It's time again for my yearly computer-buying column -- and this time, I'm happy to report that the industry finally has gotten to the point that you really can buy a computer based on your needs instead of trying to figure out some arcane technical terms to determine which system to buy.

Why? The way computers are equipped has become so standardized that a purchase now requires only a few minor decisions. Beyond that, it's usage and resources -- price, size, environment, and other decisions that orient around you, not the system.

So let's start with those few tech requirements. If you're buying a Windows system, get as much memory as you can get -- with a minimum of 2 GBytes. If the system offers between 512 Mbytes and 1.5 GBytes, like many of the cheap come-on systems have, turn away or you will be sorely disappointed. Windows Vista, which comes with every non-Apple consumer system, needs a minimum of 2 GBytes to run adequately. If you can get 3 GBytes or 4 Gbytes, all the better.

The next technical requirement is to get as many USB ports as you can. Virtually every Windows-related hardware device plugs into USB -- mice to keyboards to printers to scanners to you-name-it. If you only have one USB port, you probably won't have enough. The good news is that if you don't have enough USB ports, you can buy an inexpensive USB port replicator that turns a single USB port into multiple ports. But it's still better to have more USB capacity on your PC.

The other items you'll need are a wired-network connection, wireless connectivity, and ports for flash memory (like in your camera), speakers and microphone -- most come standard. Do a quick check to make sure that they're all on the system you want, but other than checking them off, it's hard to compare the quality of these items -- except for the port for flash memory.

Some computers have high speed memory card connections -- but the speed is usually not identified in the specs, unless the PC maker is trying to show off a particularly high speed port.

As in prior years, the bigger the disk (meaning the more gigabytes), the better, because it will hold more documents, photos, music, movies and home videos, but you usually can't compare disk specs either.

That out of the way, you can turn to your needs.

As the Internet has become the de facto standard, many people now only need to use a browser, e-mail software (often in the browser), media software for music and videos (often bundled with the system), and sometimes office software. Any system that satisfies the requirements listed above will run the applications you need. Now determine your other needs:

• Will you need to travel with it? If so, you'll want a notebook computer instead of a desktop system. Will you take long trips or be away from an AC wall outlet for long periods? Then battery life will be a key factor.

• Do you need to place a lot of "stuff' on your monitor? Then you'll want a large screen. If you do work requiring visual accuracy, you'll want that monitor to be high resolution.

• Don't forget the speakers and camera if you need them.

• And, of course, what's your budget? With so many features in almost any system, this should be easier to reach this year than ever before. So don't sweat your purchase.