Should I Buy A New Computer?

Lola writes:

I have a custom made desktop computer that is about 6 years old. Only thing ever needed replacing was the Hard Drive. It runs good and has no problems. I know it has enough ram and big enough Hard drive that is about 6 months old as well as a AMD Athlon dual core processor, and a Asus mother board. I know it can run windows 7 or 8.1 My question is this, Would I be smarter to simply have another computer made because of this ones age? One person told me I should and another says this one is fine to put the new windows on and I would be wasting money to buy a new one. So I thought I would ask for a third parties advice and could think of none better than you all to ask.
   Thank you for your advice and for all the help you give people everyday.

Well to quote an old saying, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” If your computer is working well and it can handle the newer system, there’s really no need to upgrade.  As long as you’ve checked the requirements of those operating systems, you shouldn’t have an issue. Do check, because there have been reports that some older AMD chips will not work with the 64 bit version of Windows 8.1

But, there would also be no harm in pricing a new computer. You might be able to get some bells and whistles you’ve been wanting a decent price and newer components may be more energy efficient, especially newer processors.

I don’t have a definitive answer, since there’s really no right answer here.  Both of the people you talked to are right. You certainly can keep your computer and just update the operating system, though the older electronics get, the more likely they are to break. Myself, I tend to like shiny new things and would be drawn in by the lure of a quad-core processor.

If your computer still runs well and can take the switch to Windows 7 or 8, keep it if you like. But if you think you might like something a little newer, shop around and get some prices. If it makes sense financially, go for it. I will say that a touch screen monitor does greatly enhance Windows 8.1, but it is not a requirement.

If you get that new operating system installed and have questions, make sure to ask us!

~ Cynthia