What precisely is the difference between a hard drive and the memory of the computer? I’ve been comparing computers, and the only difference (other than a slight difference in price) between two computers is the amount of hard drive–one computer boasts 80GB^2 (^2 as in “squared”), another 40GB. Clearly there’s some sort of difference, but what difference would I see, seeing as both computers have 256MB of memory? (Actually, it says 256MB shared DDR SDRAM @ 333MHz. I suppose that makes a difference?)
The hard drive (40 GB, 80 GB, or whatever) is the amount of storage space on the drive. The 256 MB memory is the RAM memory in the memory cards; you can add to this by adding bigger memory cards or more (if the computer supports more). You also have L1 cache and L2 cache in your microprocessor for very quick recall memory. I think 40GB of hard drive is more than sufficient for everyone. However, 512 MB of RAM would be better than 256. But 256 is adequate. The “memory” in your HD is really only storage for stuff you saved.
For the layman, in general terms, all else being equal, etc etc:
More memory allows you to run more programs at once, and faster, with less crashing and better response time.
A larger hard drive allows you to store more files (word documents, music files, photos of your girlfriend, etc) and install more programs. Everything you want to keep, even after you turn off the computer.
Not sure what the question is here, or what level of answer you’re expecting, so I’ll start somewhere.
From a functional point of view, the hard drive is slower than RAM by many many orders of magnitude, but the data that you write to it stays put after you turn the computer off. The RAM is where the computer does most of its work since it is very fast, but it goes away without power. The hard drive is where stuff is stored permanently (or until you erase it).
From a capacity point of view, 1600GB (this so called 80GB^2) is 400 times larger than 40GB, which is 160 times larger than 256MB (1GB (1 gigabyte), is 1024 times larger than 1MB (1 megabyte)).
You need both, of course, but where you focus strongly depends on what you use the computer for. If you’re going to be storing lots of files, you need a big hard drive. If you’re going to be doing a lot of game-playing or scientific number-crunching, or need high performance databases, probably a good deal of RAM is what you need.
Naturally for either one of them, there’s better and worse RAM to get, and in the RAM department, you need to be careful to get RAM that matches your motherboard’s/CPU’s requirements. (If you’re sane, and have someone else build it, then you’re only concerned maybe about capacity and performance and they can work out specifics).
Sigh. My last paragraph:
Naturally for either RAM or hard drives, there’s better and worse types to get…
Thank you NBIT33. barbitu8, I appreciate the help, but it was a little confusing.
My next few questions, if anyone can help me, are thus: What exactly is a firewall? Does it include spam protection, popup protection, virus protection? Does a firewall come standard in a new(er) computer? If not, what would it cost me (on average) to acquire these things?
Thank you in advance for any help that comes this way.
Pardon me, but… Huh?
First of all, if you were trying to square 80, it’s 6400. Secondly, I guarantee that in the “80Gb^2” the OP states, the “^2” is some sort of footnote, not a squared number.
It’s just 80 Gb. This is a standard drive size these days for a pre-assembled system.
Windows XP (Pro at least, don’t know about Home) comes with a built-in firewall, which is disabled by default.
Speaking of Win XP…I have been getting an occasional message lately when shutting down that says : You are running low on virtual memory. Win is increasing it.
Virtual memory? What’s eating it up?
“Virtual Memory” is hard drive space that Windows treats like actual RAM, although it is very much slower. If Windows thinks it is running out of memory space, it can change the size of this “Virtual Memory” (also called a swap file) on the fly by designating more space on the hard drive.
As to “what’s eating it up”, it could be a lot of things. Too many programs and files open, or some executable with a bad memory leak (not releasing memory when done with it), etc. Try not having too many files open at once.
Ten to one the “squared” is a footnote that specifies which measure of Megabyte they’re basing their Gigabytes on. 80 GB is 80,000 MB, but marketers like to say that every 1,000 kB of storage is a MB (because it inflates the drive) while software guys like to use 1,024 kB in every MB because that’s how the OS handles (or at least, used to handle) things.
:eek: :smack: :wally
Sorry, terribly sorry, will hang head in extreme shame at being completely unable to square 80.
(I probably just squared the 40).
On interpreting the ^2, I was just running with the opening paragraph, so whatever works. 
(Maybe it was a server computer? Some people might need a terabyte and a half…)
Slinking off now.
I read the link, and got very lost. Is it saying that the firewall doesn’t take care of any of the things I listed, or it will, but I should purchase programs that will work against spam, virii, and popups as well?
This link indicates the latter option; if so, what would it cost me to purchase programs to protect against these things?
Oh, and upon closer inspection, the ^2 was indeed a footnote. Many thanks and apologies.
**(Actually, it says 256MB shared DDR SDRAM @ 333MHz. I suppose that makes a difference?)
**
Yes - a big difference. That particular computer takes an already barely adequate amount of RAM and steals some for the video (built into the motherboard).
You’ll be better off performance-wise with a system that does not use “shared” memory and has a real video board. You’ll also do well to go for 512 meg of RAM as WinXP is a pig. It’ll fit into 256 meg, but not happily.
vivalostwages - you’re in much the same problem - you need more RAM. Fortunately, RAM’s gotten pretty cheap, and you’ll probably see a nice boost in performance if you pop in another 256 meg - what’s happening on your computer is Windows needs more RAM, so it creates some as needed from space on the hard drive. With more real RAM, it will need to do this less often, if at all.
gotpasswords, while you make sense, I’m a little skeptical. The computer will only be used for, essentially, word processing and the like, the internet (e-mail and research, games and message boards), and the occasional CD-ROM board game that is hardly video-intensive. As far as I know, these activities don’t seem to need the video card. If I truly needed more memory, would it be cheaper to upgrade, or to buy a different model computer?
You are correct: you need another dowload to protect against those. But you must get virus protection. For sure you will be infected if you don’t get one. There are some free ones to be downloaded, but I pay $50 a year for Symantec’s Norton Internet Security. It contains a firewall, spam alerter, pop-up ad deleter, and most import virus protection. It also does other things, such as defragging my computer and scanning it for errors. In addition, you have to purchase the Live Update, which electronically updates your computer every Wednesday for new viruses. (More often if necessary.)
I don’t have the links to the free ones, but I’m sure someone does. Norton’s is http://www.symantec.com/siteindex.html
80GB is twice the storage space for stuff you can put on your pc that you should get if the price difference is slight to you. shopping for a pc can be daunting sometimes, since it is difficult to compare prices when system specs vary so much. IMHO, what’s most important is the motherboard, cpu and tech support, these things generally being the stuff you can’t replace/add without a major refit.
Actually, 80Gb^2 is 6.4x10^21 bytes or 6400 EXA bytes. Thats a pretty darn good deal if you ask me! 
It is definatly cheaper to upgrade your RAM; this is one of the easiest upgrades one can do; these days a 256 meg RAM will run you mayby $45, or less, and will dramatically improve your performance.
Installing new RAM is easy - buying the correct type is probably the most difficult part. To install a new stick of RAM, just turn your computer off, pop open the case, place the RAM in the slot next to your current RAM, secure it and close the case, and then turn the computer back on.
WindowsXP needs 256 Megs of RAM to run correctly, in my experience, if you don’t want to be really careful about background programs running and such. Since your machine has integrated video :rolleyes: that is stealing probably 32 or 64 Megs of your main RAM(it doesn’t matter how video intensive the program you are running is, video chip will still take the same amount of RAM) you are running below the minimum that I would reccomend.