How do you recommend computer upgrades?

When evaluating a system for its upgrade paths its best practice to determine the usecases first before jumping in too deep into the system assessment. Knowing what a client is looking to get out of their system helps determine what in the current system will still work and what needs replacing. Additionally, a good practice is to identify what the lifespan of the machine needs to be. Some clients want a system to last up to 10 years, and this can rule out retaining majority of the original parts if its too old. Once these steps are considered, it can help the technician determine if the old system has anything worth keeping, and beginning dignostics.

Usually customers are wanting more of something. Using exploratory questions you can then adjust the requirements. Listen to the customers needs and feedback, ask them what do they do on their unit ?, internet browsing ? Or productivity including internet usage ? Are you editing photos ? Videos ?. Ram heavy apps / programs, I always recommend Ram upgrade if possible and then look at the storage options for data. Is it online storage ? Local storage ? Use a SSD primary for operating system boot up. Then SSD drive for local stored data or external HDD. Try to recommend offsite cloud storage for photos and important data with a reputable company for redundancy storage options as the data will always be available for the customer.

While identifying the goals, try to also identify what about the existing system worked for them, what they liked and didn't like. From there, assess what information, data, and programs are to be retained. From there you as the technician can best determine storage requirements and baseline spec requirements. Now, ask about the new things they want to do with the system, look at new programs or apps, look at media consumption, and if theres any "high-demand" tasks to be done on the system. Once all of that is determined, start evaluating budget, ask them about immediate budgets; if you as the technician thing the new build will fit in the current budget; GREAT!

If the budget is too small, you are the pro here; try to fit as much bang for the buck in to match their requirements. If the budgets hardware doesn't meet the criteria perfectly; let the client know where it may fall short. At this point too; its always good to talk to them about a long-term budget. Especially in todays economy there may not be the option to immediately go the best route, but they may be up for the idea of an additional upgrade or 2 down the road when they have the extra funding. Remember, we want them to have the best results, but also not break the bank, and in offering a long-term solution like this, you position yourself as the pro and as someone looking out for their interests.

Once all the information on the client is gathered, start laying out the list of parts for upgrades, look at where you need to spend the most value to get the best results, and where in other places you can go to a different more cost effective route. Something like benchmark platforms or parts pickers can help with this. Best example is someone whos dealing with large data sets may need the CPU to be powerful, RAM to be reliable, and fast storage, but a GPU isn't top priority because they aren't doing anything visually intensive. Build it based on what matters to them; not whats the best specs out there.

This is an important step, to some clients this looks like a miracle; you just picked parts out of thin air, and they don't understand what made these decisions. Try to best evaluate your clients technical knowledge by introducing the parts and information in layman's terms. If they say "oh yah! that makes sense because the component can do X Y and Z because...." they might have more technical knowledge than you think and you can have a more technical conversation. However, staying in layman's terms helps everyone to understand, make sure you relate it specifically to their situations, and what its going to do for them. You aren't selling parts; you're selling the experience they'll get.

Buy right first time round. Apple M1-2-3 now has the ram included on their CPU The storage is onboard the logic board , you can not upgrade I would always recommend the highest you can afford 16gb with 512gb storage minimum spec for the current usage of high demand on OS and apps heavy usage. Multi tasking productivity is heavy and ultra fast when spec is the correct option. I see many macs with 8gb ram and it’s to late. Maybe Apple should only sell the 16gb option as a minimum