Computers and Technology

Before you hire a computer repair technician to work on your computer, it's a good idea to ask yourself in advance, "Should I spend money repairing my current computer or should I instead use that money to purchase a new computer?"

The general rule of thumb is that if the cost of repairing your computer exceeds the current value of your computer, you are often better off investing in a new computer. Naturally the age of your computer bears a lot on whether it makes financial sense to repair it. There is no hard and fast rule in this respect. It is not only the age of your computer that is relevant, but also the value of your computer when you originally purchased it. If you bought a higher-end computer, its current value today will be more than if you had purchased a budget model.
The question is then how to determine the current value of your computer and the total cost of investing in a new computer.

eBay is a good way of determining the actual current value of your computer. Go to eBay.com, type your computer make and model into its search engine. The results you will get are for active auctions. What you want to do is click on "Completed Listings" in the left navigation column under "Preferences." Note that you will need an eBay account to access Completed Listings.

Completed Listings will give you a good idea of what your PC or laptop is currently selling for. Try to choose a completed auction that most closely corresponds to your computer, in terms of the amount of RAM, type of CPU, hard drive size, computer condition, etc. To get an accurate idea of what your computer is worth, be sure to compare apples to apples as much as possible.

Keep in mind that eBay is definitely a buyer's market and the figures you will get from eBay will usually be "low-balled." The actual value of your laptop in most every other market (like your local classifieds or Craigslist) will be generally higher. This is just something to bear in mind.

So now you have a decent idea as to the current value of your computer. Now we need to figure out the cost of investing in a new computer.

Entry-level laptop computers are selling new right now as low as $450. But we want to figure out the total cost of a new computer.

So let's say you found a new laptop for $450. But don't forget to tally up the "hidden" costs. Like:

1. Sales Tax if applicable

2. Shipping costs if applicable

3. The cost of transferring your data from your current computer to your new computer. This can be substantial if you need to hire a technician to do this for you, depending on the amount of data you need transferred.

4. Software installed on your current computer. Do you have the original CD-ROMs for the software installed on your current computer? Do you have the needed product keys to install your software on your new computer? Let's take Microsoft Office as an example. If you have lost the original CD-ROM for MS Office you will need to repurchase this software for your new computer. This can increase the cost of your new computer by $300 or more. Yikes.

One question I often ask my customers caught in this dilemma ("To Repair or Buy New?) is whether they were generally happy with their computer, in terms of performance and reliability, before it started experiencing issues. If the answer is, "Yes, it was a great computer," then it is probably worth the cost of the repair. If the answer is, "Not really, it was pretty slow and crashed a lot," then probably it is time to invest in a new computer.

Once again, there is no hard and fast rule as to whether you should invest in a repair or a new computer. It's a costs-benefits analysis that varies depending on many circumstances.