some intelligent decisions.

First, a little general advice. Some people are frightened of computers because they think it is an "intelligent'' machine. It isn't.

In truth, a computer is about as intelligent as two short planks of wood. This is an important fact to keep at the back of your head. If you are to avoid being daunted by a computer, you need to understand that you are its master, not the other way around. Give a computer only the respect you would give a very complicated, rather delicate screwdriver.

Understand that a computer has nothing resembling intuition. When you tell it to do something, you have to be very, very precise.

You will have to learn a sub-language. There isn't a lot of it, unless you really get interested, but when you do have occasion to use it, precision is the name of the game.

If the computer doesn't do what you tell it to, chances are you simply got the language wrong. Try again. They're pretty hard to break. The people who succeed with computers are the people who aren't afraid to try and try again.

You need to know about a number of components before deciding on the right machine.

The microprocessor; memory; the video system; the keyboard and mouse; printers; modems; CD-ROM.

The Microprocessor is the brain of the computer. It is a chip, and most of them are produced by a company called Intel, whose ads you've probably seen on television. The main criterion affecting how well these chips perform is speed.

The cover story in this month's issue of Computer Shopper is: "333MHz screamers you can afford.'' Machine speeds today run up to 500 MHz, or MegaHertz. As a general rule, buy the fastest machine you can afford. In the years ahead, it will only get slower in comparison to the machines which will succeed it.

Modern computers deal with sound and pictures, often moving pictures, which represent huge quantities of bits and bytes of information.

If you have an old computer and ask it to show you a graphic, say a weather map, you may have to wait several minutes before the data is translated into something you can see unfold on your screen. A modern computer will do the same thing in seconds.

Many programmes available today will not work on a computer which operates at less than 166 MHz; don't go below 200 MHz unless you absolutely have to.

So when you're buying a computer, go for the very latest microprocessor available and be prepared to find it's far from the fastest one around in a few months.

Computer Memory comes in two types. The first is called RAM (short for Random Access Memory), and is measured in Megabytes (MB). This is a computer's short-term memory. If you work in a word processing programme, the computer puts information about how to deal with what you type in its short-term memory, so that it has quick and easy access to it. Get out of the word processor and into a game of chess, say, and the word processing information will be erased from RAM memory and replaced by the rules of chess.

Think of RAM as the surface of an office desk. The bigger the desk, the more room you have to work in.

Many software applications need lots of room to work, especially applications which use graphics, like Windows or the Apple system. So the more RAM memory you have, the happier your computer is. For the longest time, most computers were sold with 4MB of RAM built in, but things have changed rapidly, and you really won't be happy below 32MB.

You can always add more later if you can't afford much now, but don't go below 16MB under any circumstances.

The second type of memory is stored memory.

RAM erases itself when you turn your machine off, and when you turn it on again, looks for the information it needs to work with in whatever kind of storage system you use.

The standard information storage system is a hard disk drive, or a fixed drive. This is stored inside the computer, where you can't see it. The kind of memory stored in it is also measured in megabytes, and the quantity you need is increasing by leaps and bounds as time goes on, and as the needs of personal computer users become more sophisticated.

Systems which were top of the line eight or nine years ago were using hard disks with a capacity of less than 100MB. These days, three gigabytes is more like it, and drives with six and more are not at all unusual.

When you choose your system, opt for as much hard disk memory as you can afford. Anyone who has had a computer for any length of time will tell you that what seems like a profligate amount of space this year will seem quite normal next year and positively cramped the year after.

In 1995, this article recommended 540MB; today it recommends three or four gigabytes.

Your system will also have what is called a floppy disk drive.

When you buy a software programme, it is provided to you on a CD-ROM, or possibly on a series of standard 3.5-inch floppies, from which you transfer the programme to your hard disk.

Blank floppies, which are available in boxes of ten for not very much money, can be used to store information you need only once in a while, or to transport information from one place to another. Floppies and floppy disk drives have been standard equipment for some years now.

The floppy drive has been around so long that changes must be coming, and already denser disks have been introduced. Buy the standard floppy drive.

An item hot a couple of years ago, but indispensable today, is an inexpensive, extra external or internal disk drive, which looks rather like a small Walkman and allows you to record huge amounts of information, up to a gigabyte, on a different type of floppy disk.

Purpose should determine power and price You need some experience with your computer before you can make a sensible decision about whether you need one of these or not.

The Video System allows you to see what you're doing.

It consists of a video card and a monitor, or screen. The card is simply a translator, which allows the computer's output to be displayed on your screen.

Just a short time ago, the standard screen displayed only monochrome images.

Now, standard equipment is an SVGA card and a monitor which can display up to two million colours. Don't buy a system without an SVGA card.

The size of the monitor is a variable. Most of them are 14 inches, measured diagonally. You can get them up to 34 inches, if you want, but a screen larger than 14 inches will cost extra.

A new development sees flat screens on sale, which take up less desktop space and will save you eyestrain. They will considerably strain your bank balance, however, and probably aren't worth the investment, given the cost. Soon, they will be much, much cheaper, by which time you may not be able to resist.

For now, resist.

Of the Output Devices , the only one you need worry about is a printer. Dot matrix printers are the cheapest on the market. They are first cousin to a typewriter. The printhead has a number of pins that press against a fabric ribbon (you need to replace them once in a while, just like typewriter ribbon) and form characters on the paper. If you buy one of these, go for a 24-pin printer, not the 9-pin version, because the resolution is much better.

The next most popular printer is an inkjet, which works in much the same way as a dot matrix printer, except that instead of pins that hit the paper, there are tiny nozzles that spray ink on the paper. It produces a better result, and if you spend a little more money, you can print in colour, which is important to anyone interested in desktop publishing or producing a little computer-generated art.

If you'll take my advice, though, you'll go for a laser printer. The quality, as long as you don't insist on colour, is stunning. Laser printers are the only way to go for anyone interested in producing text and graphics of professional quality. These days, the price has dropped to such an extent that it's foolish to settle for less.

Input Devices are pieces of equipment you need to feed information into the computer. You need two; both are standard.

The first is a keyboard, with which you type characters. Computer keyboards differ from typewriter keyboards, principally because they use "function keys'' which tell the computer to perform a variety of special functions. Some people find a standard keyboard hard on the wrists, but you're unlikely to be one of them. If you are, ergonomically more friendly keyboards are available at reasonable prices.

The other input device is a mouse. It moves a pointer on the screen and allows you to give instructions to the computer by "clicking'' on icons, or symbols, displayed there.

Modems are devices which allow you to send and receive information over a telephone line. If you want to get on the Net, if you want to send faxes from your computer, or if you want to send e-mail, (you need a software programme for both applications) you must have one.

Many people get BTC to install a special, dedicated line. But unless your home telephone is used heavily, or you intend to use the computer heavily, it is only a minor inconvenience to set up your computer so that it shares your home line with the telephone.

Many systems on the market today have a modem already built in. If the system you choose does not, you can buy an internal modem, which is quite easy to install inside the computer casing, or an external modem, which sits on the desk near the computer.

Modems send information from your computer to another machine elsewhere. The speed at which they do that is measured in bits per second. They are in an area of fairly rapid technical advance, but today's highest rate, 56K, is the one to shoot for. You'll probably need to replace it within a couple of years.

CD-ROM is a device like a little record player. The CD part of the name means compact disk, and it is well-named. It holds a vast amount of information, allowing your computer to play sound and video clips, letting you acquire a library of Useful Information, Games and Interesting Stuff, which can be inserted in the player and used in the same way one uses long-playing records or CDs.

Much is being made at the moment of the interactive nature of this device - in other words, you need not begin at the beginning and move through in a linear fashion. Instead, each "screen'' of information presents you with a variety of choices, so you can move through the information as your interest takes you.

Lots of people swear by it, and it is pretty standard gear for a multi-media computer system these days. You should probably go for it, and may want to choose a "CD-ROM burner'', which enables you to create your own CDs. Blanks are inexpensive, allowing you to mix your own sounds, lay out photographs or store large quantities of data, as an alternative to the removable hard disk system.

The ROM in CD-ROM stands for read-only memory; the "burner'' is known as CD-R, or CD recordable.

Finally, a few further general pieces of information.

First, the standard choice in computers is between a DOS system and a Mac, or Macintosh, a computer produced by Apple.

Macs started their life by being much easier to use than DOS machines, but Microsoft's Windows 95 changed all that. Macs were once a good deal cheaper than DOS machines, but that's not true any longer.

Most businesses choose DOS machines more often than Macs. But Macs, it is normally accepted, are better at graphics applications than DOS machines, and you'll be hard pressed to find an advertising company, for example, which uses the DOS platform.

Unless you have a good reason to choose one or the other, it's a choice you can make secure in the knowledge that one is as good as the other. Does that help? To tell you the truth, I wouldn't dare recommend one over the other.

There are some very intelligent and very vociferous people on both sides of that little coin.

Secondly, there are normally good reasons why you should buy an appliance like a television or a fridge in Bermuda, like getting it serviced without a hassle.

Be warned, though, that prices in Bermuda can sometimes be puzzlingly higher than prices in the United States and puzzlingly different from shop to shop.

Make sure you shop around and try to compare the type of package you get from one shop with the type of package you get from another, like to like.

If you're attracted by the lower prices of systems you buy abroad and bring in, you can get some great deals from the many, many discount computer manufacturers and dealers who do business by telephone.

Buy computer magazines like Byte, or PC Computing, and read their computer reviews. Another magazine, Computer Shopper, which is available in Bermuda, caters exclusively to mail-order buyers and sellers.

Be careful, because there are lots of sharks out there, but if you buy from a reputable dealer, and if you make sure that in your calculations you compare like with like, you can save enough money to make it worthwhile.

And since computer parts are almost always capable of being used in any machine, regardless of brand, you can use the dealer's customer support facility to diagnose the problem and send you the new bit you need when you need it, if you're mechanically-minded.

Finally, get used to the idea that you're spending quite a lot of money on something that you will probably want to replace in about five years or less, even though it will probably still have lots of life left in it. The technology is changing too quickly and too radically to give you much choice.

MORE POWER, MORE SELECTION -- When buying a computer, making sense of the mind-boggling array of choices is your first and foremost task. Standard equipment on today's home PC includes at least a 166 MHz Pentium processor -- though 200 MHz and greater is the power you should aim for. CD-ROM drives, lightning-quick modems, and at the minimum, 16 megabytes of RAM should round-out your system.

INSIDE -- The guts of every PC include a motherboard, videocard, soundcard, the foundation for all the circuits and chips MINI SUPPLEMENT SUP