Working from home is a pretty big deal in this day and age. Imagine not having to commute to work or spend for fares, fuel or parking. If you already have the necessary equipment to do your job, your costs can become even lower.

The problem is that your tools and gadgets won’t remain in good working condition forever. They’ll break at some point, so you’ll have to replace them yourself.

There are cases where you may need to upgrade your gear even when they’re still working too. It may be that your work has outgrown them, they’ve become too slow, or are too outdated.

Either way, deciding to buy new equipment isn’t that easy when you don’t have plenty of funds in the bank. You’ll have to consider if it’s the right time, what the best model is for your needs, how much you’re willing to spend and so on.

In this article, Remote Workmate provides advice on how you can go about upgrading the devices and tools you use for your online job to ensure you’re getting valuable upgrades.

Is It the Right Time?

The first thing you need to check is if it’s the right time to get new gear. If it hasn’t even been a year since you’ve acquired your gadgets, it may be smarter to wait for a few more months or another year. As long as your tools still meet your clients’ requirements, they don’t need to be replaced.

When it’s been a while since you’ve bought your devices, there’s a good chance that they’re no longer able to meet current standards. It may be that they can’t handle powerful new applications, don’t have enough storage capacity, or take a while to even boot up. In this case, it’s better to just upgrade.

Is It Absolutely Necessary?

There are instances when you think you need new tools but actually just need to improve collaboration or automate some processes. Some tasks can also be accomplished with only one piece of equipment now, so you don’t have to purchase a new model for every old gadget anymore.

For instance, you might have owned a desktop computer in the past and had to buy a keyboard, a web camera and a mouse separately. A laptop enables you to get all of these in a single device and it’s easier to bring along too. Rather than adding or replacing your hard drives then sending files through email, you can turn to cloud storage solutions instead.

Is it Financially Smart?

In some cases, it makes financial sense to upgrade your gear–but in parts. For instance, replacing the memory and adding a bigger hard drive can extend the life of many a desktop PC. It costs less than buying a new unit and delivers good enough performance to last until you can save for a new one.

When an upgrade is more than half the cost of a new unit, the latter option makes better financial sense for a remote worker. For example, a $900 laptop trumps a $600 PC parts upgrade. You get comparable performance along with fancy features like a higher-end processor and more memory, among others.

Is it Convenient to Do?

Being a remote worker, you’re likely a one-man IT department. You’ll have to perform upgrades yourself and with help from online tutorials. However, some enhancements feel as complicated as performing brain surgery and can only be successfully performed by skilled technicians or experienced end users.

When your skills are nowhere near super-savvy, you won’t want to risk doing any upgrades that might void your warranty or damage your gear. Worse, the vendor or reseller may stop providing support if something goes wrong.

You might end up having to buy a new unit even after having expended time, effort and other resources on trying and failing to upgrade on your own.

Is it Future-Proof?

Any replacements must minimise the need for any future upgrades. Here’s an idea: buy a desktop computer with the highest memory you can afford so you won’t have to keep on purchasing more RAM later on.

Also, pick specifications that are flexible enough to handle changing technologies or requirements. Let’s say you don’t need VoIP system support now, but you might in the future – so get network equipment that can handle it. To make the long story short, any investments for virtual assistant tools have to support your remote career for the long-term else you’re just wasting money.

Get Expert Advice

Do you still feel divided on upgrading? We at Remote Workmate can provide you with advice on gear you need to work remotely. We have been in the business of offshore staffing for years and are familiar with what clients are normally looking for in VA equipment so don’t hesitate to work with us for your home-based career.