Everyone knows the cruel reality of the personal tech revolution: to keep up with the virtual Joneses, you have to upgrade your hardware and software about every two years. It was never fun to drop several grand on a new high-tech pizza box, but now, in this era of "post-crash realism," it may be downright impossible. The good news is, that with a little bit of do-it-yourself effort, you can keep your current PC in the power computing loop without having to spend much more than your Bush tax rebate.
The Basic Upgrades
Far too many users are horrified at the prospect of opening up their computer and installing new hardware. This fear keeps computer repair shops in business, since most the their money comes from yanking out your old memory or central processor and slapping in new ones. For the privilege of dealing with a surly and condescending techie, and having your computer in the shop for a week, you pay hundreds of dollars for an operation that probably takes less than 10 minutes to perform.
The best and cheapest thing you can do to perk up your computer is to install more RAM. This allows you to use increasingly bloated software and to have many applications open at once. To install RAM, all you have to do is find out what kind of RAM you need (found in your user's manual) and decide how much you want. Companies like Micro Warehouse can be very helpful on the phone, and the RAM usually comes with simple installation instructions. The procedure takes about five minutes and can save you hundreds of dollars.
Upgrading your computer's central processor is a bit more complicated, but can be accomplished by the average user with a little prior planning and patience. Again, computer hardware suppliers are usually helpful. You should also call the tech support department of your PC's maker to find out what processors your computer can handle. You need to be a little more careful here as the manuals that come with new processors are often written in Manglish (mangled English written by non-English speaking engineers), and sometimes not all information is given. I was about to upgrade my computer's processor when I discovered (in fine print in an appendix) that I needed to get a new video card as well.
In addition to contacting hardware vendors, do a search on your PC model and keywords like "processor upgrade" to read about other users' experiences. And don't be embarrassed to check out books like Andy Rathbone's Upgrading & Fixing PCs for Dummies. This book, and others like it, can be extremely helpful.
Many of the other hardware components in your computer are just as easy to upgrade as RAM. New drives, power supplies, and cooling fans are all a few screws and cable connections away. By doing it yourself, you can shop for the lowest-priced components, and of course, save all that money in inflated labor costs.
IMPORTANT NOTE: Always completely back up your system before any upgrades and make sure that you have saved to disc any drivers used by your machine. In the case of a processor upgrade, also make sure you've done all of your online research beforehand, because if there's a problem with the upgrade, you may not be able to get back online to access tech support docs, phone numbers, etc.
Cheap Home Networking
While high-priced Wi-Fi (802.11b) wireless networking systems are getting a lot of press these days, there are plenty of cheaper home networking solutions available. Wireless gives you the freedom to roam, but you pay a premium for that. If you don't do a lot of large file transfers and are basically looking for shared Internet and printing, a phone-based or home wiring-based system can be set up for a few hundred dollars. 3COM makes a line of phone-based networking kits under the HomeConnect brand. A system for connecting two PCs over your home's phone wiring is available for under $200.
Sharing a network connection throughout the house is a good way to justify the expense of a broadband account. Another way you can save money with broadband is getting a combination cable TV and cable modem account from your cable provider. This will usually save you at least ten dollars a month, and cable companies often have deals where you get the first month free when you sign up for the combo account. Also, if your cable company offers a discount for signing a one- or two-year contract, do it, as it is very unlikely a better broadband technology will be coming along in that time period.
Software
The first thing you have to ask yourself before dropping a few hundred on a software upgrade or new software package, is: Do I really need this? Most of us use only a tiny fraction of the features in the programs we own and are barely comfortable with our existing software before we upgrade it (to a whole new slew of features we'll never use). If there isn't something in the new program you're just dying to have (or is require for your work), stick with what you have as long as possible.
And don't buy into the monumentality of today's software packages, which try to be all things to all users. If that new word processing program has all sorts of fancy charting features, do you really need them inside your wordpro package, or can you do these things elsewhere and then import them? And for these other functions, don't forget to look for shareware or freeware programs that can handle them. Some of these programs are just as good as commercial packages costing five times as much money.
Years ago, at the dawn of the PC age, multimedia pioneer Peter Sugarman published an article called "Neo-Luddite Computer Solutions." He proposed that, instead of getting sucked into upgrading your gear every two years, you make a commitment to yourself to hang on to what you have for five. Keep your computer upgraded, repaired and happy, learn the software you already have, make do, and sit back and watch the endless parade of bells and whistles being crowded into OTHER people's machines. Today more than ever, this idea makes a lot of sense.
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