Around 75% of internet users say that they use a desktop computer or laptop to go online. Computers are important devices for many people worldwide. Hence, it is important that they run well to improve productivity and save time. Unfortunately, they can also become slow affecting their performance. One solution is to upgrade your device with simple fixes that you can do yourself if you’re a bit tech-savvy saving you money and breathing new life into your machine.
Increase Your Random-Access Memory (RAM)
Before you do any upgrade, consider its pros and cons and do the maths. Experts say that computers 10 years or older are not worth upgrading. If you spend more than 25% of the cost of purchasing a new computer to repair one, it’s better to get rid of your device. This reasoning also applies to peripherals such as your printer. If your printer is not capable of printing pages of reasonable quality or speed, you might as well get a new device. Nowadays, you can even go for printer ink on demand saving you the hassle of ordering and recycling.
That said, one significant enhancement that you might consider is to expand your RAM. It is a vital component of your computer that is responsible for allotting space to keep and access data. RAM is the short-term memory of your computer so that you can retrieve information as quickly as possible. The more RAM your device has, the faster it will run. Applications, software, and browsers, they all use a huge amount of memory. If you’re into gaming, it will also eat up a significant amount of RAM. Your computer will be sluggish if your RAM is reduced. A practical solution is to upgrade your computer’s memory. You will need at least 8GB of RAM for productivity tasks and less demanding games while 16GB is recommended for professional work and more difficult games. Video editors, serious gamers, and engineers will need 32GB or more for a good performance.
Use An External Hard Drive
Your machine may slow down or even crash on a regular basis as soon as it runs out of disk space. In addition, you won’t have any place left to save and store new stuff. A quick solution to this problem is to plug in an external hard disk. Once connected, the operating system will recognize the device and tells you how to set it up. The main advantage of an external hard drive is that you can transfer images, music, files, and videos leaving you with adequate space on your main hard drive. When choosing an external hard drive, you can opt for portable ones that use little room. If you require more storage space, larger and heavier drives are available that also offer faster read and write times. They are, however, more expensive.
Improving your RAM and plugging an external hard drive are two easy and inexpensive upgrades that can enhance the performance of your computer. Compared to purchasing or building a new machine, these tweaks make sense because they are simple enough that you can do them yourself at home saving you time and money.
