# what's the oldest electronic item in your house that you still use? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [January 27, 2011, 4:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-oldest-electronic-item-in-your-house-that-you-still-use/569152 "2011-01-27T04:38:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 8
**Author:** ![Arabella\_Flynn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8491ac/32.png) [@Arabella\_Flynn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arabella_Flynn)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2014, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-oldest-electronic-item-in-your-house-that-you-still-use/569152/141 "2014-12-31T18:20:37Z")
The oldest things I currently both own and use are a Toshiba Satellite laptop and a Nintendo DS, both ca. 2005 or so. The Toshiba is on its third keyboard, third OS, and second hard drive. I use it on a fairly regular basis, but it’s no longer my main work computer, as I do graphic design stuff, and the only thing that’s not modular enough to upgrade for cheap on a Satellite is the motherboard. The Nintendo DS was brought back from Japan by a friend of mine who was spending a semester there. I am murder on portable electronics, mostly because I insist on porting them around with me, but both of these things still work just fine. I _had_ a much older component stereo at one point, along with a laptop from about 1992 and a few other vintage knick-knacks, but they have been lost to a combination of apartment changes and inconsiderate relatives. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2014, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-oldest-electronic-item-in-your-house-that-you-still-use/569152/142 "2014-12-31T18:36:25Z")
[More recent thread.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=722030&highlight=Oldest+electronic) ---
**Author:** ![Asimovian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asimovian/32/172_2.png) [@Asimovian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asimovian)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2014, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-oldest-electronic-item-in-your-house-that-you-still-use/569152/143 "2014-12-31T19:50:55Z")
There is an oddly non-zero chance that I have the same alarm clock as the OP, which I also still use, and which I’ve had for at least 26 years (it was gifted to me by my uncle when I was 13 – I don’t know how long he had it before then). **Stink Fish Pot** , is the exterior of the clock a light brown, sort of fake wood-ish tone? ---
**Author:** ![DirkGntly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d9b06d/32.png) [@DirkGntly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DirkGntly)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2014, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-oldest-electronic-item-in-your-house-that-you-still-use/569152/144 "2014-12-31T20:54:17Z")
> [@Asimovian](#): > > There is an oddly non-zero chance that I have the same alarm clock as the OP, which I also still use, and which I’ve had for at least 26 years (it was gifted to me by my uncle when I was 13 – I don’t know how long he had it before then). > > **Stink Fish Pot** , is the exterior of the clock a light brown, sort of fake wood-ish tone? I was coming in to ask this very question. My wife and I use a GE radio alarm-clock from the late 70s that still works. It has a wood-grain exterior, and florescent-blue numbers. Interesting thing about it: if you set the radio-alarm, the radio portion comes on 9 minutes BEFORE the buzzer alarm, so we always set the alarm for time -9 minutes. Been looking for another unit that works like that for years, and can’t find one. ---
**Author:** ![davidm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidm/32/225_2.png) [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2014, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-oldest-electronic-item-in-your-house-that-you-still-use/569152/145 "2014-12-31T22:40:03Z")
Like the OP, I have an LED radio alarm. The brand is White-Westinghouse which, according to Wikipedia was formed in 1975 so it’s no older than that. The time is digital but the radio is tuned mechanically. It still works and wakes me up every weekday. ---
**Author:** ![congodwarf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e36b37/32.png) [@congodwarf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/congodwarf)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2015, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-oldest-electronic-item-in-your-house-that-you-still-use/569152/146 "2015-01-01T00:49:11Z")
> [@congodwarf](#): > > My stove, according to its serial number, is 56 years old. I still use it regularly. I’m sorry to say that the stove was replaced earlier this year. Well, I’m not sorry. Now I can bake reliably. It was a cool stove though. ---
**Author:** ![johnpost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f17d59/32.png) [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2015, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-oldest-electronic-item-in-your-house-that-you-still-use/569152/147 "2015-01-01T01:48:16Z")
> [@DirkGntly](#): > > I was coming in to ask this very question. My wife and I use a GE radio alarm-clock from the late 70s that still works. It has a wood-grain exterior, and florescent-blue numbers. Interesting thing about it: if you set the radio-alarm, the radio portion comes on 9 minutes BEFORE the buzzer alarm, so we always set the alarm for time -9 minutes. Been looking for another unit that works like that for years, and can’t find one. that’s a gentle wake up feature. some modern clock radios will have the radio come on with slowly increasing volume for that feature. ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2015, 5:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-oldest-electronic-item-in-your-house-that-you-still-use/569152/148 "2015-01-01T05:06:08Z")
I have a Bally pinball machine from 1977 called The Lost World. I has electronic components, and is part of the first generation of pinball machines to have these. It has electronic scoring, a sound card, a motherboard (which is HUGE), and is basically a very simple computer, albeit it still has lots of knockdown targets, and the ball still triggers switches. That is the oldest electronic device I use. We have a number of older electric devices, but not electronic. At least not that I can think of off-hand. ---
**Author:** ![DingoelGringo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9d8465/32.png) [@DingoelGringo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DingoelGringo)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2015, 5:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-oldest-electronic-item-in-your-house-that-you-still-use/569152/149 "2015-01-01T05:07:55Z")
I have still a micro wave oven we bought when our daughter was born in 1966 to heat the baby bottles. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-oldest-electronic-item-in-your-house-that-you-still-use/569152.md?page=7)