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W I N D O W S T U N E U P S !
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Publisher: Jonathan Leger Issue #009
mailto:jleger@...

Feature Article:
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CONSIDERATIONS WHEN UPGRADING YOUR OLD COMPUTER
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by Jonathan Leger

I run a small computer repair shop in a small town in Louisiana, and
part of what we do is upgrade PCs for our customers. We'll often
have a customer who has an old 486 or early-modle Pentium computer
come in and say "I want to upgrade this, what do I need?"

When upgrading a computer, there are three major areas you'll need
to consider:

[1] The amount of memory you have
[2] The processor speed
[3] The hard drive size/speed

In this article, I'm going to approach all three aspects of upgrading
your computer, and show you why you don't want to overlook any of
them.

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Memory
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The first thing you'll want to check in your computer is how much
memory (RAM) you have. To see how much RAM your computer has (if
you have Windows 95 or 98), right-click on the "My Computer" icon
of your desktop, and chose "properties" from the menu. A window
will open up that says "System Properties", and there will be a
picture of a monitor to the left with a list of information to the
right. At the bottom of the list of information is how much RAM
your computer has.

If you are running Windows 95, you want a minimum of 16MB of RAM
(24MB or 32MB is preferable). If you are running Windows 98, you
want a minimum of 32MB (64MB is preferable). Why is that so
important? Because Windows will use your computer's storage space
(called your "hard drive") as memory once you run out of RAM to use.
Although allowing Windows to have the resources it needs by doing
this (which is called "swapping to disk" or "virtual memory"), your
computer's hard drive is much slower than its RAM.

What this means to you when upgrading is this: you might have a
fairly fast (or even very fast) processor (the brain of the computer),
but if your computer doesn't have enough RAM, it will still run slow!
So make sure that you have enough RAM first.

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Processor Speed
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The second issue to consider is your processor speed. As mentioned
before, your processor is the "brains of the operation." It can be
considered the "engine" of your computer, it's where the power comes
from. Without it, your computer is just a heap of worthless
electronics on your desk.

How fast is your computer's processor? That's a little more tricky
to find out. Usually, when you first turn on your computer (or
"boot up", as we like to say), your computer will tell you how fast
its processor is. This is rated in megahertz (which is abbreviated
Mhz). For the sake of illustration, we'll think of the megahertz of
your computer as the horsepower of a car. The more horsepower, the
faster it goes.

As a rule of thumb, if you are running Windows 95, you will get poor
results if your computer's processor is less than 100 Mhz. If you
are running Windows 98, you will get poor results if it is less
200 Mhz. 'Why does the operating system change how fast your
computer needs to be?' you might ask. That's a question worthy of
an answer.

Think of Windows 95 as a Ford Escort, and Windows 98 as a Lincoln
Towncar. Now, we all know that an Escort is much lighter than a
Towncar, because not only is a Towncar much bigger, but it also adds
all kinds of nice luxuries and technologies that makes the car
heavier. Because of that, it requires a larger engine to move it
comfortably, but man, it sure is nice, isn't it?

Windows 98, compared to Windows 95, has added many features, nicer
graphics, animations, all kinds of pretty things and functionality
(including much better internet functionality), that makes it a
"heavier" operating system. As such, it requires more "horsepower."

Does this mean that you have to junk your old computer if you want
to run Windows 98? Not necessarily. There are processor upgrades
that you can get now that will replace your computer's old brain
with a newer, faster one. They are fairly inexpensive, too, at
around a hundred dollars, and take about 15 minutes to install if
you're a do-it-yourselfer.

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Hard Drive
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The third and final aspect to look at in your computer is its storage
space, or hard drive. The hard drive is where all of your programs
and your files and documents sit on your computer, waiting to be moved
into RAM so that your computer can work with them. It is also the
device that Windows uses like RAM when it runs out of RAM.

Windows will almost always use your hard drive as memory, unless you
have an enormous amount of RAM (for Windows 95, you'll need 128MB for
it to work well without using your hard drive, for Windows 98--forget
it). So the speed of your hard drive matters, and as with all
things, newer hard drives are faster (and can hold more), than older
ones.

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Summary
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So, in order of priority, if you're looking to upgrade your old
computer instead of getting a new one, look into adding more memory
first, then look at the processor upgrades, and finally, look into a
new hard drive. Street-pricing for memory upgrades ranges from about
$49 for an extra 16MB to $89 for an extra 32MB (but that figure
varies enormously depending on your computer's setup). For the
processor upgrade, expect to pay about $100. For a new hard drive,
expect to pay around $149.

I'm telling you what you should expect to pay because many "computer
repair" guys are like mechanics, and will charge you through the nose
if they think they can get away with it. So be well-armed by reading
over this article a few times before going into a computer repair shop
to get your computer upgraded, if you're not going to do it yourself.

So, if you were to upgrade each aspect of your old computer, you're
looking at around $350 or so. The other option is to use your old
monitor, keyboard and mouse, and just replace the 'box' with a new
one, which cuts costs way down because you're not having to pay for
the peripherals. My company, United Technologies, offers a 333 Mhz
computer with 32 MB of RAM and Windows 98 for only $599, and we will
ship it to you for free! It's everything you need to run the latest
software fast without having to take out a loan! So if you're
thinking about replacing your old computer's 'box', give me a call
toll-free at 1-877-SABINE1 Monday-Friday, 9am to 6pm CST. Or e-mail
me right now, and I'll give you a call right away:

mailto:jleger@...

We accept VISA, MasterCard and American Express. We also have the
memory, processor and hard drive upgrades available if you're a
do-it-yourselfer.

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About the Author
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Jonathan Leger is a partner in United Technologies, a computer sales
and service firm engaged in cutting-edge technology such as wirless
LAN networking, traditional LAN networking in Windows workgroups, and
custom database programming.
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Windows Tune Ups! is brought to you by:
United Technologies
2600 Texas Hwy.
Many, LA 71449
Phone: 1-877-SABINE1
Fax: 1-318-5900888
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