the vast majority of users, and are cheap enough that spending a lot of time worrying about their innards is less and less an interesting or useful past time for most people, with good reason.
But even beyond those rationales for sticking with the Dell Web site approach, unless you're going to 64 bit computing, with very high end hardware, you're flat up against the internal limits of 32 bit Windows operating systems [MS SCSIport vs. Storport whitepaper PDF] as Microsoft admits, with virtually any bundle you can buy. Literally, unless you've got high-end hardware that is 64 bit clean, and are willing to use specialized 64 bit O/S versions, Windows is I/O bound, and has been for years.
posted by paulsc at 6:09 PM on August 11, 2006
not a website but you might look at the books...
Complete Idiot's Guide to Upgrading and Repairing PCs and
Complete Idiot's Guide to Computer Basics.
I remember them having a version called buying and upgrading pcs (but that was the mid 90s). It was pretty good.
posted by nimsey lou at 7:55 PM on August 11, 2006
Complete Idiot's Guide to Upgrading and Repairing PCs and
Complete Idiot's Guide to Computer Basics.
I remember them having a version called buying and upgrading pcs (but that was the mid 90s). It was pretty good.
posted by nimsey lou at 7:55 PM on August 11, 2006
The 11-year-old said to me, "Dells will run anything though, right?" (They have an HP.)
Ahh. I love the smell of marketing in the morning.
posted by jeversol at 7:50 AM on August 12, 2006 [1 favorite]
Ahh. I love the smell of marketing in the morning.
posted by jeversol at 7:50 AM on August 12, 2006 [1 favorite]
Response by poster: Thanks everyone... I just wrote up a little one-page document for them that explains CPU, RAM, OSes, and brand names.
Another gem from the 14-year-old: When I told him the next version of Windows would be Vista, he said "You mean like HP Vista?" *sigh sigh sigh*
posted by IndigoRain at 10:37 AM on August 12, 2006
Another gem from the 14-year-old: When I told him the next version of Windows would be Vista, he said "You mean like HP Vista?" *sigh sigh sigh*
posted by IndigoRain at 10:37 AM on August 12, 2006
This thread is closed to new comments.
The next step is review sites like TomsHardware (basic) and Anandtech (advanced)
You might be looking for an in between step - not reviews, but not just a basic description of what a hard disk is either. I don't think you will find that, the field is too complex, and it changes too fast.
posted by Chuckles at 4:28 PM on August 11, 2006