As tax season approaches, it’s time to take inventory of your technology and start making plans to upgrade your office computers, if necessary. This article will give you guidelines for upgrading and an overall strategy for replacing outdated computers in your office.
Assess your current computers
Take a few minutes and inventory your computers. Gather the following data for each office computer you will be using during tax season:
- Name or location of the computer
- Operating system version
- Processor
- Amount of RAM (memory)
- Hard disk size and amount of free space
- Date acquired
Once your list is complete, look up each processor you found at https://www.cpubenchmark.net/ and record its PassMark score.
Once you have the data, you should have a list that looks like the example below for each computer:
- Front Desk Computer
- Windows 10
- Intel Core i5-2400
- 4GB
- 512GB hard disk with 350GB free
- Purchased January 2012
- PassMark Score 3795
Compare each of your computers to TaxSlayer Pro’s recommended and minimum requirements. Any computers that do not meet the minimum requirements should be marked for replacement as soon as possible. Any computers that are more than three years old should be marked for possible replacement if your budget allows it.
Create a replacement strategy
Let’s assume that all your computers meet our minimum requirements. You should still develop a strategy for regular replacement of your computers.
TaxSlayer Pro recommends that you plan to replace the oldest 25-33% of your computers each year. This makes it easier to budget and ensures that all your computers can run TaxSlayer Pro software efficiently, giving you the best experience possible.
Create a purchase strategy
There is only one recommendation when purchasing new computers: buy the fastest processor you can afford. Why? The processor is the one component of a computer that is difficult to upgrade separately.
Almost anything else on the computer, including the memory or hard drive, can be upgraded easily and relatively inexpensively. A faster system will also usually have a longer life than a slower system.
If you have any questions regarding the upgrading or replacement of your computers, please call us at 706-868-0985. Our technical support representatives are here to help.
