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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)

#231

Post by sokoloff »

I have 6 Haswell (2013)-era Dell Optiplex computers that are the kids' Minecraft (and YouTube) computers, the living room TV source, my non-work PC, an electronics lab computer (with a GPIB interface and general look-crap-up usage), and a PC in the guest room [which also serves as an additional video conference PC when multiple of us need to take simultaneous calls].

I got two of them right as the pandemic started for the kids, paying around $150ea, and got the other 4 earlier this year for $90 ea with i7-4770 or 4790, 8 GB of RAM, and an OEM Windows license. They'll all run Windows, Linux, or macos (Hackintosh) as needed. Some I've upgraded to 16 or 32 GB of RAM. All got a modern SATA SSD. So, I've got 6 working computers for under $1300 total. They're not speed demons, but they're perfectly usable and can drive multiple 4K displays at 60 Hz.

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

#232

Post by jamal-kumar »

Jonanin wrote: post #210
jamal-kumar wrote: post #165

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Have you ever lived south of the USA before? Shit gets EXPENSIVE out this way for electronics. I mean I can get my groceries extremely cheap and rent hasn't ever been more than 200$/mo, but electronics are all manufactured out of Asia and the supply lines and/or taxes on specifically that just add all this extra cost that's hard to justify in certain cases. We're talking like 50%+ of the cost you'll find in the USA.…

Why are the import taxes so high?

No income tax

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

#233

Post by npteljes »

Since I discovered the lively used parts forum in Hungary, I haven't bought new anything. My motherboard seemed to overheat one day. I could stabilize the situation, by turning a room fan on max at the disassembled config, but it got annoying after some time. Since the AM3+ boards were out of production, I looked elsewhere - and the love for used parts was born.

I had good luck with the pieces so far. I also got rid of my hoarded parts and electronics.

On the flipside, we bought an assembled config for a friend of mine. It worked really well for 2 months, but then the GPU gave out. Which was the third of the price of the config. There's no guarantee on used parts, so now he has to look at another one, which will hopefully last longer than this.

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

#234

Post by ricg »

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…

About your MacBook fans squealing: I had the same problem with my 2012 MacBook Pro. It turned out that the grilles through which the fans blow out the hot air were completely clogged up with dust and the Macbook would overheat.

I cleaned both and now the fans rarely spin up to full speed, because the hot air can actually leave the case again.

See this guide (the guide does not show cleaning the grille, but that is the important part).

https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/How+to+clean+your+MacBooks+fan+...

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

#235

Post by throwaway14356 »

npteljes wrote: post #233

Since I discovered the lively used parts forum in Hungary, I haven't bought new anything. My motherboard seemed to overheat one day. I could stabilize the situation, by turning a room fan on max at the disassembled config, but it got annoying after some time. Since the AM3+ boards were out of production, I looked elsewhere - and the love for used parts was born. I had good luck with the pieces so far. I also got rid…

i build a few systems when the to good to be true second hand offerings in my area added up to a complete system. They never lasted for very long but it was hilarious. Thinking about it I want to do a synergy setup with 2x4 monitors.

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

#236

Post by nicoco »

Termitiono wrote: post #188
trhoad wrote: post #186

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sadly, this attitude is endemic; the only goal in life is to make things as easy as possible for yourself, rather than leave things in a better state than you found them. You might be giving yourself "extra life" (the massive assumption being that repairing and reusing tools is a net negative timesink rather than a positive pleasure) but you're taking life from the people at the other end of your supply chain.

That's a weird sentiment. Without the investment of early adopters the hardware would not be as cheap or as good as it is right now. Also no one throws older hardware away.

I literally have 2 laptops, 1 tablet and 1 desktop computer at home that friends/family gave to me because they were about to throw it away. Why? Because they were too slow, ie, for some reason windows was something something. After an OS reinstall, I'll give them away to whomever need them.

I wish people didn't throw working hardware in the bin, but in my country (France) and social circles (middle class), people definitely do.

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

#237

Post by rchaud »

Jonanin wrote: post #210
jamal-kumar wrote: post #165

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Have you ever lived south of the USA before? Shit gets EXPENSIVE out this way for electronics. I mean I can get my groceries extremely cheap and rent hasn't ever been more than 200$/mo, but electronics are all manufactured out of Asia and the supply lines and/or taxes on specifically that just add all this extra cost that's hard to justify in certain cases. We're talking like 50%+ of the cost you'll find in the USA.…

Why are the import taxes so high?

These are usually an attempt to:

1) Reduce the current account deficit (roughly defined as exports revenue minus import costs)

2) Incentivize multinationals to open local factories

3) Incentivize consumers to purchase from local brands instead of foreign competitors

4) Conserve foreign currency reserves for essential operations such as purchasing fuel, materials, or managing the currency value on foreign exchange markets

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

#238

Post by seba_dos1 »

w10-1 wrote: post #119

Give yourself extra life. Buy the best tools you can. Don't let virtues learned by necessity become the vices that suck up your lifetime. You'll never get the time back that you spend working on unimportant projects, sustaining old builds, placating unhappy people, working on slow computers, etc. Unless it's the fastest way for you to deliver whatever good you have to the world, put it aside, especially if you've inv…

I wish software developers wouldn't commonly take this advice. There's so many inefficient software out there which appears to be done this way just because the developers are always using the latest and greatest hardware that allows them to be unreasonable about resource usage.

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

#239

Post by samatman »

hericium wrote: post #127
samatman wrote: post #125

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

I assure you, if I wanted to be responsible for my own OS upgrades, I'd run Arch like the rest of the 0.05% of the desktop computer world who want to do this.

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

#240

Post by zippity-zappity »

w10-1 wrote: post #119

Give yourself extra life. Buy the best tools you can. Don't let virtues learned by necessity become the vices that suck up your lifetime. You'll never get the time back that you spend working on unimportant projects, sustaining old builds, placating unhappy people, working on slow computers, etc. Unless it's the fastest way for you to deliver whatever good you have to the world, put it aside, especially if you've inv…

Sorry for disagreeing, but you clearly talk this from a privileged point of view.

For some people, buying the best tools is out of question; if they need to choose between feed the family or buy the latest Apple M2 processor, they're choosing to feed the family. For some, the allegedly saved lifetime does not pay the bills.

Of course, you said "buy the best tools you can". It is not wrong, because for some folks the best tool they can buy is none.

I am also brazilian, and we are living a hell of time. Economy is ruined, inflation is getting high, food cost is sky rocketting, and a lot of people are starving (for real). Getting the best tools is clearly way down in the list of priorities in this country.

Remember not everybody have the same conditions than yourself.

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