Repairing the Artifact

[protege]

I treated myself to an early Christmas present. A rather nice, Samsung laptop, in fact. With the deals going on (24 months no interest), why not? Up until now, my old computer (1.25Ghz, 2GB RAM, multiple hard drives, etc.) had been working OK, but it's wearing out. I built it myself back in 2003, and it's been "rebuilt" many times since then. Even in 2003, 1.25Ghz was *barely* cutting it. Not slow, but not super-fast either.

Fast-forward about 7.5 years or so, and things have changed. That computer is now having some CMOS-related issues, and some annoying software problems. It still runs XP, but finding software that will run on that thing is hard. Even parts are becoming difficult. When it goes, it goes. I'm not going to spend money on it--I can buy a new system (that'll blow this one away and then some) for less than a new motherboard/CPU/RAM/drives.

[Geek King]

You can get a PC that will last a reasonable amount of time (5+ years), but you have to do your research. I've had my Vista box as my main gaming PC since the release of that OS (I wanted to get some experiance on the OS since work was looking at a possible upgrade). I picked the motherboard specifically to handle RAM upgrades for the 64-bit-only OS' I figured were coming the future, and only needed to upgrade the video card and RAM once each so far. It still runs everything I've asked of it. You have to be willing to drop $1-1.5k on a machine (less if you're not into graphic- and processor-intesive gaming), but it has beenless costly than buying cheaper, lower-end parts that barely cover current specs.

Heck, my older XP box I used before this one is still in use as an internet-browsing-and-MS-Office computer I loan out to friends with toasted machines, and it still runs LOTRO with lowered settings.

I should note, these machines are in smoke-free environments, and recieve only basic dusting and maintenance. I've replaced three faulty power supplies (brownouts, every time), and one bad RAM stick. I usually upgrade the HDDs along the way at some point also, as programs become bigger space hogs every year.

[ShadowBall]

I've had my Dell laptop since about 2005 and,thankfully, it has not caught on fire like so many other Dell laptops seem to do. It's a pretty nice one - lots of space, big screen...but it has its issues. For example, the external sound died after about a year. The headphones jack came loose and is now floating around inside the keyboard. I have an external sound card and I need to prop it up with something at just the right angle to make the computer recognize it. I get an error every time I start my laptop up that it wants to install an infrared device it can't find.

None of the USB ports like my mouse and it randomly stops working, then starts again. A lot of the keys are stubborn and I need to pummel them to make them work. Good times.

But I don't want a new one until this one has completely shit the bed...mostly because this laptop has a phone cord port. I need this for my fabulous dial-up connection - I have never seen a newer model with a phone jack.

My old computer was awful...picked up every single goddamn virus on the internet and got to the point where it froze the anti-virus software halfway through. Or, in the case of one software (E-SET, I think), it would glitch so bad, I'd have to restart. Eighty whole MB of space. 16-bit screen. Had Windows 98 but ran like 95. No USB ports. Could not load anything Flash.

[Geek King]

But I don't want a new one until this one has completely shit the bed...mostly because this laptop has a phone cord port. I need this for my fabulous dial-up connection - I have never seen a newer model with a phone jack.

http://www.amazon.com/Zoom-3095-Mini.../dp/B001FCIOSW

There are a bunch of products and reviews that pop up under Google when you search for "usb dial up modem". No reason not to upgrade, except money now.

[Ironclad Alibi]

On easy recycling:

Many, many years ago when I was just a lad... Anyway, my grand-parents died, my grandmother last in 1972. My grandfather had been a farmer, and I was helping clean out (loot) his barn. On one of the work benches was an old Dayton electric drill. Someone had written "bad armature" on it with a grease pencil. Believing everything I read, I plugged it in, and it worked. Almost 50 years later, it is still working.

I once saw a couple of non-working n-scale steam engines in a hobby shop for $10. These normally sold for $75. I bought them. After I snapped the connecting rods back on the wheels, they ran fine.

Old computers.

My second computer which runs MS-DOS 6.22 has been in use since 1998. It doesn't get a lot of use, but since it is the only way I have of reading 5-1/4" disks, I keep it around. It's also handy for my computer game collection which dates back to 1988.

The oldest non-game program I still use is Treeview, which dates from 1989. And I have some programs from 2000 and 2002 I still use regularly.

[Taboo]

My father has a computer in his basement that was loaned to him by his company many, many years ago. By the time he remembered that he had it, they didn't want it back, and so he's just left it there.

I think it was an Apple II (so.. from the late 1970s) and the monitor is one of those green and black ones. It still works. I mean, not that you'd actually use it nowadays, but it amazes me that it can even turn on anymore. I'm sure some people are still trying to use computers from the 80s, though...

[Andara Bledin]

But actually, I agree with that woman. You shouldn't need to buy a new computer every year, or few years.

You don't need to buy a new computer every few years. Well, unless you want to do anything that involves technology that didn't exist when the computer you currently own was sold, anyway.

That's actually not an unreasonable expectation. Equipment should last for far longer than it does, if it is built with sufficient quality.

It's well within our power to build computers that would last like washing machines. They'd also be around the same size, and cost about 3-5 times as much, making them unlikely to ever sell, despite their durability.

And, as I mentioned earlier, unless you never used newer software you'd still have to replace at least bits of it as programs were designed around technology that didn't exist the year before.

2000 had serious compatibility problems with home-intended software from its era, bad enough that we had to go back to 98SE. Strictly a business OS, really.

I used 2000 Pro for years. The only reason I swapped over to XP was that current gen games had dropped 2k support, although most will still work, and I was upgrading my system already.

Win2k? If heaven exists on earth, it'd look a lot like Win2k. I didn't run into any of the compatibility issues and I *gamed* on it til May of last year.

I'm with you on that. I adored Win2k. Plus, 2k-tan is one of the best of the Win-tans.

^-.-^