Desktop Computers have fallen in popularity as laptops have now became cheaper and powerful. The use of desktops is becoming limited to office cubicles and for home media center applications. Even office cubicles are now seeing more of docking stations for laptops thus eliminating the need for desktops.

The main advantage that desktops have over laptops is in the aspect of human interface. I will anyday prefer a desktop keyboard to a laptop one and a big flat screen monitor to a small laptop screen. Even though laptops have narrowed the performance gap, desktops are still ahead especially when it comes to power hungry applications like gaming and multimedia.

Popular Desktop Brands

There are two options when considering a desktop - build one yourself or buy a branded one. With many self help guides available on the internet, it is not too tough to build a PC these days. In fact once you are hooked on to it, building desktops can infact become addicting. The popular desktop brands are Dell, HP, Apple, and Sony.

Prepare a List of Features

Once you have gone through the details of some of the desktops, you can make a list of the features that you expect from the desktop. Some of the features that you should consider are processor power (not just the GHz number), hard disk capacity, memory requirement, multimedia capabilities, networking capabilities, monitor, etc.

Processor

More and more desktops these days feature dual core processors. These types of processors in effect have two self sufficient CPUs that can run in parellel. This can provide a considerable boost to your PCs performance. Such processors are now available both from Intel as well as AMD.

Hard Disk

Always get a bigger hard disk that you are planning. You can be sure that you will soon find enough stuff to fill up the hard drive. As of this writing, atleast 120GB of hard drive space is recommended. In addition to the hard drive capacity, also look at the type of hard drive. Make sure that it is a SATA (or Serial ATA) hard drive. Going forward, IDE hard drive will cease to exist. SATA hard drive are also faster than the IDE hard drives.

Networking Options

For networking the minimum that you should have is a wired ethernet port and atleast 4 USB ports. More USB ports are always good as you will soon end up connecting a host of devices to the PC like printer, scanner, external hard drive, etc. When you then want to connect your digital camera, you will have to disconnect other devices if you do not have enough USB ports. Some desktops these days also come with wireless (WiFi) built it. This can help eliminate some of the wires dangling from the back of the system.

Multimedia and Gaming Capabilities

If you plan to use the desktop for multimedia or gaming purposes, make sure that it has the necessary processor power and features. For multimedia, you should have a DVD/CD drive with read and write capabilities. In addition also look at the power of the built in speakers. If you plan to connect the desktop to a TV for viewing downloaded movies, you need to have an S-video output from the desktop. This is the only way you can currently watch movies from say Amazon Unbox and Cinemanow sites. The other essential part for a good multimedia PC is the video card. If you plan to watch movies on the PC, make sure that you have a good Video Card (ideally a PCIe - PCI Express video card). If you want to record movies from the cable/dish you also need a TV tuner card. Some of the Video cards come with built in TV tuner function like the ATI All-in-Wonder card. In any case, you will be well advised to go with an ATI or nVidia video card.

Monitors

The age of the bulky CRT monitors are over. There are very few people who opt for anything other than than flat panel monitors these days. As the prices have come down for the flat panel monitors, they have become hugely popular. Compared to a CRT monitor, the flat panel can save you valuable desk space and provide a crisper screen.

Miscellaneous Considerations

Some other things to keep in mind are: sound cards, built in modem, wireless keyboard/mice, external hard drives, UPS, etc.

Dell Desktops

Dell desktops have the reputation for being the best price/performance value in the industry. The main types of Dell desktops are Inspiron, Latitude, Precision and XPS. Usually there are dell coupons avialable for Inspiron desktops that can save you up to 20%. There are also desktop deals at Dell Small Business Coupons and Dell Canada Coupons.

HP Desktops

You can buy either Pavilion, Media Center or Presario (formerly Compaq) Desktops from HP. There are some hp deals that can save you money when buying HP desktop computers.