PartⅣ
Further Reading

Upgrading Your Computer Components

It is commonly assumed by many struggling to keep up with technology that a computer has reached obsolescence the day it is purchased. However，while one-year-old or even five year-old computers may not be able to run the latest feature-ridden applications，they can be perfectly adequate for working on a network，browsing the Internet，producing documents，and doing other nonprofit work. Sometimes，those older computers can perform even better with the right adjustments.

Upgrading your computer’s RAM，hard drive，network card，or other hardware can be a cost-effective way to improve the technology available to your organization and increase productivity when your budget is tight. While it is always nicer to be able to purchase the fastest computers on the market，sometimes it may not be necessary. Here are some guidelines for deciding when to upgrade.

Choosing the Right Upgrade

Many times，organizations choose to upgrade computers for the wrong reasons. You can’t turn a slow computer into a fast one simply by increasing the size of a hard drive.Likewise，changing the computer’s processor may not make a crashing computer more reliable. However，upgrading your processor will significantly improve your computing experience. Knowing which upgrade is the most important and cost-effective is the first step.

Technical Expertise

Upgrading a computer’s RAM，hard drive，or processor almost always involves getting under the hood of a computer. This means that you need to know something about what you are doing to avoid causing damage. While replacing a graphics card，on the other hand，is not rocket science，it can still be a daunting(but rewarding)experience for the novice user. It’s important to carefully decide whether or not an upgrade should be made by staff. Outsourcing upgrades to a technician is another option，but that cost additional time and money.

In conclusion，the easiest way to speed up an older computer(aside from checking your system for spyware or unnecessary files)is to add more RAM. If your computers seem kind of sluggish and the programs you run seem to take up a lot of memory，RAM will make your computer perform a lot faster. If your computer is low on storage，it can also be quite easy to add an additional hard drive.

Ask yourself whether a component upgrade is worth it before embarking on that course of action. Many times it may be better to make the equipment available until it is time to make another planned computer purchase. Upgrading computer components can help in certain situations when you know what you are doing，but it is important to balance the time and cost of making the upgrade versus the time and productivity you may be losing from not making it.

The best advice we can give is not to run off and upgrade your computers unless you really need to. Most office work can be done quite effectively without a high performance machine，but you shouldn’t force your staff to work on machines that constantly crash or slow down when running your basic productivity software.

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