Acer Aspire AM3400-U2052 Phenom II

The Acer Aspire model number AM3400-U2052 is this weeks featured home computer kit.  The reasons that it was chosen was because of the price point combined with the specs that it comes with.

Price

At a very affordable price, less than six hundred dollars, this desktop computer kit has everything you need in a home computer kit for a very reasonable price.  Most home computer kits run between price r

anges from four hundred to eight hundred dollars.  The six hundred dollar price point gives you a computer that would last a few years into the future.

The big problem with being in the technology age is that everything electronic gets replaced and outdated so quickly.  With computers if you spend a little more up front, and take care of your purchase it will last you longer into the future.  If you spend the bare minimum up front the computer will become outddated that much more quickly.

Specs

The computer was selected as a feature model for the home computer kits because of its system specs.  It does not carry quite the specs of a gaming computer but it is much more compatible with doing the simple multitasking that is often required for the home computer kits.

Home computer kits are typically used for:

• internet surfing
• simple gaming
• social media
• music and movies

Processor

Armed with the AMD Phenom II quad core processor this home computer kit will allow you to be able to load your programs with a good deal of speed.  No one wants to spend a majority of their time in front of the computer waiting for their programs to load.  That is why adding multiple core processors to computers is becoming a huge deal.  Multi-core processors allow for greatly increased performance even when multitasking.

RAM

Even the RAM in this home computer kit is stacked on the higher end of the specs for these types of computers.  6GB of  DDR3 RAM acts as a great compliment to the quad core processor that this is loaded into this computer kit.  If we figure that Windows 7 takes about 1GB of RAM to run that leaves us with approximately 5GB to use on other programs and processes.  That is 2GB more RAM than an entry level computer that supports Windows 7.

Hard Drive

The hard drive space in this home computer kit is a very large amount sitting at 640GB.  Unless a massive number of movies and games are being saved to the hard drive space, 640Gb is an amount that most people will never fill.  Especially those looking for a home computer kit and not a gaming computer kit.  A typical starting model would only carry about 320GB of hard drive space.

Something to keep in mind when considering hard drive space is that you will never get the full amount of hard drive space that is stated on the hard drive.  Some of the space is already allocated for the system BIOS and others will be used up in the operating system.  So 640GB would be taken down to the area of about 615GB and 320GB would be dropped to about 288GB of hard drive space.  The extra hard drive space in this computer will allow you to save many files for a long time to come.

DVD±RW Drive

The last notable feature that may be commonly used in the home computer kits is the DVD ± RW drive.  The advantages that come with a drive like is the ability to save your information to an external source.  The hard drive is typically the first part of the

hardware to fail.  Having your information backed up in another place is imperative if you want to keep your information.  The fact that it is a DVD drive opposed to a CD drive, is another advantage.  DVDs can be used for data not only movies.  DVDs allow for much more space on the disc than a regular CD.  More space equals more storage!

Conclusion

The reason that this home is recommended above other computer kits is because of many factors.  The factors that make this computer kit highly recommended are:

• price point
• hard drive space
• processor
• RAM
• PRICE POINT!

Check out the computer kit out at newegg.com.

Velocity Micro Edge Z55

Specs

This gaming computer is everything you could want in a gaming computer kit. From a massive hard drive to an incredibly fast processor with ample RAM to support it, this gaming system packs a serious set of specs that will allow you to run any game out there with ease. Equipped with an MSI Pro motherboard to support each of the computer components, this computer kit is loaded with features.

Let’s start with the the massive hard drive that is attached to this computer kit. It comes with a 1.5 TB SATA II hard drive, which is far more than enough space for most of us. 1.5TB is the equivalent of 1536 GB. A GB is what you will see most hard drive space measured in. Typical hard drives are in the areas between 250GB to 640GB. So it is easy to see that with more than twice the space of a typical hard drive.

On top of the huge storage space in this gaming computer kit, you will get a process or and enough RAM to support incredibly fast load times with very little lag. The process that this computer kit comes with is Intel’s newest line of processor, their i7 series. This processor is a quad core that runs at 3.20GHz. A quad core processor allows you to multitask with great ease, and will not slow down your system in the process.

The RAM equipped on this computer kit is a full 16GB of DDR3 RAM. If we do some rounding, it would take roughly 1GB of RAM to run Windows 7. This would leave of with a whopping 15GB of RAM to play our video games, listen to music, and surf the internet all at the same time.

The graphics card in this computer kit is a full 1GB ATI Radeon HD 5780. This will allow you to play your games like you have never seen them before. This graphics card coupled with an HD LED computer monitor and you will have an experience like none other. This line of graphics card can render your favorite games to be exceptionally clear giving you a more realistic gameplay no matter what game you decide to conquer in the evenings.

The final aspect of this computer that makes it great for a heightened level of gameplay is the integrated HD sound card. It is a full 7.1 surround supported sound card that will allow you to a home theater aspect to video gaming. This will create and experience of feeling like you are actually in the place you are seeing on your computer screen.

On top of the top of the line system specifications, this gaming computer comes with two, not one but two, DVD RW drives. You can burn multiple DVDs at once, use each drive for different programs and games.

Features

The computer tower casing that this gaming computer kit comes with is an aluminum case with a side window that is complimented by a blue LED lighting system. One of the advantages to a side window on your computer casing is that it allows you to view the internal hardware and monitor the cleanliness of the inside of the computer tower.

This computer has 8 USB ports to allow for multiple expansion components to be added to the computer. Two located in the front of the computer casing and the remainder in the rear. It also has an 8-in-1 multimedia card reader to allow for easy uploads of photos and videos from external sources.

Conclusion

This gaming computer is most definitely on the higher and of computer kits when it comes to gaming computers. It packs a lot of punch in it for its price, even if it is one of the more expensive computer kits out there. If you want to look at the computer kit on Newegg.com check it out here Velocity Micro Edge Z55.

Barebones Computer Kits

Barebones computer kits the most simple of all the computer kits.  The take the most basic computer hardware, assemble it into a simple computer case, and will run the most basic level tasks and processes.  There is nothing flashy or exciting about these kits, they are just the barebone essentials, hence the name barebones computer kits.

Uses

Because of the system limitations with barebones computer kits, they are uses are going to be very limited as well.  The reason for purchasing a barebones computer kits, or building  one is because a computer is more of a convenience, and less of a necessity.  For those users, dumping excessive amounts of money into their computers is pointless because the computer kit will not be used enough to justify the large expenditure that a gaming computer kit or home computer kits may tend to cause.

A barebones computer kits are used for the most basic of operations, and are usually bought to to perform the following functions:

• internet surfing
• email
• social media networking
• word documents, and office and business applications

Since a barebones computer kit is meant to do nothing more than the more basic functions, there is no need to dump a great deal of money into something so simplistic.

If you look at barebones computer kits from a different perspective, say laptops for example, you are looking at what is called a netbook. Netbooks are very small, very simple, and very inexpensive and are only meant for a few functions.  A barebones computer kit would be the same concept as a netbook but in desktop format.

Specs

A barebones computer kit should carry a minimum of the following:

• 2GB-3GB RAM
• 80GB Hard Drive
• Intel Pentium or AMD Athlon Processor
• 128MB Graphics Card

The system specs do not have to be intense.  The goal is for a bare minimum because the computer is not used often enough to justify that.

When you look for RAM keep in mind that it takes around 1GB of RAM to run most of the newer operating systems.  So you still want to make sure that you have enough RAM to run the other functions that you are intending to use your computer for.

Your hard drive does not need to be huge unless you have a lot of games, photos, movies, and other media type files.  Word documents, no matter what form they are saved as take up very little space.  An 80GB hard drive would leave you with roughly 68GB of storage space.  Part of the hard drive is allocated for the operating system and BIOS for your computer.  68GB is plenty of space for most people.

As far as your processor goes, I would recommend nothing less than a pentium or AMD athlon processor.  A dual-core can be easily added for very little cost, and if you have a little bit of swing room, I would definately recommend the dual core.  It wil help speed up your processes, and make the general speed of the computer much faster.

Your graphics card is highly dependant on your other system hardware.  You can not support a 1GB graphics card on the barebones computer kits.  This is why I recommended a 128MG graphics card as opposed to something higher.  The downside to a graphics card of this capacity is that it will not render graphics well on the screen.

A higher end graphics card would show much more detail and color in pictures, play games better, and show movies more clearly.  With a barebones computer kit few if any of those operation are being done, so it is not necessary to pay extra for a higher caliber graphics card.  Also, a barebones computer kit would not liekly support a higher end graphics card.  Nothing more than a 128MG is necessary.

Conclusion

This article gives the information as to differentiate a home computer kit from a barebones computer kit.  Home computer carry a little more versatility than a barebones computer kit, however, on the most basic level of functions they can handle them both on the same level.  Barebones computer kits are intended for the users who sparingly use their computer kits, and a home computer kit is intended for a little more use, so the specs on home computer kits will be slightly higher than barebones computer kits.

Home Computer Kits

In other lenses, we talked about gaming computer and the specifications and typical uses for them.  In this lens we will discuss some of the advantages to home computer, what they are used for and why a home computer may be what you are looking for next time you are ready to upgrade your computer kits.

Uses

Home computer kits are more or less, the jack-of-all-trades; master of none.  What I am referring to in this sense when I talk about computer kits, is that a home computer is meant to do a little of everything without being designated to do any one thing exceptionally well such as a gaming computer or media computer kits.

Home computer should meet a certain set of minimum requirements because a typical home computer is used for:

• surfing the internet
• saving pictures
• home videos
• watching movies
• some minor gaming
• music

Each one of these system processes requires a different type of system hardware to support it.  A home computer should have the system hardware to support one or two of these functions simultaneously with reasonable speed and accuracy.

Specifications

A home computer should meet certain requirements, so that is has the capability to multi-task relatively well, play some video games, listen to music, etc.  So what you want to do is build a computer with a decent piece of hardware in each slot of your computer kit.

Some of the requirements to look for when you are looking at a home computer kit:

• RAM-4GB
• Processor-Dual-Core
• Graphics Card-256 MB PCI-E
• Hard Drive Space-250GB
• CD/DVD Drive-16x DVD ± RW

RAM

The reason we are going for a minimum of 4GB of RAM is because most current operating systems require 1GB of RAM to run on their own.  This would leave three GB of RAM to be accessible for the other processes and tasks that you are using your computer for.

Processor

A dual-core processor is the minimal recommendation for the simple reason of multitasking.  A single core processor does not handle multiple processes very well, and are fast becoming outdated.  You will want your computer to be able to multitask somewhat, and a dual-core processor will help with the multitasking process.

Graphics Card

Your graphics card will affect how clear images look on your computer monitor.  A good graphics card coupled with a high quality monitor will make pictures, movies, and even the desktop itself view at a higher quality.  No one wants to take a ton of pictures and not be able to enjoy them on his or her computer later.  A 256 MB dedicated graphics card will be the most entry level graphics card to choose from for a home computer.

Hard Drive

As far as hard drive goes, that will be the variable amount of permanent system storage.  I would recommend between 250GB and 500GB hard drive.  Media files takes up a large amount of space on your computer, so if you intend on having a lot of movies, photos and music a larger hard drive might be something to keep in mind.

CD/DVD

I would always recommend having a DVD burner in your computer.  Having this ability will allow you to burn home movies, picture and important files that you do not want to lose if your computer were to ever crash on you.  I recommend the DVD burner over just a CD burner because DVDs hold more information than a regular CD will.

Conclusion

Just a few things to keep in mind next time you are looking for a home computer kit, you never want to spend money on something you would never use.  Gaming computer kits will be more than what is necessary for a home computer.  Typically with electronics, you will pay for what you get.  Whether you decide to believe that or not is up to you.  If you put a little more money into a computer, you will get a little more out of it.  Home computer kits are not necessarily expensive when comparing between other computer kits, but you can always put money into or take money out of it.  Just always remember to expect to get what you paid for.