Do I need to upgrade my computer?
We get asked this a lot. The answer is subjective, and of course what you need to use your computer for. If your time is money, and you are using your computer for work, then get something where the load times are barely noticeable. Over time, the cost of the upgraded machine is simply an investment that increases the amount of quality work each employee does. At the same time, we want something that is cost effective, which means staying on the same computer as long as is feasible. Where do we draw the line though?
Workstations
These are machines used by employees on company time. It means that if each click takes a second and your employees click 4,000 times per day, you have 1 wasted hours. These have to be fast enough that your employees aren’t stuck waiting on their computers to finish whatever tasks they perform. In most cases it is worth investing in medium-high performance computers, and replacing them every 4-6 years on a schedule.
Servers
Your server should be replaced every 6-10 years. Servers are frequently built on more reliable hardware that can even be redundant to failure. This also means that servers are more expensive, and they are often slower than their less expensive desktop counterparts. Servers need to be maintained to be kept secure, and it is easy to forget to maintain these machines. Lack of maintenance leads to eventual failure or security breach on the server, so keep your server up to date and run hardware checks regularly and you’ll get a longer lifespan.
Residential
This one is the most open ended. You need to do things with your computer, and that takes up your time. You also may sometimes need help with someone remotely connecting to your computer which is an hourly cost. With extreme budget computers, you either run them yourselves or pay a fortune in hourly repair costs. Our recommendation is that you should buy the most recent Intel i5 or Ryzen 5 and use it for about 6 years if it lasts. If you have tasks that are slowing you down frequently, or if it dramatically slows down your ability to get computer help, that’s when you upgrade.
In The End
It’s up to you when to upgrade. When you’re a DIY’er and don’t use a computer support company often, then use anything you want. If you have people helping with your tech needs hourly, get a decent computer every 6 years. As a professional using your computer for work, get a nice new one every 4-6 years. Running a server, you should go all out every 8 years with redundancy.