What have I been missing by using an old computer?

So we finally bit the bullet and bought a brand new computer. So much faster on the internet than the old one, it’s like we were on dial up before. And we got a sweet 22" LED monitor, holy moly!

So the question is, what have I been missing out on the past couple of years? Due to the wait time of the old 'puter, my habits now are surfing text sites like this one (no offense!); so what do you Dopers think I should be exploring now?

you weren’t missing anything, you were gaining time to think of things.

I shouldn’t think anything – I just spent my last dollar a few weeks ago on a netbook, which is 1.66 Ghz. Less “speed” than a notebook I bought in 2002, but it handles anything. I don’t do any more processing than some basic spreadsheets, some compiling of C code, and some running virtual instruments/samples. But then, I don’t “game,” so who knows. Anything on the web I can handle fine, at least among things I’ve encountered.

If it ain’t slow, don’t fast it.

Couple of years? My home computer is coming up on 7 years old, and I don’t think I’m missing out on anything.

Mine runs Blowjob 2.0

I’m sure there’s a joke in there somewhere…

Ditto.

Meh. That’s standard everywhere over here.

yup. been all over the video so far, youtube and hulu and netflix…and youporn of course. is that all i’ve missed? figured there must be holograms or virtual sport or flying cars by now.

Almost a year ago, I replaced an eight-year-old system that had one gigabyte of RAM and was running Windows XP with a new system that has eight gigabytes of RAM and is running Windows 7. (I’m sure that the processor and everything else are a lot better, but I can’t remember the model numbers.) One thing that changed is the boot time. It used to take five or ten minutes to get to a stable state but the new one is ready in less than a minute. Also, if I go to the website of a retailer like Best Buy, I can flip through the online advertising circular very quickly. The older system was really slow to advance the page in the website. But the old system let me surf the web, write email and create documents in Microsoft Word, which is ninety percent of what I do. So in that respect, not much changed.

Skype…?

True dat. My new little toy, a netbook with 1GB RAM and a 1.67 GHz processor (32 bit as well architecture) running Windows 7 boots extremely quickly. Much quicker than faster processors with more RAM and 64 bit CPUs. I can still do anything I want if I hook up (as I often do) an old tower from 2001 with 192K of RAM, or an old notebook with an AMD 1.8GHz and 256 K RAM (both on XP). I don’t really think “speed” or newness has much to do with day-to-day performance unless you’re some kind of gamer. Both can handle external MIDI interfaces, soundcards, fine for my needs. Listen to the radio – most tunes were made in the box using machines of comparable power, if these tunes are of any vintage in the past ten years.

The operating system does a lot more things, so you need fewer add-on applications. I’ve had a Windows 7 system for two years, and I’m still finding new features.

Nose around in “Control Panel” – and there all kinds of diagnostics and fixes hidden in all sorts of places.

I just got a DVR last week and hi-speed this afternoon (which is why I’m still online NOW! STILL!) and have come up to at least 2000 standards.

I already miss going outside, playing with my kid and sunlight. Back to* My Precious!*

:smiley: