The spinning beach ball. The never-ending hourglass. The constant notifications prompting this update or that upgrade. You’ve been there before. With the recent Windows-11 upgrade and the latest Mac OS-Big-Sur, many of us will find ourselves contemplating whether or not it’s time for a new device.
1. Unable to upgrade – Using outdated technology comes with much bigger risks than just frustration. Aging systems are more vulnerable to cybersecurity risks and reputational damage and financial repercussions. In general, the older and slower a computer is, the more likely it is time to get a new one.
2. Sluggish Software – Older computers run slower, take longer to execute tasks, and require much more time-consuming maintenance, patches, updates, and helpdesk calls than their newer counterparts. In fact, Microsoft estimates that those who use old PCs could lose up to seven days per calendar year. Even if you don’t consider your PC to be old yet, computers that are more than four years old cost 21 hours of productivity due to repairs, maintenance, updates, and critical security fixes.
3. Your Computer Starts Making Noise – Computer fans and hard drives can be replaced, but there comes the point when you have to get rid of the computer. The more noises and strange sounds you hear from your computer, the more chance something is going catastrophically wrong.
4. Cost Control – If your computer is getting slower or failing to boot up, first take it to a maintenance specialist. The older your computer is, the more difficult and costly it will be to fix it. If the price of fixing it begins to grow too high or problems occur too often, you might be better off just buying a new one.
5. Multitasking Malaise – Computers are designed to do a lot of things simultaneously. When that capability begins to deteriorate, you could be having issues with your hardware such as RAM, battery, and drives. If only one of those is having trouble, the fix shouldn’t be too difficult. It’s the combination of one or more problems that truly signal it’s time to start planning for the replacement.
Please reach out with any questions!