When purchasing your own computer the first question to ask is: "What am I going to use it for?" For example, if you are going to use the machine only for word processing and keeping your checkbook an old 486 would probably be just fine. On the other hand if gaming is your interest you will likely need a very powerful machine with lots of speed, memory, sound and video enhancements.
The question is can you read the advertisements and specifications? Do you know what you're getting? The hardware changes so rapidly writing an up-to-date summary would be a full-time job. So here's an alternative: (1) consider several basic questions; (2) look at a few machines on the net; and (3) ask Jeeves what you don't understand.
QUESTIONS (all related to purpose now and near future)
How fast? 700 mhz pentium III? An old 486?
Monitor? 14"? 20"? Pixels/inch? Video card?
Sound? Sound card? Speakers?
Printer? Cable? Speed? Quality?
Network? Netword card? Cable?
Hard drive? How many GB is enough? Do you do video?
Cache? How fast do you want to go?
RAM? How many MBs is enough? 64? 256? Expandable?
Floppy a:\?
ZIP? JAZ? How big are the files you plan to copy?
CD? Read only? Read/write? DVD?
Mouse? Scrolling? Wireless? Trackball? Joy Stick?
Keyboard? Any special needs?
InterNet Modem?
What else? SRAM? Pipline cached? Ports? ADM? Green Machine?
Laptop?
Check Out A Few Machines On The Web
Ask Jeeves What You Don't Understand?
Most of the mega search engines are very helpful with computer terminology: