| Buying a PC |
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Buying a PC: Buying a computer today is a lot less painful than it was 10-15 years ago. The biggest difference from the home users point of view is how affordable laptop computers have become. They are very similarly priced, for the most part. ( I won't go into generalising the difference in specifications between the two. I will just say they are often very similar, except the hard drive you find in a laptop PC will generally be a fraction of the size you find in a desktop PC. This is not a big issue for most home users, unless you plan on saving a LOT of music/movies on your computer) So, laptop or desktop? My advice would be if you KNOW portability is not a factor (If you are buying a machine for a home office), get a desktop. If it may be an issue down the line, get the laptop. Then how much to spend? Simple fact, as soon as you open the box, it has halved in value. There is no market for second hand computers, so take that into consideration. Realistically, if you want a basic office machine, you don't need to spend a lot of money. Once you don't install lots of crap, it will (should) serve you faithfully for several years to come. If you want, a family machine, that kids will want to play games on, then you have to spend a little more. And so we move on to the main point I wanted to make. Don't buy an extended warrantee. The reason salespeople push it so hard is because it is highly profitable. That means bad value for you. I've seen way too many examples of where the extended warrantee service is really awful. First, check with your credit card company, many will double your manufacturers warrantee just for buying it on their card. Then, consider putting it on your House Insurance, often a much cheaper option. But, of course, never say never. If you are very afraid of dropping your laptop, and are certain you need this warrantee, here are a couple of starter questions to ask the salesperson about your extended warrantee Questions to ask about extended warrantees: 1) What is the longest my machine can be away for? 2) If I keep having problems, will you just keep sending it away, or can I get a different machine? (Again, without this written into your policy, you can join the many customers who spend months getting shunted around to no avail) 3) If my machine is replaced, is it to the value I pay for it today? (Some warrantees replacement value is at the machines current value, which with such high depreciation , is almost meaningless). A disclaimer, I guess. I do fix PCs, so you may think that its in my own interest to steer people away from these warrantees. I'd first recommend the Credit Card/House Insurance routes, so you don't have to pay anyone to fix your PC. However, I'd sooner see someone pay some other tech else to fix their maching, rather than giving the store money for problems most people never have. Oh, and after you buy your PC, it'll tell you to burn a copy of the system recovery discs, and keep them safe. on that point, KEEP THEM SAFE |