IT Purchasing Guidelines
Buying Recommendations
Prices for computer products change often as technology advances. With new product introductions, manufacturers normally reduce the cost of older models that are being phased out. Buying a system that is at the end of its life cycle means that it is less expensive and no longer state of the art. The cost of computers at beginning, mid and end of life cycle has stayed relatively constant over the past 5 years, but the capabilities of the equipment improve substantially, so it sometimes seems that they are getting less expensive. Component prices for memory and disk drives tend to fluctuate with market supply and demand and this will often affect pricing as well. As a buying strategy it is usually best to buy a product midway through its life cycle to get current technology at a reasonably affordable price. Our recommendations are based on this mid-life cycle strategy. Using this strategy will assure that the equipment will be able to support today's software technology and probably the next generation's as well.
Upgrading a PCIn a few situations, it makes sense to upgrade a PC rather than replace it. The determining factor is usually the age of the equipment. If you have a computer which is less than 3 years old, adding memory or a larger disk drive can be done with relatively few problems and will be less expensive than replacing the machine.
However, in general we advise against processor upgrades or replacing several components like memory, disk and processor for several reasons. The cost of the upgrade components often adds up to 50% or more of the replacement cost of a new machine, leaving you with an older machine, which is no longer under warranty. Also, due to the age of the equipment the upgrade process is often burdened with compatibility problems which surface when new hardware components are installed with a set of existing components. While the cost of the computer components might seem to be less, the labor cost of upgrading a computer and the downtime costs when things go wrong often add up to much more money than the cost to purchase a new machine.
If you are considering an equipment upgrade and need some advice please call Travis Canoso (2-6894) for desktops or John Stevenson (2-8548) for laptops.
Buying Used EquipmentBuying a used computer is usually not a good idea. Used equipment is often not configured to adequately meet the performance needs of today's Windows software. Also, used equipment is often out of warranty and prone to component failures, making the cost of repairs more expensive in the long run than buying a new system. Because used equipment does not meet campus standards and our technicians are not familiar with the equipment it often is a very inefficient use of Computing Services personnel resources to install this non-standard equipment on the network. Therefore, we advise against the purchase of used equipment for use on campus and can make no guarantees about connecting such equipment to the network.
