A long time ago, new computers were purchased every two years. Today, it’s more like six years. Or longer.
I suppose that the reason most folks bought a new PC every other year back in the 1990s was that technology zoomed along that fast.
There was the 486, then the Pentium, the Pentium II, and then Pentium III in just under a half-dozen years or so.
It wasn’t that people wanted to have the latest and greatest. Nope, it was more like the newer systems were way more faster than the older slugs. Honestly, I remember being blown away at how much faster the Pentium was than the 486 processor. The speed really motivated the upgrade.
Today things aren’t progressing as fast as they once were.
A recent Wambooli poll showed that most folks have their computers at least 6 years or more. That trend seems to be the norm.
The longest I kept an active, working computer was 10 years. It was my old writing workstation that ran Windows 98. I bought it in 1999 and retired it in 2008. I didn’t need to retire it, but Word 2007 won’t run on Windows 98, so I needed a newer system.
Obviously, the PC that replaced my older Windows 98 system runs faster. But isn’t ten years too long?
My advice is to consider replacing any computer older than 4 years. That’s consider.
Four years seems to be the minimum for a desktop system. Especially if you’re serious about your computer and its data, 4 years is a good time to start thinking about a replacement. At least, start saving up for one: $50 a month will do.
After 4 years, the hard drive might start to go bad. My advice: Backup. All. The. Time.
At around 6 years, seriously start looking toward getting a new PC. If you’ve saved $50 a month for 24 months (2 years) you’ll have $1,200 to invest in a new computer. That’s a good start, especially because you probably won’t need a new monitor or printer.
I’ll provide some recommendations on computer buying in my next blog post. I have a proven technique for buying the prefect computer just for you. Believe it or not, it’s just not as easy as going into a big box store and picking up something cheap.
I have a theory about laptops in that they last about three years.
The battery in it will last about 1,000 charge cycles before it starts getting some really low charges, so that roughly equates to flattening and charging it once a day for three years. If you extend the warranty to three years (onsite if you can afford it, so you don’t have to send it away), then you’re covered for the three years that the battery hypothetically lasts.
After the three years, the laptop will most likely have an incredibly short battery life and be painful to use away from the mains.
Anyway, that’s my theory.
Comment by Douglas — July 19, 2010 @ 9:08 pm
Good theory. I had an old Mac Powerbook that I could run without the battery for about a year. Then it just flat-out wouldn’t start. Oh, laptops….
Comment by admin — July 19, 2010 @ 9:12 pm
I’m thinking my laptop will last me for 3 years. I bought it last November. I think I’m going to upgrade to an Intel i5 or i7, though. Since my processor now is only an AMD dual-core 1.2GhZ. I need something better for gaming, even though my video card is really high end. 🙂
Comment by gamerguy473 — July 19, 2010 @ 10:42 pm
This year’s laptops are a huge leap forward in performance terms with the Core i Processors… drains the battery quicker, though… 🙁
Comment by Douglas — July 20, 2010 @ 2:05 am
That sounds like a hell of a nice laptop. I buy smaller laptops because basically I want a portable computer: No optical drive, no fancy graphics. I’ve never upgraded a laptop with a new processor, though.
Comment by admin — July 20, 2010 @ 6:38 am