When choosing a computer it’s important to know a few things. Inside is where all the action happens. You need to have good storage solutions and a sizeable workspace. The most important things to look at are the processor, RAM, and the hard drive.
The processor or CPU (Central Processing Unit) reads, processes, and moves data very quickly between the hard drive and the RAM.
RAM, or Random Access Memory, is equivalent to a table. The more RAM, the larger the table. Picture yourself working on a side table. They are about 18″ x 24″, very small. Let’s imagine that you are studying and everything you need to study has to fit on the table. It can’t be on the floor, your bed, the couch, only on the table. You are going to try to fit a couple of books, a notebook, your laptop, pens, markers, etc. on that little table. If it doesn’t fit, it has to be stored in a filing cabinet or bookcase and every time you need a different resource, you have to put one back to make the other fit. That’s why you need a lot of RAM. The running back and forth to put things away and get out other things, takes time and is not efficient. So, the more RAM, the bigger the table, the more stuff you can have out at one time. You’ll be able to work faster.
The Hard Drive is your filing cabinet or bookcase. You need to make sure it’s big enough to hold the programs you’re going to run and all the files you’ll create.
Here’s a video that goes into a little more detail.