Future Shock

Got a familg question?

MARK LICHTERMAN STAFF WRITER

IAT hen I entered
their house, I
could feel its
presence.
There was an energy, a low-
level buzz that wasn't there
the last time I was in this very
place just a few days before.
As I moved into the house
proper, the feeling got stronger
and stronger. I could feel it in
my bones. I felt like I was be-
ing drawn in by a beam of
some sort. I turned the corner,
walked into the family room
and BOOM, there it was.
Stars blazing across its 15"
monitor at 200 megahertz, its
sleek "Euro" styling exuded a
certain confide_nce. It is STATE
OF THE ART.
Clearly, my two-year-old-
wimp-of-a-75-megahertz Pen-
tium with a gig of memory and
a mere 16 megabytes of RAM
(up from its original eight) is no
longer STATE OF THE ART.
Once I could speak in its
presence, I asked its new own-
er, Judy Goldsmith, now well
versed in the latest technology
to give me the lowdown on ex-
actly what STATE OF THE
ART means.
The first lesson Judy learned
was to buy as much power and
speed as you can afford. With
that in mind, she went with a
200 MHz Pentium chip en-
; hanced with the MMX tech-
' nology. The MMX technology
improves the computer's ability
to run the sophisticated graph-
ics available in many software
applications these days.

In addition, she went with
32 megabytes of system RAM,
the computer's short-term
memory which disappears
when the machine is turned
off, and a 3.2 gigabyte hard dri-
ve. A 17-inch monitor with
.28mm pitch (pitch impacts
the clarity of the picture) is
STATE OF THE ART, but ex-
pensive.
The monitor, Judy tells me,
can significantly increase the
price of the system. Unless you
are buying it for an engineering
application, a 15-inch monitor
with the same pitch can still be
STATE OF THE ART.
Moving right along...the
video card should have at least
one megabyte of RAM, and
ideally it should be expandable
to two megabytes. The modem
should run at no less than
33.6K baud a second, and the
CD drive should be at least
12X.
If you plan on using your
new beast for sensitive busi-
ness applications (when you
will store irreplaceable data on
your hard drive) you should se-
riously consider adding a back-
up system. Your two options
are a tape backup unit, which
stores sensitive data on mag-
netic tape, or the newer Zip
drives, which store the data
electronically.
Finally, a "power condition-
er" designed to protect the
computer from the ups and
downs of the AC power supply
is a good idea. A power condi-
tioner provides a high degree

of protection from both electri-
cal surges and lags.
Printers constitute a whole
universe unto themselves. If
you have children, a color
inkjet is nice because it allows
you to print out all the colorful
things that they can do on
screen. If high-quality text
documents are your major
concern, then a black-and-
white laser printer is probably
fine.
Judy and Mark got their ma-
chine from Dell, a mail-order
firm with highly rated cus-
tomer service and 24-hour
technical support. After all was
said and done, they laid out
$2,800 including a three-year
onsite labor and parts warranty
(they send technicians directly
to the computer).
As a service to readers I pre-
sent:

JUDY'S STATE OF THE ART
CHECKLIST:
• 200 MHz Pentium chip
enhanced with MMX technol-
ogy
• 32 megabytes of system
RAM
• 3.2 gigabyte hard drive
• 15- or 17-inch monitor
with .28 mm pitch
• Video card with 1
megabyte of RAM, expandable
to 2 megabytes
• 33.6K baud per second
Modem
• 12X CD drive
• Tape backup or Zip drive
• High-quality tech support
and customer service.❑

Mark Lichterman lives in Huntington Woods with his wife Susan and their two children Yossi, 6 and
Allie, 3. You can reach him online at marksus@mci2000.com .

•Where can I find a Jewish nurserq school?

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disabilities?

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