A Comprehensive Guide to Computer Purchase: 08 - Buying New

This article is a transcript of a video that you can watch by clicking the thumbnail below. Hence, certain statements may not make sense in this text form, and watching the video instead is recommended.

Introduction

Buying a new computer is exciting, isn’t it? In exchange for a premium price, you can get a lot many benefits and choices too and you can make the most out of your purchase by being as specific as you can.

Getting a Feel At a Store

You can get a glimpse of the latest tech in person by visiting one of those stores that have a few for display, though that experience is only limited to what they keep, which is in turn what they think would sell. For example, you cannot step into a Best Buy to check the latest ThinkPads or even Dell XPS, as they never have them in store. They’d be more interested in selling you ASUS and Samsung laptops.

Newer Models May Have Undiscovered Issues

Manufacturers usually do not refresh their designs every year, but they do it every few years. If the new model that you’re planning to buy has gone through a redesign this year, it could have issues that will be discovered by customers over a period of time. On the other hand, a model that may appear stale due to not being refreshed for a couple of years most likely includes fixes after the last refresh, such that it can potentially be more reliable with barely any signs of the known issues as they might have gotten ironed out over the last few years.

Warranty

You can opt for an extended warranty beyond what is offered by default on their products, which is often 1 year. Whether or not you do it would depend on several factors. Being able to repair on your own is one thing, but these extended warranties enable you to have replacement parts for free. Also, take into consideration whether the company you’re buying your machine from will actually let you use the warranty, as some of them are pretty useless.

Where To Buy

Once you’ve decided on what to buy exactly, you may make your purchase either at a nearby store or online, both of which have their own pros and cons, and that is something we will talk about in detail in an upcoming video.