Defining characteristics of televisions. Contrast and brightness as important selection parameters

24.02.2024

Choosing an SSD is an exciting experience, given the relative novelty of this type of drive, the variety of characteristics and performance test results, etc. For all their undoubted advantages, solid-state drives have (hopefully for now) one significant drawback - they are not cheap, especially high-capacity models. If you need somewhere to store accumulated collections of music, films, photographs and other information that requires space, then you cannot do without a regular hard drive.

Hard drive requirements

Now the Internet is full of comparative tests of SSD drives. About 5-10-15 years ago, a similar situation was with traditional hard drives, when the results of various models were compared, a certain rating was compiled, which drives were the fastest, which were the coldest, and which were the quietest.

Currently, the performance of hard drives has somehow faded into the background. The fact is that it’s already difficult to squeeze more out of this technology, and you still won’t be able to compete with solid-state drives. This means that you need to “take” with other qualities. Which ones? Capacity, and, most importantly, the cost of this capacity. There is such a concept - price per gigabyte, i.e. how much does one gigabyte of the capacity of a particular disk cost.

For example, the cheapest 4 TB HDD with a 3.5-inch form factor will cost approximately 7,500 rubles, i.e. 1 GB costs 1.88 rubles. SSD drives of this capacity are only in the plans for now, and of those that exist, the most capacious models are 2 TB. Moreover, their cost is (the cheapest) about 50,000 rubles. How much does 1 GB cost in this case? Calculate for yourself.

Hence the conclusion - if you need to store a large amount of data, and do it for reasonable money, then the choice is definitely for HDD. But how to choose a hard drive, what size should you prefer, and at what rotation speed?

HDD parameters

Still, we cannot ignore the basic parameters of hard drives. This:

Form factor. Available in 3.5 and 2.5 inches. The first are for stationary PCs, the second are for laptops, all-in-one PCs, etc. In this case, the larger physical size of the drives can provide greater capacity. Among the 2.5-inch models there are both 4 and 5 TB models, but their thickness does not allow them to be installed in laptops, but they are suitable for stationary PCs, network storage, etc. At the same time, their cost is higher than that of larger ones 3.5-inch brothers. There are also 1.8-inch models, but their prevalence tends to zero.
Capacity. Actually, it shows how much of everything necessary and important can be stored on the disk.
Interface. Everything is simple here. SATA-3, practically no options. Server drives with a SAS interface are usually not used at home.
Rotational speed. There are two main options - 5400 and 7200 rpm. There are also options with 5900 rpm or, as is the case with some drive models, for example, Western Digital, the speed is not indicated at all, and the specifications contain the word “IntelliPower”, i.e. the drive somehow controls the speed itself. Well, God bless him, let him rule. Naturally, the higher the rotation speed, the faster the drive should be.
Buffer memory size. It’s similar here, the more, the faster (in theory) the disk should work. In my opinion, this parameter should be the last thing you look at. At home, it does not have a significant effect on the “rate of fire” of the drive.

What else?

Agree, it’s unpleasant when some component in the computer suddenly fails. Just now (yesterday, an hour ago, etc.) everything worked, but now it doesn’t. The soul, if it could be in the motherboard, memory module, power supply, etc., can fly off to its computer paradise quietly, or with special effects such as sparks, smoke, or a burning smell.

Trouble? No, this is a disappointment. The motherboard, memory module, power supply, video card can be repaired, in the end, replaced with a new one, even better than it was, and after minor manipulations continue to work.

And if the hard drive fails, is it a disappointment? But in some situations this may well lead to trouble. Especially if this drive contained a home photo archive, the results of many days of work, an almost written diploma and something else important that existed in a single copy.

Now I don’t mean options with a faulty interface wire, problems with the power supply, “loss” of the disk by the operating system, etc. We are talking about the failure of the disk itself, be it a mechanical failure or an electronics failure. Restoring information from such a disk can be expensive, and it may not be possible to recover the data.

This raises another requirement for a disk – reliability. A parameter such as “mean time between failures,” which every drive has, is not empirical, but is based on some kind of calculations. I wouldn't recommend looking at it. It is better to pay attention to the warranty period for a specific hard drive model and the possibility of exchange if a breakdown occurs during this period.

Reliability

How to determine which drive is more reliable and which is not? To be honest, almost nothing. Verbal battles on forums and in comments in the style of “Seagate sucks, WD rules” only confuse, without providing any useful information. For some, one thing works, and another breaks, and for others, it’s exactly the opposite.

Personally, I have my own preferences, and for many years I have been using Hitachi drives (now it is more correct to call them HGST), which have never let me down, but this is a purely subjective opinion. Although I also have several WD Green drives (one of which is already dying) and an 8-terabyte Seagate.

More or less adequate statistics on disk reliability can only be shown by comparative testing, which requires the nth number of disks of each model and a lot of time. Who is doing this? Almost no one, unfortunately. Although you can still find some information.

Thus, interesting reports on the number of hard drives used and detailed failure statistics are published by Backblaze, a company that provides cloud storage services. Reports are regularly issued on the number of drives used, models, and the number of failures.

They have been keeping their statistics since the beginning of 2015. I will not present graphs and calculations here; they can be easily found on the Internet. According to the information they publish, HGST drives have the fewest failures. Seagate is doing worse, but there is a trend toward fewer failures and longer drive life.

How to treat this information? How to “food for thought”. In this case, the question is not when the drive will fail (sooner or later “all dogs hard drives go to heaven”), but what is the likelihood of this sad event occurring. Any manufacturer has successful and not so successful models, some last a long time, others have many complaints.

No one can guarantee one hundred percent failure-free operation. Therefore, you need to take care of the safety of information yourself. Really important files should be stored on several different physical media, or backed up to cloud storage. In the end, assemble a RAID array from several disks.

Hard drive series

For each manufacturer, all produced models are in one way or another divided into several series, each of which is positioned for a specific application. So, Hitachi... sorry, HGST, divides its drives into the Deskstar and Ultrastar series. The former are aimed at use in home/office computers, the latter - for use with more serious loads and are designed for round-the-clock operation.

Other brands do much the same. Seagate has several series:

Barracuda and Barracuda Pro - for everyday use. The capacity range is from 1 to 10 TB. In general, may fans of the brand forgive me, this is consumer goods for all occasions. This is also evidenced by such an interesting parameter indicated in the characteristics as “Workload limit, TB/year”. For all modifications of the Barracuda series it is 55 TB, and for Barracuda Pro - 300 TB. For heavier loads, it is recommended to choose enterprise-class drives. Warranty – 2 years and 5 years respectively.
FireCuda is a hybrid model (with a small 8 GB cache on an MLC NAND memory chip). Focused on productive computers, workstations or gaming stations. Only 2 capacities are offered – 1 and 2 TB. There are no workload restrictions.
IronWolf and IronWolf Pro are a special series for working in network-attached storage (NAS). Available capacities range from 1 to 10 TB. The annual load is limited for IronWolf to 180 TB, and for the IronWolf Pro version to 300 TB. The number of head parking operations is 600,000 times. Warranty – 3 years and 5 years respectively.
SkyHawk - designed for use in video surveillance systems and can receive streaming data from a large number of video cameras at once at high speed. The capacity range is from 1 to 10 TB. The load limit is the same 300 TB/year.

WD usually divides drives into the following series:

Blue – disks for office or home computers that are not critical to the speed of the disk subsystem. Capacities up to 6 TB are available. The rotation speed of almost all models is 5400 rpm. Warranty – 2 years. About the same as Seagate's Barracuda series.
Black – more powerful drives for demanding users. Capacities – up to 6 TB, rotation speed – 7200 rpm. Warranty – 5 years.
Purple – models for video surveillance. Capacities up to 10 TB are available, rotation speed is 5400 rpm. Workload limits: 180 TB/year. Warranty - 3 years.
Red – for network attached storage (NAS). Capacities – up to 10 TB, rotation speed – 5400 rpm. Warranty – 3 years. The declared number of head parking operations is 600,000 times.
Gold is a corporate series of drives for servers and data centers. Capacities – up to 10 TB, rotation speed – 7200 rpm. Productive models with a 5-year warranty.

Models for use in network storage and servers usually incorporate systems that are not used in devices intended for general use. This includes, for example, rotational vibration sensors, optimization for use in RAID arrays, etc.

At the same time, it often happens that such drives can operate louder, and the heating can be higher, so cooling will definitely not be superfluous for them. At the same time, consumer-class drives (such as Seagate Barracuda or WD Blue) are less “fast”, but operate quieter and heat up less, although they are not equipped with any additional sensors or optimizations. But they are cheaper.

Which hard drive to choose.

I will express my thoughts, which do not necessarily have to coincide with yours. As for laptops, the optimal solution is a 1 TB hard drive, preferably with a rotation speed of 7200 rpm. Manufacturer? Choose which one you like. Personally, I prefer HGST. My laptop currently has a 1TB HGST HTE721010A9E630, purchased a few months ago.

For stationary PCs, that is, when choosing a 3.5-inch hard drive, there are much more opportunities to rack your brains. In any case, I would not consider hard drives smaller than 1 TB. Judge for yourself, the cheapest 500 GB drive (Toshiba DT01ACA050) costs about 2,500 rubles. The cheapest terabyte Seagate Barracuda (ST1000DM010) is only 300-400 rubles more expensive. Does it make sense to save?

It makes sense to take a terabyte if this is the only drive on which the system will be installed, and a lot of space is not required, since all that is needed is office work, surfing the Internet, etc. 7200 rpm model (any HGST, WD Black, Seagate Barracuda or, if you don’t mind the money, Seagate FireCuda will do).

If the drive is needed just to have it, if it serves as an add-on to the system SSD drive, then you can save a little and go with the Seagate Barracuda or WD Blue. Moreover, pay attention to capacities of about 4 TB. I'll explain why.

For example, let's choose the Seagate Barracuda series. To calculate the optimal costs per unit of disk capacity, let us recall the already mentioned “price per gigabyte”. Let's look at the price list:

1TB, model ST1000DM010 – price approximately 2800 rubles, each 1 GB “costs” 2.80 rubles.
2 TB, model ST2000DM006 – price approximately 4200 rubles, 1 GB “costs” 2.10 rubles.
3 TB, model ST3000DM008 – price approximately 5,700 rubles, 1 GB “costs” 1.90 rubles.
4 TB, model ST4000DM004 – price approximately 7,500 rubles, 1 GB “costs” 1.88 rubles.
6 TB, model ST6000DM004 – price approximately 14,500 rubles, 1 GB “costs” 2.42 rubles.
8 TB, model ST8000DM005 – price approximately 18,500 rubles, 1 GB “costs” 2.31 rubles.

As you can see, for this parameter, the optimal solution is a 4 TB disk, and the most unprofitable, if you do not take into account the model with the already “ridiculous” capacity of 1 TB, is the ST6000DM004 model. True, these are all calculations from the perspective of the cost of a data unit. If you just need a capacious disk with 6-8, or even more, TB, then it makes no difference how much 1 GB costs now. Although 2 ST4000DM004 drives will be cheaper than one ST8000DM005. Why not think about it?

The HGST disks stand somewhat separately. The company generally does not produce 3.5-inch models with rotation speeds less than 7200 rpm. True, their cost is higher. A 1 TB Ultrastar 7K2 drive costs more than 5,000 rubles. True, as the name implies, this is not a “desktop” series, but the Ultrastar series positioned above.

But models with larger capacities have a more reasonable price tag. Thus, the Ultrastar 7K6000 6 TB model costs about 13,000 rubles, which is quite consistent with the cost of competitors. And let's not forget about 7200 rpm and the Ultrastar series.

Naturally, the choice should be based on how much capacity you need and how much you are willing to spend on the drive.

If we are talking about the need to store large amounts of data (a collection of movies, music, photos, etc.), then I would not consider the cheapest options. Ideally, these should be series aimed at working in network storage, Seagate IronWolf (Pro) or WD Red. Even if you don’t have a NAS and don’t plan to build a RAID, these drives are still the best choice. Moreover, where is the guarantee that you will not decide to buy storage in the foreseeable future? Among HGST discs, it is better to give preference to the Ultrastar series.

Let's look at a few specific models for specific use cases.

System disk

Let's assume it will be a terabyte disk. I would highlight the following models:

Seagate Barracuda (ST1000DM010) is the cheapest, approximately 2800 rubles. The only thing to consider is the warranty – only 2 years. Typical budget option.
Western Digital Caviar Blue (WD10EZEX) is one of the few models in the “blue” series with 7200 rpm. A direct competitor to the Barracuda. Same 2 year warranty. Of these two drives, I would choose WD.
Seagate FireCuda SSHD (ST1000DX002) – hybrid, the cost is already 5100 rubles. The warranty is the same - 2 years. Belonging to the FireCuda family means higher performance than the Barracuda.
Western Digital Black (WD1003FZEX) – price is about the same as FireCuda. They are generally direct competitors.
HGST Ultrastar 7K2 (1W10001) - cost approximately 5200. There is a 7200 rpm, Ultrastar series, 128 MB cache (the rest have 64 MB each).

If you have to overpay, then I would take the Ultrastar 7K2 model (as an alternative - WD Black), if not, then WD Blue.

Data storage disk

If everything has already been decided with the system disk, and you need a drive, or maybe several, to store everything you need and important, then I would prefer to consider models starting with a capacity of 4 TB. If there are no serious requirements for the speed of disk operation, then it is quite possible to limit yourself to models with a rotation speed of 5400-5900 rpm.

I will highlight the following:

Seagate Barracuda (ST4000DM004) is the cheapest of the 4 TB drives. The cost is about 7700 rubles.
Western Digital Blue (WD40EZRZ) – slightly more expensive than the previous one, about 400-500 rubles. In my opinion, this model is preferable.
HGST Deskstar NAS (0S04005) – costs about 8,500 rubles. Unlike the previous ones, it has a speed of 7200 rpm. A desktop series designed for use in NAS as well.
Seagate IronWolf (ST4000VN008) – cost about 8900 rubles. RPM speed – 7200. Belonging to a series capable of working in disk storage means the presence of vibration protection systems, additional balancing and other “improvers”.
Western Digital Red (WD40EFRX) – cost approximately 9,700 rubles. The exact number of revolutions is not indicated; it is managed by the IntelliPower system. A specialized series for storage, which does not negate the possibility of using them as a single disk. If it weren't for the price, it would be a great option.
HGST Ultrastar 7K6000 (0F23025) – cost about 10,500 rubles. Ultrastar series, large buffer, 7200 rpm, good performance, 5-year warranty. But the price is rather high. It’s probably too good for a home “file dump.”

If the main purpose is data storage with a light load, mainly reading, then why not also opt for models for video surveillance systems. Provided, of course, that no RAID will be built on them.

Of the above, WD Blue, HGST Deskstar NAS and Seagate IronWolf seem to be the best choices. The price difference between them is no more than 800 rubles, and the last 2 are also ready to work in disk storage and RAID. If you increase the amount a little, then a good solution is WD Red.

If you need a larger capacity, then there is option 2 - either take a drive of the appropriate volume, or take 2 (3, 4...) with a smaller volume, but in total you will get what you need. And you can even save money. Above we already compared the cost of an 8 TB disk with the cost of 2 4 TB disks. The question is how much space do you have in your case for drives and what are the prospects for further increasing disk space.

Conclusion. How to choose a hard drive

So how can we summarize all of the above? Let's start with the fact that there is no fundamental difference between manufacturers. Yes, some statistics show that HGST is somewhat more reliable and durable than Seagate, and WD is somewhere in the middle. However, this does not mean that Seagate should definitely be removed from the list of candidates for purchase. Let's not forget about the number of drives sold by this manufacturer, and if everything was so bad, who would buy them?

The choice may be influenced by personal preferences (like mine, for example), as well as some other, at first glance, insignificant characteristics. Thus, HGST hard drives are traditionally considered noisier, which does not prevent them from being considered more reliable.

You should also pay attention to the warranty period for the hard drive. Moreover, it is important to know where to go if problems arise. The ideal option is the possibility of exchanging a failed drive under the RMA (Return Merchandise Authorization) program from the manufacturer itself. Unfortunately, in Russia this program is available only from Western Digital. Discs from other manufacturers will have to be exchanged through the store that sold you the product.

And the warranty period itself indirectly speaks about the “survivability” of the disk. It is probably clear that a 5 year warranty is better than 2 years. In the first case, it is assumed that the disk will not die in the next couple of years. But in the second case, anything can happen; it can die a week after the warranty expires, or it can last for many years.

It would be nice to be able to return or exchange a purchased hard drive if, when you first turn it on, you don’t like something about its operation. This could be a noticeable vibration or an excessively loud knock. It is also useful to check the disk, for example, with the HDTune program, including checking the surface of the disk for the presence of bad blocks.

Most importantly, do not forget that only timely and correct backup, i.e. backup, can guarantee the safety of important information. Storing the necessary data on different physical (namely different physical, and not on different partitions of the same disk) media is a guarantee that no problems with disks will lead to large expenses, loss of important files, time and nerves.

Happy shopping and safe storage!

When choosing a new power supply unit, you should first of all pay attention to the following characteristics:

The mains voltage for which it is designed.
When buying a unit in a Russian store, of course, it is difficult to find a unit designed to work exclusively with some American network, where 115 V instead of 220, and in this regard, this criterion can be considered unimportant, but, nevertheless, if it is known in advance If in the place where the unit will be used, there is a chronically low mains voltage (for example, in an area with an overloaded power grid or in a village), it makes sense to check the mains voltage range for which the unit is designed to avoid later failures and sudden unexplained outages.

Declared power of the power supply.
It is long-term and peak.
The peak one can be issued for a short time (a few seconds, after something the protection will work, or the unit will fail), the long-term one can be issued for a long time.
The required power is determined by the filling of the system unit.
A certain power reserve should be provided so that the unit does not operate in extreme conditions.
If in the future an upgrade is planned in the system with this block, it makes sense to provide an even larger power reserve.

The concept of “honest watts” and “Chinese watts” is common.
The reason for this is the dishonesty of manufacturers (mainly the so-called “Chinese noname”), who, in order to give credibility to their products, indicate one large power value, which in fact turns out to be peak power, which, moreover, is not always confirmed by tests.

The version of the standard to which the block is made.
When purchasing a new unit for a new system, problems with standards incompatibility are very rare, but when repairing old computers or trying to use an old unit to power a new system, such problems can arise.

Manufacturer.

Cross-section and length of cable wires for powering devices.
The marking of wires in device power cables, which determines the cross-section, should be 18AWG (or 16AWG, which is better); the use of 20AWG wires is a reduction in cost by unscrupulous manufacturers and a departure from the standard, which is becoming increasingly rare.
The cable length must be sufficient to power all devices inside the system unit without the use of additional extension cords.

Required connector configuration for powering the motherboard.
It can contain 20 or 24 contacts and be monolithic or collapsible.
Power supplies with a 24-pin connector with a detachable 4-pin part are well suited for installation in older systems that plan to replace a motherboard that requires an older 20-pin connector with a more modern one that requires a 24-pin connector.

24-pin power connector

Number and range of power connectors for the motherboard and peripheral devices.
The unit must have a sufficient number of connectors of the required types to power all devices.

If the system has (or plans to install) SATA hard drives with special power connectors, it is desirable that the power supply unit have connectors for powering such drives.

If you have a PCI-Express video card that requires additional power (6-pin double-row connector), the power supply must have such a connector.
If there are two such cards, it makes sense to look for a block that has two such connectors.

6-pin PCIe video card connector

Molex power connector

SATA power connector

Floppy drive power connector

Form factor.
Generally speaking, most power supplies fit into the standard 150 x 146 x 86mm size, but there are exceptions.
First of all, this applies to microATX cases, in which units of reduced size can be installed.

Barebone kits are also equipped with unique blocks, which are very difficult to replace.
But, if we do not consider this class of systems and limit ourselves to classic cases, the relevance of size matching may remain if the new power supply has fans or radiators protruding beyond the standard dimensions or has an elongated case, like some new very high-power units.

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Buying a car is a big step, and choosing a car is a long and responsible process: choosing a car that will satisfy the buyer’s needs is by no means as simple as we would like. Even one missed detail can ruin the entire euphoria of the purchase. How to choose a car to suit your needs and what parameters should you focus on? “Autocode” knows the answer to these questions!

What questions to ask yourself before buying

Finding a car that suits you is a task that requires preparation, especially if this is your first car. To make choosing a car easier, determine your needs, to develop them, answer a few simple questions:

Why is a car purchased? For trips between home, work and the supermarket? Or for trips to the country? Or maybe you are looking for a car to match your own image? Choose the purpose for which you are going to buy a car - this will help in your further choice!
How much are you willing to spend? Everyone has budget limits that they can't break out of. Determine how much you are willing to spend on buying a car - this will significantly limit your search.

What body type do you need? Sedan, hatchback, station wagon, crossover - among this variety, choose what suits you. Find a compromise between visual beauty and functionality. Don't focus only on appearance!
How many passengers? Comfort in the car is necessary not only for the driver. If you regularly travel with passengers, consider their wishes.
“Manual” or “automatic”? Oh, this eternal dispute that does not subside! Choose based on operating conditions. Do you need to travel around the city a lot? Automatic transmission is more convenient in traffic jams. Do you have to travel a lot on country roads? "Mechanics" will help you save fuel and better control the car.

The number of criteria and wishes, the observance of which determines how suitable a car is for us, is almost impossible to calculate. Choosing a car based on parameters is a painstaking and time-consuming process, and the wrong approach to this important stage will spoil the pleasure of a new car. What criteria should you use to look for a “dream car”?

Car class and characteristics. We recommend that you start choosing from this parameter - focus on the number of passengers and the purpose of the trip (transporting people and transporting goods are two very different things!).
Price. Whatever one may say, there is no escape from the price. However, buyers often forget that the costs associated with the purchase are not limited to the cost of the car itself. Don’t forget about consumables, maintenance, re-registration costs, insurance... For a beginner, we recommend purchasing a cheaper car. As a rule, the service life of the first car is the shortest due to the driver's limited skills.

Manufacturer. Which brand of car to choose is up to you (some people care about their image, which will perfectly complement the badge on the hood, others are loyal to their favorite brand - there are many reasons). The main thing you shouldn’t forget about is the availability of service centers in your city: no one wants to travel several hours to change the oil, and a tow truck to the nearest specialized center will cost a pretty penny if the car suddenly “stops” and the need arises take him away.
Engine capacity. Acceleration dynamics, fuel consumption, the amount of transport tax - all this depends on what is under the hood of the car. Arm yourself with a calculator and calculate which option will be your compromise between cost and driving experience.
Drive unit. Each type of drive has pros and cons, and each driver has his own wishes and preferences. Think about what is right for you.
Transmission. We have already talked about it in the previous section - there is nothing to add!
Safety. In an emergency, the life and health of the driver and passengers depends on how well equipped the car is in terms of safety. Airbags, pre-tensioned belts, ABS, additional sensors and smart collision avoidance systems, reinforced body elements... Don't skimp on your own safety!
Additional options. A stereo system, air conditioning, cruise control and other additional features that you can do without, but which make travel more convenient and comfortable, are an important selection criterion. Most likely, when purchasing, you will again have to compromise - you will not be ready to sacrifice something, but you can safely refuse something.

Have you made a list of parameters for searching for a new car? Great - the hardest part is over, there are only a couple of useful tips left.

After drawing up the criteria by which you selected candidates for the title “car for yourself,” find information about them on the Internet and study it thoroughly. You may not even be aware of the pitfalls that can radically change your purchasing decision and force you to choose more. If you have the opportunity to test drive the car you are planning to buy, do it. You can argue for a long time about ergonomics, comfort and other abstract values - only while driving you will understand whether this car is suitable for you or not. And don’t believe your friends who prove that their choice is the best: we are all different people, and what is vitally important to us will not play any role for someone else.

Perhaps every owner of a personal computer wants his PC to be powerful and not be too expensive. When choosing components, you need to pay attention to many different indicators. The PC processor is one of the most important parts that directly affects the performance of the device.

When choosing a central processor for a personal computer, the user should pay attention to the following parameters: manufacturer, socket type (CPU platform), clock speed, bit depth, number of cores.

There are two main processor manufacturers: AMD and Intel. Some users believe that Intel processors are superior to their competitor in everything, but such people are deeply mistaken. There is no big difference between manufacturers, since all processor models are manufactured at a high-tech level.

Connector type

The connector type is one of the most important parameters. If you skip it or forget about it, the purchased processor may not fit the motherboard, that is, the processor will not install in the special socket that is located on it. As a result, the socket number (its model) must completely match the socket located on the computer’s motherboard. For example, some of the most popular ones from Intel are: LGA 2011, LGA 1155 (LGA 775 and LGA 1156 are almost never used today). AMD has connectors: AM3, Socket AM3+ and Socket FM1.

Clock frequency

The clock speed of the processor is perhaps one of the most well-known parameters when evaluating or choosing it. The number of operations that the processor can perform in a certain unit of time depends on it. An example is a processor with a clock frequency of 3.4 GHz, that is, it can process 3 billion or 400 million cycles per second.

It is worth noting that clock speed is far from the only parameter that affects the performance of a PC. That is, if the clock frequency is high, and other components (for example, a video card, RAM, etc.) are not the most popular, then in the end the computer is unlikely to work very quickly. It must be remembered that the best way out of the situation is if all the PC components work “in unison”.

Bit depth

The processor capacity is also an important parameter. There are several: 32-bit, 64 and 128-bit. The last option is extremely rare, so it doesn’t even make sense to consider it. For the average user, a 32 or 64-bit system is sufficient. When choosing, it is worth remembering that 32-bit systems support a maximum of 3.75 GB of RAM, and if there is more of it on a personal computer, then you need to buy a processor with a 64-bit system.

Number of Cores

The choice of a processor with a certain number of cores directly depends on the type of tasks that will be solved using a PC. For example, if the user works exclusively with text editors or “light” multimedia applications, then 2 cores will be enough. Otherwise, you need to purchase a processor with a large number of cores.

The TV production industry is one of the most dynamically developing. It has always been this way: once upon a time the world imperceptibly moved from black and white screens to color ones.

Then - from huge CRT screens to miniature “flat” ones.

What are the main trends of today? How to choose a TV that will not become morally and technically obsolete within a reasonable time? There are, of course, purely subjective criteria. Well, for example. What diagonal should I choose for my TV? It all depends on the preferences of the buyer.

Where to place the device, how to choose a bracket for the TV, or how to most conveniently place the TV on the stand? All these questions, of course, are relevant, but each owner will have to solve them individually. Because, as you know, there is no comrade’s taste and color. We will try to consider the technological aspect of purchasing equipment.

TV: plasma, LCD or LED?

The most modern technologies for manufacturing displays that are used by the electronics industry in the TV segment are LCD (their operating principle is based on the physics of liquid crystals), LED (in addition to liquid crystals, they also use special light-emitting diodes) and plasma (they work using gas-discharge elements ). Displays based on these three technologies are gradually replacing traditional CRTs (cathode ray tubes). How to choose a TV based on the pros and cons of each?

LCD and LED displays are united primarily by compactness (“flat screen”). Also, these technologies are characterized by lower energy consumption compared to CRT monitors. There are ongoing discussions among experts about image quality. Some experts emphasize that LCD TVs are characterized by a fairly low level of contrast, and there is a distortion effect when viewing the screen from different angles. LED devices for the most part do not have such disadvantages.

LED TVs are divided into two subsegments, depending on the type of backlight. The most common today are Direct and Edge. The first type of backlight is characterized by the location of diodes directly under the monitor matrix. Thanks to this solution, the picture turns out clear, bright and rich. But such devices are much more expensive than analogues that use Edge technology, in which the LEDs are located not under the matrix, but along its perimeter. In addition to being cheap, this technique has another advantage - small thickness (no more than three centimeters).

Among the disadvantages of LCD TVs (especially for outdated models) is the presence of a “pause” between the signal being sent to the screen and the actual projection of the image. This interval is called the "matrix response". When thinking about how to choose an LCD TV, you should keep this in mind. The technology used in the screens of LCD devices involves the following feature: when current is applied to the matrix, the pixels begin to glow (produce a programmed color shade) not immediately, but after a certain period of time. The smaller it is, the higher the image quality, especially in dynamics (when there is intense movement of the video sequence).

Plasma TVs are devices that use gas bulbs instead of liquid crystals and LEDs. Such devices are characterized by very high brightness and contrast. In terms of image quality, “plasma”, as many experts believe, is significantly superior to LED and LCD TVs. However, it has a number of significant disadvantages. First of all, this is high energy consumption. In addition, the peculiarities of the technology are such that screen “pixels” fade over time. In addition, the price of such devices is usually higher than that of LED and LCD analogues with similar functions.

“And which TV is better to choose?” - the reader may ask. There is no clear answer. The buyer has to decide what is more important: picture quality, power consumption or shelf life of the device.

Projection TV: mini-cinema in the room

Among the innovative types of TVs are projection ones. They are designed on the principle of a cinema, when a color image is projected on a white canvas. Their main advantage is their low price. Experts note, however, that such devices have the problem mentioned above related to pixel burnout. In addition, the image seems to many users to be insufficiently bright and inconsistent when viewed from different angles.

Laser TV: an ideal option at an immodest price

Another innovative type of TV is laser. Many experts consider them ideal in terms of picture quality and service life. There are no problems with pixel burnout, their power consumption is low. However, the price is much higher than for LCD, LED, plasma and projection TVs.

Does brand matter?

Having decided on the criteria for choosing a modern TV in terms of display manufacturing technologies, the buyer will certainly pay attention to who made the TV. There is a version that almost all household appliances are assembled according to the same principles, similar or completely identical technologies. Sometimes devices differ only in the brand logo on the panel. There are also opponents of this thesis, who believe that the quality of equipment still greatly depends on the manufacturer. To confirm this, they provide sales figures that clearly show that there are leaders and outsiders in the market. Which suggests that the quality of equipment produced by both differs.

Which TV to choose - Japanese, Korean, European or Russian? This question is answered, of course, by the buyer himself. But it is, of course, worth considering the specifics of the market positioning of leading brands. This will help form an idea of the consistency and competitiveness of the manufacturer and give some clue as to which brand of TV to choose.

Comparison with SAMSUNG

In recent years, the Korean brand has been the leader in the Russian market in terms of TV sales (its share accounts for about 30% of revenue in the segment).

The specificity of Samsung is that a significant part of its products is produced here, in Russia, at an electrical plant in the Kaluga region. It is quite possible that some TV buyers, when thinking about how to choose a TV for their home, first of all pay attention to the country of origin of the equipment. The fact that the device was released in Russia may please patriotic citizens.

It is significant that in 2012, when many of the largest market players lost turnover, Samsung sales in Russia increased by 12%. Marketers note that the brand pursues a competent marketing policy and also pays great attention to the constant updating of the line of TV models. Some experts also especially emphasize the fact that the Koreans played one of the most important roles in promoting SmartTV technology on the Russian market, which is now rapidly gaining popularity.

PHILIPS is breathing down your neck

The Dutch brand Philips is the second largest brand in Russia after Samsung (about 20% of the market). Just like the Koreans, the European company opened its own production facilities in the Russian Federation - in Kaliningrad and in the village of Shushary (Leningrad Region).

Experts praise Philips for its wide range of models in a wide range of price segments. Thus, everyone has the opportunity to buy a good and at the same time inexpensive TV. If a buyer is thinking about how to choose the diagonal of a TV, and at the same time he is interested in the reasonable cost of the device, he may need to pay attention to the offers from the Dutch.

By the way, one of the samples of their technology earned the title of best 3D TV in Europe in 2011-2012. It is worth noting, however, that the brand’s global marketing strategy was not very successful. Due to large losses, the concern sold the bulk of the shares of TPV Technology (Hong Kong).

TOSHIBA: Honorable Bronze

The share of the Japanese brand TOSHIBA in Russia is about 12%. Experts explain the company's success by the fact that the TVs it produces are, as a rule, very easy to learn and take very little time to set up. Just like Philips, the company is ready to offer the Russian buyer a large selection of models in a wide price range.

SONY: almost a pedestal

In fourth place in Russia is the Japanese brand SONY (about 10% of the market). Experts explain the popularity of the brand in the Russian Federation by the fact that the company has proven itself well in the first years of its appearance on the Russian market. Until now, the SONY brand is associated among the residents of our country with high quality. True, as in the case of Philips, the situation at the global level for the Japanese company is not very good: over the past few years, as analysts note, the company has been steadily incurring losses.

Other famous brands

There are other major players in the TV sales segment. Many Russians decide to choose an LG TV - this brand has about 9% market share in the Russian Federation.

Panasonic also has a significant position, traditionally offering Russians interesting innovative solutions.

Top 10 most important options

Once we have decided on the display technology and brand, the question will arise: “How to choose a TV based on the need for certain functions?” Let's look at the 10 most important criteria for modern TV that you can focus on when purchasing a device in a store. It is worth noting that they are universal for all types of devices popular today - LCD, LED, plasma. So, our task is to choose a TV according to the parameters that are most significant for the modern buyer.

1. Matrix resolution

There are two main formats - HD Ready (considered a lower level) and Full HD (more innovative). Experts note that there is no point in choosing a matrix with Full HD (a TV that supports it usually costs more) if the device screen is small - it will still be problematic to see small details. To see how good the picture is in HD modes, it makes sense to choose a 32-inch TV at a minimum.

2. Supports HDTV and UDTV standards

HDTV stands for High Definition Television. This is an innovative standard that allows you to achieve very high image quality by making the most of the high resolution of the device in combination with digital data transmission technologies. Also, the HDTV standard allows you to achieve the highest sound quality (due to multi-channel playback of the audio stream). The typical HDTV screen format is 16x9. As the technology continued to improve, the UDTV standard emerged, which stands for “ultra-high-definition television.”

3. Screen resolution

Resolution is a parameter that determines the number of dots (pixels) per unit area. The more there are, the brighter, clearer, and more saturated the picture. Resolution is usually specified in vertical units (for example, 1080 p or 720 p, where p is pixels), but almost as often the number of dots that form their image is indicated horizontally. For example: resolution 1920x1080. TVs that support the Full HD standard typically have a resolution of at least 1080p.

4. Contrast

The higher the contrast of the device, the higher the image quality. This parameter is the ratio of the maximum brightness level of the monitor to the minimum. Contrast is one of the most important characteristics for LCD and plasma TVs.

5. Sound power

The higher this parameter, the better the sound quality. Even if the nominal volume level of the TV is low, with significant power we have less distortion of the sound stream. That is, the question is not the volume of the speakers (including external ones that can be connected), but the level of technology of the device’s sound subsystem.

6. Availability of multimedia connectors: HDMI, SCART, VGA D-sub, USB

If your TV has an HDMI connector, this will significantly expand the functionality of the device. This technology allows you to transmit video and audio signals in digital format. Using HDMI technology, you can, for example, synchronize a TV picture and a computer monitor image (or mobile devices).

SCART is an innovative interface, which is a patch connector compatible with a large number of multimedia standards - S-Video, composite video, stereo audio, etc. Using the SCART connector, you can not only send a signal to the TV, but also receive a digital data stream from the device itself (for example, to record a video broadcast on a tape recorder or computer).

This interface is designed to transmit video signals from the TV to other devices with minimal distortion. The VGA standard was first used in personal computers. Now it can be used to exchange information between many types of devices.

Another typically “computer” interface that has been introduced into the television industry is USB. Using this connector, you can connect flash drives, other storage devices, and a large number of other devices to the TV.

7. 3D support

One of the most pronounced trends in the modern TV industry is 3D technology. They allow you to see the picture shown on the screen in three-dimensional projection, that is, in a form as close as possible to the real one. Watching 3D movies and clips fascinates people a lot. Many people constantly think about questions like this: they say, I have a 3D TV. How to choose a good movie to watch tonight? And they forget about important pressing matters.

8.SmartTV technology support

SmartTV is an attempt to “hybridize” TV and computer. If the TV supports this technology, it thereby turns into a kind of PC (or, with a certain platform architecture, into a “large” smartphone into which various applications can be downloaded).

We noted above that the popularization of SmatTV technology in Russia is largely due to the marketing of the Korean company SAMSUNG. Therefore, if the question is “how to choose a smart TV,” then perhaps it makes sense to pay attention first of all to the offers from this Asian brand. It can be assumed that, occupying about 40% of sales of TVs with SmartTV support, SAMSUNG is able to supply Russian users with a wider range of opportunities - in particular, in terms of the number of specialized TV applications and their adaptability for the Russian market.

9. “Picture in Picture”

Before you finally choose a TV, having studied the specifics of displays, brand positions and analyzed the necessary options, you should pay attention to a number of additional functions that are quite useful in many cases. Among these is support for “picture-in-picture” technology, in which not one, but two or more images from different sources can be displayed on the screen. This allows you to watch several channels at the same time (or, for example, a certain program and a DVD movie).

10. Child protection

Another useful feature is childproofing the TV. Before asking the question of how to choose the size of a TV, it makes sense to think about whether it might turn out that something that is not entirely compatible with the age of the audience will be shown on the big screen? And if this is the case, perhaps you should choose a device that allows you to limit the display of unwanted images (to children, for example)?

Moreover, many modern TVs have such options. Using a special code (or a sequence of actions performed by the user), access to certain channels or functions of the device can be prohibited. So, for example, you can block channels in the “adult” category. It is important not only how to choose the right TV, but also how to watch it correctly, from the point of view of how the TV picture is perceived by different categories of viewers.

Choosing a TV antenna

Despite the dominance of digital technologies that allow you to watch TV programs in unprecedented video and sound quality, the use of traditional TV antennas is still relevant.

For residents of dachas and country houses, solving the problem of installing a high-quality device for receiving a signal is much more important than the question of how to choose a good TV. What parameters should be taken into account in order for the channels to be caught well? Let's look at the characteristics that apply to devices for receiving signals of any type. Knowledge of the following features may be useful to those who are interested in how to choose an indoor antenna for a TV.

1. Gain

The higher it is, the greater the chance of “catching” the signal, and the clearer the image will be. This parameter should not be confused with any values for a device called an "antenna amplifier". In this case we are talking about ordinary (“passive”) indoor equipment. Gain is measured in decibels. Experts consider a value of 3 dB to be a good indicator.

2. Directional pattern

Measured in degrees. This characteristic, as experts believe, is one of the defining characteristics for indoor antennas. The range of the most common values is 40-80 degrees.

3. Anti-interference factor

Measured in decibels. The higher the coefficient, the higher quality the television picture will be. This parameter shows how big the difference is in signal reception by different parts of the device.

How to properly install an outdoor antenna?

Having decided how to choose an antenna for a TV, from the point of view of key technical parameters, we systematically approach the next question: “Where to place the device?” If possible, take the equipment outside - this increases the likelihood of “catch” more TV channels than when using an indoor antenna. Not to mention the picture quality - it is almost guaranteed to be higher.

First, if possible, there should be a direct line of sight between the device and the TV tower.

Secondly, the antenna should be clearly fixed. It should not turn around or sway too much from the wind.

Thirdly, the cable connecting the equipment and the TV must have a sufficiently large cross-section (the best option is 8 millimeters). In this case, the signal from the device to the TV will pass with minimal distortion.

Fourthly, if there is an amplifier, you need to place it on the antenna itself, and not in the room. Only in this case its functionality will be fully utilized.

No matter how functional and technologically advanced modern digital TVs are, “how to choose a high-quality TV antenna” is a fairly pressing question. We hope you received a comprehensive answer to this.