Are you thinking of buying a new desktop computer system? If you are, you might find this series of posts on desktop computers useful. In the series I plan to cover a number of the aspects of desktop computers that you need to think about when trying to select the right desktop computer for you.

Essentially a desktop computer is made up of the following components;

• A processor (Often referred to as the CPU)
• Some memory (Often referred to as RAM)
• A hard drive (Maybe referred to as disk drives)
• An optical drive (Usually referred to as the CD or DVD drive)
• A graphics card (Sometimes called a Video card
• A monitor or screen
• Some connectors

What you look for in any of the above components will largely be related to what you want to do with your desktop system. There might also be some external factors, such as only having a small area in which to actually put your computer for instance. Of course the amount of dosh that you have available might also have a small bearing on your ultimate decision! If we look at it from a cost point of view, we can probably create a number of groups such as;

• Budget Desktops
• Standard Desktops
• Performance Desktops

If we look at it from a more functional perspective we can come up with some different groups such as:

• Gaming Desktops
• Media centre Desktops
• Multimedia Desktops
• Small footprint desktops

We will take a look at all these groups individually in upcoming posts. One of the benefits of a desktop computer as opposed to a laptop for instance is the ease of upgrading the individual components such as the graphics card. So we will also take a look in more detail at some of the individual components we initially identified above. In the mean time, just to wet your appetite, have a look at the popular Acer Aspire T660 Desktop which sits firmly in the budget desktop group and provides excellent value for money.