The Right Way

There are many things to consider when shopping for computer parts and related equipment, and unfortunately it’s very easy to pay too much and end up with a disappointing purchase. However, things have really changed in the past decade with the expansion of e-commerce and online documentation. So in this article, I’ll cover the most important things to consider when buying new computer hardware.

Compatibility. Before you begin shopping, you’ll first need to find out what your new hardware must be compatible with. For example, if you’re buying a desktop printer and your computer has USB2 ports, then you need to make sure your printer supports USB2. When buying other hardware like computer memory, the decision can be a lot more complicated. You’ll have to consult the specifications for your current hardware and maybe do some research online. If you’re still unsure, then I recommend talking with someone more knowledgeable (but not a salesperson).

Local Retailers. These are the absolute last places you should consider going to. Although it used to be somewhat reassuring to see the boxed product and know exactly what you were going to get, local retailers have now lost even that advantage. You can get much more information online than what’s printed on the box, and you can also get “real” photos showing everything the product comes with.

With a local retailer, you will always have to pay a substantial mark-up because the store, the employees, and the advertising behind them are all very expensive. Although some retailers claim their staff can help customers make the right purchases, that help is doubtful at best with a huge conflict of interest. The only advantage a local retail store offers is that you can have the product immediately after you’ve paid for it.

Internet Retailers. Thankfully, there are much better retailers online. My favorate is NewEgg.com, and the competition doesn’t even come close. The best thing about NewEgg is their online review system, which provides honest assessments from people who have already bought the product. Say one particular hard drive has 500 reviews and 75% of the reviewers gave it 5/5 stars. You might think at first that there must be something wrong because 25% of the reviewers rated it lower, but this is due to the fact that people are much more likely to write about bad experiences than good ones. Any product with over 75% 5/5 reviews is a good product, though before buying it is always a good idea to read the bad reviews too.

Another thing that’s great about NewEgg is that they will open the box and take detailed pictures of everything that the product comes with. You can see the cables, documentation, and other things that are usually not visible in the pictures on the outside of the box. You can also find many products that are meant to be sold to system builders rather than consumers – giving you more options and lower prices.

Brand Names. Well-known brands are nice in that they give you some assurance of trustworthiness, but they also mean that the manufacturer is a larger corporation – and this means they can be pressured to meet deadlines and ship products with known defects. It sounds bad, but it’s common even with relatively good companies like Seagate and Western Digital. This is another reason to buy online where you can see what people have said about a specific model.

Some of the larger brands with products in many different categories – such as Sony and HP – will re-brand cheaper, generic parts in order to compete in as many markets as possible. There’s not really a way to know which company is really manufacturing the product, but a good rule of thumb is to ask yourself what the brand name is famous for. For example, an HP-branded CDRW drive or flash drive is probably not made by HP, while on the other hand, an HP LaserJet printer is made by HP.

OEM vs Retail. A product’s Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) is the company which manufactured it, and historically, system builders have purchased large quantities from OEMs for resale inside new systems. So when you see “OEM” products for sale on NewEgg, what they mean is that the product is not packaged for display in a retail store. This is a good thing because OEM parts are cheaper, but in some cases the retail version will include extra features and support.

In the case of hard drives, you should always go for the OEM version (which in almost all cases has the same warranty as the retail version). But when it comes to processors, the retail package usually includes a heatsink and fan (an HSF). Unless you already have a compatible HSF, or you’re planning to buy your own, you will want to buy the retail package.

Warranties & RMAs. Even though they show the manufacturer’s good faith, warranties are often not that useful when it comes to computer parts. If you were buying a computer from Dell, then the warranty would be very important because there’s a substantial risk of an expensive, proprietary (i.e, made by Dell only) part failing. However, if you’re buying standard parts (which are much cheaper), then you can simply buy another if it fails. And if you did your research before buying to make sure you were getting a high-quality product, then there’s little chance you’d ever need the warranty anyway. What you would really need is a good return policy from your retailer. A Return Merchandise Authorization (RMA) is a request that you can submit to your retailer to return the product. So if you receive a defective or “dead on arrival” (DOA) part, you will have a way to get your money back.

When their current computer gets too slow, the first thing many people think is that they need to buy a new one. And while those people may be right sometimes, it’s usually a much better choice to fix the problem. It really all depends on what’s gone wrong, and in this article, I want to explain the most common problems and what can be done to fix them.

Failing Hard Drive. The only component in your computer that is expected to degrade over time is your hard drive. Despite what retailers want you to believe, a good hard drive shouldn’t be expected to last more than three years. And usually, it won’t go all at once – it will slowly develop problems over time before giving out. Because hard drives are expected to fail, you should never trust your important files to just one hard drive.

The best way to find out if your drive has any problems is to use a diagnostic program to read the SMART data from your hard drive. The actual diagnostic data is somewhat cryptic, but HD Sentinel is an easy-to-use, free program that will give you bar graphs for the performance and health of your drive. It’s important to note that you can’t rely on SMART data to predict a drive’s failure, but it is the best way to determine if a working drive has any issues.

In most cases, the best thing you can do to speed up your computer is to upgrade the hard drive. Higher RPMs, more cache memory, and lower latencies are more important than the size of the hard drive when it comes to performance. Also, you should make sure that the drive you buy is reliable, and a good way to do that is to buy from a website that allows users to leave feedback on products. If you buy your drive in a store, you have no idea how good it is. It’s not uncommon for even the bigger manufacturers to have duds.

Corrupt Windows Install. An installation of Windows becomes cluttered with extra files and registry entries over time, and it is a good practice to reinstall Windows at least once a year. Even if your hard drive is running fine, an old Windows installation can really drag your computer down.

There are many “cleanup” programs out there, but the best thing to do is reinstall. That means breaking out your Windows disc (or the Operating System disc from your PC vendor) to do a fresh installation. Although Windows will let you reinstall on top of your original installation, it is not a good thing to do. It’s much better to delete your Windows partition (usually “c:”) and recreate it. Of course, before doing that you should back up anything that’s important (preferably to more than one location).

Bulky Applications. The next cause for a slow computer is big, overweight applications. Many popular apps such as Anti-Virus and CD Burning programs have become very resource-intensive, and they continue to grow larger. Most of the hard drive and memory space they consume is usually due to excessive graphics that don’t add functionality.

So because of updates and upgrades, your computer may not run the same applications as quickly now as it did when it was new, and this is not your computer’s fault. A good practice is to prefer applications that are lighter on resources. You can check Task Manager in Windows or System Monitor in Ubuntu to see how much memory space and processor time each application is using.

Not Enough Memory. The first thing many technicians will tell you is that the best way to speed up an old computer is to add more memory. However, (in my opinion) adding memory is the easiest thing you can do, but it’s rarely the best or only thing you should do.

If your computer currently has less than 1GB of memory, then regardless of your operating system, you should probably add more. If you’re using a memory-hungry OS like Vista, then you should have 2GBs minimum.

You can check Ubuntu’s System Monitor and Windows’ Task Manager to find out how much of your total memory your applications actually use. Don’t worry if you see Windows heavily using the hard drive as virtual memory (aka “Commit Charge”) – that is normal for Windows systems.

What Not to Do. When looking for ways to improve your computer, there are a few things you shouldn’t do. It’s rarely ever worth the time to upgrade a processor or motherboard. Even if you upgrade to a faster processor, a higher clock speed doesn’t necessarily give you better performance.

Motherboards are not a common upgrade on name-brand systems like Dell and Gateway because each manufacturer has a custom design that’s incompatible with standard motherboards. And even if you can upgrade, it’s rarely worth the time and expense.

Who to Avoid. If you do decide to repair or upgrade your computer, you should never go to a retail chain that offers tech support. The only reason retail chains offer support is to sell the products they carry, and at this point they are nothing more than a rip-off.

However, we’re not saying you have to go with us. There’s certainly other good companies out there that offer PC repair services. The thing to avoid is relying on a “tech” who has something to gain by selling you on something. Even smaller repair companies may get commissions or they may mark up prices, so it’s always best to double-check recommendations and prices.

When is it Time? This depends on your situation of course, but it’s time to buy a new computer when your current computer either can’t be upgraded or isn’t worth the investment. Let’s say you wanted to do all the things outlined above and a liberal estimate for parts and labor is $175. That’s a lot better than paying $500+ for a new computer that will have the same problems a year or two down the road.

If your computer doesn’t support 1GB of memory, can’t run a modern operating system (e.g., XP or Ubuntu), or for whatever reason isn’t worth the investment, then you should look at buying a new computer. The truth is that just about any computer made in the past five years will do everything that 80% of the users out there could want. You’ll only need something faster if you’re into gaming, graphics creation, or a another resource-intensive task.

Thanks for reading, and I hope this article has been helpful!