Storage on a computer consists of two parts:
- RAM - Equivalent to your own short term memory
- DISK - Like a Filing cabinet in the corner of your office.
Your computer storage requirements are very important to the overall speed of your computer. Too little RAM, and your CPU will not be used to its full capacity. Too little DISK, and you will run out of space to store your Videos/Pictures/Documents.
RAM
We recommend at least 4GB of RAM for all new computers. Windows 7 comes in two versions, and the 64 Bit version is required to utilise 4GB or more of RAM. Bumping it up to 8GB is quite cheap at the moment, and if you are a heavy user, may be worth considering.
DISK
Before deciding what size disk is right for your computer, you need to ask yourself a couple of questions:
* Do I plan to have a lot of Pictures or Video on the computer?
* Will I be doing Video conversion on the computer?
These things in particular will contribute highly to filling up space on the disk.
The minimum recommended DISK size is now 500GB, but if you do a lot of Video, you may need to look at 1TB, 2TB or even 3TB to provide large amounts of storage.
If you need the fastest performance possible, there are also new Flash memory based disk drives which are many times faster than standard hard disks, but are also more expensive, and are typically combined with a 1TB or larger drive for storage of things other than the operating system.
Consider carefully your options available and discuss with us, as your typical computer should last up to 5 years if specified correctly at purchase time.