Lots of people are discussing what to spend the tax rebate that our government has decided will make the economy better. (Yes, that is like the neighborhood spendthrift shopping till she drops, because more money will be sent her way by the places she shops!)

For the savvy computer user, or one who wishes to become savvy, several things are a good start. None of these will make the machine blazing fast, or cause perfect $100 bills to come from your printer, but purchase, and proper use, will give the user improved reliability, and peace of mind.

The very first thing I would recommend, for those that don’t already own one, is the purchase of a good quality Uninterruptible Power Supply. This will accomplish several things. The machine will be protected from transients (voltage spikes) much better than that $6 power strip that you are probably using. A UPS will have protection for all three wires, instead of a simple Metal Oxide Varistor (MOV) on the hot leg only. The UPS will also protect the computer from brownouts, and keep you from scratching your head, trying to hunt down the causes of strange lock ups and or blue screens, caused by insufficient voltage for milliseconds - too short to be perceptible to you, but more than long enough for the computer to have a problem. A properly sized UPS will allow you to correctly shut down your machine, after saving your work, so that when a power outage occurs, efforts are not lost, and your drive doesn’t become scrambled, when what is held in the cache does not get written, but instead disappears.

For those already owning a UPS, deciding if the batteries should be replaced is a good idea, and possibly replacing a lower capability UPS with one of higher capacity, as most everyone forgets that the new computer purchased has higher power needs than the old one. The older UPS, after having been determined in good shape, with batteries holding their charge, can be re-purposed to peripherals, or perhaps a secondary computer. If used for peripherals, many forget the broadband modem and router needs to be powered to be able to finish any downloads in progress when the power goes out, whether brown or complete.

Other things, to round out the $600 on its way to you , might be a new keyboard, mouse, or set of speakers, or possibly a microphone or even web cam. All of these tend to be things that most people will spend a little on, not really thinking about the differences in performance between the very cheap (and barely working) to the very best.

Almost all operating systems today rely heavily on the mouse to interact with the user. Mice are a matter of preference, as everyone has hands and tastes that are different. At first, thinking that a mouse with more than 3 buttons would be unnecessary, you might move to the cheaper choices. This may be fine, but sometimes the best designs ergonomically have 4 or 5 buttons, so get a feel for your mouse before removing some choices as superfluous. Different styles of scroll wheel are found also, with some being usable in more than one axis. Also, some mice have detented scrolling, some do not. Play a little to see which you prefer.

Keyboards are also a place of personal preference, but by spending a small amount more, much can be gained. People have become so used to poor quality keyboards in the last ten years, as this was the very first place that manufacturers cut costs in order to make computers cheaper. Go to any retailer and you can find keyboards beginning at less than $7. Think about how little $7 buys anywhere else and you get an idea of how bad these are. Also know that most users are using keyboards barely better than the $7 model. A search for the perfect keyboard could take some time, but it will be worth it. There are keyboards with extra function keys to use as macro keys, and for the gamer, there are keyboards with setups to accommodate the needs of the players of first person shooters. There are many, many choices, so choosing may take some time, but will be well worth the effort.

Remember, you don’t have to spend the money all at once - you can get the protection of the UPS first, and take time to choose the input devices, waiting for exactly the right ones, at exactly the right price!

Now I don’t say you should always spend rather than save, but unless you are saving interest by paying down debt, you’re not gaining much by saving - ease of use, and peace of mind, for the item that has become such a large part of your interaction with the world is definitely worthwhile.

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Quote of the day:
Would those of you in the cheaper seats clap your hands? And the rest of you, if you’ll just rattle your jewelry. - John Lennon

[tags] UPS, keyboard, mouse, Microsoft, Logitech, Kensington, APS, Tripp-Lite [/tags]