tech explorer
New Member
I know I would be due to changing technology. And you?
If your computer or device lasted for five years, would you be satisfied?
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newcomputer20
New Member
I don't know about every week but I'd be surprised if I had the same hardware in 5 years time. It really depends what you use it for though, modern computers these days can power through having 6 screens with spreadsheets on them no problem - and thats something which is new from 30 years ago. For gamers though, updating hardware will be the only option.
AlienMenace
Well-Known Member
For people that have money, they can upgrade when they want. But me, being on disability. I can deal with 3 to 4 yrs. I built this machine to last that long, maybe a cpu upgrade in about 2 yrs is all. I not a heavy gamer, where those guys usually upgrade every 6 months. LOL.
jonnyp11
New Member
Your laptop is an 07 and you use it a lot don't you? Although you have changed so much about it
wolfeking
banned
I repeat, functionally useless except for office work. That is all that is done on my laptop. It can game some, but not without going on a endless search for drivers.
TrainTrackHack
VIP Member
Yes.
I've made due with crap to mediocre hardware most of my life and even then all my computers have lasted at least a couple of years (my last laptop was good for 2 and half and the only thing that bothered me about it was that the maxed out 4GB of RAM kept constantly running out - I replaced it because my grampa really needed a new computer so his birthday gave me a decent excuse to get a new build). I went for a really extravagant build for the first time in my life and as long as the hardware doesn't break, I imagine it should last 5 years pretty easy.
I've made due with crap to mediocre hardware most of my life and even then all my computers have lasted at least a couple of years (my last laptop was good for 2 and half and the only thing that bothered me about it was that the maxed out 4GB of RAM kept constantly running out - I replaced it because my grampa really needed a new computer so his birthday gave me a decent excuse to get a new build). I went for a really extravagant build for the first time in my life and as long as the hardware doesn't break, I imagine it should last 5 years pretty easy.
speedyink
VIP Member
Depends what you pay for it and what you want it for. Technically it should be fine after 5 and definitely more years. Sure you may have to replace the odd power supply, or fan or something, but as a whole computers should last years and years (Our old 1995 IBM and 2001 HP still work). It's the obsolescence that gets in the way.
In my position, I bought my desktop 3 and half years ago, and lately I've been feeling a need to upgrade.
Now, this isn't exactly a crucial update, it's basically I want to play some of the brand new games on it, and it doesn't handle them so hot anymore. Skyrim I think was the last game I could max or close to max.
Actual use as a computer for high def video and everything else I throw at it it's no slouch at all, it's just the games..
I know, there's the "just get a new video card blockhead" option, but then it almost seems like a waste to throw a better video card in one of THE first consumer quad core cpus available, with similarly outdated motherboard and DDR2 memory.
At this point I plan to go to newegg or similar and buy it piece by piece (one every payday). At that rate I should have a new computer in a few months, really close to the 4 year anniversary of my last one. It probably could have been sooner if I was bigger into gaming, it's just getting to the point to where if I wanted to try one of todays latest games I'm sure I'd be disappointed.
In my position, I bought my desktop 3 and half years ago, and lately I've been feeling a need to upgrade.
Now, this isn't exactly a crucial update, it's basically I want to play some of the brand new games on it, and it doesn't handle them so hot anymore. Skyrim I think was the last game I could max or close to max.
Actual use as a computer for high def video and everything else I throw at it it's no slouch at all, it's just the games..
I know, there's the "just get a new video card blockhead" option, but then it almost seems like a waste to throw a better video card in one of THE first consumer quad core cpus available, with similarly outdated motherboard and DDR2 memory.
At this point I plan to go to newegg or similar and buy it piece by piece (one every payday). At that rate I should have a new computer in a few months, really close to the 4 year anniversary of my last one. It probably could have been sooner if I was bigger into gaming, it's just getting to the point to where if I wanted to try one of todays latest games I'm sure I'd be disappointed.
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zombine210
New Member
LOL! you're full of it.
to OP:
My gaming pc is getting close to 5 years. I did do some upgrades, but they were mostly just shuffling parts between it and my server: E8400 vs Q9550.
i probably should of kept the Q9550 in the server, but oh well.
i also upgraded the graphics card a couple of times. Other than that, it's still going strong and probably will be for another couple of years at least.
S.T.A.R.S.
banned
Wow lol.
Okay people let's make one thing clear.
My computer is 15 years old and I am using it for EVERYTHING except playing the latest games and those before the latest.(Besides I do not play games much anyway).
And those of you who say that old computers are good only for office work is BS.
On old computers you can do almost everything.From writing text in notepad all up to making crazy huge enterprise graphic applications who's hardware usage is so damn low if you know how to make great optimizations.My current application I am working on uses maybe 2 or 3 MB more than simple notepad does and 2 to 4 CPU usage.At the beginning it used about 60% of CPU when being used and I lowered it to 2% to 4% so it works perfectly on any processor and RAM memory capacity...Is there anything else I should say?
So old computers (like mine which is 15 years old) can do so much that people are not even aware of it's abilities.They just don't know how to use them.
So the only reason for upgrading would be games and MAYBE some programs which use a LOT of hardware strength,but usually those kind of programs are very bad programmed that they are not even worth using since their optimizations suck.
So on my 15 year old (how people say "SHITTY GARBAGE") computer I have made a very nice application which made me earn a LOT of money.So much that with that money I can buy multiple strongest computers I can find.
So in short:
Very old computers can do MUCH MUCH MUCH more than you can imagine.The only problem is that people do not know how to.
And the thing which goes on my nerves SO DAMN MUCH is when someone wants to learn BASICS of programming and then loses so MUCH time thinking HOW STRONG hardware they should get (such as four core CPU or six core CPU) instead losing time on actually learning the programming basics since entire programming works perfectly on almost any computer and ESPECIALLY the simple basics such as showing a text message.
So if someone says you need let's say i7 CPU to learn simple programming then people who say that are full of BS and do not know anything about programming and anything about computer hardware since like I already said...old hardware can do a LOT more than you can imagine.People just do not know how to use it to it's max potential.
One more thing.If simple programs for let's say browsing or opening simple images need up to 1 GB of RAM to work and for that reason you buy new hardware so damn often then those programs are CRAP and programmers who made them suck...
It's sad for how stupid reasons people waste so much money on hardware upgrading...
I mean there ARE reasons when you REALLY need an upgrade since that is the ONLY option,but for Christ sake people today upgrade their hardware and spend so much money on it so DAMN OFTEN for almost everything...Now that's just stupid.
Hell I know people who upgrade so often because simple programs which before worked perfectly all of a sudden lag or work slow.
And the funniest thing is...IT'S THE SAME PROGRAM.
So if before it worked perfectly and now ALL OF A SUDDEN FOR NO REASON they lag or work slow then OBVIOUSLY it is not hardware related and upgrading hardware will NOT fix the problem since it is OBVIOUSLY software related,but unforcenately people today think that every problem is fixed with hardware upgrade and a lot of wasted money.
Cheers!
5 years. If it goes out, big deal. Have had parts last for years till it was worthless and had new parts go out the same day and everything in between.
TrainTrackHack
VIP Member
You do seem quite obsessed with optimizations.
Never forget, though, most languages, lbiraries and tools these days give up efficiency for programmer convenience (gc and managed memory, dynamic class loaders, bytecode interpreters and so on). Programmer convenience in really important, has a huge effect on productivity. Also, optimizations take time, so it's often not worth it to spend optimizing parts of the program just so they can run fine on really old hardware that few people still use.
I won't deny this is very much possible (I've seen some pretty horrible code), but often this isn't nearly as big a deal as people make it out to be. Most software cache&prefetch stuff depending on how much memory the system has, on a modern system with lots of RAM often very aggressively too. I've had Okular (PDF viewer) frequently use 1GB of RAM on my current machine when viewing large documents, doesn't mean that it would do that if I had much less RAM (indeed, the usage was less on my previous computer). Also, where applicable, garbage colection takes time and can result in annoying momentary freezes so some garbage collectors take account how much system memory is available and run less frequently; if an application on, say, my computer took up some ~5GB of memory, that wouldn't necessarily imply that it wouldn't run on my netbook wit only 2GB of RAM, it could actually cun very well.
Twiki
Active Member
Hi gang, noobie here and it's an interesting question.
I built my AMD X2 3800+ system back in 08-09 and it's still working but I ran into memory problems. It wasn't broken but limited to 2 gigs by the motherboard. I had 3 gigs in it all that time til I ran into this problem.
Seems that software are more sophisticated and the web pages are more loaded that I was forced to upgrade the memory to stop the crashes. Since I was content with my system I haven't seen the advancement of technology. Was I in for a surprise, I had to relearn what's hot and what's not in today's tech but had fun learning though.
I built me another system on a budget and I was able to use my SATA HDD, SATA DVD-burner and my Vista OS in the new system. I think I did pretty good for under $200.
Intel Celeron G540 CPU
Asrock H61M-DGS mobo
2x2gig Gskill memory
Corsair CX430 Bronze PSU
Rosewill case
As it happens, solved my memory problem and twice the speed.
I was satisfied with my old system and now I'm satisfied that this one will last me a good while.
I built my AMD X2 3800+ system back in 08-09 and it's still working but I ran into memory problems. It wasn't broken but limited to 2 gigs by the motherboard. I had 3 gigs in it all that time til I ran into this problem.
Seems that software are more sophisticated and the web pages are more loaded that I was forced to upgrade the memory to stop the crashes. Since I was content with my system I haven't seen the advancement of technology. Was I in for a surprise, I had to relearn what's hot and what's not in today's tech but had fun learning though.
I built me another system on a budget and I was able to use my SATA HDD, SATA DVD-burner and my Vista OS in the new system. I think I did pretty good for under $200.
Intel Celeron G540 CPU
Asrock H61M-DGS mobo
2x2gig Gskill memory
Corsair CX430 Bronze PSU
Rosewill case
As it happens, solved my memory problem and twice the speed.
I was satisfied with my old system and now I'm satisfied that this one will last me a good while.
Okedokey
Well-Known Member
Care to share this program that has made you many thousands STAR? Considering it commercial that shouldn't be a problem?
Secondly, a computer is a system, no matter how much optimisation you do, if there is a bottleneck, there is a bottleneck. Try playing BF3 on 3 x 30"monitors at full specs on your machine. I doubt it would even initialise.
The point is, some general statement about computer code and how we don't really need the hardware is not only circular, but nonsense.
Other than that, in terms of the original OP question, your computer can or cannot do subjectively what you want it too, that is the definition of satisifaction.
Secondly, a computer is a system, no matter how much optimisation you do, if there is a bottleneck, there is a bottleneck. Try playing BF3 on 3 x 30"monitors at full specs on your machine. I doubt it would even initialise.
The point is, some general statement about computer code and how we don't really need the hardware is not only circular, but nonsense.
Other than that, in terms of the original OP question, your computer can or cannot do subjectively what you want it too, that is the definition of satisifaction.
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I would only be happy so as long as it doesn't slow down. I am perfectly happy with what I was working with (before I bought my own computer). But I may have to upgrade to a desktop as laptops are not as upgradeable as I want them to be.
But five years from now, yes i still will have this laptop and use it quite often.
But five years from now, yes
i still will have this laptop and use it quite often.As I claim my machines on tax I try to follow the tax office's guidelines. ie 2 years for laptops and 3 years for desktop. Although to be honest I haven't used my desktop in a while and won't be upgrading it.
Unfortunately being a 'gadget' guy I tend to have multiple laptops, desktops and now tablets that all need to hit the refresh cycle. I'm going to go broke.
Unfortunately being a 'gadget' guy I tend to have multiple laptops, desktops and now tablets that all need to hit the refresh cycle. I'm going to go broke.