|
I once had a system "custom built" in the mid 1990's when there were mom and pop type computer stores still around. I paid some where in the neighbor hood of $2,000.00 as I recall with the understanding it could be "upgraded" as needed. About a year into this thing I took it back to get it "upgraded" and was promptly told it's not worth it. By the time we swap everything out you may as well buy a new one. That was the last time for that. Now I buy mid level name brand systems in and around the $500.00 to $700.00 dollar range both for my office desk tops and my personal lap top. My IT guy comes in every few weeks and does a scan and diagnostics. We always have two systems available for back up. If something goes wrong with a system we take it off line and replace it. We then either remove the hard drive from the broken system and throw it away or if not to serious an issue that won't take more than an hour to repair (I don't want to pay a guy $150.00 an hour for two hours and parts on a machine I paid $500.00 for) we keep it as a back up.
In my experience Dell's, Toshiba's, Lenovo's a year and a half until it craps out.
My wife has an Apple that is just about four years old. It cost just under $3K new. It is the Macbook Pro with the larger screen. A few months back she took it to Apple for a tune up. They stated the hard drive was starting fail and recommended backing it up via her time capsule then bring it back and they will replace the hard drive for $150.00. While doing so she dropped it, ever so slightly separating the screen from the metal housing but it still worked. When she took it back the tech opened the lid and the wiring tape severed. He said it's not worth fixing they only expect about four years out of a system. I found that a little hard to believe so I gave it to my IT guy at my office. He said the same thing. He could replace the hard drive for about $60.00 but everything else was pretty well worn out and it wasn't worth investing any money in it.
|