The basics

Long ago, I was told there was no such thing as a stupid question. That’s especially sage advice to anyone trying to navigate the tech world. All you need to do is peek at the unfriendly terms in ads to recognize how tech and jargon go hand in hand.

There’s surely no shame in not knowing the difference between a megapixel and a megabyte. Trust me: You’re not alone.

So consider this Everything You Always Wanted To Know About Technology — But Were Afraid To Ask.

Question: What’s the deal with bits and bytes anyway?

Answer: As its name suggests, the itty bit (short for binary digit) is the tiniest unit of information handled by a PC. Eight bits make up a byte; a byte typically represents a letter, punctuation mark or digit on your screen. PCs can handle a lot more than an individual character, so you’ll see measurements in kilobytes (actually 1,024 bytes), megabytes (1,048,576 bytes) and gigabytes (1,073,741,824 bytes).

For storing files, the more gigabytes your computer has, the better. Buy a PC that has a hard drive of at least 40 gigabytes. People often require more “closet space” than they think they’ll need, especially if they stuff the drive with pictures, videos and music.

Q: As long as we’re discussing numbers, what are gigahertz and megahertz?

A: Those indicate the clock speeds that measure the computer’s processor. One megahertz (MHz) means the computer is operating at 1 million cycles per second; a gigahertz (GHz) blazes along at a billion cycles per second. You might assume that a higher number translates into a more powerful system. But that’s not always the case. Even on entry-level systems, there’s plenty of computing oomph to go around; for example, a sub-$400 Dell Dimension 2400 has an Intel Celeron processor running at 2.4GHz — plenty fast enough for ordinary computing (word processing, e-mail, etc.).

Q: What factors affect a computer’s performance?

A: The most important: memory. But also significant are the computer’s processor type (Pentium or Celeron, for example), whether you’re using a PC or Macintosh and even whether spyware lurks on your hard drive.

In my view, clock speeds have been overrated, at least for average users. Over the years, the race for supremacy between market leader Intel and such challengers as AMD resembled the Cold War arms race. But now, even Intel is de-emphasizing clock speed and focusing on bolstering performance in other ways.

Q: What is RAM?

A: The geeky acronym stands for random access memory. The important point is this: RAM refers to the supply of memory generally available for the programs on your system to use. You can get by on 256 megabytes of RAM, especially if you intend to stick to rudimentary computing tasks. But 512 MB (or higher) is usually better, and more RAM becomes critical if you multitask, play 3-D games or engage in lots of graphics-intensive projects.

By the way, if you think there’s the least possibility you may want to bolster memory (or perhaps other components) later on, make sure to buy a computer with unused expansion slots. When the time comes, you’ll have to crack open the case and insert circuit cards. The surgery is usually less painful than it sounds.

Q: Aren’t there other types of memory?

A: Indeed there are. For example, I’d recommend a computer that has at least 64MB of video memory, housed on a separate video card. You may sometimes see this described as VRAM (for video RAM).

As if matters weren’t confusing enough, “memory” is also used to describe the cards that store digital pictures, music and video. These erasable memory cards (also known as flash memory) vary in size and capacity. They usually accompany digital cameras, PDAs and digital music players. It’s only a slight exaggeration to say memory cards have nearly as many flavors as are found at Baskin-Robbins. Some new PCs have built-in slots to accommodate these cards; three of the most common are CompactFlash, Secure Digital (or SD) and Memory Stick.

Q: How do I avoid getting stuck on the Universal Serial Bus?

A: This digital connector is more commonly known by its initials USB. It’s a relatively no-hassle way to plug digital cameras, MP3 players, scanners, printers, keyboards, flash memory drives, PC telephones and other devices into a computer. All new PCs and Macs have these connectors, with more recent vintage computers boasting the higher-speed version USB 2.0 (rather than 1.1). On a desktop PC, it’s helpful to have at least some USB ports easily accessible on the front of the machine.

Q: Is USB all I need or are there other important connectors?

A: Many digital video cameras (among other devices) rely on a speedy connector called FireWire. So you may want to get a PC with USB and FireWire. Just to keep you on your toes, FireWire, a term coined by Apple, is sometimes known by other names. Sony uses iLink; others use IEEE-1394 (the official technical name of the standard), or just 1394.

Most current computers also have an Ethernet port for hooking up to a fast digital subscriber line or cable modem. The part of the Ethernet cable that connects to the computer looks like a slightly bigger version of a standard telephone cord. Many machines, especially laptops, also boast integrated wireless capabilities, a way to connect to the Internet without cords.