Buying A PC is NOT like Buying A Car

This month I’ll start with a series of articles in the hope of helping those of you considering buying a replacement computer. The pc market is a minefield and if you don’t do your research you may well find yourself a disgruntled and unhappy customer with little or no recourse. It is very much a case of observing the Caveat emptor (Let the Buyer beware) rule in deciding what/where/and how to buy a new pc.

When is a PC Not A PC?

Time was it was a relatively easy thing for me to describe exactly what constituted a computer and what wasn’t one. Times have changed and the growth of mobile tablet computing has significantly muddied the waters on the definition. Coupled with this is the emergence of non windows computing devices to further add to the confusion. For me the definition of a computer must be a device which is fully independent of the internet and does not rely on it to operate efficiently. Thus all tablet and hybrids are not, by this definition, pc’s no matter how much a sales person insists they are. Once you understand this definition it will make your job in selecting a pc much easier.

Tablets are simply not a replacement for your existing laptop or desktop pc. No matter what device or whizbang you add to them they remain at best a poor imitation of a pc. I’m not knocking these devices per se, they are quite good at what they claim to be able to do. One area where they are notoriously annoying is in general internet browsing and anyone who has attempted to do so with one of these devices will know exactly what I mean.

In terms of providing a link to app friendly sites they do this job well but remember most non sales oriented sites are still not mobile friendly and are unlikely to become so in the immediate future.

Hybrid Devices

These devices are a respond to the absolutely massive growth of smart phone and tablet sales.  They are priced at under 300 euro and claim to provide the best of both worlds. Those of you who had netbooks in the past will be familiar with the size and use of these devices. The netbook fad was short lived due to the limited power of those devices and poor performance. Likewise, I would speculate the same fate awaits these “almost pc” devices.

Next month I will continue on with this topic. Until then seek advice before rushing out to buy that new pc.

Oliver Reidy is a computer technician and has been in the industry since 1981.You can contact him via email at help.desk@reidyonline.com or at the telephone numbers listed on this page. This article, and all previous articles, are available to view online at http://reidyonline.blogspot.ie/ or www.reidyonline.com/blogspot.htm