"Help speed up my computer!" Beating business downtime

Every business these days is reliant on computers, whether it's for keeping track of stock, preparing proposals, designing major projects or handling all the essential paperwork that keeps your business ticking over.

So how do you know when it is time for computer upgrades? When do you ask yourself, "How can I speed up my computer?"

Assess your needs

Jill VanderPutten of Sunlit Technology says that the first step when thinking of computer upgrades is to consider exactly what you need your system for. Then you should assess how well it is meeting your requirements.

"People buy a system that may suit a particular business use at a particular time, but as the business evolves and needs change, they often find that the old system begins to struggle," she says. 

Upgrade checklist

Think about how you use your computers and ask yourself:

• Am I experiencing regular hardware problems?
• Do my computers seem slow most of the time?
• How much am I spending on repairs and servicing?
• Are my computers doing the job I need them to do?

If you find yourself with a system that is constantly letting you down or costs a fortune to keep running, then it is definitely time to upgrade computers. A band-aid solution is a false economy over the longer term.

Likewise, if your computer system is not capable of handling your current business needs (as opposed to your requirements at the time of purchase), then computer upgrades may also be on the cards.

Full or partial upgrade?

"Ideally, it is best to replace all existing computers at the same time, particularly if they are networked together," says Jill.

This saves both time and effort and means that you can enjoy the benefits of your investment from the outset.

However, if your budget doesn't allow for a large-scale computer upgrade, you can improve performance incrementally by staggering the upgrade over a period of months, until you have the complete system you require, she says.

"Best of all, this option is not necessarily more expensive - just slower to implement."

Help speed up my computer!

Simply increasing the RAM (Random Access Memory) of your computers can help speed them up and improve performance.

This is a good option if budget is an issue, but is unlikely to offer a long-term solution, warns Jill. (If speed is an ongoing problem, it is more likely to be a software issue.)

Depending on your particular system and the quality of your LCD screens (many of which now come with a 3+-year warranty), you may also choose to simply replace the boxes.

"As the price of a box has dropped over recent years, it really has become a disposable unit," says Jill.

But whatever challenges your system faces, there will be a solution. See what options your local computer equipment upgrade specialists can offer today.