Your desktop computer died...now what?

It's sad. Once a computer passes that one year mark or so, you think it will be the ultimate computer that lasts forever!!! Hardware wears out...power surges surge through your computer...computers get dropped...however it happens, it happens. We'd all like to buy the latest and greatest technology out there, but sometimes its just not in the cards...credit cards that is, in fact, computers ALWAYS die when it is not fiscally possible to replace them. Fret not. Here's what I want to cover in this post.

1. What to look for in a new desktop computer based on your needs.

2. Examples of computers based on each person's needs.

General Rules:

• Any Intel is better than AMD
• Any Celeron is a low-cost Pentium
  
• Any Core Duo or Core2Duo is better than a Pentium or Celeron
• Any Core2Quad is better than Core2Duo
• Any Xeon beats them all.

So lets get to the goods. What you should look for.

Desktops: The most bang for your buck. If you sacrifice portability, you get a lot of computing power! The differences between name brand desktops are all on the outside. The BEST option for a desktop is to build it yourself. You'll know exactly what your getting and you'll save a lot of money, heartache, and headaches. There won't be trial software to remove and you'll get a clean machine that just works. If you don't know how to build them or know someone who can build it for you, maybe I'll make a guide for later, but for now, I can tell you what to look for depending on what you do with a computer.

NOTE: I looked on Best Buy's site for all these computers only because there's one here in Santa Fe and they have them up for you to check out and get a feel for. They have pretty good warranties as well. Please feel free to look at other stores for similar machines...they're probably better priced there...anyway...

Person 1: Likes to chat, check email, surf the web and do some light school work/office work.

Person 1 needs some decent processor power. If you can afford a Core2Duo desktop, go for it. Otherwise, at least a dual core pentium. 2GB of memory MINIMUM (That goes for everyone). Graphics aren't so important unless Person 1 watches a lot of Hulu or Youtube. If so, then look for a dedicated graphics card on the specs sheet. If not, an integrated one will do. A combo drive that plays and burns CDs and plays DVDs will probably be pretty standard. Another thing Person 1 might like is a card reader built into the machine. They're REALLY handy and eliminate the need for camera cables and pricey wifi enabled camera cards. Hard Drive space is up to you. I think a 500GB will get most users by just fine.

Example: Acer Model Number AX1700-U3700A, Small, Dual Core, multi-card reader, 4 GB of memory, lots of hard drive space, and gigabit ethernet. I like ACER computers, they're solid and affordable. Best Buy Price: $419.00 - $479.00 (but you'll need a monitor).

Link to ACER AX1700

Honorable Mention: Acer Nettop Model Number AR1600-U910H. This is like all those Netbooks out there, just in a desktop format. It has an intel Atom Processor which uses almost no energy and is fast enough for all your web surfing needs. It has good graphics, a fair amount of expandability through USB and PCI ports, and 160 GB hard drive all in a 7" x 7" case. Best Buy Price - $199.00

Link to ACER Nettop

Person 2: Is a Photo, Video and Music junkie! So many files, so little time.

Person 2 definitely needs a card reader installed on their machine. They need a Core2Duo at minimum to listen to music and watch videos while editing photos. Lots of Ram would help, I'd suggest going higher than 2 GB, as much as you can afford to put into it (also, don't be afraid to do this yourself. It's easy and the people at best buy or office depot will swindle you to install it.).
Person 2 will also need multiple hard drives or at least one 1 TB drive or higher. You can add external hard drives later or install more in the machine...also super easy to do. Person 2 needs many, many USB ports to connect all their cameras/music devices/media players. I would also look into eSATA ports and hard drives. The transfer rate over eSATA is insanely fast, so watching videos and storing files will be a breeze. Graphics are important for the photo junkie. Make sure it has a decent graphics card in it. nVidia GeForce GX or series 9 please.

Example: I still like the Acer desktop I suggested for Person 1, but...if they want some more graphics power...I stumbled on this, the Gateway LX6810-01. For $749.00, you get 8 GB of RAM, an intel Core2Quad, thats like having 4 processors.

Link to Gateway LX6810

Person 3: Is a hardcore gamer! When Person 3 is breathing, they're online gaming.

Person 3 needs to put their money towards graphics, Ram, and CPU power! They're going to need a Quad Core processor to handle the gaming and a hell of a good graphics card. Geforce gx is a must. IF you;re a gamer, you've heard of SLI and Crossfire. This is where multiple Graphics cards are linked together to form one output. Don't bother with this. When you use two or more graphics cards to do SLI or Crossfire, you are only getting about 1.3 times the performance, not double or triple. Buy the best SINGLE graphics card you can afford. Person 3 is going to need lots of RAM for the games to store information in. Make sure the computer you get has gigabit ethernet capabilities so you don't miss a thing online (Make sure your router or however you connect to the Internet has those capabilities as well).

Example: Dell Studio XPS Model No. SX8000-2361. This is as powerful as it gets. Pay attention to the graphics processor, the Nvidia GTS240 graphics card. You need one of these types of cards to play today's games. Core i7 processor power, and DDR3 memory (all that means is how fast info can be written to and from the memory, ddr3 is the fastest to date)...this can do it all.

Link to Dell Studio XPS

Person 4: is a graphics whiz! They're "Photoshoping" and modeling all the live long day.

Person 4 needs a workstation and probably the most expensive rigs around. Person 4 needs a Quadro Graphics card which start at around $180 for a decent one. They also need plenty of hard drive space for all those HUGE hi-res files. Think Terabytes! The also need plenty of RAM, as much as fiscally possible. Quad Core processor(s) is(are) a must. Person 4 will have to order these bad boys online.

Example: HP Z400 workstation: These are Xeon-based computers with terabytes of storage space and tons of memory. the thing that stands out from a top of the line gaming machine is the graphics card. The Nvidia Quadro line of cards handles graphics data differently than a gaming card and as such, they can produce intensely hi-res images for a price.

Link to HP Z400 Workstation

So that about covers anything you can do with a desktop computer. Again, I only used Best Buy for the computers because you can go there and check out these machines and see how they perform. I hope you go to other places and find similarly equipped models at better prices.

Next up: So your laptop died...now what?

Home Wireless Networks - Part 2: Set up the way big computer guys don’t want you to know.

So you’ve bought a wireless router and now you want to set it up. Excellent! Once you open the box, take the CD the manufacturer includes and put it aside. The “Wi-Fi Protected set-up” that is a feature on most routers these days is a joke. Laughable! I’m going to teach you the faster way to set it up that will give you full access to all of your router’s features. Here's what we'll cover in this post...

1. Setting up the wireless router through the internet.

Vocabulary you need to know!

Default IP address - This is how you are going to unlock the awesomeness of your new router. It is where you can always connect to your router. For most routers, the Default I.P. is 192.168.1.1. It can also be 192.168.0.1.

IP address - Internet Protocol address. This is 4 numbers separated by decimal points that designates your computer’s place on the network. The 4 numbers mean different things...I won’t get into that with you now...maybe later...if you act up!

For this post, I’m going to demonstrate on a Linksys WRT54g router. Its a pretty well known and beloved router and most routers you buy will look similar. The instructions will be as if you have a Windows based computer. At the end, I’ll tell you how to set up a non-Airport router it in Mac OSX.


Step 1: Plug in the router to the wall...pretty basic. Once you see the lights all blinking, you can go to step 2.

Step 2: Connect your router to your Cable or DSL modem. If you have a cable modem, you have 3 ports on the back: Power, Ethernet which looks like a big phone line, and a USB port. Connect one end of an ethernet cable to the modem and the other end to the WAN Port on the router.

NOTE: If you have previously had you modem connected to another device, you’ll need to unplug it from the power outlet and re plug it back in. It’s called re-cycling the modem and you have to do this so the cable company knows what it’s connected to. If you have a DSL modem, you need to connect the ethernet cable to one of the LAN Ports on the back of the modem and the other end into the WAN port on the Router.


Step 3: Once you have the Router all connected, make sure you are connected to it. Go to Start > Connect To > Wireless Network Connection on the right hand side. If you see the button “view wireless networks, click it. Your router should be titled Linksys or D-Link, etc... Whomever made it, it will be called by the manufacturer’s name. Connect to it and close those windows. you shouldn’t have to enter any passwords yet.

NOTE: If you’ve gotten this far, you should be connected the internet. Open your browser and if you see your homepage, CONGRATULATIONS! you are connected wirelessly to the internet. BUT we aren’t done yet! Your network is unsecured!!!! anyone within a certain radius of you house can leech off of your internet connection and even READ YOUR INFORMATION! DON’T PANIC! We’ll get you all secure and everything. Read on...

Step 4: Configure your network settings! this is it. the last step! Way easier than using that CD. open up your preferred internet browser IE, Firefox, Safari, Opera, etc. and enter this into the search bar http://192.168.1.1 and press enter. Actually, it’s different for certain routers, here’s a handy chart...


So you’ll be prompted to enter the username and password. Enter it as it appears on the chart. Once you do, you’ll see this...(If you have a Linksys router. It will look a little different based on who made your router.) Here you can set up a network name, security, features like DNS (that's for servers, don’t worry about it) and much much more.

Here’s what you need to set at a minimum...

SSID: this is your network’s name. After you enter this into your router, when you click view wireless networks, you’ll see your SSID. It can be anything from Home Network, Dave’s Wifi...or you can be creative and name it “Don’t steal my Wifi” or “The Borg Collective”. You can be as creative as you want! Just name it something you can remember.



DHCP Server: Make sure you turn this on so all the computers in your home can access the wireless network.



Router Password: I’d change it from the default password. MAKE SURE IT’S SOMETHING YOU CAN REMEMBER! Otherwise you’ll have to push the reset button on the back and start all over...like I’m going to do. This will prevent people from making changes to your router settings.


Wireless Security: MAKE SURE YOU ENTER A PASSWORD YOU CAN REMEMBER! This is how you can prevent people from being on your network that you don’t want on your network. There are different levels of security as follows. You’ll have to decide which one to use based on your computers/wifi enabled devices’ support.


First, If you don’t want to enter a password, you can turn on MAC address filtering on your router. This registers all of your computers in your house with the router and anyone not on the list doesn’t get in. This can give you a base-level of security but it is possible to fake an address. If you have any hacker friends, they may be able to push past this bouncer. I’d add this AND continue on the the different levels of password protection. Just in case.

WEP - This is the oldest form of security. If you have older devices, you may be stuck with this form of security. It’s also not very fun to work with because you create a password like “Scarlet Pumpernickle” and you get a key like this

“536361726c65742050756d7065726e69636b6c65”

Good luck remembering that. Continue on to WPA please.

WPA - Much improvement over the WEP method. You can use characters in these including spaces, punctuation, letters and numbers. It can be “I like Pie”...and I do like pie...Peach...Strawberry-Rhubarb... ... ... The router still uses keys to encrypt the connection, but you only see the nice user interface of whatever pass phrase you designate. There are different options as you’ll see. WPA-PSK, WPA-TKIP/AES, WPA2...they are all just different ways of encrypting your connection. what you need to worry about is what your computer/device will support. As a default, I recommend WPA-TKIP. Click the Save settings button after you’re done. The router will restart with all the new settings and you’ll have to reconnect to it. It may take a few cycles of refreshing the network list, but it will show up.

Congratulations! You should have a secure wireless pathway to the awesomeness that is the internet. You can see all kinds of different options on your router. Services for running your own web server, port forwarding. If you want to tap into these, comment on the blog and I can make a separate post about all that good stuff.

MAC USERS: Don't be afraid to stray from apple products. Chances are if you bought a mac computer, you haven’t got money for much else. You can get an router of your choice, follow this post through step 2, then when you want to connect to it, use the airport icon in the menu bar (top right corner). It will still be named after the manufacturer and once you connect to it, you can open a browser and configure it like any Windows/Linux user. You can have wifi and save $80 over a similar Airport model. Airport is still the best, but...not the best on a budget.

That’s it for this post series! Subscribe to the blog for more awesome tutorials as they come to me. Please comment at the bottom if this has helped you out.

PS: I forgot to mention, If you change one setting, say your router password, save the settings and try to log back into the router, you'll have to enter the new password that you made to get back in. Sounds simple but I forget sometimes when I'm setting one up.

Home Wireless Networks - Part 1: Wireless Routers and how to chose them

Wifi. We love it at coffee shops and book stores. It’s not at all difficult to set up at home. The only reason it’s confusing it because the manufacturer’s make it seem that way. Once you stream Netflix from the comfort of your bed, you’ll never want to be tied to a modem again. Here’s what we’ll cover in this post...

1. Finding the best wireless router for your needs (and what is a Router anyway)

Vocabulary you need to know! (So you don’t get confused or taken by the Best Buy people)

Throughput - Information over the internet is divided into parts called packages. Throughput is the amount of these packages that are successfully transferred to your computer in a given time. It is measured in Megabits per second or Mb/s.

Net Bit Rate - The Maximum amount of USEFUL information that can be sent over your router’s connection. The Gross Bit Rate is everything that is going over your router’s connection. These are also measured in Mb/s.

802.11 g and n - Don’t worry too much about the 802.11, it is just the name the inventors gave to the wireless technology. The G and N refer to the range, speed and strength of the router. there is also an 802.11a and 802.11b, but as the technology improves, the older versions are added into the newest, so G broadcasts in 802.11a/b and G, and 802.11n does a/b/g and N. N is the latest and strongest signal. We’ll get into this later in the post.

Finding the best wireless router for your needs:

So you want to go wireless, eh? The first step is to have internet in your home. Once that’s done, you can get started broadcasting internet signal through your entire property. First, what is a router? It is a networking device that manages incoming and outgoing connections to the internet. Think of it as an usher, the website you want to go to is like the show you want to see, and the website URL you enter into Internet Explorer/Firefox/Safari etc, is the ticket. You show your “ticket” to the “usher” who shows you to your seats at the “show”. So how is that different than the modem the cable/DSL company gives you when they install services? Not only does it bring internet content to your computer, but it can also send people on the internet to your web server (we can talk about that later). Also since you want the convenience of wireless connectivity, the router also has to act as a “bouncer” with a firewall to protect your computer from harmful content and security features to restrict people from accessing your wireless network. A wireless router does a great many things, but not everyone who manufactures them does it correctly. So depending on your needs and funds, here are some things to think about and a list of good routers I recommend.

Things to look for:

Signal strength: How big is your house? Do you have an adobe house or masonry or good ol’ drywall? Are you trying to connect one floor or multiple? All of these questions should influence which router your buy. I was setting up a network at a client’s house that was large and made of adobe/masonry. The customer did well and bought a Wireless N router, the strongest signal available to combat the thick walls and size of the adobe house. The goal was to work upstairs with the laptop, but the signal would not reach. Even the strongest signal would not fill the whole house with signal. they eventually repositioned it closer to the upstairs and got good signal both upstairs and down. This is just an example of local WiFi complications. If you’re a numbers person, here they are.
So, if you have a smaller house, you might be able to get away with Wireless G. If you have a mansion, go for the Wireless N. The first set of numbers ( Max Range) is what you need for the size of your house, the second two sets are what you need to think about in reference to what you want to do sans-wires. If you are an email checking/chatting/web surfing person, then you won’t have to go beyond Wireless G, but if you play games over the internet, upload and download data, stream movies etc., you’re going to want the robust Wireless N.

Those are the main considerations. Other things you might consider are if you have a laptop and desktop. You want good wireless signal for the laptop, but for the wired desktop, you want good connection speed as well. Some routers have Gigabit (1000 Megabit per second) ports in the back for desktops while others have 10/100 Megabit per second connections which are not as fast. Some routers offer the ability to hook up a network printer so anyone on the network can print without being wired into the printer. Some routers are just prettier than others and you have to keep with your decor. It happens...

So once you have a list of all you need your router to do, here is a list of brands I’ve come to trust.

1. Apple Airport - Surprise! Apple is the top of my list like everyone else! Airport is easy to set up and use. They have sturdy hardware and they only make 802.11 N capable routers (remember, the latest version also supports all previous versions), so you’re getting the strongest signal. They have a Mac/PC application (Airport Admin Utility) that makes administering it so simple. They are more expensive than other routers, a lot more expensive, so I’ll make with the more cost effective ones.

2. Linksys - (also might go by Cisco, one and the same) - These are probably the most widely used routers. Since the WRT54G model, which were introduced in 2002 and are STILL running people’s home networks, Linksys hardware has earned the trust of its users. I’m typing this post getting to the internet with help from my Linksys WRT310N. Look at some of the “best wireless router” lists on the web. Under the Apple Airport, the next few models will undoubtedly be Linksys models. You couldn’t go wrong with any of them.

The runner up models are as follows:

3. D-Link
4. Buffalo

Now, If you buy one of these, I’ll help you, but the prescription to your problem will be to buy a better router. These are the worst.

1. Netgear
2. Belkin
3. Other generics...

So, I’ve given you a lot to think about. I will leave you with your thoughts and the task of picking your perfect wireless router.

Next Post: How to set it up the way the big computer people don’t want you to know about.

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