January 4th, 2009 | 
Author: There’s no question that personal computers were built with baseline functionality- all of them can process documents, and to a certain extent, play multimedia and display the same. However, there are significant difference when we think of specific needs of users of personal computers.
A case in point would be the difference between the usage and needs of a professional personal computer gamer and a student. Though there are blurry marks between the two types of individuals, there are none when we think of their personal computers.
Why exactly does a student need a PC anyway? Take into consideration the various activities that your average college student would be doing, so you can easily get how PC functionality matters. For sure, a student needs to be typing and printing a lot of reports, essays, and assignments. More often than not, a PC for a university student is more like a typewriter or word processor.
If the student is in architecture and engineering, there are specific needs, but the computing power remains the same more or less. Often, the student would have thousands of saved files on his or her personal computer, and maybe some software like electronic encyclopedias installed. With this in mind, we are simply talking about space.
With regards to the size of the hard drive, at the very least an 80 GB drive would do for the college student, while some may need space as large as 300 GB. After considering the memory of the PC, then you should now think about the computing power, and that depends on the type of processor you get. A processor with speeds like 1.5 GHz and a 512 MB video card would suffice for the student. If you are thinking about these specs for a gamer, however, then there are some changes.
A gamer would be using the personal computer in two ways- for work and for leisure. The leisure part would be the one that would tax the computer most, because it would be running algorithmic engines non-stop, playing multimedia and receiving input from the user at the same time.
In terms of the hard disk space, how much would a game fanatic need? For sure, 300 GB of disk space would not be enough, so a larger and more generous hard drive is needed. However, hard drives that can take more than 300 GB tend to be costly, so a way to get around this for gamers is to install more than one hard disk onto their PC. Think about it: installing one game may use up more than 5 GB of space alone, and a lot of virtual memory will also be needed as the game is being played.
A gamer’s personal computer also needs a lot of computing power- the processor should be built like the Intel Skulltrail to work the environment, more or less. Otherwise, a fuller gaming experience would not result at all. These are the big difference between computers of the two types of people.
Article Source: Selecting The Right Computer
