Repair, Upgrade or Replace Your Computer

No computer lasts for ever, but to get the most out of your investment in the machine, you would want to prolong its life for as long as you can. Appropriate repairs and upgrades can help the machine to survive for a longer time. However, whatever happens, there will always come a time when it would be better to invest in a new computer than continue to have your current machine serviced and maintained.

Every computer eventually slows down, even if you use it for the same things you did when you first used it five years ago. Over time, you will receive updates of Windows or the macOS and these updates may weigh heavily on the computer. Individual applications may also receive updates over time and the web pages you visit may require more resources than was previously the case. When the machine slows down too much, you may be forced to buy a new computer, unless appropriate hardware replacements are able to resolve the slowness. On the other hand, a reinstall of the Windows or macOS operating system may in fact result in a significant restoration of the computer’s speed.

Many people assume that, if their computer is too slow, the issue can be rectified simply by installing one or more additional memory modules. However, before spending money on additional RAM, a better idea is to investigate the cause of the slowdown. Having an answer to this question would tell you if you would require a replacement or a repair or whether an appropriate upgrade would resolve the issue.

Also Read: 5 Signs Your Computer Might Be Infected With A Virus

The first step to implement is to identify the issue that causes the computer to slow down. The computer has multiple components, each of which has a specific purpose. One or more of such components might be causing slowdowns or issues. To make sure that you spend the money in the right place, you will have to diagnose the source of the issue.

In many cases, especially with older computers which have a traditional SATA hard drive, a radical speed improvement can be achieved by replacing the computer’s hard drive with a Solid State Drive (SSD). An SSD upgrade is the single most effective upgrade likely to result in a significant increase in the speed of the computer. A RAM upgrade, on the other hand, is only likely to be effective if the system was already utilising the capacity of the existing RAM.

Upgrading parts in your computer may cost a lot of money and some replacements are likely be more worthwhile than others. A computer repair professional could seamlessly carry out these upgrades for you, although if course that also adds a labour cost to the repair/upgrade.

To identify whether an upgrade is worth the investment, you should take a look at how much it would cost and compare that to the age of the computer. If the computer is 7 or more years old and would require an extensive repair, it may be preferable to purchase a new machine rather than repairing the old computer. Having said that, even older computers can be transformed as a result of an appropriate upgrade, resulting in a much lower cost solution than that of purchasing a new machine. If your computer is just three or four years old, you should probably look for an upgrade which could extend the life of your computer by a few more years.

It would be easy if it was possible to carry out all repairs or replacements at a specific cost. However, it is difficult to provide solid numbers that apply across the board. This is why performing diagnostics is very important to identify the exact issue before planning to repair it. If you have an idea that a single component is faulty and is the main reason for slowing down the computer, you could upgrade that part and extend the life of your machine by a few years. On the other hand, you could plan to buy a new PC if multiple parts begin to fail.

Also Read: Seven Signs That Your Computer Needs Urgent Repair