Buy now or wait?

We have mentioned more than once that computer prices this back-to-school season will likely be the lowest in years. There are several reasons why you can get more bang for your buck this year.

AMD and Intel have slashed the prices of the Athlon and Pentium processors by nearly 50 percent as they plan to release their next generation multi-core processors. It may be tempting to hold out for one of these newer processors, but many people think it will be 3-5 years before software and hardware companies fully utilize the power of these processors. By that time the new processors will be cheap and you will be shopping for your next computer.

Prices are also low this year because companies are preparing for the new version of Windows to come out next year and they are getting rid of hardware that may not work best on Windows Vista. This sounds like another reason to hold out.

Before you hold off on that new computer now for the new version of Windows, keep in mind that Windows 95 didn't really work well until they came out with Windows 95 Service Release 2 less than a year before they released Windows 98, Windows 98 didn't reach its peak performance until they worked out the bugs and added the features people really wanted in Windows 98 SE. Windows ME was essentially a way for Microsoft to collect a few more bucks while they worked out kinks to Windows XP. Even Windows XP has had its problems and now Windows XP SP2 is required for all users.

Microsoft has never released a solid product in its first edition. It has always taken about 2 years for them to work out the kinks. In some cases, such as Windows ME, there were so many kinks that they scrapped the project early and just released a whole new version of Windows.

This is one of those articles that will show itself as dated very soon. Within 2-3 years people will be reading this tip and say, "Can you believe that processors once only had one core?" or they may think, "Windows Vista - what a lemon!"

No matter what, you will never catch up to technology. When you are ready you just have to jump in. If you have been holding off on buying a new computer because you are waiting for some sort of standard to be set, it will never come. In the mean time, your life isn't getting any easier without a computer and typically the user suffers because they just get further behind as computers get faster and more complicated.

If you are the kind of person who feels obligated to be on the cutting edge, this link should demonstrate [1] how far ahead the cutting edge is and how much it could truly cost you.

If this helped, consider buying me a beer or an Americano! [2]