Being in I.T. means you suffer from the same problems as doctors - bare with me on this! You meet a doctor at a party and the first thing you ask is are you a GP (General Practitioner) as opposed to some weird area of medicine or biology, or even English literature (Phd) that you are going to know nothing about. If they say they are a G.P. then the second question is usually along the lines of “I’ve got this spot/growth/whatever” or “I’ve had this pain in my whatever” and the party for them turns into another day at the clinic. Well being in I.T. can be a bit like that only it tends to be “I’ve got this problem with my soundcard” (if you were around in the 80s) or “I think I have a virus, can you fix it?” or “What is the best computer to buy?” Well I thought I’d answer the final one here so I can refer the friends of friends away from me and towards my blog so I don’t have to talk to them any more. First you must ask yourself if you would like a laptop, a desktop or dare I say it…. a tablet. When you say “tablet” everyone thinks of the iPad but it depends on whether you are a form over function type of person who has bought into all the hype. If you are then you are only reading this article to hear someone say how wonderful they are, and you won’t find that here, so you might as well stop reading now. If you are a realist there are plenty of other laptops which are tablets as well, like the Dell Inspiron Duo. Tablets have come a long way in recent times so anything that supports the Android operating system will keep you happy. I quite like the ASUS Eee Pad which is a cross between a tablet and a netbook. So now we are on the question: laptop or desktop? These days there aren’t too many reasons why you would buy a desktop rather that a laptop. Now-a-days you can plug a bigger screen or keyboard into the laptop to make a desktop set-up. Laptops are generally more expensive, easier to steal and slightly slower. For someone who is only interested in surfing/email/office, all computers these days are good enough. You won’t notice the difference between the top of the range and the bottom of the range. If you already have a computer the chances are that it is a couple of years old and has lost it sparkle. Literally, anything new will be about 10 or 20 times faster and better than what you currently have. It will be capable of running the operating system it comes with without any problems. The main advantage of a laptop and a desktop is mobility; being able to carry it from the sitting room to the kitchen adds up to a more convenient experience. Pretty much all laptops these days are much-of-a-muchness. When buying a laptop you just need to ask a couple of questions: does it look nice? is it nice to type on? is it not too heavy? The best way to answer these questions is to go somewhere like PC World or John Lewis and have a play. Pick something you like! High street prices have massively reduced in recent times so you ought to compare the prices with some of the online retailers like Kagoo, BT Shop or eBuyer which seem to be the main ones at the moment. Bare in mind that if you purchase online it might be cheap but you are giving up the convenience of having somewhere to “take it back to” if there is a problem or you need extra help from one of their gurus.