Computer aging
Computers are designed & built for limited
life spans
At today’s current technological rate of advancement, most computers are considered “out-of-date” when they become 18 months old from the date of manufacture. Each 18 months represents a generation. If you have a computer that is 3 years old, it is considered to be 2 generations out of date, if your computer is 5-6 years out of date it is considered to be 3 generations out of date. The technology difference of 2 generations is likely to be quite large. In many cases when you attempt to “upgrade” your system when it is 2 generations out of date you find many programs or hardware devices no longer work. In many cases these problems can not be repaired or upgraded. When a computer gets to be 2 generations out of date it should be “retired”. The average life expectancy for an inexpensive ($299.00) system would be around 13 months. The average life expectancy for a $1200.00 system should be around 3-5 years. After 3 to 5 years the hardware and software have reached “End-of-life” and need to be replaced in order to ensure accuracy and reliability.
The first sign of computer aging, is you remember you bought the computer 6 years ago and haven’t upgraded it at all.
Computers are electronic devices like a VCR, TV or Radio and they will eventually burn out. Many computers will die just like a light bulb, you will turn it on some day and “POOF” it goes out. This is considered catastrophic failure. Some computers will exhibit other signs of aging like slowness, frequent crashes, hard disk errors and in many cases installing a new software program fails due to lack of minimum system requirements.
As your computer ages and begins to experience small failures the cost of having it repaired goes up. Eventually the cost of repairs exceed the value of the system or the value of a new one. When this occurs it’s best to look at how you are going to move your data to a new system. Moving your data can cost anywhere from $30.00 or so to several hundred dollars, maybe even thousands so this must be factored into the cost of replacing your computer.
When
you get to the “point of diminishing returns” on repairing your system and
realize you
need to replace it, remember one thing;
“You get what you pay for”
You can not expect a $299.00 computer to perform and last like a $1200.00 computer. If you buy cheap you get cheap. Many folks make the mistake of buying the least expensive system they can find and then discovering that it won’t do the things they need it to do or they find the performance isn’t what they expected. Some computer sellers will offer “FREE” tech support as an incentive to buy, however much of the time when you attempt to get support from them, the info you get is less than helpful.