When to repair, upgrade or replace your computer 3-21-12

Computer owners have valuable tools to utilize when their systems reach end-of-life. Not all computer owners know what tools or resources they have at their disposal.

When shopping for a replacement computer consider the following:

1. Money: Do I need to conserve and work with what I have? Can I get an upgrade? Do I have money to blow?

2. Usage: How often do I spend time on my computer? Do I share it with family or friends?

3. Need: I want a new peripheral (Blu-Ray Burner), should I upgrade or ride out my current system?

4. Envy: My friend or co-worker just purchased the latest computer. Should I wait until the price goes down in a few months?

Money is unique per individual. If you have money to blow on a new system with the latest technology, give the money to someone who needs it. In a few months the technology will take over current aging systems. The technology may be cheaper to build due to surplus or different production techniques. If you need to save cash or use credit (I never purchased a computer on credit) look for a systems with technologies which have been dominant for 3-6 months with noticeable price drops. If the cost for the system starts to stabilise, purchase it before the next generation starts to gain market share. Some older systems are sold as new and may be overpriced (even at the low end of the value.) The system should be on the market long enough to generate enough reviews from current owners. You should have enough reviews to pick the system with the least issues at the best price.

The more you spend time on a computer, the faster it will degrade in performance. Premature system failures are directly influenced by your habits. Every component, chip, capacitor and resistor has specific lifetime tolerances based on electrical consumption. Computer warranties are calculated using the peak lifecycle of the system and with industry standards. If you use the computer everyday and power it off and on every day the mentioned electronics will degrade faster than when left on. You may need to replace the power supply as it has to work harder to spike “life” into the system. The power supply harshly energizes specific parts of the motherboard during boot (when the system is powered off). If those supporting electronics become used more than the lifetime limitations of the hardware due to constant electrical flow, the motherboard will have a shorter life cycle. The quality of computer parts have quickly lowered over the years. Older systems (20 years old) cost more pound-per-pound to produce due to the manufacturing process. The demand for newer cheaper parts to keep up with supply started to drive the quality down.

If you share your computer with other people, you want a higher performing system. As an individual the system runs the same most of the time. When sharing, the computer may change the performance and throttle the experience of other users. If one of the users writes and stores documents on the same harddrive another user stores music data, the data on the hard drive will fragment faster. Documents and music will become mixed and stored in the same area of the hard drive. Your computer will not show the mess the both users made that without using a defragmentation tool because data becomes stored in the next available section of the hard drive. One document will be stored in different sections of the hard drive over time. Fragmentation will still occour on a single user system, but the fragmentation will not be as drastic. The single user system will organize and recall data based on one persons habits and use. Separate storage devices (hard drives or flash drives) for each user will improve system performance on the multi user system since the music and documents will no longer be mixed; any user habits will be isolated to the specific hard drive they use.

A skilled computer shopper or builder will purchase a system that is close to a “seasoned” higher end model with room for upgrades. The seasoned system (new retail system that reached a particular market share per sales results) should have the ability to upgrade to a faster CPU and processor within the line of succession. I purchased an Asus desktop PC; All of my other systems have been custom built. The processor and ram was a generation behind. I had an Intel Core 2 Duo 3.o Ghz processor. The motherboard was able to accept a faster processor and memory modules (RAM.) I upgraded the CPU with a Quad Core 2.6 Ghz (Core 2 Duo line). My research concluded the Quad Core was the cousin of the intel i3 series. The upgraded hardware (Quad Core CPU DDR3 1333 RAM) reached “seasoned status” and started to drop in price. The original processor (CPU) was available for 60 bucks. The other generation hardware required a different motherboard and could take the same ram. The newer generation CPU was near the orignal cost for the entire desktop (3-500 dollars). If I had a system with an early intel i5  and compared it with the Quad Core Duo using the same amount of ram (12 Gigs) I would not notice a difference unless I spend my time rendering video or ripping Blu-Ray disks to the hard drive.

If you feel envy over someone’s newer and faster system, just tell yourself this: They are testing out the system I want to buy. I will use their experience so I may wisely choose my future (discounted) investment.

When I purchase or build a custom computer, I look for specific hardware that may work with future (or soon to be released) Operating Systems (Windows 7, 8-9, OSX-Future-Feline-Animal)

Making your choice on hardware alone is unwise. If a new Operating System was just released and the hardware requirements are very similar to the current platform (Windows 7 to 8) that particular system may be short lived. Typically new Operating Systems are more demanding than the predecessor. If you take the minimum requirements of Windows XP and compare the preferred requirements (not minimum) Windows 7, you should see a huge difference. {I do not count Vista as a legit upgrade to Windows 7. I replaced XP with 7 }

If the new computer (Lets name it NPC) has an operating system (Windows 7, 8, 9) that can efficiently run slightly above minimum requirements of your current computer (Lets name it OPC running Windows Vista), wait a few months to a year.

I will explain what may happen if you decide buy “NPC” due to impulse.
1. Stuck with a newly released “bad” Operating System resulting in the acceleration of a newer release; Windows Vista to 7. You may need to purchase the upgraded Operating System after        owning the system for less than a year.

2. The value may depreciate faster for NPC when compared to a future generation (NNPC). You get less bang for the buck. The previous model, OPC may retain value for longer than NPC when they reach the same age. The definition of value is subject to the user.

Computer shopping has become harder than previous years. Individual prerequisites grew due to the long-term use of computer systems. There was a brief time when computer owners can be placed in three groups.

1. The Gamer: needing all of the best hardware and software
2. The Student or power user (work at home or business), the system can last for 6-8 years
3. Internet and word processing, minimal basic hardware needed to run an Operating System

During that time, many people lived with ten+ year old computers on the brink of death (dragged along by Windows XP.) Other users finally got around to getting a computer to stay connected to the world. We now have users who can purchase a traditional computer and a mobile tablet device.

If you are shopping for a computer or need an upgrade, we have your back.

Vargas Technical Consulting LLC
414-215-0631
alex@mkepc.com