Most people’s reason for wanting to upgrade their computer is the fact that it runs much slower than necessary for the tasks needed. In my experience as a PC technician, I’d say most of the time I get asked about upgrades, after a little investigation it usually turns out to be unnecessary.

What your first question should be is ‘Did my computer once work fine for my needs?’ and ‘Have my needs changed significantly?’ If the first answer is ‘Yes’ and the second one ‘No’ you can safely say an upgrade, while sure to bring positives, shouldn’t be necessary.

After several years of use with lots of downloading, installing, uninstalling, updating etc.. your average computer starts to suffer from bloat and errors. These aren’t the type of errors which show themselves as big red warnings but show up in a more subtle way, namely the slowing down of the system. That’s because the very act of using your computer for what it’s designed for will eventually make it unresponsive.

To many people this doesn’t make sense but isn’t as strange as would at first seem. If you compare your computer with a car, you’ll notice the similarity. From the moment you start driving a new car, it starts to wear out slowly. What’s needed is regular maintenance in both cases. With a computer, it pays to have a yearly cleanup similar to an MOT on a vehicle. This ensures that any errors in your error logs and leftover stray files from long gone programs are dealt with and can no longer slow you down.

For lots of people, most of their computer usage is concentrated on-line. With most modern computers, internet usage is not a strain on the system. Office productivity suites are also not overly taxing. Some people need to edit big files such as videos and photographic images. The larger the file, the more useful it is to have lots of ram, large storage capacity and a faster processor.

Before you rush out to the computer store to buy a new computer, assess what your needs are and when in doubt call the experts for advice.