I have this friend with a rash

I often get asked for advice on selecting a computer. It is usually someone asking for a "friend", not actually for themselves. I think they may be a little embarrassed to admit they want a computer. What a geek. :)

All kidding aside, here is what you need to know:
What do you want?
What do you need?
How much can you afford?

I don't really want to know the answer to the third one, but you should know the answer because you don't want to overspend.

While I am mentioning money, I will throw this out too. If your buying from Best Buy, CompUsa, Circuit City, etc, (Not that there is anything wrong with that!), when the sales person offers you an extended warranty, say NO. If you're the type of person that has trouble saying NO, then ask the dude if you need an extended warranty. They will proceed to tell you all the things that can go wrong with your new computer. At that point tell them you don't want to buy a computer will all those problems and leave the store running. I still laugh when I think about the time a salesman tried to get me to buy an extended warranty for a 17"flat panel LCD monitor.

What do you want? Probably a computer that will browse the internet, email, play music, maybe a little picture editing, and document editing. If that is all you want you are in pretty good shape.

Hopefully your needs are covered by your want list, assuming it is not be prepared to scale back to just the want list if the budget becomes a problem.

Congratulations, life is going to be easy because almost any new computer today will cover the want list from above. But you forgot to mention you wanted a DVD burner, or player or 5.1 channel surround sound.

Seriously though, if your list is what mentioned above you will be in good shape with a 800 MHZ processor, 100 GB harddrive, and 256 MB of RAM. For the record, the laptop I am using right now is has a 800 MHZ processor, 256 MB of RAM, and a 40 GB harddrive.

If you are planning on editing video, the above is nowhere near enough. If you are into playing 3rd person shooters, you will want to add a high end video card. If you are into digital photography you will want a CD writer and probably a bigger hard drive.

The above description is sufficient for some gaming and digital pictures but if your avid about it consider increasing your specs.

You can probably get a PC without a monitor to match those spec's for about $400. Don't forget your still going to need a monitor or flat panel display.

The price of flat panels has come down. I would definitely consider getting one. If you have been using a 19" or smaller CRT monitor, you will be happy with a 17" LCD flat panel. The measure the display size differently so if your use to a 17" CRT and you get a 17" LCD, the screen size is actually larger. You don"t really need to get a 19" LCD unless you have money to burn.

A few more notes on flat panels. I have had good success with the Samsung Syncmaster. I even wrote a review for one on Amazon. The 17" will probably cost you about $350 today. The nice thing about the display is that it will out last your computer. Long after your computer becomes obsolete, the display will still be worth having. Next time you upgrade, you can continue to use the same LCD. Hopefully that will help ease your mind when looking at the price tag.

Now a note about computer brands. I would not buy an HP or a Compac. I would buy a Dell or a Gateway. I have had good success with both of those. If you ask around you will find others who haven't.

If I were buying a computer today for me, I would be considering (GASP!) one of the new Apple Mini Macs ($499 - does not include the display, KB, etc). I haven't used one but I would be highly tempted.

These days I prefer a laptop. You may want to consider one. There is a premium on these but I think the portability is well worth it. Again, the computer I am using right now is a Dell laptop and it is over 4 years old and still working well. I hope you would be so lucky. At work I just got a high end Dell Inspiron 9300. This is a sweet machine and probably more than I would ever have bought for myself.

For the record, you can get a Dell laptop today for $499 that has a 14.1" LED display, 1.4 Ghz processor, 256 MB of RAM and a 40 GB harddrive. It also includes a CD Burner/DVD combo drive and a free color printer.

The only drawback to laptops is that in my experience, the CD players only last about a year, even when you don't use it much. Fortunately I was able to get mine replaced under warranty twice. (My laptop came with a 3 year warranty.)

If I were getting a desktop today, and I decided against an Apple, I would build my own. At this point I have built close to a dozen. This process is not for the faint of heart. For you I would recommend buying the Dell, or Gateway. Maybe even a Sony or an eMachine though the jury is still out on the later. Again avoid the HP and Compac, upgrading these a couple years from now will be a nightmare.

How about an Apple laptop? Now I am just dreaming.

Oh yeah. About that Internet thing. If you have DSL or a cable modem, the internet will be great. If you use dial up, it will seem slow at times. It is not the computer, it is the connection, read THE MODEM. Getting a faster computer will not fix the problem. Getting a faster connection will.

Last year I put together a computer from some spare parts I had lying around. It was a 300 Mhz machine with a 12 G harddrive, and maybe 128 Mb of RAM. Plugged into my network, sharing the cable modem to access the Internet you could't tell the difference between it and a 1.4 Ghz machine I have with 512 MB of RAM. The 300 Mhz machine was plenty fast.

I gave this computer to my sister. I demo'ed it for her at my house. At her apartment she used a modem for internet access for a while but it was unbearably slow. Since then she has gotten a high speed connection and the last I heard was again satisfied with its performance.