Hardware Reference
In-Depth Information
consumer-friendly computers), consider adding a multitouch digitizing pad or a keyboard with
a multitouch integrated pad.
Different people prefer different types of keyboards, and the “feel” of one type can vary considerably
from other types. If possible, I suggest you try a variety of keyboards until you find the type that suits
you best. I prefer a stiff action with tactile feedback myself, but others prefer a lighter, quieter touch.
While older wired and wireless keyboards and mice typically included connectors that could
accommodate either 6-pin mini-DIN (PS/2) or USB ports, almost all current products are designed
for USB ports only.
See the
Chapter 15
section, “
Keyboards
,
”
p.
739
.
See the
Chapter 15
section, “
Keyboard Technology
,
”
p.
742
.
Tip
You might be tempted to skimp on your keyboard and mouse to save a few dollars. Don't!
Unless you're using a multi-touch display or digitizer, you do all of your interacting with your
new PC through these devices, and cheap ones make their presence known every time you use
your system.
See the
Chapter 15
section, “
USB Keyboards
,”
p.
753
.
Video Card and Display
You need a video adapter and a monitor or display to complete your system. Numerous choices are
available in this area, but the most important piece of advice I have to give is to choose a good
monitor. The display is your main interface to the system and can be the cause of many hours of either
pain or pleasure, depending on which monitor you choose. At this point, the market for CRTs has died
off, and I only recommend LCDs with LED backlighting (often referred to as LED displays) for new
systems.
You can attach most LCDs to a VGA analog port, but most current models are designed to work with
Digital Visual Interface (DVI), HDMI, or DisplayPort connectors, which are replacing the older
analog VGA.
Older systems used AGP or PCI interfaces for video cards, whereas modern systems use PCI
Express. Windows supports multiple monitors on a single system, and it's a feature that can be useful
for a variety of applications. If gaming performance is your ultimate goal and you can tolerate the
added expense, look for a system that supports two or more PCI Express x16 graphics cards. Both
NVIDIA and AMD offer high-performance video chipsets that you can use to run multiple video cards
together to increase video display performance.
Many motherboards with onboard video also have an PCI Express video card slot (older systems
have an AGP slot); if your motherboard has one, you can insert the applicable card into this slot. The
onboard video should be automatically disabled in most cases, although you might have to disable it
in the BIOS setup in some cases.
Note
