Upgrading a Personal Computer
UPGRADING A PERSONAL COMPUTER Many of the latest software products will not run on original personal computers--IBM PCs, XTs and their clones--millions of which are still in use. Ways to upgrade and increase the performance of these older computers are discussed here by James R. Holmes, PhD, CPA, associate professor of accounting at the University of Kentucky, Lexington. Today's microcomputer software market offers the accountant many products for improving productivity. Some of these, for example, Lotus 3.0 and Excel 2.1, require advanced microcomputer technology, such as that found in the IBM AT and its clones. However, the millions of less powerful personal computers sold since 1982 are not obsolete. With the proper upgrade components, such as the following, these older machines will run the latest software products: * Adding a hard disk. * Installing additional conventional memory. * Acquiring expanded and extended memory. * Installing a faster central processing unit (CPU). * Installing a math coprocessor chip. * Adding a multitasking operating system. These components are listed in exhibit 1 on page 104. HARD DISK On a performance-per-dollar basis, no other improvement rivals the installation of a hard disk. A hard disk speeds loading programs into memory and storing data to disk. Speed is an obvious convenience, but a hard disk also reduces work-flow disruptions by eliminating frequent changing of floppy disks. The accountant upgrading a PC should replace one of the full-height floppy disk drives with a half-height hard disk and a new half-height floppy disk drive. Both will fit into the space previously occupied by the original full-height floppy disk drive. Because many accountants prefer to copy files from one floppy disk to another, a machine with two floppy disk drives is convenient. In offices that use both 5 1/4- and 3 1/2-inch disks, the accountant can install a 3 1/2-inch disk drive as the second floppy drive. CONVENTIONAL MEMORY Although MS-DOS computers can address up to 640 kilobytes (640K) of memory, many accountants use machines with less memory. Even if current programs fit within a machine's existing memory, there are good reasons to purchase and install additional memory chips. Spreadsheet and database software accommodate large data files by using all the conventional memory in a microcomputer. As people become more proficient at using electronic spreadsheets and add new records to databases, they will need larger data files. Properly used, additional memory also can speed work. A portion of memory can be set aside as a virtual disk drive (V-disk). DOS treats the V-disk as another disk drive, storing and retrieving files from it rapidly. Often-used programs can be copied to the V-disk and then quickly accessed. Additional conventional memory also can be used as a print buffer to make the user more efficient. Printers can be slow and can stop other work while they are operating. With a print buffer, however, when a spreadsheet or word processing program attempts to print a file, the output is diverted to the print buffer and stored in memory. The computer is then available for other uses while the print buffer program manages the printing. EXPANDED AND EXTENDED MEMORY As application programs get larger, they bump up against the 640K memory limitation of DOS. Expanded and extended memory alleviate this problem. Expanded memory specification (EMS). The primary purpose of EMS is to permit programs to store data. Many programs such as Lotus 1-2-3, Quattro and Excel can use all the available EMS to manipulate huge spreadsheets. Utilities, such as print buffers and V-disks, also can be loaded into this type of memory. Storing data and utility programs in expanded memory frees the conventional memory in which DOS application programs run. …