what are the major factors to be concerned when buying a computer for yourself?

• Choose a specialty store, consumer electronics store, retail chain, limited service discount chain, local computer builder or mail-order/Internet vendor, based on your hardware and service needs. 
• Buy when you need to buy. No matter how long you wait for the best deal, the same configuration will cost less in six months.  
• Decide which features you'll need based on what you're going to do with the computer. For example, if you're going to be creating graphics, sound and video, you'll want plenty of RAM. If you're going to be doing heavy computational tasks (searching large databases, watching video), you'll want a super processor.  
• Decide if you want a laptop, which you can carry around with you, or a desktop model.
•  Choose a computer brand based on quality, price and technical support. 
• Based on your likely needs, determined earlier, figure out the core configuration you need, including processor and speed, amount of RAM and hard drive size. 
• Determine additional drives you need: CD-ROM, DVD-ROM, CD recorder, Zip. 
• Select peripherals and additional hardware such as modems, sound cards, video cards and speakers. 
• Decide how many extra internal card slots and disk-drive bays you'll need in order to allow room for future expansion. 
• Determine what pre-installed software you want or need. Get at least an operating system, such as Windows, an anti-virus program, and programs for word processing, spreadsheets, databases and keeping your checkbook. 
• Choose the length of warranty or service coverage appropriate to your needs.