A study was done by Microsoft as what was the cost of running an old computer in the US, and I expect the figures would be roughly the same here. Microsoft just for the records to do *NOT* sell computers.
The results were interesting; a four-year-old computer had over 200% chance of needing repairs and was down on an average 48 hours. The cost of repairing the computer was US$396. The cost of upgrading these computers to keep them going was US$200. Added to that would be the slow speed, and you're paying someone just to sit while the computer process.
Therefore, the cost of running a four-year-old computer was 48 hours down plus $596.
I should add these figures to my costing of what in a point-of-sale environment, computer costs. You can see my previous estimate here.
