Before you buy a new computer, first and foremost evaluate your needs. Are you a power user ? I would say that 98% of the people I know are not. Just because you use your computer a lot does not make you a power user. Do you have 1-5 programs open at a time or less? Do you mainly surf the web, manage photos from a digital camera, check email and work with programs like Microsoft Office or other similar software? If this describes 90% of what you use your computer for I would say you are not a power user.

Now that we have established what type of computer user you are I will address what type's of computers to buy if you are not a power user. If you are a power user there are a lot of variables to decide what kind of computer you would need so I won't get into that here. I'll save that for another blog.

My advice is simple. Buy the cheapest computer or laptop that you can find. The best way to get the least expensive, quality computer is off the Internet or a big box store like Best Buy or Costco. The last laptop I bought was only $249. I mainly use it when I go around to clients and for business and it works great. Why do I advise the cheapest computer? Simply because computers are now a consumer item like a cell phone or clock radio. It will cost you more to repair a laptop/desktop then to buy a new cheap one.

Rather than buying a $1000 computer or laptop that I expect to last me 4 years, I can buy a $300-$350 laptop and expect to get at least 2 years out of it. After 4 years and two laptops totaling $600-$700 I come out $300 ahead and I have had two laptops. What happens if I have an $800 laptop or computer that has a hardware problem? It s going to cost you money to fix. Labor + Parts = more then $200, why not just by a new $300 computer?