PRESS RELEASE
On average, UK computer owners replace their machines every 4.5 years, citing slow speed as top dislike
A recent survey commissioned by Crucial.com, a leading online computer memory upgrade destination, revealed that British computer owners reportedly replace their personal computer after an average of only 4.5 years of use. Even with the abundance of newer models, the survey revealed a strong reluctance to replace computers too often, with only two per cent of respondents saying they were willing to replace their computer "every two or so years". For detailed survey statistics, related content, and giveaway contest details, visit http://crucial.com/uk/research/.
Despite strong loyalty, computer owners still struggle to find complete contentment with their current machine: nearly half (46%) dislike something about their computer, and approximately one in two (49%) are likely to have a disagreement with their computer for being "too slow to keep up."
The survey, conducted by Consumer Analysis Group, polled more than 1,000 computer owners in the UK, aged 16-70. It found that the most commonly-owned computer in the UK today is an "old desktop computer", as identified by 25% of survey respondents.
Growing Interest in Memory Upgrades, But Fear Factor Remains
When confronted with a sluggish machine, most computer owners said they turn to simple self-help methods, such as compressing files (53%), running the anti-virus checker (52%), or rebooting their machine (43%). However, nearly half of those surveyed (49%) also believed they would benefit from a memory upgrade.
However, handling the insides of a computer, as with a "DIY" computer memory upgrade, filled more people with fear (39%) than sweeping up and discarding a spider (16%). A likely contributing factor is the widespread lack of knowledge about computer memory. Nearly half (48%) of people surveyed didn't know how much internal memory (RAM) their computer has, with more women (67%) unaware of RAM than men (29%).
"A lot of people regard their computers as more than mere machines, so it's no surprise that the research unearthed strong emotions from computer owners, such as the disagreements they have with their systems due to slow speed," said Roddy McLean, marketing director at Crucial.com. "A computer is a big investment that comes with high expectations, and it is clear from the survey that most people aren't treating them like disposable assets."
"Many people may not realize that there are some easy and extremely cost-effective remedies to the four-year itch, or simply tolerating a slow machine," continued McLean. "For example, a £60 GBP, 2GB Crucial memory upgrade for the popular Dell Dimension 2400 desktop computer with stock 128MB of RAM, can increase performance by 70-90% for everyday tasks like rebooting, resuming, and starting programs.* And a memory upgrade is breathtakingly simple to install, even for complete novices."
Crucial.com is an online destination offering computer users an easy way to find the right memory upgrade for most desktop and laptop systems and step-by-step instructions on how to install it yourself.
Crucial.com is part of Micron Technology, one of the world's leading providers of advanced semiconductor solutions.
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*The Dell Dimension 2400 system tested included an Intel® Pentium® 4 2.53GHz processor on an Intel 845GV based board, CD ROM drive, 40GB IDE HDD. The motherboard was on BIOS revision 1.10 A05 and was running Microsoft Windows® XP operating system with the latest service pack per Windows update.
About Lexar Media
Lexar Media is a leading designer, manufacturer, and marketer of NAND flash and DRAM memory products under the Lexar® and Crucial brand names. Lexar Media offers products in all major flash and DRAM memory categories, including USB flash drives, innovative backup drives, industry-leading memory cards for photography, and all popular form factors of memory cards for mobile devices. Under the Crucial brand, Lexar Media offers industry-leading solid-state drives (SSD) and more than 250,000 DRAM memory upgrades for 50,000 computer systems. For more information about Lexar brand products, visit www.lexar.com, and for Crucial brand products, visit www.crucial.com.
Lexar Media is vertically integrated with Micron Technology, one of the largest semiconductor manufacturers worldwide. Lexar Media, Inc. is a subsidiary of Micron Technology, Inc. Lexar Media is a division of Micron Europe Limited, a division of Micron Semiconductor Asia Pte. Ltd., and a division of Micron Japan, Ltd.
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About Micron
Micron Technology, Inc. is one of the world's leading providers of advanced semiconductor solutions. Through its worldwide operations, Micron manufactures and markets a full range of DRAM, NAND and NOR flash memory, as well as other innovative memory technologies, packaging solutions and semiconductor systems for use in leading-edge computing, consumer, networking, embedded and mobile products. Micron's common stock is traded on the NASDAQ under the MU symbol. To learn more about Micron Technology, Inc., visit www.micron.com.
