Tips on buying a computer

Everyone has their own needs and financial standing. Buying a computer is a very expensive plan. The computers also outdate themselves before you get your money's worth. Before buying a computer, it is good to sit down and decide what you are going to use the computer for and also what your plans are down the road. There is cheap systems on the market that are fine for some users but the cheap system can be an expensive system for others down the road if you end up needing to upgrade. Below is some information to consider when you are purchasing a system.

Who to buy from

This is a tough one. A local shop may allow you to get more personal help where a major computer company like HP, Dell, Gateway so forth will do the support over the phone and it maybe techs from over seas. However the systems from a local computer store may cost you more, or may be less quality, due to the fact that the large computer companies can buy the parts at wholesale where local shops can't. Not saying they use cheaper parts. They may not but it is something to consider. Here is some things to consider when deciding where to buy the computer.

Decide what is the features that you want.
Decide if there is any features you may want to upgrade later and make sure they can be upgraded.
Go to several computer stores and compare the prices of their systems.
Call Dell, Gateway, HP and other online vendors and see what they offer.
Be sure to check out how long their warranties are for and exactly what they cover.
Check the boards, such as Smart Computing and other boards and magazines to see what they say about different models.
Contact the Better Business Bureau to see if they have received many complaints about the company.
See if and what is the return policy is. (some charge restocking fee)
Decide what software you want to come with the system.
Some companies don't send the CDs for the software unless you specifically request them. I strongly suggest getting the operating system CD. They will tell you the CD is not needed because there is a restore partition on the hard drive to restore the system to default settings if your operating system needs to be reloaded. That is fine as long as the issue is software, but if it is hardware, such as a hard drive failure, you will loose the restore partition as well. In the case of a hard drive failure, you won't be able to install the operating system without the CD and it may take awhile for you to get a replacement CD.

Sales

Stores have sales periodically throughout the year. There is also no tax day twice a year. You can find a good deal sometimes on the sales. However beware of sales. Sometimes a sale is not a sale. You may actually be paying more or the same on a sale. For example some stores (not all stores do this but some do so you have to watch) will raise the cost of the a computer during no tax day so they will get more for the computer for themselves. The customer thinks it is a savings because there is no tax on it but doesn't realize that the store raised the price of the item. It is best to know what the price is for the item on non sales days. This way you will know if it is a sale or not.

Deciding on the features of the system

Here is some information for you to consider when you are trying to decide to either upgrade or purchase a new computer.

Computer technology changes almost daily. To keep up with the technology is a full time job. To advice someone on what type of computer to get, is an impossible task. Everyone's needs are different. Everyone's preferences is different. Therefore, these pages are for your information to make an educated decision. There is so much information that it may confuse you more than help you. However it is important to review all the information. Also as technology changes, some of the information provided here may not apply.

For more information that I don't have included here, see the following

Hardware questions Information on computer parts.