You want to gift your child a personal computer. Naturally, you want the best. Sure, there are budgetary constraints. Also, you are not quite sure what exactly you want in a PC. But yes, you do know what you don't want -- the plethora of unbranded PCs available in the grey market.

So, the question is, which brand offers the best deal? It's a good question; there simply are no straight answers.

For one, on offer are a slew of brands, both, foreign and Indian. The foreign brands include Hewlett-Packard and Compaq (the two companies merged last year but separate brands have been retained), and IBM, which has a small presence in the home segment as it largely focuses on the corporate segment.

The Indian brands include those like HCL and Zenith.

Zenith Computers offers three models for the home segment. You have the Zenith Multimedia priced at Rs 25,500; the Zenith PC picture-in-picture priced at Rs 29,000 and the Zenith PC with UPS and printer priced at Rs 29,000.

The picture-in-picture model enables you to watch television even while using the PC.

Or, if you want to buy an international branch such as IBM, HP or a Compaq machine, you have to go through these companies' channel partners.

Or, if you prefer to deal directly with a company, then you should be talking to Dell, for they are world-famous for their direct sales approach.

"IBM, Compaq and Hewlett Packard are at a par in terms of price, quality and performance. All the three offer a slew of products priced between Rs 30,000 to Rs 75,000. Apart from the office domain, both HP and Compaq also have good products for the home segment," says a dealer.

IBM is also focusing on introducing products at lower price bands and delivering technology differentiators like 'Think.' You could get a big name at a lower price.

Says Alok Ohrie, vice president, personal computing division, IBM India Ltd, "IBM announced its 'Think' strategy with the intention to leverage innovative and cutting-edge technologies to make PCs more secure and easier to manage. We are already engaging customers with 'Think,' and more specifically with ThinkVantage Technologies -- a set of unique software tools that are available today only with IBM PCs."

"In addition to helping customers save money and time by reducing the end customer's dependence on IT support staff, ThinkVantage Technologies increase end user productivity by increased uptime (quick recovery from an OS crash), easy deployment of wireless networks and making PCs more secure," he says.

"Security is another big threat in today's business and IBM is addressing this with ThinkVantage Technology through the embedded security chip," he adds.

If you prefer to deal directly with a company and not through a distribution network, go to Dell. You can log on to www.dell.co.in and you will get a toll free number that you have to call. That is the first step towards striking a deal with Dell.

Among the domestic players, Zenith offers a slew of products for the office segment. Among these the 3D, 4D an 6D range are priced at Rs 28,000, Rs 31,000 an Rs 35,000, respectively.

Raj Saraf, CMD, Zenith Computers, says, "The Zenith premium business PC has several distinctive features. The desktop has been co-developed with an original Intel motherboard for total compatibility and validated by Intel for hardware compatibility. Further, the PC has been loaded with SAAZ, the complete IT management and system recovery suite. It also comes with a multimedia keyboard that increases productivity."

If paying cash immediately is the problem, then you can get round that if you are buying from the PC outlets.

Most of the outlets have a consumer finance scheme and have tied up with banks. ICICI is the leading player in this segment In many cases, you can get financing to the tune of 80 per cent of your cost. The loans have to be repaid between 1 to 3 years.

Clearly, buying a personal computer is not that difficult. It is more a personal decision than anything else.

If price isn't an issue...

If price is not a factor and performance is - do not forget to look into these factors:

• If you want a fast machine then do not compromise on the processor. Processors can range from an ordinary Celeron one to high-end Pentium 4 or even the latest Centrino processors (they help you surf the net wirelessly). Please remember that faster the processor the more you pay, be it either an Indian or an MNC brand.
• Additionally, remember RAM is critical. Buy a machine with a Pentium 4 processor and low end RAM capabilities you will end up realising very little in terms of value.
• Ideally, buy a machine with complementary RAM speeds upwards of 128 MB.
• At the end of it remember that if you are a user who loves to download music and content from the internet you would need space to store them. So hard disk space is crucial.
• Knowing what kind of content you would be downloading from the net is important and communicate this to the salesman who would be in a better position to advise you on what your GB requirements could be.
• Also, if you are heavily into graphics remember to load an accelerated graphic card which helps in the faster reading of pictures and helps the picture clarity also.