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System purchasing tips

August 2005

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.

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.

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.

Last modified:  11/10/06