I was thinking. My new computer, an Emac G4 1GHz, is more than two years old now. Seems like yesterday. It was my first new computer that I bought myself, not a hand-me-down. Some bad things happened in my life in 2004-5 and I haven’t done much with it (the computer or the life). I never finished my computer science courses, and I never bought any games or interesting software because money has been short for one. I haven’t done much beyond web-browsing and using Itunes. I also use my computer as a white-noise generator at night. If the furnace is off and I hear the computer getting ready to go to sleep while I’m still falling asleep, I’ll smash the keyboard to keep that soothing fan noise going.
I might upgrade the RAM at some point and I’m sure it’ll be plenty for at least another year or two. A Mac Mini is only 50% faster so it won’t be worth upgrading until they surpass that. I’m not a big PC person because I like a computer that works, so I’ll avoid those unless I have to buy a cheap one for school at some point. Professors seem to assume everyone uses Windows.
I’m wondering how long a computer stays useful. Who’s using an old desktop computer than fully meets their needs? What’s the typical upgrade cycle these days? I’ve just been getting my life in order after this crisis and I’m wondering if my new computer might be old anytime soon.
I get a new computer more than yearly, counting home and work. But the ones i use most get upgraded about every 2 or 3 years.
New computers generally don’t give me any new capabilities that I care about. I guess USB is better than RS232 ports, CD drives are better than floppies, and math processors get somewhat faster every yer (I do lots of technical computing with problems that take 1 or 10 or 100 hours to run). But these things are not worth the hassle of getting everything working right.
I think computer upgrading today is mostly driven by intercompatibility of products that access the Web or each other, because software companies figured out they make most of their money churning our systems over and over like stockbrokers.
The oldest computer I am using these days is a 1986 computer running data acquisition software to record measurements. It runs just fine. I have a 1981 IBM PC, the real 4.77 MHz one, but it has a bad memory problem. My 1988 home PC still runs fine. Actually, they rarely break down.
5th computer: PowerBook G4 17" 1.67 MHz
Purchase date: Winter 2006
Displaced: no (current top of line)
Initial stats: 1.67 MHz G4; 2 GB RAM; 100 MB HD
Upgrade notes: nothing yet
Displaced = date on which a newer/faster computer took over as my primary computer; in most cases I kept the old one and continued to use it.
† The Performa 6116 was never my newest/fastest; I bought it used as a secondary / ancillary computer
GENERAL STATS: 1991-2006 = 15 years, 4 computers (plus one secondary computer). Longest “reign” before “switching” computers = nearly 7 years (WallStreet PowerBook). Average “reign” = slightly less than 4 years.
Oh (footnote to post# 3 above): The Macintosh SE’s accelerator bit the dust in 1996 and I sold it as a stock 8 MHz Mac for small change. My parents have the Performa 6116 as their primary computer. I still have and use all the others. The 7100 is at work and I Timbuktu into it and use it to modify databases after hours. The WallStreet PowerBook stays at home and is used to run two MacOS 9 scanners (both Umax, one slide scanner, one flatbed SCSI 3-pass). So in 15 years I had 1 out of 5 computers become too obsolete to be worth using/keeping. Based on the next oldest, that makes for a practical useful lifetime of at least 10 years per computer.
I would not like to think of how much money I have wasted (invested) in computers. Current computer is just over a year old, but has recently had a new video card and RAM upgraded.
As Napier has said, getting a new computer is not worth the effort of getting it all working properly. In the sense of what you want- I don’t mean they don’t work.
new laptop every 2-3 years. My current 2 year old Dell is showing age. I have 5 computers currently, including an intel core duo and a minimac. I think the mini mac will be around the longest, but I really only use it for entertainment and testing stuff. I am a PC guy at work, but I think the mac is way more fun. Dont tell anyone I said that.
I’ve got two(and a half) computers right now. The screen on my Dell laptop crapped out a few months ago, and it’s over three years old so unless I can fix it myself, I’ll write it off.
But recently:
Dell laptop
Purchased May '99
Termed: Mar '03
Bit the dust when I hit the telephone pole. I was never totally sure if it flew out the window, like so much other stuff did, or if it was stolen while I was unconscious. Either way, I was already in the process of moving on.
Dell Desktop
Purchased in '01
Still in use
Had to replace the hard drive last year, but otherwise an excellent computer.
Dell Laptop
Purchased in July 02
still runs, but the monitor’s broken. I might get around to fixing it someday.
HP laptop
Spring '05
the computer I use most often. A great computer, but it’s so big, it’d suck if you tried to use it as a business laptop.
~1981, Vic 20, parents bought for me
~1984, Franklin Ace 1000 (Apple II Clone)
~1985, Epson QX-16. Nifty machine, that.
~1986, Kaypro 8086. 12 Mhz! 1MB RAM! It was a POWERHOUSE
I kept that thing up for years and years, I can’t list all the upgrades. At least 2 motherboard upgrades and at least 1 case, so I’m sure it wasn’t the same machine when I finally trashed it when
~1994, I got a work-at-home job that gave me a computer that I kept when the place went out of business
~1997, a Winbook notebook
~2000, a Dell laptop
~2002, a Dell desktop
Jan 2006, Mr Athena bought me a Sony Vaio laptop, which I’m typing on now. I still have the desktop as my primary computer, though, as it’s still plenty good.
Note that I just about always buy top of the line machines, that’s why they last me several years. If I bought mid-range, I’d be bitchin’ every year that I wanted something new.
Looking over that list, I’m sure there’s a few more in there I’m missing.
Normally, 3 years is it for a computer of mine. But I’m using one that’s over 5 years old! It’s a Dell desktop that I’ve done tons of upgrades in the last 3 years – new faster CPU, new bigger drives, etc. My first computer was an IBM PC 1 with all of 64KB ram, a single 5.25" disk drive, monochrome monitor (still have that too).
I don’t really buy new computers. I just slowly upgrade components piece by peice. If we’re going by new processors, I’ve had this 1.67 Ghz processor for about 2 or 3 years now. I’d be hard pressed to remember what I had before that. I guess it’s about time for an upgrade, but I’m saving up for an Athlon 64:-D.
Apple IIe
Bought: 1984
Donated to Mom’s 3rd grade class: 1988
Was still working when she retired in 1997
Apple IIGS (mistake)
Bought: 1988
Abandoned: 1990
Whereabouts unknown
Mac SE (first computer I bought myself)
Bought (used): 1990
Sold (at a profit): 1991
Mac II (something)
Bought (used): 1991
Left with my parents when I moved in 1995
Gateway Something-or-other, P1-120MHz, Win95/98. My first Windows machine
Bought: 1996
Replaced: 2000
Kit machine, P2-1.2GHz, Win Me (lord what a crappy OS)
Bought: 2000
Died spectacularly: 2002, given away for parts
Current machine: Dell 8250, P4-2.4GHz, WinXP
Bought 2002
So I typically keep machines until they die or are completely obsolete (my current printer’s nearing 10 years old). I’m thinking about replacing the current one, but the only pressing need is that the video card isn’t good enough to handle Civ4, and it takes a looong time to load Sims 2. I can wait another year.
