Start Planning Your New Computer Purchases Now

Key Takeaway: Tariff-driven price increases on new computers and tech are now mere weeks away; the first are expected to take effect in March. Coupled with the death of Windows 10 later this year, we recommend you consider moving up planned technology purchases before they become even more expensive. And if you're a Window 10 user and plan to stick with Windows, protect yourself: make sure you upgrade to Windows 11 before Microsoft ceases publishing security updates for Windows 10 itself.

Contact us or schedule a meeting for guidance navigating your new computer purchases this year.

We expect to soon see a minimum of a 10% price increase on a wide variety of tech products like computers and laptops, mainly affecting those imported from China (products that were shipped out of China prior to February 2025 were not affected).

Several of our clients have already fit in their new PC purchases within the last few months, locking in new devices at lower prices with years of lifetime remaining.

As well, the end-of-life date (October 14, 2025) for Microsoft's Windows 10 operating system is fast approaching.

Consistent with its end-of-life procedures for previous versions of Windows, Microsoft will stop releasing security updates for Windows 10 on this date. To keep yourself and your business safe, we do not recommend you continue to use Windows 10 beyond this date.

For the first time, however, Microsoft will make its "Extended Security Update" (ESU) program available to consumers, which will provide one additional year of Windows 10 security updates for $30 per computer.

Purchasing ESU as a business, however, is less straightforward; it must currently be purchased from Microsoft's Volume License program, which is not always worth the trouble or expense for smaller businesses. It remains to be seen if Microsoft will allow businesses to purchase ESU directly this time around; we'll update you in a future blog post if this changes.

Some of your Windows 10 computers may already support Windows 11; if so, you can upgrade for free. And although many methods exist for upgrading to Windows 11 on computers that don't officially support it, our general advice, especially for businesses, is to replace them with supported devices rather than attempt one of these unofficial upgrade methods. Your chosen workaround may stop working with little to no warning, and in your business, any potential downtime you expose yourself to is unlikely to be worth the savings.

If your computers are already several years old, we recommend re-examining your purchase timeline. If you prefer or require Windows, our advice to the Valley is that the stars are quickly aligning here, and that you should prioritize the purchase of a new computer sooner rather than later, both to lock in a lower price and to give yourself enough time to comfortably plan for and execute a migration to Windows 11.

Let us know if you need any help planning Windows 11 upgrades or purchasing new devices - we're here to help.