According to a recent survey, over half of PC users think their PC should last 'much longer' than three years, but on average people still replace their machines every 4.5 years.
The survey, carried out by Crucial, which polled more than 1,000 PC owners aged 16-70 in the US, France and the UK, also revealed some interesting reasons for people upgrading their PCs and, perhaps more importantly, why some buy a whole new system instead of upgrading.
According to the survey, the most popular reason people gave for reaching for their wallets was slow speed. Aside from gaming frame rates, slow speed can also be a result of full hard disks, installation of superfluous software packages, as well as viruses and other nasties. In fact, a slow computer can often be cured simply with a fresh installation of Windows, rather than new hardware.
The survey did hint at some knowledge of this, with users rebooting their PCs and running virus checks to try to speed up their machines. In addition, nearly half of those included in the survey simply disliked something about their PC.
As far as upgrades go, 49 per cent of those polled think memory upgrades would make a difference to their PC, but nearly as many didn't even know how much memory was already in their PC. A slightly odd but no-less important question was also posed - what did the users fear most, tinkering with the insides of their PC or dealing with your average house spider?
Clearly the survey managed to avoid the millions of arachnophobia sufferers out there, as 35 per cent of the respondents said the thought of performing upgrades themselves resulted in sweatier palms than dealing with your average household arachnid.
Does 4.5 years sound about right to you? Do you prefer replacing most of your PC every few years or performing smaller, regular upgrades? Let us know in the forums.
The survey, carried out by Crucial, which polled more than 1,000 PC owners aged 16-70 in the US, France and the UK, also revealed some interesting reasons for people upgrading their PCs and, perhaps more importantly, why some buy a whole new system instead of upgrading.
According to the survey, the most popular reason people gave for reaching for their wallets was slow speed. Aside from gaming frame rates, slow speed can also be a result of full hard disks, installation of superfluous software packages, as well as viruses and other nasties. In fact, a slow computer can often be cured simply with a fresh installation of Windows, rather than new hardware.
The survey did hint at some knowledge of this, with users rebooting their PCs and running virus checks to try to speed up their machines. In addition, nearly half of those included in the survey simply disliked something about their PC.
As far as upgrades go, 49 per cent of those polled think memory upgrades would make a difference to their PC, but nearly as many didn't even know how much memory was already in their PC. A slightly odd but no-less important question was also posed - what did the users fear most, tinkering with the insides of their PC or dealing with your average house spider?
Clearly the survey managed to avoid the millions of arachnophobia sufferers out there, as 35 per cent of the respondents said the thought of performing upgrades themselves resulted in sweatier palms than dealing with your average household arachnid.
Does 4.5 years sound about right to you? Do you prefer replacing most of your PC every few years or performing smaller, regular upgrades? Let us know in the forums.
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