How Much Should you Spend on a new Computer

I have been asked this question a lot by friends. This question is especially popular after people go to a retailer and see the price tags associated with the full line of computers, and are immediately confused. The amount that you spend on a computer depends wholly and solely on what you hope to use your computer for.

Are you planning to watch movies and videos on it? Are you planning to use it for work and other tasks. Considering the focus of this blog, I don’t want to say that seniors aren’t going to use a computer for work, but it will more than likely be used to keep in touch with friends and family, read a few things on the Internet – perhaps play games on it with the kiddos.

A better question to ask is “Do I need a new computer?” If you don’t have a computer and you’re sitting a library or rec. center to read this, then perhaps you do want to invest in a computer. You can get a good computer these days for between $200-300, that will allow for Internet use, and simple task such as word processing, or the use of other software tools that you purchase for personal or business use. If such is the case, you don’t need a computer with all the bells and whistles and lots of RAM (Random Access Memory) and drive space to speed along multi-tasks and work projects.

On the other hand, if you have a computer, and it doesn’t seem to perform as well as it once did, I highly recommend some routine maintenance checks – many are listed throughout the archives of this blog. You can also take advantage of a registry scan and cleaning that will restore computer performance. There are several to choose from. Some of the best are MyCleanPC.com, DoubleMySpeed.com – you have probably seen commercials for a lot of these services.

Whatever you do, don’t spend thousands, or even a thousand dollars on a new computer unless you know exactly why you’re spending that money on that specific computer.