Point 'n' Click's Internet Pointers

Dear Point 'n' Click:

Which is better, Windows or Macintosh?

--W. Gates, Redmond, WA

Point: I ain't touching that one.

Click: Nope. Here's an easier one...

Dear Point 'n' Click:

I want to buy a computer. What should I buy?

--Maeda Money, M.D., Scottsdale, AZ

Click: This is easy, because there's only one basic rule:

Point: Did you just make that up? Sounds ridiculous.

Click: No, it's really a good rule. Basically, all computers are obsolete a few months after you buy them. Why? because people want their computers to do more and more, and software developers are willing to oblige, but only at the expense of larger programs that require more computing power, more memory, more everything. So after we buy a computer, we know that there will come a day when it cannot do what we want it to do, no matter how good the machine was the day we bought it.

Point: So it's hopeless.

Click: No, not hopeless, but there are some things you can do to make your computer be as useful as possible for as long as possible. All of these things follow from:

Point: OK, why don't you explain how this works.

Click: Here goes.

• Aim High with RAM. RAM is the computer's short-term memory. the more RAM you have, the more programs you can run at once, and the more complex programs you can run. With more RAM, programs run faster, since they can store the data they need in RAM instead of the relatively slow hard disk. RAM is cheap (16 MB chip goes for around $100 as of 10/96), so get as much RAM as possible. 16 MB would be considered minimal for Windows 95 and Macintosh. For Windows NT Workstation, even that might not be enough. 32 MB is a good starting point, but get absolutely as much as you can possibly afford. No matter how much you get, it will become insufficient some day.
  
• Aim High with Storage. Get as big a hard disk as you can. Most personal computers have hard disks in the 1-2 gigabyte range. A gigabyte is fine for most personal use today, but with software shipping on CD-ROMs now, it's nothing to install a program that occupies the better part of 100 megabytes (1/10 of a gigabyte). Even games need 20 megs if they have a lot of grapics.
  
• Aim High with Speed. RAM and hard disks are cheap, but getting up into the upper eschelons of speed will cost you. Pentiums and PowerPC Macs running at about 200 Mhz are common. No matter what speed you get, there will come a day when you wish it was faster. You can squeeze speed out of a chip with a cache (called an L2 cache sometimes) of 256K to 512K (higher cache sizes don't make that much difference).
  
• Aim High with Monitors?. Monitors get very expensive when you get over about 14 inches of viewable area, so weigh carefully whether you really need that extra screen space. Most people can get away with a nice $300 14-inch display, but if wide open spaces are what you want, be prepared to add a lot. The extra screen space is really useful for folks who seem to be doing more than one thing a time. The point of larger monitors is not to make the letters on the screen so big that some of us older folks can read them without those extra glasses, though that is a consideration for some with visual impairments. The real help is being able to display more than one program at a time--say a patient medical record occupying most of the screen, and a reference program that contains guideline or critical care pathway information occupying another corner. Having portions of both programs visable at once makes it easier to keep track of what you are doing and where the program IS--you know they tend to get lost when they get covered up... The price for this kind of convenience is high--while a 14 inch monitor (that's the diagonal measurement of the cathode ray tube, and even some of that may be covered up by the cabinet frame) is around $300, a 17" monitor will go for around $800, and a 22" is around $1500.
  
• Aim High with Modems? V.34 modems are cheap. Most prepackaged systems include one already. ISDN modems are more expensive, but the real expense of ISDN is in the service, not the modem. If you intend to use telecommunications, particularly over the world wide web, modem speed is going to be an issue that quickly limits your satisfaction with your computer and makes it seem to age prematurely. If you expect to become involved with the world wide web, and you should, you will eventually want the greatest speed possible.

Point: Any idiot knows you can get a good computer if you have oodles of money. What about people on a budget?

Click: If you're on a budget, focus on maximizing RAM and disk space, and sacrifice processor speed and monitor size. A complete personal computer system in the 100 to 150 Mhz range is very affordable. Remember, the processor's Mhz specification does not tell the whole story about speed. A 133 MHz IBM-PC-Compatible 486 is a lot slower than a 75 MHz PowerPC Mac, all other things being equal. Look in computer magazines for real-life speed tests (doing real-life tasks, not a "benchmark") to tell for sure.

Dear Point 'n' Click:

I heard you can get a modem that's faster than 28,800 bits per second. Is this true?

--S. Gonzales, Santa Fe, NM

Point: In a previous column we talked about the V.34 standard as defining the top possible speed to be 28,800 bits per second.

Click: So you're saying we were wrong!

Point: Never! The information in this column is of impeccable accuracy.

Click: So you can't go faster than 28,800 bps on a modem, or you can?

Point: Under ideal conditions, you can. The V.34 standard was modified to include a method of pushing bits through the phone line a little faster than 28,800 bps. But the fact is, few of us can achieve even 28,800 under most circumstances with our V.34 modems. Next time you connect with your modem, see if you get a message telling you how fast you're connecting (America OnLine does this, as do other services). You'll probably find that your connection speed is already less than the so-called maximum of 28,800, so upgrading your modem with a chip that can handle the slightly higher speeds may not necessarily help you.

Click: MY internet service provider is always telling me I'm connected at 56.6 kbps with my 14.4 kbps modem. What's the deal?

Point: The guy writing the message on your screen is including the data compression possibilities of the modem. And he was talking optomistic possibilties, not reality. Here's the deal. When two modems that both have MNP5 data compression are used together (and most have this feature now) they can take some kinds of data and compress it before sending it at the rated modem speed across the telephone line. The throughput can be up to times the stated modem speed. However, some kinds of data, say precompressed images used on the internet, and programs you might want to download, generally cannot be compressed much. Worse. if there is any degredation of the phone line itself, these clever modems will back down to a speed where transmission is reliable. You'll be very lucky to see anything above 28.8 bps at this time.

Click: Is it because of cheap phone lines? P: Sort of. It's just technically difficult to cram that many bits onto a channel that was originally designed for a single voice conversation. If you really want more speed to your house, you'll have to shell out for ISDN (can be expensive in some states) or your cable company (not widely available in most places).

Point: Plus, you have to take two days off work in order to let the cable guy in to install it.

Point: Which is why I'd never bother!

Click: I know that troglodites like you don't see why high speed telecommunications might be useful, but for those of us who see the world wide web as an important information source, the problem is again one of speed. There is so much stuff out there to sift through in order to find what you really want that a sometimes tedious search process becomes intolerable with slower modems.

Point: Yeah. I've tried. I wanted to look up information about a company that sells patient education information. Found everything else but!

Click: Your experience would have been less frustrating if you had not had to spend so much time learning that the company you wanted simply did not have a web page. And here again your investment will last longer if you buy at the leading edge. 28.8 kbs modems are nearly universal in new computers and cost less than $200 to add to existing systems. ISDN modems can operate at four times that speed, over a million bits per second.

Point: So what would it cost me to get involved with ISDN?

Click: Getting that speed carries a stiff premium. The least expensive ISDN modems are about $350. More commonly $400. And the telephone company charge for ISDN service at your home office is more expenseive than ordinary telephone service: about twice the price in some markets. And, finally, the internet service provider you subscribe to for internet access is likely to charge you more to use ISDN service, probably about 50% more than for ordinary dial up service. Count on spending at least $500 to get the service started. After that you will probably be able to enjoy the convenience of faster and less frustrating internet performance for about $30 a month more than you would otherwise have paid for telephone service and internet access.

Point: Don't forget, my speed maven brother, that the telephone companies consider ISDN to be "private line" service. This means that they take no interest at all in the electronic complexities that develop in your home or office with respect to ISDN service. You will have to acquire your own terminal panel for the phone company to hook to, and be sure that you have appropriate wiring from that panel to the places where you will access the ISDN service. This can add substantially to the set up bill. This is a real opportunity to provide a source of income to some sort of electrician or network specialist!

Click: That's not all. There yet another funny glitch. ISDN lines require power--power that you provide. While your ordinary telephone service continues during typical power outages, if the circuit breakers trip at your place, the ISDN service will vanish until power is available again.

Point: So let's go with cable modems using the TV cable. I keep reading about it.

Click: You mean they've had articles about cable modems on the comic page? I guess I'm not too surprised. Everyone's talking about them--but so far they've been expensive to build and not popular to buy. Prices are still kind of ridiculous, but if such service is available in your area, you can check out the possibilities.

Point: So those are the only high-speed possibilities?

Click: No, there's Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line (ADSL) which rivals ISDN for speed, but does not require a special installation, and there's a new modem standard for 57 kbps. Both of these solutions give you much faster service that 28.8, but they are new technologies, and may not be accessible to you for a while. Stay tuned to this fast-moving technology area and check out your options.

Point: I think I'll check out a book instead. Something soothing. Like "Through the Looking Glass." Now that stuff makes sense.

If you would like to ask Point 'n' Click a question, mail them!