Technology Matters
HOW TO CHOOSE YOUR NEXT COMPUTER In the last edition, we asked the question ‘does the operating system matter anymore?’ It is debatable, however, if we follow current trends from vendors, where their licensing model seems to be following the device instead of the operating system, you have to expect that at some stage, the operating system will just become a bucket that contains all the applications you need, which in turn, will house all of your data, or intellectual capital. Microsoft has already said that Windows 10 will be the ‘last’ version of Windows, from here on out there will only be updates to the operating system. Apple has a similar model, with releases of OSX being a free upgrade, provided your machine meets the minimum specifications. So if you had a choice, who would you support? That is an overarching question that many people are grappling with these days, so here are my musings on the subject. Usable life – In these tight financial times, we are expecting more from the purchases that we make. Establishing how long a machine will be useful to you should be a primary consideration, as that will heavily impact your return on investment. Servicing – In a business environment, downtime costs money, so being able to ensure that you are able to get your machines serviced and repaired locally by authorised repair centres, would be important.
RALPH STEVENJENNINGS Smile i.t.
If you would like to get a minimum of 3 years lifespan out of your machine, ensure that you are able to get a warranty that will cover it for the duration. Warranties – If you would like to get a minimum of 3 years lifespan out of your machine, ensure that you are able to get a warranty that will cover it for the duration, this would avoid any nasty repair surprises....we don’t buy a car these days with less than five years warranty on them! Build quality – Choosing your devices should be based on their durability, but probably more important than that would be the specifications that your potential next acquisition has. If you spend a bit more now, buy a machine that has a decent processor (i5 or better) with a solid state hard drive and a reasonable amount of RAM, you have a machine that should be able to cope quite comfortably with the future upgrades that will be thrown at it. These are just some of the broader considerations, there are many more ‘personal’ (like Operating System) preferences but they should not affect its usable life as much as the points mentioned above. Happy shopping!
ABOUT THE AUTHOR Ralph started his career as a Microsoft systems engineer in South Africa, followed by work in the UK and Europe before moving to Dubai, where he purchased a share of a start-up managed service provider at the end of 2003. This business grew to cover three countries and over 70 staff, mostly supporting small and medium enterprises. Ralph moved to the Sunshine Coast in December 2013 to start a new lifestyle with his young family.
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