The Bard's Recommendation for Back-to-School computer bliss...
Aug 07 '00
It’s back to school time again and whether your child is heading off to elementary school or college, a computer would be most beneficial to the educational process. In a former life I used to sell computers for the now defunct Computer City and the fall season would always see a deluge of customers wanting the latest and greatest for their child. So here are my tips and or suggestions for buying a back to school PC, sorted by grade level of course!
First off, it you can afford it and have the space, I high recommend getting the children their own computer, or computers (separate from the family PC on which financial and or personal records are kept), depending on grade level and or age. For instance my two children are 5.5 and 12 years of age, therefore the educational programs they use on the computer are different as night and day, and need different hardware setups to run them. Add to this the fact that my 12 year old is now on AOL, uses the Internet, and is starting to write term papers. And both my girls love the computer so time spent on the computer became an issue. At this point is so much easier to get then both a computer of their own to use.
Kindergarten – 7th grade: a simple computer will do at this point, nothing too powerful. Nothing too pricey; a hand-me-down computer or second hand machine would do; an old 486 or Pentium class computer would work. The children’s educational programs at this level range from very simple to graphically intense, but not overly so. Most require at least 256 colors and 800x 600 resolution monitors. I recommend the following minimum requirements be met:
· 24x CD-ROM
· Sound card and speakers
· 540MB - 1 gig hard drive
· 16 –32MB of Ram
· ISA or PCI graphic card capable of displaying at least 256-colors and 800x600 resolution.
· 15” Monitor
· Window 95 OS
7th – 12 Grade: now things start getting complicated because the programs start demanding more hardware and OS performance. Add to this mix the Internet and games and an upgrade in computers is needed. Educational programs at this level such as Encyclopedia’s demand better performance from the computer’s hardware, namely the graphics and sound card. And lets not forget a good Word Processor will be needed as well as ample storage space in which to store their little masterpieces. I recommend the following minimum requirements be met:
· Pentium II/Celeron or AMD K-6 processor (300Mhz – 600Mhz)
· 44x CD-ROM
· PCI Sound card and quality speakers
· 2.0GB hard drive
· 32-64MB of Ram
· PCI or AGP graphics card with at least 4MB of Ram onboard, capable of displaying at least 64,000 colors and 1024x768 resolution.
· 15” – 17” monitor
· Windows 98 OS
College: now we are talking intense! I highly recommend a notebook computer at this level. Why, three words: portable, flexible and cool! I would hate to be confined to my dorm room in order to write a term, or research paper, and I would hate to have to wait on a computer at the library! Laptops (I recommend the IBM ThinkPad iSeries 1200 for $1100.00) allow the pudding Einstein to work wherever they happen to be, and the price of a laptop computer these days compares well with most entry to mid level desktop PC’s. Add to that a nice color Inkjet printer; say an HP 832c or 935c and you have a formula for happiness and envy! If you insist on a desktop however here are my minimum requirements:
· Pentium Celeron/II/III or AMD K-6/Athlon (400Mmh – 600Mhz)
· 64 – 128MB of Ram
· 44x CD-ROM
· 6.0GB – 10.0GB had drive
· PCI Sound card and quality speakers
· PCI or AGP graphics card with at least 4MB of Ram onboard,capable of displaying at least 64,000 colors and 1024x768 resolution.
· 15” – 17” monitor
· Windows 98 OS
Hope this helped!
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