New computer or upgrade?

Question

My kids want to play new video games on our computer which is about two years old - Compaq Presario. Is it best to upgrade or buy new?

Answer 1

That depends on what games your kids will be playing. I can only guess it will be one of the big online games like Everquest or WoW in which case I'd upgrade.

Answer 2

* Few things push a computer more then a new video game.

New games always are pushing the envelope in hardware performance, and video card abilities.

Not knowing your real hardware specs you can try the basics.

More Ram, and nice video card...

Downside is a new Intel Core 2 Duo with all the bells and whisels custom would cost you around $1500 or less.

More Ram and Video Card could cost up to $600 bucks.

If you have the cash get a new system, if not buy more ram and video card, be sure you still have plenty of hard drive space, otherwise buy another hard as well.

Then you need to consider your time and how technical you are...hmmm

Also how clean is the OS install, is the computer full of viruses and spy-ware?

Once all said and done, you will most likely wish you just went and bought a new system for them,,, I would wait for the release of Vista and get Vista Home Premium edition.

Many of the new games available for the xbox 360 later this year and next year will be also available for in computer vista versions because of the new direct x 10 support and the new gaming programming language XNA Framework. So by next year the kids will want a Vista system OS instead of XP and your older computer will not be able to perform well with Vista.

Good Luck

Answer 3

It depends on what you got now, and who is going to do the upgrade.

Think about warranty. Will it be invalidated if you do it your self?
If you upgrade what are the limitations on upgrade parts and how soon will it be obsolete.

I have found...
Buy new to get the best warranty and compatibility and sell your old computer to get some of your money back. Spec your computer correctly and you can change every three years.

I say three as I use my computer for work too I get to depreciate that portion the computer over three years.

Or even better still buy them a xbox or a playstation and get your self out of the continual upgrade cycle of PCs. Most other applications will run on even the most basic PCs that are available now.

PC games are always geared towards the latest video cards more and more disk and memory requirements so you will always need an upgrade.

New consoles stay around for 3-5 years before a new one comes along to replace it and even then the games for the old version still come out for it for a further number of years.

Answer 4

Wit for a month, then get a new computer with Windows Vista in it. PREFERABLY Vista Buisiness or Ultimate. Get a good computer to get more years out of it. If you buy a really good one, in a year and a half, it will be about average, and will hence last at least 4 years without many major upgrades. Get a Mac if you dont want Vista, but will be using a bit of MS (like Office). And if you want, you can add Windows as a second OS to it.
Whatever you buy (preferably HP and Dell for PCs (or Mac) and HP, Dell or Compaq (or MacBoom Pro, MacBook sucks, overheats. Pro rulez)), these are the specs. Get extra RAM to build up to this if you must.
the processor should be either Core 2 Duo or the best AMD one.
It outta have around 3 gigs of RAM for PC (2 1gb sticks, 2 512 mb ones) and 2 gigs for laptop (2 1 gig ones)
PC-Hard drive of 250 gigabytes. (upgrade later when you need it. You probably wont. 250 should last for 4 years easily, if you don't need that much space.
Laptop- Hard drive of 120 gigs (you get 160 at most, if you want, get that. but only upgrade when you need it. Get a PORTABLE Hard drive when needed.)
Make sure it has a DVD drive, for obvious reasons.
If you are buying a laptop, get a notebook mouse. Trust me, they come in handy. Also get a good keyboard/mouse for the PC if you buy that.
This does not include webcame, mike, speakers, blah blah, which you will get as you need it. I hope this helped.

Answer 5

in the journey that your making use of it basically to get precise of entry to internet and acquire, perchance an better hardchronic might want to be high-quality. each and everything extraordinarily low-priced now, you could actual get a good pc for some hundred. I also spent a fortune years in the past on my pc, lately outfitted my own pc that's lots faster yet expenditures lots a lot less. you could actual destroy out with upgrading however it would want to purely flow so a concepts, and in case you want to do better such as your pc then what you've defined to me so a concepts then finding out to purchase a sparkling equipment might want to be better and save in recommendations your cutting-edge equipment is previous, it is going to die ultimately and upgrading is constrained to the scarce products that really tournament such as your equipment.

Answer 6

if it's for the kids then I would just upgrade it or if you find a better computer at a cheap price then buy a new one

Answer 7

i think its better for you to buy a new one since 2 years is quite a long time already... there are a lot of games which i think cannot perform properly in your existing unit even if you maximize its upgrade.... mabuhay....

Answer 8

i updated from ME to XP for 89 bucks. when you buy a new pc, you will spend more because they sell you the whole deal, ie. keyboard, mouse, speakers,sometimes a monitor and printer! I would try the upgrade first!

Answer 9

i would buy a new computer then i would upgrade the new one.

Answer 10

you need to list your specs.i think you should upgrade your CPU and get a good video card.