Andy: Good Morning Charlie Brown. What do you have for us today?
Charlie: Hi Andy. Well I thought I would start with an interesting statistic that I ran across this week. You think Amazon is a fairly large company, right? Well here’s something to ponder: Since Amazon started business their total net income has been about $9.6 billion dollars…a good chunk of change.
In the first quarter of 2018, Apple’s made about $13.8 billion. That’s more than money in one quarter than Amazon’s net income since its startup…by a wide margin. Strong Smartphone sales are key to Apple’s success.
Andy: Impressive numbers! What else do you have for us today?
Charlie: First let me say that we watch price points for business grade laptops and desktops a bit closer than your average computer user…that’s our business. And we have seen the price points moving up this year. There are reasons for this, but the direction is still up.
Andy: Can you mention some of the reasons for these increases?
Charlie: The biggest reason for these increases is the increasing power needed to run Windows 10 and other programs with attractive response times.
Andy: What did you just say?
Charlie: The Windows 10 operating system and programs that you use with it and the protective programs running in the background (anti-virus, anti-malware) have gotten so complex that you need at least an Intel i5 or i7 processor and 8 or 16 GB of RAM for reasonable system speed or response times. Further, hard disk drives are frequently being replaced by Solid State Drives or SSDs to further improve the system response times.
These components make the systems more expensive or move the price points up.
Andy: Do you have any workable solutions to this conundrum?
Charlie: While there are no “cheap and easy” solutions, we have several suggestions. First, consider what you are using the device for.
- If you are just going to the Internet to send/receive email or use a web page consider using a Chromebook or Chromebase unit. They are fast and less expensive and they don’t get viruses.
- If your machine is relatively new and is just slow, consider replacing the hard disk drive with an SSD. If we can clone your current system to an SSD, all your programs and data are preserved. The machine just runs faster.
- If you need a replacement machine, consider letting us look for a factory refurbished machine with good specifications and warranty. The key words here are factory refurbished. These units have been thoroughly cleaned, tested and reloaded with activated copies of Windows 10 and come with warranties. While the availability is limited, if you watch the specifications closely there are reasonable deals to be had.
Andy: I hear what you say and I can agree with that. I have gotten a good refurbished machine. The price point was attractive and the performance has been very good. But you have to watch the supplier closely and that’s where PC Applications comes in. They are watching the market every day and can find the deals for you. Whether it’s a Chromebook, a Solid State Drive or a factory refurbished machine, PC Applications can find a solution for you. Call Charlie and Dave at PC Applications, 533-6510, or visit their web site pcapp.com.
Charlie: When your computer’s down, Call Charlie Brown.