re: PC problems: Upgrade or buy a new one? Suggestions from the Seattle Times

M3 Sweatt — Sun, 27 Apr 2008 18:30:11 GMT

Thanks for the comment - good points.

I agree that you should weigh the useful life span of PCs compared to other equipment, but often PCs can be retasked rather than retired. In the home, PCs can be moved to a kid's playroom or family room, repurposed as a home server or even a kitchen computer (as we've done). In business, they can also find life (with a low-cost upgrade) as a file or print server, a web access machine or general purpose office file manager.

The most often failures I've seen have been moving parts -- fans, power supplies and hard disc drives -- rather than motherboards, memory or processors (tho' I have had these fail on me too). I've even run into instances where a new motherboard system battery has corrected a host of strange problems. So if you're not savvy in hardware, I certainly agree that the advice of a tech professional is a must.

re: PC problems: Upgrade or buy a new one? Suggestions from the Seattle Times

Computer Consulting Kit Home Study Course — Sat, 26 Apr 2008 23:34:33 GMT

Thanks for this helpful information! I think another thing you have to think about also is how you are primarily using your computer and for what purpose. Technology doesn’t have a very long life compared to other business assets, and when you use your computer a lot (as most business users do) it puts even more strain on it. I think if you’re in the business of looking for ways to speed up a slow work computer (or computers) or advice on improving the speed of your network or any computers on it, it helps to seek the advice of a tech professional. And having a regular tech provider to do some long-term planning so you can be prepared when computers slow down, need to be replaced or updated can be a really sound investment.