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Canadian Computer Consulting
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Are you looking for a new computer? We can advise you on what's a good deal and what's not, or we can look into upgrading your existing system. We'd even be happy to go pick it up for you, or see if we can find a better deal through our wholesale suppliers. Either way, after we get your new system in place, we can transfer your email, address book, favourites, documents, and programs to your new computer. Some free advice: Unless you have a specific reason for it, these days you're better off buying a lower-end computer rather than spending extra money for the fastest processor you can find. Technology is progressing so much faster than most people need that the extra speed provided by a top-of-the-line computer won't be noticeable to most people under most circumstances. Special circumstances include people who do a lot of work with games, graphics, and movie or sound editing. There is also one major exception to this rule: Laptops and PDA's. PDAs: In our opinion, Palm has a more reliable system, but is slowly going the way of the Mac (ie. a great system that just isn't compatible). Palms will probably be around forever, but are just not compatible with the majority of the software and accessories out there. If you're going for a new PDA, we would suggest a PocketPC, or at least a PDA that runs on the Windows CE operating system. When shopping for a Pocket PC, we suggest you purchase the best you can afford, and we strongly suggest you buy them from Dell. They're about the same price as you might find other places, but Dell has an insurance package available called their "Complete Care Warranty". Make sure you purchase this! It is usually around two hundred dollars extra, but it is, in our opinion, the best warranty available anywhere. It covers almost everything except for loss or theft. If you drop your PocketPC, drop it in your coffee, or throw it out the window of a moving vehicle (by mistake, of course), Dell will fix or replace it for free. And they do this in a very timely manner, too! For simple things like a cracked screen, they can usually send a representative to your house the next day who will fix it on-site. For more complicated problems they will have you ship it to them by overnight courier, at their expense, for repair or replacement usually within a week. All of this without costing you a single extra penny. For laptops, Dell used to be the only company that offered the this "Complete Care" package. Now, other notebook manufacturers are offering it too. For some reason, it's not widely advertised. Whenever you purchase a notebook, make sure you get this extended insurance options. It's usually good for 3 years and costs around $250. Sometimes you can even purchase this separately, within a year of purchasing a new notebook. They usually cover one accidental breakage per year with no deductible. Even one accident (losing a key on the keyboard, cracking the screen, spilling coffee, etc) would usually cost more than the insurance cost. It is a very good value and I would never sell a notebook without at least offering it to the customer. When purchasing any new computer, always buy lots of memory. Most desktop/laptop computers come with 256MB standard. We suggest a minimum of 512 MB of RAM. RAM, at least for desktop computers, is fairly inexpensive. It is also usually equally inexpensive to upgrade your RAM at a later date. For most people, the smallest hard drive (usually 40GB) is fine. If you have teenage kids, however, then lots of HD space is a must. You will be astounded at how fast your kids can fill up a 200 GB hard drive with music, movies and the like. Also, we strongly suggest against buying a used computer. Brand new computers start below $500, so there usually isn't much of a reason price-wise for buying used. A used computer will cause you hours of aggravation, guaranteed, even if you "just want to send and receive email and use it as a word processor". If you're looking for something really simple for occasional use, let us know and we'll let you know what items you can drop to bring the price down on a new system. For example, most new computers now come with a CD-writer. While a CD-RW may be a nice feature, if you're just using your computer for word processing you might be able to save 10% simply by turning down that option. If you're really counting your pennies, we can most likely get you up and running with a new system for around $300. If you need a monitor for your computer (ie you don't have an old one lying around that you want to use), make sure your computer comes with one. Usually the cheap prices you see listed do NOT include a monitor. If you must buy something used, you're fairly safe buying a used monitor. You should pay around $60 for a used 17" monitor, as opposed to about $150 for a new one. Just make sure it works reliably before you leave the store! You should also realize that monitors do burn out, and used monitors often come with only a 36-hour warranty. Another warning about monitors: "Flat-screen" does NOT mean those really cool monitors you see on TV that are only 1" thick. A "flat-screen" monitor is a regular cathode-ray tube (CRT) monitor, the same as they used 10 years ago, but with special lenses in them so that the screen is literally flat across the front, instead of curved like older monitors. Almost all monitors on the market today are "flat-screen". The really cool 1" thick monitors you've seen around are called liquid-crystal display (LCD) monitors. They are also sometimes called "Flat Panel" monitors, although you should confirm that this does, in fact, mean they are LCD. They start at around $300 for a 17" monitor, or $350 for a 19" monitor, and the prices are dropping monthly. |
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604-229-2089
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© 2006 Canadian Computer Consulting