Use the Right Technology Tool for the Job

 

In a lot of families when we were all growing up, one surefire way to get into big trouble with dad was to use a Crescent wrench as a hammer or to use a screwdriver as a chisel. Dad would angrily remind – “Always use the right tool for the job.” There are at least three great reasons for this rule. The first is that you cannot usually do good, professional work if you are trying to use tools for tasks they were not designed to do. Secondly, tools are not cheap and must be treated with respect. If you misuse your tools, you can actually damage them and have to buy a new one. Thirdly – and worst of all – by using the wrong tool for the job, you actually risk injury.

 

Analyze Your Needs

The same kind of rule applies when you start thinking about your tech purchases, whether for your household or your business. Today’s sophisticated marketing plays a role in inducing people frequently to use the wrong tool for the job. A good advertisement is likely to attract prominent attention to a product’s best (or most competitive) feature – it is lighter, more compact, faster, has better video, etc. All of these are great, of course, but they’re only great if they actually do what you need to do.

 

In order to “use the right tool for the job, you have to first make sure that you have the right tool for the job. It might make sense for you to invest your entire computer budget in a single device, but if you do this, you may find yourself making compromises and trade-offs that you haven’t thought about deeply enough. In order to have a proper plan, you need to really think deeply about your lifestyle and the kinds of things you regularly do with your tech. If you play Call of Duty on your desktop once a year with your nephew at Christmas time, that probably is not a great reason to spend the extra money required for top-end graphics handling hardware. If you travel for your job a few times a year, that may not be a great use-case for a feather-light ultra compact MacBook Air. Don’t forget – all that awesomeness costs money. If you’re investing lots of money in features that are awesome but not particularly well-adapted to your use patterns, you may find that your satisfaction with your tech is not what it could be.

 

Especially as you consider setting up your computing system at home, you should keep clearly in mind that miniaturization costs a lot and external storage capacity keeps getting better and cheaper. Desktop computers make an awful lot of sense for a lot of people. If you can accept a much bigger “footprint,” you can get for the same price a faster processor and other goodies that may mean a lot more to you than the light weight and compactness of a laptop.

 

Let’s talk about your needs and goals and see if we can help you make a better plan. For the equipment that you have already, if you should have troubles, we are the computer repair specialists in Wake Forest and in Raleigh — please come see us.