The holiday season is an important one for computer manufacturers, and Microsoft is using a unique marketing strategy in the United Kingdom to push you to buy a computer. The company says buying a new PC this Christmas could save you a full day of boot time.
Microsoft’s claim comes from research in the U.K. that estimates computers than are more than three years old take 65 percent longer to boot, adding up to 23.5 hours of boot time over a full calendar year. Boot times aren’t the only problem — these same older computers on average take 3.5 times longer to fix issues than newer machines.
The issue is more pronounced among older computer users as they are much less likely to own more modern PCs. Nearly a fifth of those over the age of 55 own a PC that is more than five years old and those individuals lose on average more than two hours a month in boot up times.
No doubt as some of us with older PCs are aware, computer slowdowns and malfunctions are a source of frustration. Microsoft’s survey backs this up: two-thirds of computer users with PCs between five and 10 years old admitted to hitting or shouting at it in frustration, with six percent even admitting these issues caused them to cry or drove them to drink (yes, really).
Another key finding was an overall lack of knowledge of the capabilities of modern computers. While Windows 10 offers advanced interactivity features, a sizeable portion of those surveys didn’t know they existed or thought they still were years away from being a reality.
For example, a majority of those surveyed thought that facial recognition as a method to log in to their PCs was at least two years away, while 42 percent were not aware that voice recognition capabilities were already available on Windows 10 machines.
The moral of this story? It’s time to retire that old trusty PC and splurge on a shiny new model this holiday season.
