What to Look for in Basic Computing Power

Make sure to select a balanced computer, in which all components work together to meet the demands of supporting multimedia applications. In multimedia systems, balance is more important than speed, because multimedia playback places heavy demands on the CD-ROM (for reading data), on the hard disk (for writing data), on the CPU (for decompressing), and on the video and audio subsystems (for playback). A fast CPU alone does not guarantee a great playback system. For best results, the computer should have the following components:

• Local-bus video. The performance of a computer with a local bus is about 10 times better than one without a local bus, assuming everything else on the computers is equal. Without local-bus video, a computer will not be able to keep up with the amount of video data that consumer multimedia applications and games currently being produced will attempt to display continuously. Preferably, the system should include a PCI bus.
• A 24-bit display monitor. This is required for TrueColor support.
• A double-speed or faster CD-ROM drive. New multimedia applications assume double-speed data rate.
• Super VGA (800x600) resolution or better with 16-bit color. Because multimedia applications display many different colors and they tend to compete for access to the system palette, it's important to have support for more than 8-bit color.
• 16-bit audio and MIDI. Many multimedia applications make use of sound cards with MIDI support.