This weekend was quite a bit different than most.  Saturday night I attended a Sweet 16 and went to a first birthday party Sunday.  At one of the parties I ran into another business owner from town and we had a decent conversation which gave me the idea for this week’s article.

Brian from Tanguay Jewelers and I talked business, which isn’t that different than most parties I attend.  Usually I see someone I know and eventually we end up talking shop.  Our conversation revolved around customers’ decisions to purchase new versus repairing old.  Obviously I can’t speak intelligently about jewelry or watches, but I can talk technology.

Years ago my mentor suggested keeping new systems on the ready in case customers decided repair was too expensive.  It wasn’t uncommon to suggest and sell a new system to a customer who was on the fence with regards to having their computer repaired.  At that point technology was accelerating rapidly and the economy was decent so the decision was easier.

Computers built within the last four or five years aren’t significantly better than off-the-shelf systems today.  Most of the the components that make up the system are, for the most part, still available.  Memory, hard drives, and processors used in these systems are all upgradable and can be purchased new and used which makes modernizing systems fairly easy.

I know I’ve talked about system failures in past articles and I don’t want to rewrite history; however, hard drives are by far the biggest reason computers fail.  There are only a small number of hard drives that cannot be copied from old to new which translates to saving hours of reinstalling programs and recreating data.

My store frequently takes in computers to be recycled.  Occasionally we receive systems people dispose of solely due to a virus infestation.  Many people don’t understand viruses can be removed without removing programs or destructing data.  Certainly, the cost of a virus removal is significantly less than the cost of replacing a whole computer.

Windows XP based computers are still supported and shouldn’t be tossed because of the operating system.  The simple reality is that most computers built within the last four years are equipped with XP, Vista or 7.  If you have a functional XP machine consider yourself lucky.  XP is arguably the most stable operating system Microsoft has published.

There are some things that definitely affect repair prices and whether something is worth putting money into.  Currently there is a huge shortage of hard drives.  Thailand was recently flooded which impacts both repair and new computer costs.  Years ago one of the sole manufacturers of PC memory burned to the ground which burdened the industry.  Generally these impact both purchasing new computers and repairing the old.

Some questions to ask yourself prior to making any decision should include both current and future plans.  “Does the computer do what I need it to do?”  “Do I have current plans to add software that might tax the system?”  “If I fix this problem, what other problems might arise?”  Taking into account all aspects of the issue may make decision making time easier and alleviate future headaches.

In this economy it may be worth taking a second look at your old computer.  Not only might it save money, but repairing your old clunker may save the headache of transferring to a new computer.  There are definitely plusses and minuses to either decision.  If you suspect the cost of repair justifies looking at new computers, I suggest getting a second opinion or evaluate new systems.  In the end, only you can make the decision whether to repair or replace.

 (Jeromy Patriquin is the President of Laptop & Computer Repair, Inc. located at 509 Main St. in Gardner.  You can text him at (978) 413-2840 or call him directly at (978) 919-8059.)