Cranbrook Computing
Equipment Guide (PCs only, sorry Mac users!)

This Guide is a personal statement intended to give a brief overview of computer equipment. Please note products, prices and availability are constantly changing!

Computer Systems

There are thousands of packages to choose from! High specification machines will have the latest (most expensive) processors, oodles of bundled software and toys such as DVD and Webcams. If you do not need these look elsewhere! Check what monitor is being included. Many packages keep the price down by including only mediocre quality monitor! Think before you buy: large organisations have large overheads and large advertising budgets! Yes small firms do sometimes disappear but this means you were not paying over the odds for your machine, today's computer are very reliable, repairs cheap are the major components will probably be covered by the manufacturer's warranty.

Recomendation: Buy the best quality monitor you can as you will probably keep this for many years.

Cranbrook Computing always pleased to supply any item of computer hardware or software at very competitive prices.

Processors

The AMD Vs Intel battle continues. AMD's Athlon has gained many accolades this year, their Duron is found in many high performance, budget machines. Form Intel: the Celeron (a rebadged Pentium) continues to sell well, while the Pentium III is regarded by many as the most powerful although perhaps a bit pricey.

NB: The latest technology (ie fastest processors) always carries a price premium.

Scanners

Choose SCSI for speed or USB for versatility. Check what software is included.

Printers

Most users will find an ink-jet printer sufficient. They may not be the fastest and yes the ink can be smudged in the first few seconds after printing but the quality of the print is good. Laser printers, which cost from £100, may be suitable where high volumes or speed is required. Colour laser printers are VERY expensive!

Epson / HP / Canon ?

The print head is an integral part of the ink cartridge on HP printers, which means that although replacements are a little dearer perfect quality print is always ensured. Epson print heads cost about £40 to replace although this will only be necessary rarely. Remember colour ink will several pence per printer page - especially when printing pictures. Ink refill kits can be used successfully on most makes/models and greatly reduce the running costs.

Second hand printers should be bought with caution as the condition of mechanics (paper pick-up etc) and print head will be unknown. New printers start from under £50

CD-RW & DVD

A CD-RW unit will allow you to back-up data, transfer data to another machine, make music CDs from your MP3 files. You will probably not be able to copy programs because you will be in breach of the author's copyright!

Prices start from around £120. HP units come with good software. Adaptec Easy CD highly recommended.

DVD units allow you to play films on your PC. In the future an increasing amount of software, especially reference works, will be available in DVD but few titles are presently published.

Re-writable DVDs presently cost many hundreds of pounds but when this price comes down DVD-RAM machines will replace VHS video recorders. Hitachi has recently announced a DVD Camcorder!

Monitors

Once you've seen a flat Triniton screen everything else looks like a gold fish bowl! These tubes are fitted to Sony, Mitsubishi, Iiyama and other manufacturers. They do cost a little more but most owners will not part with them!

Size matters if your sight is less than 20:20, but a large monitor requires more space and can dominate a small study. Big monitors can get expensive and you might want longer arms as you will tend to sit further away from the screen. Many users find a quality 15" more suitable than an average 17".

Telephone: 01580 712773

email: Mail@CranbrookComputing.co.uk