― Ed (dali), Sunday, 16 November 2003 17:01 (twenty years ago) link
― Michael Daddino (epicharmus), Sunday, 16 November 2003 17:10 (twenty years ago) link
― Madchen (Madchen), Sunday, 16 November 2003 17:10 (twenty years ago) link
oh, the other thing i need to learn about is networking them. i don't really want both on the net, but would like to be able to transfer files. i saw something which offered some kind of transfer/network capability over usb? but am i correct that you can't just plug ethernet cable into their nic's and have them talk? i need to hit some networking sites and learn up
michael, how much ram do you have? i think xp is quite fast but it does take up more memory
― ron (ron), Sunday, 16 November 2003 17:12 (twenty years ago) link
― Michael Daddino (epicharmus), Sunday, 16 November 2003 17:13 (twenty years ago) link
KVM switches that use a key combo just have a really simple micro processor that look for that key combo on the USB or PS/2 connection, simple as that really.
Mike, get more RAM, no modern OS will run particularly well on that amount, it's cheap enough, a new mac would be better but RAM would get you going again.
― Ed (dali), Sunday, 16 November 2003 17:17 (twenty years ago) link
― stevie (stevie), Sunday, 16 November 2003 17:18 (twenty years ago) link
― ron (ron), Sunday, 16 November 2003 17:23 (twenty years ago) link
― jaymc (jaymc), Sunday, 16 November 2003 17:25 (twenty years ago) link
― ron (ron), Sunday, 16 November 2003 17:46 (twenty years ago) link
― j.lu (j.lu), Sunday, 16 November 2003 18:05 (twenty years ago) link
― ethereal cereal (Jody Beth Rosen), Sunday, 16 November 2003 18:07 (twenty years ago) link
Curiously enough, I bought a new no-name computer yesterday and will be setting it up today. It, too, is scarcely leading edge, but still it will be about 16 times the computing power I have today.
― Aimless, Sunday, 16 November 2003 18:15 (twenty years ago) link
― the surface noise (electricsound), Sunday, 16 November 2003 23:56 (twenty years ago) link
― hstencil, Monday, 17 November 2003 00:16 (twenty years ago) link
― Jay Dee Sah Mon (Kingfish), Monday, 17 November 2003 00:31 (twenty years ago) link
― Andrew (enneff), Monday, 17 November 2003 00:35 (twenty years ago) link
My oldest PC which has been cannibalised for parts a bit anyway is 8 years old and not used anymore, then theres my desktop PC which is about 3 years old, and my lappy (currently dead, but under warranty so getting fixed asap) is about 6 months old, and yet broke down the fastest and most irrepariably out of every system I've had. Stupid notebooks and their rassiin frassin inaccesible innards. I wish I knew how to see what was wrong without risking a warranty issue but eh.
― Trayce (trayce), Monday, 17 November 2003 00:56 (twenty years ago) link
― Dan I, Monday, 17 November 2003 01:13 (twenty years ago) link
It's a Pentium 4. If that's what you mean.
― Michael Daddino (epicharmus), Monday, 17 November 2003 03:25 (twenty years ago) link
*ahem*
― petra jane (petra jane), Monday, 17 November 2003 04:57 (twenty years ago) link
My computer is about seven years old. I've had it for six years. This would, of course, be the one I currently use. I'm only going to get a computer for Christmas, though. Yay!
― Pancakes For Breakfast! (Dee the Lurker), Monday, 17 November 2003 05:35 (twenty years ago) link
― ron (ron), Monday, 17 November 2003 07:06 (twenty years ago) link
― youn, Monday, 17 November 2003 07:22 (twenty years ago) link
I have had two other computers since then, but they came to bad ends. My wonderful big powerful Tasty RAM-piece was stolen by my mum when I moved to the UK. And the computer that I was given by my former employers so I could work from home was dismantled and handed back to me in pieces in a bag by my psycho Ex when we broke up.
― Citizen Kate (kate), Monday, 17 November 2003 09:49 (twenty years ago) link
I've had my free pc from work for about a week now. The plan is that once I've got it up and running, the laptop goes back to my ex so she can lend it to her brother. The free pc is a Dell. It has XP installed on it and has a Pentium P3 processor. It si currently sitting minus its case between the computer I'm using to type this and the other computer on the other side of my desk. Later in the day, I shall put a modem in it.
― MarkH (MarkH), Monday, 17 November 2003 09:57 (twenty years ago) link
holy shit! i had a girl do that to my heart once, but to do it to your computer is fucking cold...
― stevie (stevie), Monday, 17 November 2003 10:31 (twenty years ago) link
― Citizen Kate (kate), Monday, 17 November 2003 10:34 (twenty years ago) link
― Michael Daddino (epicharmus), Saturday, 22 October 2005 03:33 (eighteen years ago) link
― nathalie, a bum like you (stevie nixed), Saturday, 22 October 2005 03:43 (eighteen years ago) link
― M. V. (M.V.), Saturday, 22 October 2005 04:06 (eighteen years ago) link
― Thermo Thinwall (Thermo Thinwall), Saturday, 22 October 2005 04:14 (eighteen years ago) link
― tehresa (tehresa), Saturday, 22 October 2005 04:17 (eighteen years ago) link
― Thermo Thinwall (Thermo Thinwall), Saturday, 22 October 2005 04:34 (eighteen years ago) link
― tehresa (tehresa), Saturday, 22 October 2005 04:37 (eighteen years ago) link
― Trayce (trayce), Saturday, 22 October 2005 06:46 (eighteen years ago) link
― katrina vanden roffle (Jody Beth Rosen), Saturday, 22 October 2005 06:51 (eighteen years ago) link
I want my next mac to have wood paneling.
― Thermo Thinwall (Thermo Thinwall), Saturday, 22 October 2005 07:04 (eighteen years ago) link
The previous one was mine for about 2 years before I retired it, but it was an ex-office machine that was mostly around 8 years old at that point.
The one before that was about 5 years old when its motherboard started to behave very erratically. It lasted another year with the processor underclocked to about half-speed before dying completely.
― Forest Pines (ForestPines), Saturday, 22 October 2005 07:13 (eighteen years ago) link
black, like my soul
― katrina vanden roffle (Jody Beth Rosen), Saturday, 22 October 2005 07:26 (eighteen years ago) link
― M. V. (M.V.), Saturday, 22 October 2005 14:06 (eighteen years ago) link
― nathalie, a bum like you (stevie nixed), Saturday, 22 October 2005 14:09 (eighteen years ago) link
― M. V. (M.V.), Saturday, 22 October 2005 14:35 (eighteen years ago) link
Works fine for what I use it for though when I tied to install a usb 2.0 pci card it didn't want to know.
― Billy Dods (Billy Dods), Saturday, 22 October 2005 15:01 (eighteen years ago) link
― mookieproof (mookieproof), Saturday, 22 October 2005 15:03 (eighteen years ago) link
― I do feel guilty for getting any perverse amusement out of it (Rock Hardy), Saturday, 22 October 2005 15:19 (eighteen years ago) link
iBook is doing alright, but those inexplicable problems are beginning to arise. She's just a lot less stable now with applications randomly quitting and such. I'm hoping for another year of happy computing, and then I'm planning on buying a shinny new iMac.
― Super Cub (Debito), Saturday, 22 October 2005 15:20 (eighteen years ago) link
We've now had a Sony VAIO laptop running WinXP (so Pam can work from home) for a week and it's smashing, if a bit I-know-what-you-what-to-do-next. I hope to God all the various subtitling applications work OK on it otherwise it's a very expensive Web-surfing tool with DVD burner. It's a looker, mind.
― Michael Jones (MichaelJ), Saturday, 22 October 2005 15:47 (eighteen years ago) link
― Ned Raggett (Ned), Saturday, 22 October 2005 15:58 (eighteen years ago) link
Got a new machine in April.
― van igloo (van smack), Saturday, 22 October 2005 16:24 (eighteen years ago) link
I have four computers in the house. Dual Core Athlon 64 Windows XP machine - 1 Year 10 Months 1.4GHz G4 Powerbook - 3 Years 333MHz Dell Pentium 3 Kubuntu machine - 2 Years 6 Months (I've no idea how old it actually is - I bought it on ebay for £30 to run as a linux server) Athlon Thunderbird 1200MHz Windows XP machine - 6 Years
I think my next desktop will be a dual booting iMac (if I can afford it)
― treefell, Monday, 15 October 2007 09:15 (sixteen years ago) link
how disposable are computers these days? how long would you expect a £500 laptop to last (before either breaking or obsolesence)?
to answer question, 05/10/07 (10th may) for this (work) pc. laptop was last december. i have 3 or 4 more, mostly just taking up space.
― koogs, Monday, 15 October 2007 09:51 (sixteen years ago) link
Blimey, checking upthread I guess the VAIO is nearing its 2nd birthday. The subtitling software all worked perfectly so I suppose it's paid for itself several times over.
However...headphone mini-jack was the first thing to flake out (around 2 months), so bought a USB soundcard almost immediately (and another one since, after that died too). Then the DVD+/-RW drive started playing up - struggling to burn CD-Rs (after 4-5 months), then failing to read CD-Rs (after a year) and now barely capable of ripping CDs without glitches. Fine with CD-ROM/all DVD media though. Keyboard started to play up after 18 months (two keys came off, got replacements via eBay but little plastic "nipple" had become so desensitised by us pressing hard on it to get an "M" that keys didn't actually work once fitted).
Sometime late last year I knocked the laptop off the arm of the sofa and it SLAMMED into the wooden floor with a sickening crack; turned out the only thing broken was the left-hand screen hinge which means we haven't been able to close the thing since (kinda limiting its portability) as the display cables run through there and I didn't fancy damaging them by forcing the thing shut.
WinXP has been pretty solid though - very few crashes - and the internal wireless adaptor has always worked happily anywhere in the house with the Livebox. Fast enough for our purposes too. We've been running at <2GB space on both C: and D: partitions for months, though - archiving stuff off to a WD 250GB HDD. 80GB is enough until it isn't (especially when your last two major birthday/Xmas gifts are a D-SLR [which can take 8MB RAW images] and a Handycam [DV-AVI ain't small]).
― Michael Jones, Monday, 15 October 2007 10:20 (sixteen years ago) link
How do you guys manage to make your computers last more than 2-3 years? That's how long mine last every time before some important piece of hardware dies and the standard cpu/motherboard architectures available have all changed so I end up getting almost a complete new set of innards. All the storage and peripherals stay the same though, and 6 months ago I finally moved it all into a new case for the first time in 9 years.
(I do have an 8-year-old laptop which is still running xubuntu happily, but it's only been mine for a year or two and it doesn't get much use)
(the electricity at home runs permanently over-voltage, maybe that's why mine like to die so fast? I acquired a UPS recently, I'll be interested to see if things stay working for any longer now)
― a passing spacecadet, Monday, 15 October 2007 10:57 (sixteen years ago) link
I've had my iBook for two years.
― The Real Dirty Vicar, Monday, 15 October 2007 12:03 (sixteen years ago) link
pc, three years-ish. mac, few months. they both have a lot of life left.
― kenan, Monday, 15 October 2007 12:12 (sixteen years ago) link
how can you be so confident?
― Bob Six, Monday, 15 October 2007 12:13 (sixteen years ago) link
if my mac dies, there's a nice warranty. if my pc dies, fuck it, it was cheap to begin with. but it won't.
― kenan, Monday, 15 October 2007 12:16 (sixteen years ago) link
Much like treefell upthread I have several computers in the house. Mine are all cobbled together from bits and have been upgraded piecemeal, so it's difficult to tell.
The server dates back to 1/2003 and has the most original parts. New HDD and PSU today actually.The case of my main PC dates back to early 2001, two different mainboard and a ton of other stuff has passed through it in that time.Secondary PC was built early 2004 from parts removed from the main PC after it's first mainboard and PSU burnt out.
Mostly since then just the usual replacement fans, etc..
― snoball, Friday, 17 April 2009 19:38 (fifteen years ago) link
:(
― Old Big 'OOS (AKA the Cupwinner) (darraghmac), Friday, 17 April 2009 20:17 (fifteen years ago) link
Two weeks! Bought the components over a couple of weeks and put it together only two weeks ago.
I may have to turn myself in though, since one of the operating systems I use is the terrorist black screen with white letters one.
http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2009/04/boston-college-prompt-commands-are-suspicious
― StanM, Friday, 17 April 2009 20:21 (fifteen years ago) link
Current Mac Pro is about 2 years old. Still using the 23" Cinema Display I got in, uh, 2004?
― WmC, Friday, 17 April 2009 20:25 (fifteen years ago) link
macbook i have at home is 10 months old. imac i have at work is 7 months
― mark cl, Friday, 17 April 2009 20:31 (fifteen years ago) link
i love them both, best computers i've ever owned
tho i guess i don't own my work imac
― mark cl, Friday, 17 April 2009 20:32 (fifteen years ago) link
I have a power mac G4 tower that was made in 2002...I got it in 2005. I'm about at the point where I'm tired of saying to my husband 'oh, it does everything I need' while it sits there thinking and thinking of a rainbow spinny wheel. I can't afford another compy anytime soon. Does Mac even make towers anymore, or just iMacs that have everything hidden in the monitor? Bcz those are not so rad. (Love love love the G4 iMac, tho. OTOH I wld be replacing a G4.)
― fillibustar superstar! (Abbott), Friday, 17 April 2009 22:31 (fifteen years ago) link
Okay why am I even looking at Macs thinking they'll maybe be in the 3-digit price range.
― fillibustar superstar! (Abbott), Friday, 17 April 2009 22:33 (fifteen years ago) link
The Mac Mini is 3 digits and is like a tower in that it lacks a monitor, but is way smaller.
― Euler, Friday, 17 April 2009 22:36 (fifteen years ago) link
And also has 2 GB of hard drive space....uhh....
― fillibustar superstar! (Abbott), Friday, 17 April 2009 22:42 (fifteen years ago) link
mac minis are a great deal i think
― mark cl, Friday, 17 April 2009 22:53 (fifteen years ago) link
nah, 2 gigahertz processor, 1 gb of RAM, 120 gb hard drive (in the base model), for $550 in the education store.
― Euler, Friday, 17 April 2009 22:54 (fifteen years ago) link
(xxpost) I have a laptop here with a 60MB hard drive
― snoball, Friday, 17 April 2009 23:09 (fifteen years ago) link
oops lol Euler I think you just sold me
― fillibustar superstar! (Abbott), Saturday, 18 April 2009 00:42 (fifteen years ago) link
Yeah, that Mac Mini isn't a really great buy... but I suppose if you can't go up to the 24' iMac it's your next best option.
― Nhex, Saturday, 18 April 2009 01:01 (fifteen years ago) link
A: About 2 months, and it's my first.
― Dr Morbius, Saturday, 18 April 2009 01:08 (fifteen years ago) link
How are your hands? They must be feeling better, because you're back to your cranky old miserable self on politics and baseball threads.
― WmC, Saturday, 18 April 2009 01:22 (fifteen years ago) link
my right hand is still carpally.
― Dr Morbius, Saturday, 18 April 2009 01:31 (fifteen years ago) link
I've had this same eMac since 2001 or 2002. Came with that dinosaur game on it and something about capturing bee-hive ladies with UFOs.
― •--• --- --- •--• (Pleasant Plains), Saturday, 18 April 2009 01:48 (fifteen years ago) link
Feb '03, Athlon 1800 PC w/256MB RAM, running Windows XP (color: PC beige). Only upgrade has been adding an internal DVD writer and an external HD (iomega 160MB, USB 2.0).
― nickn, Sunday, October 14, 2007
Still got it, but it now resets within about 30 minutes of turning it on (and usually not thereafter, even if I use it for hours more). I'm checking every Fry's ad I see to find my next one, though.
― nickn, Saturday, 18 April 2009 04:29 (fifteen years ago) link
This thread is good as it reminds me my latest laptops still within its 2yr warranty. Which is good, because the power supply plug has gone flaky. The plug, when plugged in, wont stay contacted with the inner plug...thing, so it flicks between AC charge and battery constantly.Which can't be good for the damn battery. If I knew it was easy to fix myself I would have a try... sigh.
― one art, please (Trayce), Saturday, 18 April 2009 04:55 (fifteen years ago) link
one day!!!!11 turned on the imac for the first time and realised it has tiger rather than leopard :( more spending awaits.
― ken "save-a-finn" c (ken c), Sunday, 19 April 2009 22:37 (fifteen years ago) link
If you don't need soon, you might want to wait for Snow Leopard which will probably come out within.. 6 months? Then again it was supposed to have come out by now, so who knows.
― Nhex, Sunday, 19 April 2009 23:31 (fifteen years ago) link
Happy Birthday to my mid-2007 iMac - seven years old today and still going strong....
― Twist of Caliphate (Bob Six), Sunday, 14 September 2014 23:21 (nine years ago) link
I had a 2004 iMac which just gave up the other day.
― goth colouring book (anagram), Monday, 15 September 2014 10:06 (nine years ago) link
Bought my laptop in Dec 2011 and it already feels like a hulking mess of a thing.
― monoprix à dimanche (dog latin), Monday, 15 September 2014 10:38 (nine years ago) link
took it apart (and i mean literally to tiny pieces) just to clean the fan the other day and ended up with 8 screws left over.
my laptop dates from late 2009 i think. put an ssd in it last christmas and it's fine, no need to update.
(actually, battery is shot and one of the usb sockets is dodgy but...)
― koogs, Monday, 15 September 2014 11:34 (nine years ago) link
I think our laptop is from 2011? MacBook Air.
― Hey Bob (Scik Mouthy), Monday, 15 September 2014 11:45 (nine years ago) link