When is the 'best' time to upgrade your PC?

Originally published in the Norwich Evening News on Wednesday 5th May 2010 - written by Leum Dunn

When is the best time to replace your PC? Should you buy the latest and greatest machine on the shelf, or stick with your current computer?

Let's face facts; we are still using our computers for exactly the same things as we were five or more years ago.

Admittedly the internet looks better nowadays but fundamentally we do our accounts, check our schedules, email our colleagues and write correspondence.

The aesthetics of a modern PC are undoubtedly prettier but computers of five years ago are just as capable at doing those things as a new one.

PCs haven't gotten any faster in terms of their computational speed for several years now.

Manufacturers hit a limit a little while ago which meant that faster processors got too hot to work efficiently.

As a result, new computers tend to have two or more processors inside rather than one increasingly faster processor as had been the case previously.

This makes a new PC better at doing more than one thing at a time (multitasking), but it doesn't mean they're any faster at doing them!

Since typical office work such as that described above doesn't tax a PC very hard, I like to apply a business-like approach to recommending upgrades.

Upgrade only when the cost of not upgrading exceeds the cost of upgrading.

Since any functional PC purchased in the last four or five years is capable of performing office tasks, the primary motivation for upgrading tends to be a need to run new or additional software.

New software offers increased security, additional features and increased compatibility with modern phones and peripheral devices. Occasionally you may even find that your customers are using features of newer software, and that you need to do the same to keep working for them.

I can only recommend the purchase of new hardware if your current equipment is incapable of running software that you require, or if it is faulty and uneconomical to repair.

Consider the following before making your decision:

Are you running any old applications or devices that are not supported by Windows 7?

Have you thought about the cost of transferring your old data to the new PC, of upgrading your backup procedures and peripheral devices to ensure compatibility and the costs of retraining staff?

Also, Sony has announced that it will cease production of blank floppy disks in March 2011 (Sony is the last remaining manufacturer of the format).

Windows XP will no longer be supported by Microsoft from April 8th 2014.

Generally speaking: if it ain't broke - don't fix it!