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

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

#121

Post by paulryanrogers »

kaetemi wrote: post #53
deathanatos wrote: post #49

That's a very nice lifetime for a build; you should be proud. Though I can't imagine using a 5400 RPM HDD today. 7200 RPM or bust, I'm spoiled… > When was the last time you gave something extra life instead of throwing it away? Ugh, unfortunately I'm at "throw it away", basically. My current build, built in 2011, won't stay powered up. It gets anywhere from a few seconds to a few hours (and sometimes days) and then i…

I had random freezes and power cycles until... redoing the electric wiring in the house! My guess is the washing machine, which was down the same line as my office (in addition to our main supply line being extremely undersized), was causing some spikes on the supply voltage.

One of the offices at my old employer had terrible power. They relied on UPS with line conditioners for their PCs.

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

#122

Post by abhijeetpbodas »

dijit wrote: post #8

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…

Very true. Reminds me of a video by Luke Smith: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V7lG4bont7g&t=7

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

#123

Post by hericium »

birdfood wrote: post #77

My personal machine is the first and only new computer I ever bought: a 2012 Mac book air. I wanted to get a pro but couldn't justify the price. I took it in to get the battery replaced a couple of years ago instead of upgrading, again, I couldn't justify the price. I think I'll probably get the battery replaced again soon as it's started to falter. For the stuff I do in my spare time this machine is totally adequate…

> My personal machine is the first and only new computer I ever bought: a 2012 Mac book air.

This is the single Apple computer that I have fully operational. Anything made under Tim Cook - MBPs, iMac - lasted for up to 4 years before either too expensive to fix hardware failures occurred or Apple artificially slowed down those devices by blocking the ability to install non-newest macOS which made those devices too slow to work efficiently. Every installer from High Sierra to Big Sur starts but in 100% cases shows random errors at the end and fails to finish. Monterey is so slow on the 2017 MBP that the cursor is jumpy even in the installer.

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

#124

Post by georgia_peach »

sgtnoodle wrote: post #100
georgia_peach wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

The USB 2.0 controller seems to be relatively inefficient on the pi 4, or at least the driver is. An RTLSDR dongle uses almost 50% CPU just shovelling samples when it should only use less than 1%.

I wonder how well PXE boot + NFS shares would fare in comparison? Hasn't a lot of the USB stack been pushed into user space in more recent operating systems?

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

#125

Post by samatman »

hericium wrote: post #109
lawgimenez wrote: post #72

I'm a professional iOS developer and I'm still using MBP Pro 2015 model (bought second hand for cheap because of its defective speakers) that is maxed out. Since its speakers are not working, I have to buy a portable JBL3 bluetooth speaker as a replacement. Big Sur is still working fine for my 2015 model but I believe it won't work anymore on Ventura. I'm going to sunset this laptop next year but for now it is still…

> I'm a professional iOS developer and I'm still using MBP Pro 2015 model Oh how I wish I have saved this model. Instead I bought the MBP 2017 with its garbage keyboard. Apple replaced this keyboard (along with a case which did not need replacement in a new laptop) with the same useless shit. This was the beginning of the end of Macs for me. That was just too much money for such a huge downgrade. Work on the 2017 mod…

I said something similar, that I was never going to buy another scissor keyboard and if that meant no more Macs, so be it.

The 2019 and later models have the same old keyboard they should never have stopped using, and you can tell it's just as boring and reliable because no one talks about them failing, since they don't.

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

#126

Post by hericium »

ungawatkt wrote: post #2

Clothing most recently, I took about 5 articles of outdoor wear in for repair through a 3rd party and Patagonias service (Patagonia expensive, but I'd have had to pay almost $1000 to replace what they've fixed for me for free over the years) Tech-wise, my "home server" is a business dell whatever bought second hand, main personal computer came from a startup liquidation, the computer that replaced went to a relative,…

A lot of my 20 years old clothes are in better shape than newish clothes after 10 washes. The build quality is incomparable.

Only industrial clothing seems to be made to last nowadays.

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

#127

Post by hericium »

samatman wrote: post #125
hericium wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I'm a professional iOS developer and I'm still using MBP Pro 2015 model Oh how I wish I have saved this model. Instead I bought the MBP 2017 with its garbage keyboard. Apple replaced this keyboard (along with a case which did not need replacement in a new laptop) with the same useless shit. This was the beginning of the end of Macs for me. That was just too much money for such a huge downgrade. Work on the 2017 mod…

I said something similar, that I was never going to buy another scissor keyboard and if that meant no more Macs, so be it. The 2019 and later models have the same old keyboard they should never have stopped using, and you can tell it's just as boring and reliable because no one talks about them failing, since they don't.

Hardware is one thing. Apple forces users into SaaS model by hiding details of security updates and merging them with unwanted UI/UX downgrades.

You can't have secure Apple device without giving up more and more usability and performance over time.

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

#128

Post by clintonwoo »

harha wrote: post #42
dijit wrote: post #8

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…

My first iPad, I believe it was the third generation: I would have never used it if it were as slow as it has become today. It also lost some synchronization options, though I don’t recall what it was. That being said: I kept my 2013 MacBook Pro retina until a few months ago, one year after a battery replacement which ended up breaking other parts and becoming to expensive to fix. Otherwise it ran perfectly fine and…

My same iPad was real slow until one day I did a system reset on it and it was good as new. It progressively has slowed down slowly since then, but I haven't installed the same amount of apps on it. It makes a big difference, maybe try it.

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

#129

Post by sgtnoodle »

georgia_peach wrote: post #124
sgtnoodle wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The USB 2.0 controller seems to be relatively inefficient on the pi 4, or at least the driver is. An RTLSDR dongle uses almost 50% CPU just shovelling samples when it should only use less than 1%.

I wonder how well PXE boot + NFS shares would fare in comparison? Hasn't a lot of the USB stack been pushed into user space in more recent operating systems?

Well, the Ethernet interface is PCI-E, so there's a good chance it would be efficient.

One thing to keep in mind is that USB 3.0 is a completely different independent controller from 2.0. So, just because USB 2.0 sucks doesn't necessarily mean 3.0 does.

It's just unfortunate because you would expect 2.0 to be well optimized by now. I assume the kernel driver must be using the CPU to shovel data from the USB 2.0 controller rather than DMA.

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

#130

Post by owyn »

hericium wrote: post #109
lawgimenez wrote: post #72

I'm a professional iOS developer and I'm still using MBP Pro 2015 model (bought second hand for cheap because of its defective speakers) that is maxed out. Since its speakers are not working, I have to buy a portable JBL3 bluetooth speaker as a replacement. Big Sur is still working fine for my 2015 model but I believe it won't work anymore on Ventura. I'm going to sunset this laptop next year but for now it is still…

> I'm a professional iOS developer and I'm still using MBP Pro 2015 model Oh how I wish I have saved this model. Instead I bought the MBP 2017 with its garbage keyboard. Apple replaced this keyboard (along with a case which did not need replacement in a new laptop) with the same useless shit. This was the beginning of the end of Macs for me. That was just too much money for such a huge downgrade. Work on the 2017 mod…

The 2015 MB Pro may go down in history as the best laptop of all time. I still have mine, just got an official apple store battery refurb because it was swelling, but now it's as good as new! Was working at a startup for 5 years and used it daily with no issues, compiling code and running VM's all day. At the new job I have a new MBP (16", 2019 model, core I9, the M1 was not yet approved by corporate) which is hopefully the last Intel model they're going to make and its garbage. 2 hours of zoom calls and it dies, fans turn on all the time for no reason.

The keyboard is better now though.

I did have the 2008 MBP and I thought that model was fantastic too, I got a 2008 Mac Pro at the same time. I gave away the laptop but the tower is still running. Not sure why 2008 was such a good year for them, but they really got it right. I'd run a 2008 MacBook form factor with a decent linux OS any day.

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