| Many of our clients ask about purchasing
computers. Here are some guidelines to help you with the process.
First, consider that Gordon Moore, one of the founders of
Intel and an inventor of the transistor, predicted that computer power would
double every year and a half but the price would remain the same. In other
words, if you but a machine today, you can get a machine 18 months from now
that is twice as powerful but the cost would be the same. He made that
prediction in 1971 and it has held since. This trend is expected to continue
until about 2015 or so.
Another thing to consider is that programmers like to use
all available power. That means that they are writing applications for the
power that is available today, not what was available 3 or 4 years ago. This
forces you into a constant replacement cycle for your equipment. Our opinion
is that a business should plan on a 3 year replacement cycle for desktop and
laptop systems. At 3 years, the available power has quadrupled. If you wait
4.5 years to replace, the available power has increased by a factor of 8.
| Age |
factor |
Notes |
| 1.5 yrs |
2x |
New machines are two times as powerful as your
machine. However your machine should still be useful |
| 3 years |
4x |
You machine is rapidly approaching the end of it's
useful life. You want to seriously start moving toward replacement |
| 4.5 years |
8x |
Current machines are eight times as powerful. Your
operating system vendor will probably stop supporting the OS soon. The
machine is probably having an impact on your overall productivity.
|
| 6 years |
16x |
Desktop machines are obsolete at this point. The
money you are spending on keeping the machine running could be put
towards a new machine. |
When you are purchasing a system, we suggest adding memory
before you increase the processor speed. We have found, over the years, that
increased memory will give you better performance than increased processor
speed.
Upgrades: We don’t recommend upgraded your machine
except in very limited circumstances. Upgrades can be expensive and risky.
When you upgrade one component, you still have bottlenecks with other
components.
Purchasing factors
You will need to weigh a number of factors when deciding
when it is time to purchase a new machine.
| Keep the old machine |
Purchase a new machine |
-
Productivity costs caused by relative slowness
-
Obsolescence - Parts and support become difficult
to find
-
Reliability - The machine may experience
reliability problems.
-
Security Considerations - Older operating systems
may have security holes.
-
Lack of Expandability
|
-
Setup Costs
-
Software upgrades
-
Downtime for transfer
-
Will old, hard to replace, software run on the
new machine
-
Training Costs for new operating
systems/applications
-
Disposal costs for the old unit
-
Replacement of printers and scanners if required
|
Tips
-
Plan your purchase so you are not in a situation where
you have to replace systems due to a failure
-
Plan on running your system about 72 hours before you
take time to configure it and transfer your data and programs. Electronic
equipment tends to fail in the beginning. If it gets through the initial 3
days, it will probably provide several years of service. This is know in
the industry as ‘burn in’. You don’t want to take the time to set up the
system and then have to return it.
-
Once it has passed your burn in period, you should
connect it to the Internet. Before you do anything else, you need to lock
your system down. This includes running all of the Windows updates, Office
updates (make sure you have your Office CD ready as it will usually be
needed) and activate and update your antivirus. Don’t be tempted to skip
this step. A typical new machine, right out of the box, will require about
30 megabytes of updates.
-
Read up on the XP migration wizard. If you are on a
network, this wizard will make the transfer of your email, settings and
files a whole lot easier. Some Tips:
-
If you are running on a network, do not quit the
wizard on the target pc or the source pc will not be able to find it
-
The migration wizard will not transfer passwords.
Make sure you have your email passwords and that you know how to
configure your email client.
-
Make sure that your source PC has enough room to
create the migration files.
-
Watch your electrical load when you add a new machine.
Your old machine.
If you are going to give away or trash your old machine,
you need to make sure that you are not giving away your personal or business
information. You also need to make sure that you are in compliance with any
federal, state or local regulations regarding recycling or disposal.
|
