Be Vigilant About These 6 Features When Purchasing a New PC
A new computer is a big investment. Whether it’s for yourself or several employees in an office, you don’t want to make a mistake you’ll regret. If you buy a system that ends up falling short of expectations, you can be faced with lower productivity and the cost to replace that system earlier than you thought.
Desktops and laptops are made up of multiple components, making it complicated to ensure you’re choosing the best system for your needs. It’s easy to get caught up looking at price alone.
However, you often get what you pay for when it comes to business systems. Go too cheap on a PC and you can end up paying more in lost productivity costs.
When you’re in the market for a new system, be vigilant in reviewing the features below to ensure you don’t get buyer’s remorse.
Memory (RAM)
Memory is a major contributor to how well your system runs. Too little random-access memory (RAM) leads to a PC freezing up and not being able to process commands when you have too much going on at one time.
Open more than a couple of web pages that have videos or graphics, and you can expect your browser to get stuck. You may also experience problems with non-responsiveness and freeze-up in memory-intensive software.
The minimum amount of memory you should consider for a business PC is 8GB. If you go below that, you can expect to experience problems that impact the user’s productivity. If you can go higher than that, the better. For example, with 16GB, a system can handle most tasks, including graphics editing.
PCs that you find on sale for rock-bottom prices often have only 4GB of RAM, and some are not upgradeable. So be sure to check memory as one of the first things you look at when considering a new computer.
Type of Drive (HDD, SSD, Hybrid)
The typical type of computer drive that most people have used for years is a hard disk drive (HDD). This has a spinning platter that is accessed by the device to read, write, and search data.
A newer type of computer drive that has become affordable in recent years is the solid-state drive (SSD). This drive uses flash memory and does not have any moving parts (i.e., no spinning platter). The benefit is that SSDs are more resilient than HDDs and a lot faster. For example, you can copy a 20 GB movie to an SSD in less than 10 seconds. It would take about 2 minutes to copy that same movie to an HDD.
So, it’s best to go with SSD if you can. The drawback is that you will often get less storage space for the money than you get with an HDD. You can split the difference by looking for a hybrid system that offers dual drives, HDD and SSD.
Available Ports
Computers use a number of different peripherals. There are headsets, printers, USB drives, projectors, and several other devices that get plugged into a PC either all the time or occasionally.
You want to ensure that the system you purchase has an adequate number of USB ports, as well as other important ports you may need, such as an Ethernet or HDMI connection. Not all systems will have the same number of ports, so you should not just assume that a computer you’re considering will have the ones you need.
Storage Space
Drive storage space used to be a much bigger consideration when purchasing a computer before cloud storage came along. Now, many organizations store most files in the cloud.
But storage is still an important feature to factor in when buying a new device. Consider both the software you want to install on your PC as well as the files you’ll want to save when considering storage.
For many users, 500GB is plenty. But if you use large files (like videos), then you may want to go up to 1TB.
Ability to Upgrade Components
It’s not a good idea to buy a system that can’t be easily upgraded. For example, if you want to add additional memory later, is there an available slot to do this? Can the graphics card be upgraded if you need to?
Systems that have the ability to be upgraded can improve your ROI by allowing you to use the system longer and have it remain productive and efficient.
Processing Power
Computer processing power is another consideration. This feature can be difficult to choose on your own because PC processors tend to have names that don’t mean much to a non-computer tech.
You want to have the processing power to match the tasks the system will be required to run. It’s often a good idea to get the help of a trusted IT provider when choosing the best processor for your needs.
Improve Your Computer ROI with Managed IT Services
Once you choose your new PC, having it properly managed and maintained can increase its lifespan. Unbound Digital will be happy to help your Johnson City, Tennessee business with an affordable plan.
Contact us today to schedule a consultation. Call 423-467-7777 or reach us online.