Back-to-School Shopping Quiz

Does your student have the technology gear to succeed? Take our test and find out.

Daniel Tynan

In your student days, you probably didn't lug a computer to school. Or if you did, you were one of a nerdy few. These days, 85 percent of college freshmen arrive with a PC or Mac in tow, according to a survey by the Professional Research Group. What's more, most high schoolers use computers at home. Do your students have the technology they need to succeed?

To help pick the right equipment for students--whether high school or college--we've devised the Scholastic Cyber Aptitude Test (SCAT). Just answer the following ten questions to the best of your ability, and you'll be on your way to choosing the perfect student PC. We even give you the answers so you don't have to wait by the mailbox for your scores. And please, no looking at your neighbor's screen.

Question 1: Harry's parents bought him a 3-GHz Pentium 4 PC loaded with 512MB of RAM, a giant 120GB hard drive, a sleek 17-inch LCD flat-panel monitor, a DVD-rewritable drive, and a red-hot 8X AGP graphics card. Sally has an old 800-MHz machine with only 128MB of memory, a mere 20GB of storage, a vanilla CD-ROM drive, a standard video card, and an old-fashioned 15-inch CRT monitor.

Which of the following statements is likely to be true?

1. Harry will graduate at the top of his class.
2. Sally will pursue a career in pet grooming.
3. Harry will spend all his time playing games and eventually be expelled.
4. Sally's parents will save so much money on hardware they'll be able to pay for graduate school.
5. None of the above.

Answer: 5, None of the above. The kind of computer you buy has little influence on academic success, though your choice will hinge on what your budding genius needs to do with it. If they plan to redefine the laws of physics, design skyscrapers, or edit a two-hour digital video masterpiece, they'll need a machine like Harry's. But most students just need to write papers, surf the Web, and send each other instant messages when they should be studying. In that case, Sally's older PC would work just fine. Even so, however, her parents wouldn't save enough to pay for grad school.

Question 2: "It's essential you buy a computer before your child has been accepted to college." This statement is:

1. True
2. False

Answer: 2, False. Nearly all college students can benefit from having a computer; but wait to find out which university your child will be attending before you plunk down the plastic. Some have specific requirements: The Berklee School of Music in Boston, for example, will buy an Apple PowerBook for you, then add the $2500 cost to the tuition bill. South Carolina's Clemson University, on the other hand, has standardized on IBM ThinkPads (bought by you, of course). And many schools have minimum requirements for hardware and operating systems, so familiarize yourself with them before you shop. Also, your child's college may be able to get you a discount if you buy through an on-campus program.

That said, parents of high schoolers face a particular challenge. Can they buy a PC now that will last into college? The answer is yes. Even if technology leaves us all in the dust, a PC purchased today can still be used to write term papers and surf the Internet in four years. You can always upgrade components later.

Question 3: Select the pair of words that best expresses the relationship in the following pair: "CPU: Speed."

1. LCD: Thin
2. RAM: Capability
3. AGP: Graphics
4. USB: Connect
5. DVD: Movies

Answer: 2, RAM: Capability. Just as speed is the primary yardstick for a PC's central processing unit, how much memory a computer has is critical to what it can accomplish.

Windows fans will want a PC with at least a 1.6-GHz processor and 128MB of RAM (256MB is better); Apple Macintosh devotees should look for a processor running at 1 GHz or higher with no less than 128MB of RAM.

But don't ignore the other items on the list:

• A LCD is sexier and takes up far less room than a conventional CRT monitor but costs $200 to $500 more, depending on screen size.
• Almost all PC graphics cards these days require an Accelerated Graphics Port that speeds up screen redraws. A 2X AGP card in an older PC is fine for most needs, but gamers will want a 4X or 8X card in a newer PC that supports it.
• USB 2.0 ports provide a fast, easy way to connect compatible peripherals such as hard drives and optical drives.
• A DVD-ROM drive lets you watch movies on the PC. For $200 more, you can get a rewritable DVD drive that lets you store gigabytes of data on a disc. If you don't want your student watching movies on the PC, you can get by with an older and cheaper CD-RW drive that holds about 700MB per disc--that's enough for plenty of term papers.

Question 4: Rahim has $1000 to spend on software. Copies of Microsoft Office XP retail for around $600. As a student, how many can he buy?

1. One
2. Two
3. Three
4. Four
5. Five

Answer: 5, Five. No, I didn't fail math. If Rahim buys academic editions of Office XP, he can get them for less than $200 apiece. Organizations like Computer Products for Education and SchoolWorld Software sell products from Adobe, Corel, Microsoft, and others for discounts of up to 90 percent--but you have to show them a copy of your student or teacher ID before they'll shave the price.

Question 5: Simone carries a svelte yet powerful 5-pound notebook computer. Jean Paul has an equally fast desktop PC with a 50-pound monitor and enough wires to choke a horse. Which of the following statements is true?

1. Simone's system likely cost $300 to $500 more than Jean Paul's.
2. Jean Paul's system is easier to upgrade and less likely to be stolen.
3. Simone is more likely to take schoolwork home on visits.
4. Jean Paul is more likely to ask you to help him move.
5. All of the above.

Answer: 5, All of the above. Notebooks are both more portable and more expensive, although the price gap between notebooks and desktops has shrunk considerably. Still, given the size of an average dorm room and how often undergrads tend to move, I recommend portables for college students. Just be sure to get a notebook lock ($25 to $75) to deter would-be thieves. A cheap desktop is a better call for high schoolers who live at home, where room size and mobility are not as important.

Question 6: Fill in the blank: Sasha's parents couldn't afford a brand-new computer, but they got a great deal on a _______ one.

1. Broken
2. Obsolescent
3. Refurbished
4. Nefarious
5. Purple

Answer: 3, Refurbished. If money is tight (or you'd rather spend some on a prepaid calling card), a refurbished computer can provide cutting-edge features for a fraction of the retail price. Refurbished computers have been used, sent back to the factory for updating, and tested to ensure they work. Just remember: Your choices will be more restricted; and most refurbs come with limited 90-day warranties, so factor in the cost of an extended warranty before you buy.

Question 7: All college students are Web surfers. All Web surfers want fast, broadband connections. Therefore all college students need high-speed cable or DSL modems. This statement is:

1. True
2. False

Answer: 2, False. Internet access is essential, and faster is always better, but most universities already have Internet connections much swifter than any cable or DSL hook-up. You just need to make sure your student's PC has an Ethernet adapter so they can hook up to the campus network. And because campuses are rapidly installing wireless networks, consider getting a wireless adapter in any notebook you buy. This lets the student log on anywhere within range of a Wi-Fi access point--at the library, for example, or a local Starbucks. Wi-Fi comes in different flavors; look for the new 802.11g spec to make sure the adapter works with most networks.

For high schoolers, a fast DSL or cable modem connection can make researching term papers a lot easier; costs range from $35 to $60 per month. If you've got several PCs in the house, consider setting up a wireless network in order to share one broadband connection. Each PC will need a Wi-Fi adapter, and you'll need to attach a wireless access point to your broadband modem.

Question 8: "Virus" is to "antivirus utility," as "hacker" is to "___________."

1. Spam filter
2. Personal firewall
3. Bodyguard
4. Ad blocker
5. Spyware detector

Answer: 2, Personal firewall. Personal firewalls like McAfee Firewall or ZoneAlarm Pro can keep the bad guys out of your PC; they're essential for anyone with a high-speed Internet connection, which hackers love to exploit. You'll also want Norton AntiVirus or McAfee VirusScan to prevent infections from viruses and worms, and a filter like SpamKiller or IHateSpam to trap electronic junk mail. Ad blockers like WebWasher and spyware detectors like Ad-aware can keep obnoxious ads from appearing on screen. Want all of this in one easy-to-install package? Check out Symantec's $70 Norton Internet Security 2003 or McAfee's $80 PC Security Suite.

Question 9: Which of the following items doesn't belong?

1. Limewire
2. Kazaa
3. Gnutella
4. Blubster
5. The RIAA

Answer: 5, The RIAA, or Recording Industry Association of America. The first four choices are peer-to-peer file sharing applications used to swap digital music files online--an extremely popular activity among students. The RIAA is a somewhat less popular trade group that's suing kids for illegally sharing copyrighted music. Most schools forbid the use of file sharing programs. Unless you want to spend your tuition money on an attorney, advise your kids against using peer-to-peer services to swap copyrighted material online.

Question 10: When it comes to education, a Mac is inherently superior to a Windows-based computer.

1. Right on, man!
2. No way, dude!

Answer: I'm sorry, I try to avoid taking takes sides in religious disputes. Unless otherwise specified by the educational institution, buy whatever operating environment your child is most familiar with and/or gives you the most bang for your buck.

Award-winning journalist and PC World Contributing Editor Daniel Tynan matriculated at U.C. Berkeley, where he wrote all of his college papers on a borrowed electric typewriter.