To comparison shop – сравнивать при покупке
be overkill – быть излишним
to go overboard – слишком увлечься; сойти с ума
memory chip – микросхема памяти, микросхема ОЗУ
card slot – гнездо для платы
expansion slot – гнездо для платы расширения, гнездо [слот, разъём] расширения
computer monitor/screen – компьютерный монитор/экран
Screen resolution – разрешение экрана floppy disk – гибкий диск; дискета
card memory – память [запоминающее устройство] на картах
hard drive – накопитель на жестких дисках, НМД
solid state drive – твердотельный дисковод
power consumption – потребляемая мощность
flash memory – память с групповой перезаписью, флэш-память
jump drive/thumb drive/memory stick – карта памяти
storage space – область памяти
flash drive – флэш-память
abbreviations
CPU (Сentral Processing Unit) – центральный процессор
PCI (Peripheral Component Interconnect) – 32-разрядная системная шина с возможностью расширения до 64 разрядов, взаимодействие через которую происходит без участия CPU; поддерживает технологию Plug-and-Play
PCI-Express – шина PCI Express ранее называлась 3GIO. В ней сохранены самые важные параметры шины PCI, такие как функциональная модель и программные интерфейсы, однако устранено ограничение на пропускную способность, позволяющей обеспечить скорость передачи данных до 250 Мбайт/с
TV tube – телевизионная трубка
GPU (graphics processor) – блок обработки графики, графический процессор
USB (Universal Serial Bus) – универсальная последовательная шина, шина USB
Text 2. WINDOWS 7 4 NOObs (part II)
Buying a Windows 7 Computer
Here’s everything you need to know about buying a Windows 7 PC:
1) Comparison shop by using the Windows Experience Index.
The Windows Experience Index is a tool that takes a look at your computer components and then spits out a number that tells you how wonderful your Windows experience will be.
2) Buy at least 2GB of memory.
Four gigabites may be overkill.
3) Get a high-quality monitor, a solid keyboard, and a mouse that feels comfortable. Don’t buy a computer online.
4) Go overboard with hard disk space.
It’s cheap. You’ll run through a terabyte (1,024GB) faster than you think, especially if you collect music, own a video camera, or record TV shows.
5) Everything else they try to sell you.
If you want to spend more money, go for a faster Internet connection and a
better chair. You need both items much more than you need a marginally faster computer.
You must have enough information about the inner workings of your PC that you can figure out what you have to do with Windows. The details can change from week to week, but these are the basics.
Inside the big box
The big box that your computer lives in is sometimes called a CPU, meaning central processing unit (see Figure 1-1). The main computer chip inside that big box is also called a CPU. The big box contains many parts and pieces, but the crucial, central element inside every PC is the motherboard (see Figure 1-4).
You find the following items attached to the motherboard:
1) The processor, or CPU: This gizmo does the main computing. It’s probably from Intel or AMD or one of their competitors. Different manufacturers rate their CPUs in different ways.
2) Memory chips and places to put them: Memory is measured in megabytes (1MB = 1,024K = 1,048,576 characters) and gigabytes (1GB = 1,024MB). Although Windows 7 can run on a machine with 512MB, Microsoft recommends a minimum of 1GB. Most computers allow you to add more memory to them, and boosting your computer’s memory to 2GB from 1GB makes the machine much snappier, especially if you run memory hogs such as Office, PageMaker, or Photoshop.
3) Video chipset: Most motherboards include a built-in rudimentary video capability, which can be adequate if your video demands rarely rise above the mundane. If you want more video oomph, you have to buy a video card and put it in a card slot.
4) Card slots (also known as expansion slots): Laptops have very limited (if any) expansion slots on the motherboard. Desktops generally contain several expansion slots. Modern slots come in two flavors: PCI and PCI-Express (also known as PCIe or PCI-E). Most expansion cards use PCI, but very fast cards — including, notably, video cards — require PCIe. Of course, PCI cards don’t fit in PCIe slots, and vice versa.
Figure 1-1:
The big box. Monitor "The CPU”
Mouse Keyboard
Figure 1-2:
The motherboard sits in the middle of it all.
PCI expansion card slots PCIe 2.0 slot for super-fast cards The (little) CPU
Memory slots