The best gift PC is a computer that’s as close to new as possible, in terms of both hardware and software. It represents the most work for you, but the reward is a computer that will be as trouble-free as possible, and no one can pull your personal data off the hard drive, because you’ll be replacing it.
Windows works best when it is freshly installed from scratch on a clean hard drive, so if you’re looking to make the computer as trouble-free as possible, reformatting the hard drive and installing Windows from the Windows installation discs is one way to go. But prices of new hard drives have come way down—you can get a 40GB drive for under $60 and a 200GB drive for less than $100—so consider replacing the drive. Read More»
Posted in Computer, Hardware | No Comments »
When you get a new computer, odds are that you don’t simply throw away your old one. You may tuck it away in the closet, or set it up elsewhere in the house as a “backup” PC but never use it. If you keep up with the cutting edge, you might have two or three unused PCs gathering dust. You may have considered giving your old PC away to a family member, or perhaps to someone who can’t afford a new computer (needy students are everywhere), but wondered if it was really worth it, given that you can buy a new Dell for $299. Well, be assured that a working PC, even if a bit old, is a valuable commodity, and you can increase its value with a little work.
We’ll classify a PC to be given away as good, better, or best, depending on the work you’ll be putting in to prepare it for its new owner. A good gift computer is a working PC with your personal data removed, but your recipient may still need to do some work to get it set up for his or her needs, and may not have the knowledge or resources to do this. Read More»
Posted in Computer | No Comments »
