Buying a Computer for Home Internet,Laptop or Desktop

You need a computer to connect to the internet. The computer may be a desktop, laptop or a smart 2.5G, 3G or 3.5G phone. In this page we will focus on buying a laptop or desktop computer for your home internet in Nigeria.


Though most of the example given in this page will be valuable to readers in Nigeria international readers will find the content useful.

There are three classes of computers in the Nigerian market. The classes are used, assembled, and branded. The class of PC you buy depends on your needs, it also depends on how much you can afford to spend on a computer. The price of a good desktop computer can go for as low as 30,000 Naira in most parts of Nigeria. A good laptop on the other hand starts at about 50,000 Naira. Of course these prices are for fairly used computers. For brand new computers, you will require from N65,000.

A desktop computer, although cheaper than a laptop, comes with the constraint of mobility. If you want a computer you can use from any location in your home (kitchen, living room, bed room, outdoors) then you better pay the extra cost for a laptop. Laptop computers also have a unique advantage in Nigeria. Laptops come with backup batteries which can last for a considerably longer time than a UPS would. Some laptop computers record up to 10 hours on battery. This makes laptop computers a great choice in Nigeria, with power supply so unreliable. You charge your laptop batteries when ever there is power supply.

If however, cost is of a priority then a desktop computer will be a good choice. But remember that unreliable power supply can make a desktop computer useless, except you have a large enough generator to power it.

However, no matter the class of computer there are some basic questions you need to ask the sales person. These include:

What is the processing power of the computer?



The processing power of a PC is a measure of how fast the computer processes data. This is the most important parameter to consider as the processing power of computer determines the software that you can run on the system.

A computer of at least 1GHz is good for the home. It can be Pentium, Athlon, Celeron or Duron. The class does not really matter, what matters is the processing power (speed).

What is the Quantity of memory (RAM)?

The Quantity of memory is the amount of memory available to the processor of the computer. The RAM capacity of your computer together with the processing power determines the user perceived speed of your computer.

You should go for a computer with at least 512MB of RAM installed.

What is the capacity of the installed Hard Disk?

The hard disk stores all your files. This includes your software and other documents like video clips, games, music, pictures, database files, spreadsheets, word processor documents, etc. You need a computer with enough Hard Disk space to store all your data.

You should go for a computer with at least 40GB of hard disk.

Does the cost of the computer include the cost of other components like Monitor, Printer, Scanner, UPS, Digital Camera and/or Web Cam?

You need to know what you are paying for. If the cost does not contain any of these components, then you have to buy it separately. The most critical of all the components is the monitor. A used monitor is okay for the home. You can get one at less than 7,000 Naira in most parts of Nigeria. You may also decide to go for brand new LED monitor at 18,000 Naira.

A monitor of screen size 15 inches and above if okay.

The questions above are the critical questions you must ask the sales person. In fact if you ask these questions the sales person will know that you are in the know about computers and will treat you with a lot of respect. You must also know how to confirm the claims of the sales person.