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If you’re looking for a new desktop computer and have been dazzled by the $799 price tags, you’re right to be dazzled. The combination of technology advancement and competition has made the PC world a buyer’s market as never before. There are, however, a number of things to watch for as well as some things to watch out for.

The first thing to keep in mind is that $799 will probably not buy a system complete with a monitor, and if it does, the chances are it won’t be the monitor you would want. Avoid 14-inch monitors and avoid any monitor that has a dot pitch greater than .28. You’re going to spend a lot of time staring at the thing and you will quickly come to hate a small screen with fuzzy images. Expect to spend at least $200 extra for a 15-inch, or larger monitor, with crisp resolution.

Watch out also for any computer that comes with less than 32 megabytes of memory. Most now come with that amount, but some vendors still carry low-end models with only 16 megabytes. Nothing will slow your system more than a lack of free memory, because the computer must repeatedly swap data to and from your system’s hard drive to make up for the lack of space. It is a slow process.

If speed is important to you, watch for what’s called a “secondary cache,” which is a bit of memory space that holds frequently accessed data and can noticeably enhance performance. Many low-end systems have no secondary cache at all. Some have one with 256K. That’s not bad, but it’s much better to have a 512K secondary cache. Hard to find at $799, but worth paying a bit extra for.

In this age of the Internet, nearly every computer comes with a modem pre-installed. A year ago, 33.6K was the industry standard speed, but that has given way now to 56K. Unfortunately, there are two different technologies in use to achieve 56K, so make sure you know which one your Internet service provider supports before you buy. You are unlikely, by the way, to achieve the full 56K, but you should be able to connect at speeds from 44K up.

New computers also are available with processor speeds up to 333 megahertz, and some users think they must have the fastest thing available. You’re unlikely to find a bargain PC with a processor that fast, but the truth is that few PCs have components fast enough to accommodate that kind of speed anyway, so the promise of speeds up to 333 megahertz is something of a mirage. In fact, unless you want to use your PC for something extremely processor-intensive, such as videoconferencing, you won’t need that kind of speed. You will probably do very well with a processor at 166 megahertz, provided you’ve got that cache mentioned above and 32 megabytes of memory.

Any new computer should have a CD-ROM drive. Make sure its speed is at least “16X.” You may be able to get a faster one, but there’s a trade-off. Faster CD-ROM drives emit a high whine when in use that you may find annoying and not worth the added speed. Unlike a hard drive, a CD-ROM drive only spins when you access it, so you still have a brief wait for even the fastest drive to get up to speed. In other words, faster CD-ROM drives are not that much faster.

Any system should come with Microsoft Windows 95 installed, but don’t expect to get much else in the way of bundled software with a bottom-dollar PC. This is something to think about. The least expensive way to buy software is often to get it bundled with a new PC, so you should keep in mind what software you will be using and what it would cost to buy it separately.

Ultimately, for example, you may find that a system such as Gateway’s G6-233, which costs $1,599, is a better bargain than a low-end model for under $1,000. That’s because the Gateway comes with a 15-inch monitor, 32 megabytes of memory, speakers, a sound card, a 512K secondary cache, and a 56K modem. It also comes with Windows 95, plus Microsoft’s “Home Essentials” software, which includes Word 97, Works for Windows 4.5, Encarta 98 (the CD-ROM encyclopedia) and Microsoft Money 98. Home Essentials would cost you at least $100 to buy separately.

A similar low-end model from Micron (the Millennia Mme 200) comes with Microsoft Office, Small Business Edition and sells for $1,649 quite a buy when you consider that you would have to pay about $450 to get Office separately.

T.R. Reid is Rocky Mountain bureau chief of the Washington Post. Brit Hume is managing editor of Fox News in Washington. You can reach them in care of the Washington Post Writers Group, 1150 15th St., Washington, D.C. 20071-9200, or you can e-mail Brit Hume at [email protected].

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