You will be staring at it for many hours to come. This memory is cleared when the computer is turned off. Multi-media intensive programs need plenty of RAM to load the graphics and sounds before they can be viewed. Hard Drive - stores programs and information until they are used. It is too big to fit on floppy disks anymore.
Speed is most important when playing the latest CD-ROM video games.
For typical home use, they are more than adequate. Backup System - You should always have multiple copies of your important work. Tape systems are relatively slow, but can be set to copy overnight. An alternative is a Zip drive. Zip drives are popular because you can easily transport large files, in addition to using them for backups.