Is it time to buy new a computer? Unsure how much to spend on your new computer so that it meets your needs today as well as in the future? A common question in buying new computers is when does spending a little extra money actually get you a noticeably better computer. An important factor in answering that question is how long you expect to use the computer or what the effective lifespan of the computer will be.
Lifespan of Your New Computer
The planned lifespan of your new computer is a key factor because 1) it determines what the payback period will be for investing a bit extra cash up front, and 2) it provides an idea of how your new computer will stack up to the performance of new computers 3, 4 or 5 years from now. While you don’t want to throw money away unnecessarily, having a computer that has sufficient performance and features will be important as your computer ages. Having a two year old underpowered computer that feels outdated is not a good position to be in.
A Better Computer for 8 Cents an Hour.
Here is an example that may help you visualize the benefits of spending a bit more on your new computer than initially planned. Let’s say you are considering an $800 laptop computer. But for an additional expenditure of $200 you can get an extra level of performance (CPU, RAM, HDD) and features (screen size, battery life, ports) that would really provide additional value when you use your computer.
For this example let’s also assume you plan on using your laptop computer for 4 years and that you spend two hours a day on your computer six days a week. An extra $200 over 4 years is actually $50 per year for whatever enhancements you decide to include with the expanded budget. In terms of the time you use the computer this example would calculate out to:
2 hours of computer use/day
X 6 days/week
X 50 weeks per year
= 600 hrs. of computer use per year
Which means that you will spend:
$50 extra per year for 600 hrs. of computer use
which equals: $.083/hr. or 8 cents per hour of computer use
On a monthly basis this would be $4 per month
The Question: Is it worth $4 per month to buy a “better” computer?
What Do You Get By Spending a Bit More?
Is the example a worthwhile investment? It will likely depend on your needs and budget. Your extra expenditure may allow you to buy a computer with more RAM, a faster CPU, a better graphics adapter, a larger hard disk drive, a battery with a longer life, more ports, a larger screen, a smaller screen, or a lighter weight computer.
More Is Not Always More
Sometimes spending more may not get you more of the features you want. For instance if you want a netbook computer because you really want a portable computer that has a 10 hour battery life then spending more money may still not get you that type of battery life on a laptop or notebook computer. Prioritize which features are most important to you and focus on enhancing those features.
When deciding on your budget focus on whether spending a bit more than you initially planned will get you components that will actually enhance the performance, capacity, battery life, size or weight of your system. Spending a bit more today may just make for a more functional and enjoyable time when using your computer now, as well as in 3 or 4 years.
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{ 7 comments… read them below or add one }
I really like that you broke down the fact that for only $.08 an hour you can get lots of extra performance out of your computer. I like this perspective about technology a lot. Thanks.
.-= Seth W´s last blog ..Reaching New Customers By Expanding Your Vision =-.
@Seth W — Glad that you found my approach interesting. Over the last year or two I had found people replacing their computers less frequently. Yet at the same time when they were ready to get a new computer they would be concerned over spending an extra $50 or $100 for a new computer they were going to be using for 4 or 5 years.
After mulling this over for some time, the idea of how little money that $100 actually is when amortized over 4 or 5 years hit me. When doing some initial calculations I had one of those “Aha” moments. The numbers actually become even more interesting if you take my example and assume that a person will use the computer for four hours a day instead of only two hours per day — then the per hour costs drops to 4 Cents per hour. Thanks for stopping and commenting.
–Mike
My husband say Mac!!!
.-= bunnygotblog´s last blog ..Black Friday Shopping? =-.
@bunnygotblog — I’m not stepping into the Mac vs. PC debate. Or perhaps maybe I should so that I can pump up my traffic numbers
Actually the example I used works for any platform. Tell your husband the choice is all his.
–Mike
I shared your post because I believe that many of us are keeping older PCs far too long. I finally upgraded to a duo and thinking I really should have gone all the way up to a quad because of how I use the Internet all day almost every day.
I’d love to see more posts on specific upgrades and believe they would be extremely useful to your readers. If you have or write them let me know at Twitter @GrowMap or in my blog and I will spread them across Social Networks.
Specifically buyers need to know where to spend more money based on how they use a PC. I did research, posted in forums and asked several PC techs I know whether more memory or a faster processor would be more important to speed up the specific work I do.
You could create personas the way GrokDotCom recommends ecommerce sites create sales funnels using them and then suggest specific models or configurations for each type of computer user.
Gamers are an obvious example of users who need certain upgrades most of us don’t need. Graphic Designers are another. Someone who spends much time watching YouTube videos needs more PC than someone who only writes emails and chats online in AOL/MSN/Yahoo Messenger.
Power Social Networkers who are bloggers are my particular interest because we have certain behaviors in common that require more memory and speed such as having multiple windows open at a time with dozens of tabs open in each one.
We are often logged into many sites at once, use multiple browsers because of the cookie issues and have many FireFox addons running because we’re doing SEO analysis and link research while we blog and share across Social Media.
The blogger and/or PC manufacturer who starts addressing these specific needs will have the advantage and will sell many PCs and laptops – especially if they configure the software and apps on them for specific users.
We really need a Power Social Networking layout that includes multiple SEPARATE FireFox windows installed so we can be logged into multiple accounts with different personas.
I have a particular white box manufacturer in mind that I really wish would provide a high end PC for my work because I know how much difference it would make and how often I would be highly recommending it to serious PC users and businesses who want to focus on productivity rather than spending any time tweaking their PC and fixing what doesn’t work.
Power bloggers write guest posts on each other’s blogs – in my case on High PageRank blogs written by companies that service high end clients and Corporations and are read by the decision-makers for those companies. Those selling PCs could be reaching those readers with strong recommendations for their products by placing them in the hands of some serious, persuasive bloggers.
.-= Internet Strategist @GrowMap´s last blog ..Blog Outreach: 8 Compelling Reasons Why You Should Be Doing It Now =-.
@Internet Strategist — You make some very good points. I believe that part of what happened in lengthening the lifespan of PCs was the arrival of Vista. Many people hesitated on upgrading their computers after reading all the bad press about Vista and just stuck with their XP computers longer then they normally would. Some of that is beginning to change with the arrival of Windows 7. I also did previous posts entitled, “”Why a Five Year Old Computer Is Slower Than a New Computer” and “10 Downsides of An Aging Computer”. Check them out.
I like your suggestions regarding some posts about specific upgrades. Let me see what I can come up with. Regarding RAM vs. faster processors the answer is get both
For upgrade puproses adding RAM is generally the single best way to improve performance. But only up to a point. With Windows XP 2GB of RAM is best although you may still get some performance benefits with 3GB. More than 3GB doesn’t really get you much.
With Windows 7 you want all the RAM you can get as it handles RAM significantly better. I’ve seen a few system offering 12GB – 16GB of RAM which is very cool. Win 7 Pro and Ultimate will Address up to 192GB of RAM but I’m not sure if there are any MoBos that are capable. Still, Win 7 with 16GB of RAM and a pair of 300GB Velociraptors will provide some nice performance.
If you come across any computer manufacturers looking to have their high end systems reviewed I’m available.
Hi Mike,
I suspect most people don’t realize it isn’t that their PC got slower – it is that everything online has gotten more complex and more demanding. Many companies assume that everyone they want to reach has a newer computer and high speed access (even though that is FAR from the truth) so they allow their Web designers to keep adding more and more “stuff” to every page.
Anyone with an older computer or a slow Internet connection can really feel the pain on sites like Google AdWords and any site that has auto-play videos or moving advertisements. Still worse off are those poor folks stuck with Satellite Internet and especially HughesNet. I am locked into paying for it but it is so painful to use that I do almost nothing with it – and it costs twice what my wireless costs!
I switched to Ubuntu from Windows XP Pro a year ago August but do recognize that many are not willing to make that change – at least not yet. I always heard Unix required less hardware; however, I immediately added more memory so it would run better.
The way I use a computer is far more intense than most people but I know many others like me. You’re right in that we would do well to splurge on both processor speed AND memory – actually we should splurge on EVERYTHING because anything slow from our graphics card to our hard drive – everything – slows down what we’re doing. And we can use all the speed we can get.
I guarantee that if anyone can tell how much difference a high-powered computer makes and can write persuasively about those specific differences it is power Social Networking bloggers.
Having you review their systems is a great idea. I’ll keep my eyes open for opportunities for you. There are some specific actions you can take that will increase that potential. Contact me if you’d like some details on what I mean.
.-= Internet Strategist @GrowMap´s last blog ..MEME: Share What Makes You Feel Thankful =-.