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Finally, be aware of the Hard Drive (HD) sizes of the machine you're buying compared to the amount of data on the machine you currently have. Many of the new machines are coming with smaller but faster (and more expensive) solid state HDs while older machines tend to have larger but slower (and cheaper) platter drives. Make sure you have purchased enough storage space on the new machine to move all of your files, pictures, movies, and emails from your old machine. So when ordering your new machine, make sure to configure the size of the new HD in the new laptop accordingly. What we recommend is if your current disk usage is approaching half of the current drive, your new computer should be purchased with storage the next size up. For example, if you currently have a 512GB drive and you're using 250GB of it now, your new machine should be ordered with the 1TB HD for storage to make sure you have enough room to grow in the next 3-4 years.
Data Backup Drives
When you get a new computer, don't forget to also get a new external HD for your Time Machine or Windows Backups. Your data is the most important part of your computer and the life span of a HD used for backup is the same as the life of your computer. So if you replace the computer, replace the backup drive as well. Alternatively, users should also be using Dropbox to store their files, and also consider using Code42's Crashplan Cloud backup solution available from IS&T to help save guard their data.