The computer industry is well know for making things way too complicated and hard to understand. Who cares about RAM, HD, CPU, etc.

So, I will attempt to make them relevant for those that only care about using the laptop for e-mail, browsing the web, word processing and other applications.

CPU. This is the Central Processor Unit. Who cares. If you are a gamer you would care as the latest games are complicated with lots of instruction and depending on the game would want the latest and fastest CPU. If you are typing then a ten year old CPU would be fine as keystrokes take almost no computing power. Same thing with word processing or browsing the web or most applications many of us do.

RAM. Random Access Memory. Browsing the web can be done in 64MB RAM, but I usually suggest at least 128MB. If you are a gamer then 2GB might be needed. The Microsoft Operating Systems often require a certain amount of RAM. Windows 98 runs fine in 64MB, but 128MB is preferable. Windows 2000 should have at least 128MB. If you are running Windows XP then 128MB is the minimum but 256MB is much better. The new Vista OS will require even more RAM.

HD. Hard Drive. These range from 4GB to 10GB to the latest are 100GB. If you are typing, browsing the web, sending and receiving e-mail in many cases a 6GB HD would be sufficient. If you are a photographer with many, many photos you might want a 40GB HD and even an external 40GB or larger HD.

In many cases your communications link is more important than RAM, HD, or CPU in terms of having a pleasant comuting experience. A 56K modem is slow while a DSL modem is 10 times faster and cable can be even faster.

So, I hope the above eliminates takes the tedium out of unknown acronyms and help make computing buzz words more down to earth. If you have others that I could explain let me know.