61–70 of 298 posts
I haven't been interested in a newer model at all until the M1 restored HDMI and MagSafe along with the new CPU. Getting a strict upgrade in specs along with lighter weight and less heat/fan is tempting. But I'm currently not carrying my laptop around much (use a desktop at work), so can't really justify.
I am still using Windows 7 and I am dreading the day I have to upgrade to something newer. Because I am sure user experience will decrease massively because of the increased Windows 10 requirements. Recently a lot of software seems to be dropping Windows 7 support.
I have been contemplating buying a new system for at least 7 years now, but with horrible GPU prices and overall pretty bad value-for-money ratios compared to my current build I never really get around to it.
PS4 and Nintendo Switch take care of my gaming needs.
That thing is bullet proof.
That thing is bullet proof.
The Phenom II X4 isn't bad (according to https://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu_list.php), there is a variety of model numbers but they all seem to have the same kind of performance as the i5-3337U in the (very portable) somewhat old laptop I'm using right now, which is usable.
- I recently upgraded a low-end Lenovo Ideapad (from 2019? 2020? or so) from HDD to SDD and from 4 GB to 12 GB of memory. This laptop contains a Celeron CPU that has worse(!) overall performance than the Phenom II X4 despite being 10 years newer.
- My personal laptop is from 2012 (bought used in 2015 or 2016 for pretty cheap), upgraded memory to 16 GB
- Also repaired ~3-5 retro computers over the last year!
- Just repaired my toaster last evening (broke yesterday morning)
Last week I got a new iPhone SE 3rd gen to replace my almost-five years old iPhone 8 due to its battery gone wild (76% of original capacity, randomly dropping to 1% from 70~80%). The old one was fine, but it was only when I got the newer that I realized what I was missing — basically, speed. I got used to iPhone 8's sluggishness to the point of not noticing nor caring about it, but when I put my hands onto the newer version, it was like I removed a giant stone from my shoulders — in that context, I mean.
Today Apple announced a newer macOS that I won't be able to install on my 2015 MacBook Pro. A few minutes earlier, they announced a beast of a new computer. So… yeah, I still firmly believe that someone should keep a computer as long as possible, but if it's your tool to get work done, maybe update it once in a while — and, obviously, resell or repurpose the old, still capable one.
I would have kept the same hardware forever too, but for some reason my tools seem to take more and more resources every year. Silly example is gmail, which loaded in 1s on my 2011 MacBook Pro when new, if it load it again today (I just tried) it takes 35 seconds before I can click anything. Another might be everyone’s favourite software to hate on: Teams. On my 2011 MacBook Pro: fans squealing, UI of the OS becomes…
The recent Raspberry Pi models (4/400) have the potential to really expand computing globally. They're the first ones that have enough CPU power and RAM to do virtually everything you'd ever want to do with a desktop computer, with the exception of playing the latest games (and perhaps ML? I don't know much about it), but they cost $45 and run from a USB power supply. It's amazing how much you can do with them.
The only fly in the ointment is the lack of SATA or NVMe on the base model. I think there are riser boards out there for that, but it's all very boutique.