Behind Your Business

Now that Windows 7 is widely viewed as a worthwhile upgrade, many are looking at buying a new computer that will take advantage of Microsoft's new operating system. What you look for in a new machine, though, should depend in part on what your primary tasks will be. Read on for some answers.

Q: I'm interested in buying a new desktop to run Windows 7. I'll be using it to edit photographs, video, and for doing general chores. What components should I focus on?

A: Photography and video editing are two of the more demanding tasks that people use their computers for these days, so a beefier machine will be in order.

First of all, you might want to consider installing the 64-bit version of Windows 7. It's good to know which version you intend to install before you buy a machine because that knowledge will help you determine how much memory (RAM) you might want.

The 32-bit version of Windows 7 can access up to 4 GB of memory. Today, though -- especially when editing multiple large photographs while running several other applications -- more than 4 GB of RAM are helpful, and only the 64-bit version of Windows 7 will allow that.

There's really no machine made today that is "too powerful" for photo and video editing, so you should start by looking at higher-end systems.

An Intel Core i5 or i7-based machine would be preferable to a Core 2 Duo or Core 2 Quad. The latter two processors are on the way out, The i5 and i7 processors eliminate a significant bottleneck of older chip designs -- namely the so-called "front side bus," a pathway between the processor and other components in the PC.

The chips also can automatically "overclock" themselves, meaning they can deliver more performance when required. Intel's i7 chips are more...