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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)

#91

Post by incompatible »

My desktop PC has an AMD Athlon II X2 260, which was released in 2010, although I don't remember when I got it. I think I upgraded the CPU/motherboard/RAM and kept the rest. I do have some modern components though, like a cheap mechanical keyboard I got a couple of years ago, and I replaced the monitor at some point because the old one stopped working (and I wasn't able to fix it). Installing a ~120GB SSD was a big win too. I use this PC all the time, I'm not much of a phone user (and my phone is similarly obsolete). I keep the software up-to-date, and currently use MX Linux.

Occasionally, I take a look at refurbished computers on eBay or whereever, and find systems with CPUs that are 2 or 3 times faster for a couple of hundred dollars, but it doesn't really seem worth it.

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

#92

Post by onionisafruit »

jen20 wrote: post #51
yjftsjthsd-h wrote: post #34

So I absolutely agree and applaud your effort and think that we should all generally endeavor to use our hardware until it breaks or is completely impossible to work with anymore. However. If you replaced the motherboard, the CPU, the graphics card, and the hard drive, how exactly are you calling this the same computer? Forget "minor upgrades", that's a proper Ship of Theseus - I guess you've got the same case and...…

The British name for this is the “Trigger’s broom” [1] of computers… [1]: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=LAh8HryVaeY

“look after your broom” is an old saying road sweeps have handed down for years.

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

#93

Post by birdfood »

Wowfunhappy wrote: post #81
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…

> I also have the original iPhone SE as my phone which I will probably get refurbished soon instead of getting a new one - all the new phones are too big. Have you looked at the iPhone Mini? It is a bit bigger than the original SE but not by much!

I did a size comparison of the 13 mini when I was last in an apple store, and it was like 10mm bigger all around. A small phone by comparison but I like the SE better

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

#95

Post by owgevub »

I'm still using my i7 860 with an ATI Radeon HD 5770 that I built in 2010. I've replaced hard drives over the years. My current boot drive is a Samsung 860 SSD. Everything else is original including my 4GB DDR3 1600x RAM, 700W PSU,Gigabyte GA-P55A motherboard and Samsung 24" 1920x1200 monitor. I started with Windows 7 Pro, and upgraded to Windows 10. Obviously, the machine is not Windows 11 compatible.

I mainly use the machine for web browsing, light gaming, office software, and hobby programming. I used it as a media server with TV capture cards (cards are still in it) for years until I recently bought a Synology NAS that now hosts my Plex server. The machine has been running 24/7 outside of power outages and occasional periods no one was at home.

It's started having problems with Windows updates causing it to enter a BSOD boot loop. I've had to reinstall the OS a few times and disable automatic updates. I figure my hardware combination is the culprit.

I keep starting the process to replace it with modern hardware but never follow through. I don't know why it's taking me so long to replace it, since I'm not strapped for cash. I think it boils down to that I just don't "need" something better.

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

#96

Post by nabeards »

Wowfunhappy wrote: post #81
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…

> I also have the original iPhone SE as my phone which I will probably get refurbished soon instead of getting a new one - all the new phones are too big. Have you looked at the iPhone Mini? It is a bit bigger than the original SE but not by much!

About 1/4" larger in both height and width is more than a bit bigger IMO. I agree that the mini is the closest option right now though.

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

#97

Post by FpUser »

I have ASUS Asus G75VW i7 based gaming laptop from 2012 with 32GB RAM. Originally it was my software development laptop. Now it runs some dedicated heavy software yet still feels very fluid. I clone the SSD every once in a while using EASEUS backup and have disconnected it from the Internet in order not to ruin perfect setup by some friggin update from ASUS / Microsoft. Nothing ever broke on it (well I did change SSD to a modern higher capacity one at some point)

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

#99

Post by dcassett »

I have a Macbook Pro early 2008 running Debian Bullseye. It took a bit of research to be able to boot from a legacy partition (grub-pc plays a role after installing in EFI mode). Also, thanks to a boot parameter setting (init_on_alloc=0) the suspend to RAM is finally working with the Nouveau driver. The battery has lost its capacity as you would expect. It works pretty well as a web kiosk, running Musescore, screen capture, etc.

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

#100

Post by sgtnoodle »

georgia_peach wrote: post #47
LeoPanthera wrote: post #6

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.

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%.
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