Should you fix that slow computer or replace it? Advice from people who’d earn more if you replaced it.
Nobody decides to replace a computer. They just snap one morning, somewhere between pressing the power button and the coffee going cold.
That’s a perfectly human way to make the decision. It’s also a bit backwards. The computers people get rid of in a temper are often worth saving, and the ones they really should replace tend to hang around for years, because they “still work”.
We fix computers and we sell them, so we’d be lying if we said we had no interest either way. If we’d recommend something we also supply, we’ll tell you upfront. Here’s how we actually think about it.
Slow is expensive, just not on paper
Nobody gets an invoice for waiting. But it adds up: the start-up that takes longer than the kettle, the spinning wheel every time someone opens a file, the staff member who’s quietly given up on the shared drive and now emails everything to themselves.
None of it shows up in the accounts. It just makes every day a little slower, a little more irritating, and makes everyone think the problem is them.
Often worth fixing
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It’s slow but otherwise fine. Very often it’s a nearly full drive, a dozen programs all insisting on starting up first, or years of clutter. That’s a tidy-up, not a funeral.
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It still has an old spinning hard drive. Swapping it for a solid-state drive can make an older computer feel startlingly quicker, for much less than a new one.
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It gasps when you open a few things. More memory can help, if the computer allows it.
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One part has given up on an otherwise good machine. A battery, a keyboard, a charging port, a noisy fan. Usually worth replacing.
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It’s a software problem or an infection. That’s a fix, not a new computer.
Often time to let it go
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It no longer gets security updates from its maker. This is the big one, and the one people ignore, because the computer seems fine. It may run beautifully. It’s also an unlocked side door into your business. If it can’t be updated to a supported version, start planning the replacement.
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The repair costs a big slice of a new one. A rough rule of thumb: if the repair is more than about half the price of a comparable new computer, replacing it usually makes more sense, especially on an older machine.
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The expensive bits have gone. On an older laptop, a dead main board or screen is often the end of the road.
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It can’t run what you need. If the new accounts or practice software crawls on it, no repair will change that.
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It fails at exactly the wrong moments. If it’s the computer on reception or the one that takes payments, reliability is worth more than one more year.
Three questions, in this order
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Does it still get security updates? If not, plan to replace it, however well it runs.
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Would the repair cost about half a new one, or more? If so, lean towards replacing.
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Will it do the job for the next couple of years? If not, put the repair money towards the new one.
Yes, no, yes? Fix it, and enjoy the money you didn’t spend.
The bit everyone forgets
A new computer isn’t just the box. Someone has to set it up, move the files and email across, install the software, and properly wipe the old one before it goes anywhere. Plan for that, or the new computer spends a month sitting in its box looking expensive.
How we help
Tell us what it’s doing, and we’ll speed it up, or tell you honestly if it’s time to replace it. Sometimes the most useful thing we can say is “keep it”.
For managed IT clients we watch drive health and disk space, so we can often spot a drive starting to fail, or a disk filling up, before it ruins anyone’s day. That turns “it died this morning” into “let’s plan a replacement next month”, which is a far nicer conversation.
If it is time, we can supply the new one, set it up and move everything across. If it’s worth saving, see repairs, speeding up slow computers and upgrades and replacement parts.
Tell us what’s bugging you.
Computer taking longer to start than the kettle? Ring Kelly or Carisa and tell us what it’s doing. We’ll tell you straight whether it’s worth fixing.
Busy? We'll ring you.
Leave your number and tell us what's not working. We'll take it from there.