How much would it cost me if I send my computer to get the OS upgraded by a technician?

Question

I would like to get the OS of my computer from Windows 98 to the most recent one but I am afraid to do it myself because I am using an old computer and I don't know if it capable of having that change. How much would a computer repair guy or technician will charge me if he upgrades my computer. I am not interested in buying a cd of the new Windows and install it myself.

Answer 1

www.thepiratebay.org Look for a windows xp pro torrent make sure you have bitcomet downloaded, and download that, and yes your system will beable to handle XP very well as long as the processor is 533MHZ or above. Warning this is illeagal but i've been pirating software since 98 so don't worry about it.

Answer 2

you would buy the CD of the OS you want installed,( $89 to $189 for Upgrades) and most shops would charge between $75 and $125 to install it, and the suite of anti-virus programs you'll need.

The computer you have is probably NOT going to like trying to run a 'modern' operating system without serious and expensive hardware upgrades for Memory, the Drives, even the monitor resolution, and you might be better off buying a modern system, with the OS already installed!

Or, you can download for FREE, http://pclinuxos.com that you burn to CDrom, and run in the CD. It would run on a 1998 era system.

But, if you are not interested in installing Windows, you would probably be better off with a newer computer that already has all the nice features that modern systems offer, at attractive prices!

Check the Sunday supplements for the sales flyers of all the major stores for computers and office supplies! I saw some for only $299 complete, except for the monitor! Some for $349 included the big CRT monitor! At $499 the system had it all, plus a LCD monitor!

Answer 3

If the computer is that old, leave it alone. On the off chance that your BIOS can handle the new OS, it will be pathetically slow and you may lose other things because they will not be able to run at the same time because of the limits of operation from the older BIOS. Even if it can be done, the tech's service charge will probably be outrageous for what you get. It would probably be more economical for you to just get a new computer build kit. Basically, that comes with a tower, motherboard, power supply, mouse, keyboard and sometimes a screen. All the sound and video is on board (ran off the motherboard). You can add to it as you have needs come up by installing plug and play cards for vid and aud. Try www.tigerdirect.com or www.egghead.com or other similar sites for deals on new computers.

Answer 4

This upgrade will cost more than your machine is worth. A reputable tech will charge at least $50 plus the cost of software (xp currently retails for about $100)
Chances are, you computer will only support 256 ram, if you have that much. 256 will run xp, but you will be limited in your usage.
Tech + Software $150, Addition ram $25 = $200
You are almost halfway to a new computer. Save your money and do it right!

Answer 5

I am not an expert on this, but it sounds like it would make more sense and is not much more expensive to buy a new PC. I want to add that regardless of what you do, you should make a backup of all your files. For files you create or copied onto your PC, like spreadsheets, Word documents, PDF files, pictures, video, etc., you can copy them to CD. For software packages, like Microsoft Office, you will need to make sure you have the installation CD so you can reinstall it. The backup is necessary in case something goes wrong when you try to upgrade your OS, or to transfer the files and programs to your new computer if you decide to buy a new one. If you have a technician upgrade your OS you should make sure they do a backup if you don't do it yourself.

Answer 6

Just to warn you - you might end up losing all your files. First get an estimate - it would be an idea if you put your computer spec on here - go to 'my computer' and select properties and type in here your processor, amount of RAM and hard drive size - we can tell you if you can get XP to run on your machine. If you can it's better to get someone to put in a new hard drive and install XP on that so they can then copy across all your old data off your other drive. Upgrading over the top of 98 will give you problems - it needs to be installed on an empty drive. Make sure you tell them all this otherwise they will either do a rubbish install or will wipe all your stuff. drive should be around £50 - £70 depending on size - make them get an unbranded one (cheaper) and then say an hours work to install XP plus then on top of that the cost of XP home or pro.

Answer 7

Why don't you do it yourself? It's really straight forward and A LOT cheaper. You just pick which one you want to upgrade to and just get the installation cd for it at your local circut city or walmart or whatnot and install it yourself. The one's you have to pick from is Windows XP (don't... wait for Windows Vista) and Apple OS X... they'll run you $100-$150

Answer 8

you will be charged min of $50.per hour,depending wear you take it, BestBuy or CompUSA are the cheepest and dependable,
the upgrade cost 160.00 the orignal os cost 256.99 this is without the tech help.So if your machine is old it would cost you less to purchase a new setup pc Hp or dell, are the best, they start around 499.00 and already come with xp home edition or xp professinal good luck

Answer 9

windows xp or vista will not operate on an old 98 machine ... xp not well and vista not at all ... i wouldnt waste ur time and money ... just buy a new machine ... even a bargain basement new machine will blow ur 98 box away ...3-400 should do it and you will spend more than that buying an upgrade op-system cd and paying someone to do it and add more ram to ur system ....

Answer 10

if your computer is that old i suggest leaving it alone. the OS that it was designed to run is the best. Putting xp on a 6 year old computer designed to run windows 98 is going to leave you disappointed. it will run extremely slow if at all.