To Upgrade or Not to UpgradeThat Is the Question

To Upgrade or Not to Upgrade That Is the Question

Paradoxically, it's easier to upgrade a newer PC than it is an older one; of course, if you have a newer PC, you have less need to upgrade. In fact, if your computer is too old, you'll find upgrading both problematic and overly expensive; when you add up the costs of the new components you want to add, you'll probably find that it's cheaper to buy a new PC.

How old is too old? Some techies use the "three years and out" rule and say that if your PC is more than three years old, don't bother upgrading. There's a good reason for this, as really old PCs often don't have the oomph necessary to accept newer, higher-performing components. It's also possible that some components of your old PC might be obsolete; this is a particular problem when upgrading memory on a system that uses SIMM or early SDRAM-NIMM modules.

note

Don't let all these acronyms tax your (human) memory; learn more about different types of computer memory in Chapter 6, "You Must Remember This: Upgrading System Memory."

Cost is also a factor. As low-priced as new PCs are these days, you don't want to put too much money into an old machine when a few bucks more will buy you a brand-new system.

Here is a good example of how buying a new PC is often more cost-effective than punching up an old one. I recently contemplated upgrading a five year-old Pentium II to serve as a digital audio workstation for my home recording projects. To bring the old unit up to spec, I would have had to add 128MB of memory ($50), a 40GB hard disk ($150), a USB expander hub ($30), a new sound card ($120), and a full copy of Windows XP ($200). When I added it all up, I would have spent $550 to have a souped-up Pentium II running at a relatively pokey 300MHz. Instead, I opted to buy a new low-end computer (sans monitor and speakers, which I already had) for just $499. For $50 less than what I would have spent on the upgrade, I got my 256MB total memory, 40GB hard disk, fancy sound card, six USB 2.0 ports, and Windows XP all preinstalled and running on a speedy 1.67GHz AMD Athlon XP microprocessor. Less money, less work not a hard decision!

Of course, some minor upgrades are both feasible and affordable, even if your PC is more than three years old. Memory, for example, is a cheap and easy upgrade that can boost the performance of just about any PC. Adding a second hard drive especially if your PC has a USB connector, so you can add an external model is also relatively cheap and easy, and a real godsend if you're running short on storage space for all your graphics and music files.

If your computer is a Pentium III or later and has at least one free USB port, you don't need to worry. Upgrading a newer system is comparatively easy, if not always cheap!