In the 60’s, there was not a telephone and TV in every household. Forty years later, not only is there a TV and telephone in every household, but some homes have several TVs and cordless telephones. If history repeats itself, the same thing will happen with the computer. As computer prices continue to drop, more people are buying computers. There are still a lot of consumers that do not know the difference between software and hardware. The rest of this essay will cover the basics on how to choose a computer for the home.

Since ninety-eight percent of the computers sold in the retail stores have the Microsoft operating system pre-installed, the only choice is between Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition and the Professional Edition. The operating system software runs the PC’s basic functions. It instructs the PC on how to interact with the internal and external devices connected to the computer. If the computer is going to be used at home for remote access to a business network, then the Professional Edition is the right choice. Otherwise, if the computer is going to be used only for the Internet, games or emai

The last two pieces of hardware that the consumer can choose from is the printer and scanner. There use to be a big price difference in quality when choosing a scanner or a printer. In today’s market, a consumer has many choices in selecting a scanner or a printer, for a reasonable price. A good high quality printer or scanner can be purchased for under $200. A year ago, it was for under $300. However, the price does goes higher if the consumer wants to purchase a printer or scanner to be used specifically with digital photography. However, the consumer can still make that purchase for under $400.

Some topics in this essay:
Memory RAM, Forty TV, Home Edition, Professional Edition, Microsoft Word, Processing Unit, Perfect Hardware, Access Memory, operating system, Computer Home, hard drive, computer home, printer scanner, random access, home edition, Random Access, video card, access memory, random access memory, flat screen monitors, processing unit, access memory ram, central processing, central processing unit, edition operating system,