| Vol.
I, No. 3 | Winter
Solstice & Holidays | Dec.
15th, 2000 |
Computers
& Technology Up-Grade
or a New PC? When does it make sense to up-grade vs.
biting the bullet and going for a new PC? ... If you have
an absolute 'need for speed' and cost isn't an issue for you, then by all means,
go look at another part of the magazine. This article is not for
you. ... But if you're like most folks and aren't hell-bent on the
best and the newest at any cost, here are some guidelines that can help you
decide. Prices Then & Now:
It's not news
exactly. Just about everyone knows that, the longer you wait, the less
you'll spend for tech ... or the more you'll get for your money. ...
And sometimes even both. In fact, for a brief time, it began to look as
though PC's were going to be given away for free. But many of those deals
evaporated with the tech stock values of earlier this year. The
table below shows some price comparison between April 1996 and October
2000. That's a little less than the life-span of the average PC. ...
Note, too, that the prices we quote for this year are not the lowest prices we
found. Each one represents quality components from recognized name-brand
manufacturers. | PC
Price Comparisons: 1996 vs. 2000 | Component | Apr
1996 | Oct
2000 | Description | Specs | Price | Specs | Price | | 32
meg RAM | 72-pin
EDO | $950 | PC100 | $44 | | Hard
Disk | 4.2GB | $1050 | 17.2GB | $94 | | Color
monitor | 17" | $580 | 17" | $175 | | CD-ROM | 8x | $300 | 48x | $27 | | CD-RW | 2x4x2 | $680 | 32x8x4 | $143 |
The
biggest difference in price that underlies the value of today's new PC's comes
from the massively increased storage capacity of hard disks and the
corresponding capacity of memory. As an example, there's 128 meg of memory
on the laptop I'm currently working on. That's more than 10x the size of
the hard disk on my first laptop back in 1988. All
that said, then, when does it make sense to up-grade vs. going for the new
PC? ... First, a couple of simple questions: Is
your PC more than 4 or 5 years old?
If so, you probably want to consider
a new PC, since many of the components you'd buy for an up-grade won't carry
over to your next PC.
. Who's
going to do the up-grade? You? A friend? Or a dealer or service tech?
If
you do it yourself {or have a friend who knows that he or she is doing},
up-grades can make sense more often than not. ... If you're
going to pay someone else, that obviously adds to the cost and has to go
into the equation.
OK. That said, here are
some rules of thumb to consider: If your current PC
is doing what you need at a reasonable clip, and you can run all the
software you need to run, then you probably don't need to up-grade.
. If
your current PC runs your software, but sluggishly, then you may want to try
a couple of things before you rush out to spend $800-plus.
...
. 1st,
get rid of all those unnecessary files you've accumulated over the years
and then defragment your hard disk ... If
that doesn't help, then you may want to consider up'ing the memory
[RAM]. Be aware though: If you'll have to buy older 72-pin
memory, you'll pay a big premium per meg. It may not be worth the
investment. But if your memory is 168-pin, then it may definitely
be worth forking out the $50-$100. If, even
after you deleted all those files, your disk is still so full that you
can't defragment it, then you may want to consider a new hard
disk. Sound daunting? Don't worry. Most newer disks
come with cloning or 'ghost' software that will allow you to transfer
all of your old disk's contents to the new disk, saving you the pain of
reinstalling everything. You can also consider
up-grading the processor [CPU], or even the motherboard; but if you do,
you may well have to re-install your operating system [OS] and
software. The OS is pretty fussy about such things.
.
If
your current PC isn't up to the minimum spec's for some software you'd like
to run or a new OS you'd like to install, then ...
If
your PC is more than 3 1/2 years old, go for a new one and pass the old
one along to the kids or your local school or non-profit. ... If
it's newer, then cost it out. As long as the cost for all of the
up-grade components, plus labor if you're paying someone else to do the
work, is less than 60% the cost of a new lower-end PC [$750-$850], it
may well be worth your while.
Of
course, if you happen to get a new PC for Christmas, enjoy! . *******
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