If you are thinking of replacing your computer, it’s a good time to take stock of what you actually use it for.
Most people user their computer for researching, reading news, reading and posting social media, collecting pictures, listening to music, streaming videos, playing games, audio/video/text chat, and reading and writing emails, documents and spreadsheets.
You really don’t need a full-blown Mac or PC to do those things; they can be done using other operating systems like Linux, Android, iOS, or ChromeOS. The beauty of these operating systems is that they tend to be less expensive to buy, and both less expensive and easier to run.
One reason that devices running those operating systems are less expensive to buy is that they are not as demanding on hardware, so they don’t need the latest, fastest, most expensive hardware. Another reason is that those operating systems are free. They are cheaper to run because the apps that run on them tend to be less expensive, or free … they use less electricity … and they can often be run without additional security software because they aren’t prone to infection.
Those other operating systems tend to be easier to operate because they are built with the legacy of Windows/OSX as a model, without having to support the legacy of Windows/OSX. PCs, in particular, put in a lot of effort to be backwards compatible with (in some cases) decades-old systems.
A quick note for PC gamers: save yourself some money and switch to a video game console … they are a fraction of the price.
If you are hooked on one or more particular Windows or OS X programs that aren’t available on other platforms, then you have no choice. But in most cases, there are alternatives. So, if it’s time to replace that aging Mac or PC, give some serious consideration to Chrome/Android/iOS/Linux/console devices.