New Computer This Christmas? Buyer Be Aware.

This article perpetuates the message of computers becoming insufficient for their use, largely (not entirely) a myth.

Two things to consider:

Lower end machines are incredibly powerful these days, and incredibly cheap. Increased power generally is disproportionately expensive.

Many users have a fair idea of what they will be doing with the computer. If it meets those needs for the next year and the price is right, it is worth buying. Often, that computer will server their needs a good long time. The gamble is the cost of the cheap computer -- a low risk because, well, it's cheap. You can treat is as disposable.

"Bulking up" makes sense when you have reason to believe that you will need more power soon. If your needs won't grow for at least another year or two, you might find that buying a new el-cheapo computer available when the need arises is cheaper than then price difference between economy and and premium boxes today, and more powerful besides.

Personally, I love to build my own with standard parts so I can mix and match as I go...but that's not for everyone, and you still run into problems that require motherboard upgrades, etc.

Dino, I agree with your point that the cheapo PC you buy today can more easily be replaced than upgraded tomorrow, but vendor lock-in simply for its own sake really is a Bad Thing (TM). It's just like MS intentionally making thier home page not work with a non-IE browser. I'd feel differently if the non-standard parts were used just to cut cost - still not good, but that's your cost tradeoff. The ones that bother me are when manufacturers go out of their way to make things incompatible, and that applies to hardware, software, cars, whatever. The instances described in the article, Dell's past history with similar issues, and some of my own experiences with Dell and Compaq PCs just make me shudder.

Remember the non-standard power supply issue, that was NOT clearly identified? They'd rearranged the pins in the main power connector, so that if you replaced either power supply or motherboard, with a standard part, you'd at least fry the motherboard. That's not only an artificial lock-in, it's a safety issue.

Personally, I was going to install an AGP graphics card in a Compaq desktop PC once, only to find that the perfectly standard AGP slot was set at a non-standard distance from the edge of the motherboard. You had to buy their branded graphics card if you wanted to upgrade.

TPuffin --

On the issue of differences just to lock your customers in, I have to agree. It's insane.