[Technology columnist Walter S. Mossberg answers readers' questions]

Q: In your spring buyer's guide, you wrote that adequate graphics chips will be more important than ever, but in the past you've advised that memory, or RAM, was key to speed and performance. Can you now get the same gains by buying or adding a better graphics chip? Or is RAM just as important as ever?

A: There are lots of things that can improve the performance of a PC or Mac. But adding memory still gives you more bang for the buck than any other, in my view. What I was saying last week is that the forthcoming Microsoft and Apple operating systems will be relying more on graphics chips to help take some of the load off the main processor and speed up certain tasks. Even so, a better graphics chip isn't a substitute for more main memory. In fact, most moderately priced computers use so-called integrated graphics chips, which lack dedicated memory and share some of the computer's main RAM. So having plenty of main memory is directly related to getting the most out of such graphics chips.

Q: Can the iPhone be connected to desktop peripherals? I want to be able to plug my iPhone into a large monitor and printer.

A: There are already several apps, including one from Hewlett-Packard, that allow you to print photos wirelessly from an iPhone to a printer that's connected to a Wi-Fi network. But, as far as I know, there is nothing on the market today that can connect an iPhone to an external monitor or keyboard, or to a printer for nonphoto printing. However, Apple has announced that the new 3.0 version of the iPhone operating system, due this summer, will enhance the ability of the iPhone to work with add-on hardware, either via cables or wirelessly. The company showed this off with medical devices, but it's possible that some third party could make it work with monitors or printers or keyboards.

Q: A recent article in the Journal reported that a person had installed the Mac operating system on a Windows laptop. Is this really possible and is it legal?

A: Apple doesn't sell or license its Mac OS X operating system for use on non-Apple hardware. In fact, the company considers it illegal to install OS X on other brands of computers. Nor does it produce OS X drivers for non-Apple hardware features that are built into competitors' computers. Nevertheless, some computer hobbyists have installed OS X on non-Apple hardware, and posted photos and videos online to prove it.

Even if you are willing to ignore the legal issues, this process, while not brain surgery, takes more skill than the average user possesses. And, in the end, some features of the computer may wind up disabled or require workarounds to function. For instance, on one such machine I saw, the speaker port didn't work with the Mac OS.

专栏作家莫博士就有关电脑和其他电子设备的常见技术问题答读者问。

问：在春季给买家的建议中，你提到合适的显卡将比以前任何时候都更加重要，但过去你曾建议说，内存才是对速度和性能至关重要的。现在如果购买或增加性能更好的显卡，电脑性能也能同样改善吗？还是说内存依然一如既往地重要？

答：有很多方式都可以改善PC或Mac电脑的性能。但在我看来，增加内存还是比其他的办法性价比更高。我上周的意思是说，微软(Microsoft Co.)和苹果公司(Apple Inc.)即将推出的操作系统将更多地依赖显卡来帮助减轻主处理器的负担，从而加快某些任务的运行速度。即便如此，更好的显卡也替代不了更大容量内存的作用。事实上，大多数中等价位的电脑都使用所谓的集成显卡，这种显卡没有单独的缓存，需要共享电脑的主内存。因此有很大的内存空间就直接关系到让这类显卡发挥最大的作用。

问：iPhone能连接桌面设备吗？我想将iPhone接入大屏幕显示器和打印机。

答：已经有一些应用软件可以让你从iPhone通过无线网络(Wi-Fi)连接打印机打印照片，其中有一款是惠普公司(Hewlett-Packard)的产品。但据我所知，市场目前还没有能让iPhone连接外部显示器或键盘的产品，或是连接打印机打印非照片文档。不过，苹果公司已经宣布，今年夏天即将发布的iPhone操作系统3.0版本将通过无线或有线连接提高iPhone与外接硬件的兼容性。苹果公司展示了iPhone与医疗设备连接的情况，但很可能会有第三方公司让它兼容显示器、打印机或键盘。

问：《华尔街日报》不久前的一篇文章说有个人在一台Windows笔记本电脑上安装了Mac操作系统。这真的可能实现吗，是否合法？

答：苹果并不出售或授权其Mac OS X操作系统用于非苹果公司生产的硬件。事实上，苹果公司认为在其他品牌电脑上安装OS X是非法行为。该公司也不为竞争对手的电脑内置的非苹果硬件设备生产OS X驱动程序。不过，一些电脑爱好者在非苹果公司的硬件设备上安装了OS X操作系统，并在网上发布了照片和视频以为证明。

即使不考虑法律问题，在Windows电脑上安装苹果操作系统虽然不像脑外科手术那么复杂，但需要的技巧也比普通用户所掌握的更多。最终，电脑的某些功能可能会失灵，或是需要替代方案才能运行。比如说，我就看到过一台这样的电脑，它的音箱无法兼容Mac OS。