Computers are the key tool for every trade; interacting with them will likely occupy most of the working day. Machines that are worked on daily may seem quite new, but the age of the technology within them may come as a surprise.
Here are 10 reasons why a hardware upgrade should be considered in 2024:
1. Offset increase in corporation tax. Corporation tax increased from 19% to 25% from 1/4/23. Purchasing equipment such as PC’s allows businesses to reduce their corporation tax liabilities.
2. Faster Storage. The speed of storage has a huge impact on the performance of a PC and is where their real world performance has improved most in recent years. Aside from faster startups and logon times, fast storage means applications open, react and run faster, searches display results faster and file operations finish sooner. If a PC still uses a mechanical drive, it’s well overdue for replacement and trying to use it will be a frustrating experience. A new PC with a Solid State Drive (SSD) will be a game changer! If a PC has an SSD drive already, these have also now been superseded by the latest NVMe (Non-Volatile Memory Express) drives. NVMe delivers improved performance by directly connecting the storage to the backbone of the hardware. If a PC has an NVMe drive already, the latest 4th generation drives offer even faster performance and unlock greater efficiencies.
3. TPM chip. The latest Microsoft Operating System Windows 11 will not install on PC’s that don’t contain a TPM (Trusted Platform Module) chip. This is a dedicated microcontroller in the PC that provides encryption capabilities. Windows 11 uses this function to ensure that the storage on the machine can’t easily be viewed from another PC, so it makes PC’s more secure.
4. USB-C. The USB (Universal serial Bus) has been around since the mid 90’s but the USB-C standard is the first to use a reversible connector, finally ending the global guessing game of which way round to plug the port in! The capabilities of these ports have also been improved, so that a single USB-C port can deliver enough power to charge a laptop while also having enough bandwidth for simultaneous video outputs, audio, network and data. Multi-monitor capable docking stations provide a convenient and near universal single cable docking solution for USB-C equipped devices. The slight downside is that although they look the same, not all USB-C ports on laptops have the same power delivery and display capabilities. Albacore engineers develop solutions using USB-C equipped machines that unlock greater flexibility and productivity.
5. Windows 11 is here! On the surface, Microsoft’s latest offering moves a few things about, adds a few things on, and adds a bit of polish. Combined with the ubiquitous Microsoft 365 platform, Windows 11 remains the foundation of business systems and offers the best compatibility with software packages for all industries. With the release of Windows 11 Microsoft stepped quietly away from their previous declaration that Windows 10 would be the last version of Windows ever! Windows 10 has already stopped receiving feature upgrades, and the last security patches will be issued in October 2025. Depending on the size of the organisation and the specification of the existing machines, a combined hardware and software upgrade programme or a machine replacement program could take many months. It’s sensible to plan and make these changes before PC component manufacturers inevitably capitalise on the increased demand for machines by increasing prices or limiting stocks.
6. New PC’s actually are better. Technology never stands still, but the pace of change is not constant. In the example of a 4 year old machine with an Intel Processor, that machine was manufactured at a time when Intel had huge market share and no real competition. While Intel’s marketing demonstrated progress with every new part they launched, hindsight shows that the performance of these parts didn’t improve as fast as they could have. What changed things was when Intel’s longstanding adversary AMD launched a new range of processors. They were able to undercut Intel on price while also outperforming them in certain metrics. Intel upped their game as a result of this and this ongoing competition continues, with the result that the latest Intel and AMD processors do really show a real-world performance increases compared to machines supplied a relatively short time ago.
7. RAM – speed and quantity matter. After storage and processors, the final key ingredient of a PC is RAM (Random Access Memory, or just memory). The 2 critical factors for RAM are therefore how much total RAM a PC has, and how fast that RAM operates. More is always better when it comes to RAM! 16GB should now be considered as the starting point for anything but very basic usage. DDR5 is the latest RAM technology and it’s starting to be specified in business PC’s. DDR5 offers approximately double the memory bandwidth of DDR4 and reduces power usage.
8. Application bloat. On a standard Windows 11 PC there are over 200 programmes that run when the PC starts, and the vast majority of these run continuously in the background. As applications add features, web content gets richer and developers seek to utilise the capacities of modern hardware, applications consume more and more resource. If the available resource is not sufficient to complete the tasks being requested, the user will notice this as an impact to the performance of their machine. A user needs a PC with enough resource to effectively complete the tasks they need on a day to day basis, and all applications are evolving and updating to utilise as much resource as they can – this is why PC’s get out of date and require periodic replacement.
9. Better reliability. Like any electronic device, all the components in a PC have a certain lifespan. Albacore’s unlimited support includes proactive, alert driven, automated and engineer led actions to support workstations, as well as parts and labour up to the level of a replacement PC installed and configured at your site by our engineers. While these business continuity measures are necessary and useful, there is unavoidable disruption to operations when a PC fails, so deploying a replacement before obsolescence significantly reduces the chance of hardware failure.
10) Multi monitor support. Having more than one display connected to a PC really does help user productivity. Being able to view 2 applications side by side reduces data entry errors, reduces reliance on printed outputs, and allows users to get more work done. Multiple screens, as well as higher resolution screens allowing more applications to fit on a single display are increasing the daily productivity of those who deploy them.
Albacore offer no-obligation evaluations of IT solutions, our expertise allows us to pinpoint the areas where investment will make the most difference to your organisation.
