The price tag for purchasing a new computer often means that individuals and businesses struggle instead with a device that has become increasingly slow and problematic.
People also tend to get very attached to their computers and don’t like the thought of changing or having to move their “computing life” over to an entirely new environment.
But you don’t have to choose between inefficiency and frustration of an old computer and the cost of buying an entirely new one. There is a third option that can breathe new life into an older system and give you the best of both worlds.
Houston computer repair services are about more than fixing a broken screen or crashed hard drive. They also include efficiency upgrades that can speed up your PC and give it more years of usable life.
Do you want to hold onto your personal or work PC a little longer before replacing it? Read on for the best upgrades to consider that can make your computer nearly like new again.
The average replacement cycle for a desktop computer is about 5 years. But many users hold onto them longer than that. It’s also not unusual for a computer to start becoming sluggish and problematic well before the 5-year mark.
If you’ve been wondering whether or not to throw in the towel on your PC due to performance issues, try one or more of these upgrades first to give your computer a new lease on life.
Do you avoid rebooting because it takes forever? Can you get a cup of coffee with cream and sugar in the time it takes a program like Photoshop to open on your PC? These are problems that may be cleared up by switching from a hard disk drive (HDD) to an SSD.
Solid-state drives do not have any moving parts and use flash memory to read/write to the disk. This results in much faster response times when you’re doing things like searching in file explorer, opening software, and rebooting.
Benefits of upgrading to SSD on your desktop or laptop include:
Not having enough memory on a computer can slow down a number of processes. It can cause slow and “sticky” response times when you’re working in programs and make your browser freeze up if you load a webpage with too many graphics and videos.
Those automated updates can also ruin your day by taking up critical memory when you’re in the middle of creating a document, causing the app to completely lock up.
Upgrading the memory in your system can be like getting an entirely new computer because it will speed up just about everything you do.
Computers will often have open memory slots that allow additional RAM to be added or in some cases a current chip can be replaced with one that has double the RAM (like a 4GB memory chip being replaced with an 8GB chip).
One thing that laptop users often have to deal with is lack of screen space to do things like work in programs side-by-side. This is especially true if their system has a lower resolution screen.
Not having enough screen area to work faster can be frustrating. But you can fix this without needing to replace your PC or give up the portability of a laptop to move to a desktop.
Add an additional monitor that you can use alongside your laptop screen when using it on a desk. This type of setup will allow you to drag items from one screen to the next and use the screens in tandem as one large working area, making multi-window workflows much more productive.
Another problem that can impact performance throughout your computer is a failing cooling system.
When your computer runs too hot, it impacts your Motherboard along with all the other components inside your PC, making them less effective.
Over time, cooling systems can degrade, which leads to overheating. Having this replaced can make a big difference in overall PC performance.
Any type of graphics heavy computing can be slowed down with an old graphics card. This includes everything from gaming to working in video or graphics intensive programs.
Before you resign yourself to purchasing a new PC so you can be ready for that big game release, check out the potential for a graphics card upgrade.
By upgrading both a graphics card and memory, you could be looking at an entirely new PC experience with no more problems with game response times or sticking in graphic and memory intensive programs.
Digital Crisis can help you improve the speed and performance of your older PC, allowing you to enjoy it for years to come.
Contact us today to schedule a PC upgrade consultation. Call 713-965-7200 or reach us online.
