Tell HN: I used the same computer since 2007 (with minor upgrades)

With all the news about the Apple M2 and the people excited to sunset their couple years old computers, I feel compelled to share my reality (and that of many others outside the HN bubble).

I'm a 27 years old software developer from Brazil. The computer in question was assembled in 2007 from parts that were mostly bought abroad (and then gifted to me) by a wealthier relative that was visiting. That's a key point: the currency exchange rates and the import taxes make electronics out of reach for the common folks.

That was an AMD2+ motherboard, 4GB of DDR2, a 5400 RPM rust spinner, and a Phenom X4 coupled with an ATI 4870.

Although the household was never in a dire situation financially, I had always been taught by example to fix things and keep using them for as long as possible. Even back in elementary school times I would troubleshoot computer issues myself and brush off dust from the components.

Yes, there have been hardware failures since 2007: two HDDs died (about 6 years lifespan for each), the 4870 died (but I extended its life for one more year with the bake-it-in-the-oven trick), one DIMM failure, a PSU blowout and a CPU cooler bracket mechanical failure.

All replacements that had to be purchased would cost me a significant amount of money. HDDs and PSUs were not that expensive, but GPUs were out of reach. When that DIMM died in 2018, I purchased an used and dusty DDR2 replacement kit off AliExpress.

After the pandemic hit and I got my first proper (remote) job in 2020, I splurged and replaced some components: a hand-me-down GPU from a wealthier friend (I had been using the onboard graphics since the 4870 died), an AMD3 motherboard, a Phenom II X4 and some DDR3, all used and from AliExpress.

The monitor, a 22" TFT panel from Samsung, is still kicking since 2007 with a couple of dead pixels. Same goes for the mouse, manufactured by an unknown Chinese brand, and a membrane keyboard that I completely disassembled and scrubbed clean under a running faucet.

Even with my career finally taking off (I'm due to complete undergraduate Computer Science this year) I don't see myself doing major upgrades/purchases any soon.

When was the last time you gave something extra life instead of throwing it away?

> When was the last time you gave something extra life instead of throwing it away?

I appreciate your story and wish more people would take it to heart. I almost always just resurrect hand-me-downs from family and friends (I know enough people with more money than sense so it's pretty easy for me to pull off).

Using an external ssd drive to my 2011 imac would have kept me on it forever if Apple didn’t end long term support for it. I had to buy an m1 mac mini early this year.

>with the exception of … perhaps ML? I don't know much about it. It's amazing how much you can do with them.

Indeed. Cloud VMs can fill in the needs unmet by the Pi—the amateur ML hacker generally only needs high performance computing resources infrequently enough that renting them on-demand from cloud providers is an extremely economical solution.

I'm the third owner of my bike, it was a high end road bike in the mid 80s and has been used quite heavily since then by all three owners. The wear parts have of course been replaced in some cases many times, but most of the other non-drive components are original. It was converted to a fixed gear in the late 90s which saved a lot of rim wear, but I just recently had to finally replace the rims. I reused the front hub though, it's probably been rebuilt a dozen times by now.

I don't really track miles so it's hard to estimate but I'm on my sixth set of tires with it and I know the previous owner did at least as much.