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Pointers on buying your first computer By Andy King When you think you are ready for your first personal computer there are a couple of things you " should consider before you start looking. First on everyone’s list is proba- bly “How much will it cost?” For as little as.a couple of hun- dred dollars you can pick up a com- puter being discarded by a user tively simple new system that would probably utilize your televi- sion as its monitor. Then, you can be “up and running” Next, you will need some soft- ware that should be suited to your needs. Don’t be led into thinking best word processing for you is the same package your lawyer or accountant is using when all you © want to do is. write letters. While professionals and some individuals use very powerful and expensive are packages, even they rarely atilize all the features available in such packages. (Besides, you prob- ably don’t want to have to take a college course just to learn how to type a letter). ‘You may have seen a recent tele- vision commercial that depicts a pair of office workers who have obviously spent several days of their unhappy employer’s time set- ting up a new computer system. The advertiser then makes a state- ment inferring that ae system is ne easier to han are some ovis in this rep- ‘ésettation that deserve a closer look. The confusion the workers are experiencing setting up the new system may be realistic, but the system the workers are trying to set up is Probenly ie ol ceed suited for a beginner’ Some pena dase will take the time to fully set your system up before you:take it away. The advet- tiser’s system is usually easier to One Byte at atime able. Many computers will start them- selves (“boot up”) with the “flick of a switch” but there is considerable reading and experimenting required to operate most systems produc- tively. If you are a beginner, choose beginner software. You can move up to more advanced packages after you are comfortable with your sys- tem and you will always have the simple package to fall back on while you are wrestling with the high powered software. I know of small businesses that have operated for years on simple-to-use beginner type software purchased for about $50. While the packages are not “all powerful”, these businesses don’t even need all of the features provided. Beginner software pack- ages usually have simple manuals and allow you to get to work right away. Many users will want to print what they create. In this hardware category there are options to fit almost any budget. NOTE: this is where you get what you are willing to pay for with respect to print quality, operational noise, speed, and cost of supplies. You will need to do some for- ward planning. Try to determine what you think you will want your computer to do for you now and later. This will determine how much present and future power your tee must be capable of providir Drei a little. Today the person- al computer can act as your person- al diary or it can take you into your own business in professional sign making, art, publishing, photo retouching’ and processing, pecounting or even broadcast oe you happened to see the recent broadcast of Babylon 5 on televi- sion (the plot was the usual futuris- tic space crisis but the effects were very interesting) you may have thought that the space objects and scenes were photographs of models and backgrounds. Not so. All of the effects i.e., creatures turning into other shapes, various spacecrafts, etc. were created by computer. Some of the images were created tight here in Georgetown by Trevor Morecroft at his Visual Vision video production studio. If there is a subject you would like me to cover or a question you would like answered, please feel free to call me at 873-1056. 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