Gadgetory

when was the last time you upgraded your home computer it's been a while you're not alone year after year PC sales have been on the decline some blame the demise of the netbook or the rise of the tablet or all the confusion around ultrabooks and hybrids but I don't believe any of it I'm Donnell Bell and in this episode of top 5 I'm counting down the top 5 reasons not to buy a new computer unless the show is sponsored by Microsoft or Lenovo or something in which case go computers starting off at number 5 smart TVs over the past few years connected televisions have gotten smarter and cheaper you can stream netflix on them you can connect over Skype you can check the news it's all there even the remote controls have built-in keyboards on them now the Smart TV is quickly becoming the modern home computer why else do you think Apple is so hot to make one at number 4 the web everything we do is on the web now we used to live in a world where if we did update our computers every few years we couldn't even run the latest software and our work would just Rhind to a halt but now our software is in the cloud our email is in the cloud so as long as your old clunker can get online it's looking at the same web as anything else out there coming in at number 3 apps you want them and all the cool ones are made for phones and tablets why would developers waste their time and money creating software for a platform that is rife with piracy and illegal downloads there are exceptions but for the most part all the interesting consumer software out there is being made for iOS and Android I'm looking at you candy crush saga at number 2 uninspired hardware today's machines may be skinnier faster or make more clicky sounds as they convert into pseudo tablets but are they really offering you something useful right now display game performance it's not really my thing I mean those giant Windows 8 tablet all in one's kind of caught my eye but that's a lot of screen smudge a lot of weight on my lap area now before we get to the number one reason to pass up on a new computer let me qualify this a little so you really need a new computer if you're a student a hardcore PC gamer or someone who works with media like music or video then frequent updates make sense also if your computer is just more than five years old I mean some of you are holding on to your old computers with the delusional idea that it will magically become some kind of valuable antique but your candy-colored imac is not a badge of nerd honor it's just an indication that you still listen to the chumbawamba on CD on your disc man go treat yourself but if none of those apply to you then here's your number one reason not to buy a new computer because your old ones fine maybe spruce it up with a super-fast solid-state drive or update the OS or buy some extra RAM because if you think about it the past five years have been about dumbing down software in the web so that everything can run on your phone your computer has just been sitting there pretty much waiting for your phone to catch up so your computer is fine probably just resents all the time you spend on your phone collecting virtual candy so there you have it five reasons to quell your primal geek instinct to upgrade your computer but don't let me stop you truth be told manufacturers are bending over backwards to sell you a computer right now check out cnet.com for all the latest reviews of laptops desktops and all-in-one computers and for more top 5 videos top 5 cnet.com donald bell thanks for watching