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| Brief Introduction to Personal
Computers |
| Whatever you may have heard to the contrary,
insurance companies are in the business of dealing with your claim
on a fair and even handed basis. Computer technology is constantly
advancing and, sometimes, at such a speed that equipment which you
bought only one week ago has subsequently been superseded by a newer
model! |
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How then can an insurance
company deal with a claim for equipment that is sometimes two
or three years old and is no longer available in the market
place? |
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By and large, insurers adopt the
attitude that they will pay for the nearest current equipment
model that is available. Inevitably, this will have a superior
specification and may often incorporate additional functionality
over and above the original. Therefore, you may sometimes be
asked to make a contribution against the cost of the new machine
which reflects this area of “betterment”. In order
that your insurance company, and their appointed representatives,
can deal with your claim as fairly as possible, there is certain
fundamental information which will assist their enquiries – |
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How can they decide what I had in the
first instance? |
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It is of vital importance that your
insurance company are able to determine the specification of
the original machine and any subsequent upgrades which you may
have purchased. Therefore, you will almost certainly be asked
to produce either the original purchase invoice since that will
detail the specification. For such an expensive item as a computer,
it would be very unusual if you are not able to produce this
document. |
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When you talk about specification, what
do you mean? |
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In lay terms, we are referring to
the make-up of the computer. More correctly, a specification,
in computer terms, will include a description of the business
process that is to be automated, the equipment that will be
needed to do the job, the interfaces through which computers
and people will communicate, and a step-by-step breakdown of
the logic that the programme will follow. For the purposes of
making an insurance claim as a householder, all you will need
to worry about is the components that make up your computer.
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What are the sorts of things that you
need to know about my computer? |
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In order to deal with your claim
fairly, we will need to know the technical specification of
your computer including details of the processor, the RAM, the
size of hard drive, the graphics and sound cards, details of
any ancillary drives, such as CD and DVD, the size and type
of monitor, and details of any peripherals including printers,
scanners, joysticks, web cams and the like. |
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What do you mean by processor? |
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Inside your computer there is a
motherboard. This is the place where the central processing
unit (CPU) and all other electrical PC components live. The
CPU plugs into the motherboard as do the video card, sound card
and every other type of card. The CPU or processor is the brains
of your PC. The speed and type of processor will have a distinct
effect on the value of your PC. |
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What do you mean by a graphics card and
a sound card? |
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A graphics card allows the CPU to
display images on your monitor. It converts data into something
that the monitor can display. As the monitor cannot plug straight
into a CPU, a converter is needed. That is the function of the
video or graphics card. There are two basic functions that a
graphics card performs – 2D and 3D. For example, 2D functions
are for displaying images in a word processing programme. 3D
functions are used in games to provide realism. Again there
are many variations of graphics cards available and these too
can have a marked effect on price. Sound cards, simply put,
convert digital data into analogue data that our ears can hear.
Modern sound cards are also 3D. This means that they are designed
to re-create sounds coming from all directions, as in real life.
They can often drive a number of separate speakers to help with
this effect. Do not confuse a sound card with the built-in speaker
which is contained in many PC’s, these being to generate
basic sounds such as “beeps”. |
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What do you mean by RAM? |
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RAM sounds for Random Access Memory.
Think of this as short term rather than long term memory. RAM
is the place where the PC holds all the information that you
are currently working with. When you shut down your PC, this
memory is erased. The more memory your PC has, the more things
it can do at the same time. Since the data that each programme
uses is stored in RAM, in general terms, the more RAM the better.
Again, the amount of RAM within your PC will affect it’s
value. |
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What do you mean by hard drive? |
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A hard disk drive is the place where
the PC stores it’s data. Whereas RAM is used mostly for
things the PC is working on at any one moment, the hard disk
is where the PC stores it’s data (programmes, images,
sound files, movies, etc) in a more permanent place. When the
PC is shut down, the hard disk, unlike RAM, does not lose it’s
data. |
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Why doesn’t the PC store all it’s
data in the hard drive instead of RAM? |
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Simply stated, accessing data from
RAM is fast (no moving parts) whilst accessing data from a hard
disk is, relatively speaking, slow. Also, hard disk space is
relatively cheap compared to an equal amount of memory. Hard
drives can be interfaced with the PC in a number of different
ways but, in simple terms, all you will need to tell us the
make and size of hard drive. |
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What size and type of monitor did you
have? |
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Monitors are where you view the
data you are working on. Broadly speaking monitors fall into
two categories, CRT (cathode ray tube) and LCD (liquid crystal
display). CRT monitors resemble older style television sets
whilst LCD screens are flat and thin. LCD screens are more expensive,
at the moment, than CRT monitors but prices are coming down.
We will need to know the make, model and size of your monitor
to judge a fair replacement value. |
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