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 Christmas is coming and there will probably be alot of
PCs purchased before December 25th.
PC shopping is usually overwhelming. There's just so much to think about.
Here are some buyer's decision points and information to help ease
the pain.
1) Purpose
Why do you want one? Knowing why you want a new PC helps.
Used for internet and email, speed and memory is more important than
storage (disk) size.
Used for video, pictures, and music, disk size becomes more important.
Used for work, to access the office, or to take to the office, buying the
right version of Windows is critical. Buy the wrong one and you have to go
out and buy the right one. Once you've upgraded to the right one you've
lost that clean "new car smell" and have to deal with the
problems you've caused yourself.
2) Price
Advertised prices are not always real prices. Look-out for traps.
Saving $100, or getting a free monitor, by signing a 2 year, $1,200
contract for internet service, is not a deal. At least not for you.
"Free" software, that expires in 90 days, is not free.
Uninstalling it is probably more of a hassle than biting the bullet and
buying it though.
"Free" printers aren't free either. Replacing ink cartridges
costs almost a much as a printer off the store shelf. And no, you don't get
full ink cartridges with a new purchase, barely a sample.
3) Performance
Whatever you see in stores or on-line is already obsolete. Whatever you're
buying is better than what you have. Waiting for the next great model is
like chasing Rainbows.
PCs just don't last that long. We don't depreciate them over 5 years
anymore. They won't get you through 4 years of college either. You're
filling a 2 year need. Nothing more.
There's also something called the "Price / Performance Curve".
Simply put, a PC that's two times faster costs three times as much. Go for
the even money. Maybe take your Significant Other to Vegas for a few days
on the savings. SOs don't depreciate nearly as fast as PCs.
4) Problems
You're not going to like this, buy the extended warranty.
Making a call and having somebody (Dell) come to your house with the right
parts and repair your PC is nice. So many parts used are proprietary that
you can't find them even if you knew what was wrong. Many times you won't,
and why should you?
5) Status
Most importantly though is the status associated with owning the PC. It
doesn't matter if it suits your needs, is a good value, is fast as
lightning, or has great warranty service, as long as you look cool. Red
ones for AIDS, Pink ones for Cancer, African Tribal Mask art, you
name it, they've got it, and you can go to Dell if you don't believe me.
Make sure Hulu looks good on it. Make the rat faced kid
from Geek Squad demo it in the store. He knows how to get to the "good
stuff" anyway and its not like you're going to ask your own kids.
Hulu is all that and a bag of chips. Imagine,
TV brought to you free by comercial advertising. What a
concept! What's next? Black & White?
Just to get this out in the open, if you select Windows XP
and upgrade to WIndows 7 you have to do a complete install. This is
Microsoft saying this, everything you have goes away. From Vista, you
upgrade to 7 without your programs and data going away. From XP you
have to reinstall all your programs and data. So get Windows 7, I mean
really, can it possibly be worse tha Vista?
Get 7, go Hulu, or not, that's your call, and
that's Cocktail Talk.
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