Go to Catonsville Rec & Parks Page
| MJB's Page
There are essentially two types of users: Power Users and Recreational Users. Click on the link provided for the author's detailed definition of these user types. The primary difference between the two user types is that Power Users should be more technology and less price conscious than Recreational Users. Recreational Users should stick to proven technologies and be more price conscious.
Below is a series of questions to ask yourself:
The term "current needs" has a lifetime of two months. If the answer is that your needs are not being met, then you need to do something and the next job is to decide what course to take. If you are happy now, then avoid spending money on upgrades. Any time interval longer than two months is a lifetime in the computing world, so unless you are a Power User, it pays to wait. Chances are that there will be many superior options available if you are patient.
To upgrade or speed up an existing system, one can make changes in many areas. The primary changes are memory and CPU in that order. Check out the CNET Special Report on how to make your PC faster to familiarize yourself with what it takes to speed up your PC and what to look for.
When you are ready to make a change, generally the first thing to examine is whether your PC has enough memory. Newer applications tend to utilize a lot of memory, so you should make sure your PC has at least 32MB, and preferably more. Anything less and your PC is constantly wasting time swapping applications in and out of memory. Just adding memory is generally a cheap way to speed things up and as long as you choose well, the memory you buy will be compatible with your next system. Check out the CNET Notes On Mastering Memory Upgrades for some detailed explanation of memory to help you choose well. Generally DIMMs are preferable over SIMMs because they are faster and newer boards don't always support SIMMs. You must choose either DIMMs or SIMMs, not both. Be careful before adding SIMMs to an existing system. It might be better to upgrade your board to be DIMM-compatible and then get DIMMs too.
If you have plenty of memory (eg. 64MB or more), then maybe you need a faster processor. Check out the users manual for your PC to find out the fastest speed it can support. If you are not at the fastest speed that your motherboard can handle, you might consider upgrading your chip. There are several options for such upgrades including Intel, AMD K-series, and Cyrix chips. Intel chips tend to be expensive, but are fully compatible with all software. Some AMD K-series chips have problems with some Microsoft applications like Microsoft Office. The Cyrix chips seem to perform well.
If your motherboard can't support a large upgrade in processor speed, then maybe its time for a new board or a new system. Pre-Pentium class PCs are considered surplus and if you have one, don't even consider an upgrade. If your current chip supports speeds of 200 MHz or more with MMX, it might be time for a Pentium 2 series processor which generally means a new purchase. If your current chip is 120 MHz or less, then you might be better off upgrading just the chip.
One should decide what upgrades to target and get a price for these changes. Check out CNET Shopper.com and other sites for a good look at prices. Compare that cost with the cost of buying a completely new system. The authors favorite site for shopping for new equipment is OnSale.Com but there are several sites like that. Generally with the pricing info, one can then decide whether it is better to upgrade or buy. Best of luck in the decision-making process.