"When should I upgrade my computer ?"

Dear friends and clients,

This is a question I am often asked – and it’s a good question. While you may think that computers should just work forever, this unfortunately is not the case. Like any mechanical equipment, the question is not “Will it fail?” – the question is “When will it fail?”

With over sixteen years of experience, I can give some convincing answers to this question. While it can conceivably happen that a new system will fail within weeks or even days of being commissioned, this is highly unlikely. Electronic components are stress-tested at the manufacturers to withstand a lot more than they are likely to encounter under normal use. However, the following must be borne in mind:

Computers are often used under less than ideal circumstances. They sit on floors, they are kicked and banged around, they are moved while running. They accumulate dust and dirt. They are subject to sudden power failures, freezing nights and sweltering days. All of this can shorten the life of important components.

Hard drives particularly are highly mechanical devices. They spin constantly at between 5400 and 7200 r.p.m., whether they are being accessed or not. Their data head tolerances are less than the thickness of a human hair. And they store ALL your important data. It only takes one error too many to reduce the drive to a useless lump of metal, and for you to lose everything.

Motherboard capacitors can and do leak and fail. Power supplies lose reliability. Optical drives don’t open. Fans are slowed by dust, and their cooling becomes less efficient. Critical components overheat. Things fall apart.

So when should you upgrade? As a rule of thumb, computers older than three years are an increasing risk to your business. The likelihood of them failing disastrously increases exponentially after that point. Apart from mechanical failure, after 3 years the software is likely to be out of date and may also need upgrading.

Moreover, after 3 years there certainly have been considerable advances made in the hardware field too. New systems are considerably faster, cheaper and more efficient than those from 3 years previously.

So don’t think of your computers as a once-off purchase. They should be reviewed every three years, and major components upgraded. Critical servers especially should be examined and sometimes replaced. These events should form part of the business planning of every company that relies on computers for the smooth running of their operation.