Your Approach to Computer Purchases

[cute fuzzy bunny]

What about the ones who let themselves be bribed to become ex-Intel guys?

You tell me

I'm precisely the opposite. I keep my old machines on life support as long as possible dreading the day that I'll have to "upgrade" to a new machine with a new OS that does everything slower and in a non-intuitive way. Add this to the file/application tansfer hassles and the PITA of re-setting up the home network (what was that WMA password code again?) and it is a powerful disincentive to buying new hardware.

Okay, Sam's apparently been dumping his koolaid down the toilet when we're not watching. Someone get over there and give him his proper dosage.

He's not well. Pay no attention. Everyone return to your regularly scheduled hardware upgrade.

 

[HFWR]

Everyone return to your regularly scheduled hardware upgrade.

I upgrade regularly, say about every 8-10 years...

Went from a Celeron 500 running Win98 to a P4 running Vista, but only because I couldn't use the new digital recording hardware/software.

$299 plus about $80 for 2g RAM...

Of course, I also have an Athlon-based laptop, good for computing, and for grilling pancakes...

 

[Bestwifeever]

We have a mixed marriage, PC (me) and Mac (DH, at work). In the process of buying a Mac for him at home now that he too is RE'd, and gritting my teeth to not point out that it will cost more than twice as much as a PC. I do give him a hard time whenever Microsoft's new "I'm a PC" commercial is on--somehow that makes me feel better.

I just buy a new PC when the old one breaks--that Mac better never break.

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Of course, I also have an Athlon-based laptop, good for computing, and for grilling pancakes...

I hope the radiation doesnt get to you...

BTW, 8 years of electricity going into a typical P4 machine is > the cost of a core 2 duo machine. My old P4 system pulled about 220-250 watts doing regular this and that, my new c2d machine pulls under 80 running full tilt and goes to 2-3 watts on instant-wake standby.

Do it! You'll feel good about yourself, enjoy the internet more and enjoy your life to its fullest!

Oh, and bury that Athlon machine before it sinks its teeth into you.

 

[slouch]

Now that I realize there is a connection between Intel and CFB I'll redirect all of my IA64 and intel engineering sample angst towards CFB

 

[HFWR]

Do it! You'll feel good about yourself, enjoy the internet more and enjoy your life to its fullest!

You mean I can download porn faster...

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

The videos will run faster.

I had absolutely nothing to do with the Itanium. A bad idea through and through almost from the start.

 

[Nords]

Our first computer upgrade was from a PC XT (with not one but two floppy drives!) to a Pentium.

Now I'm trying to persuade my spouse to back up the files on her floppies to flash drives before someone has to pry the floppies from her cold, dead fingers. (Yes, I still have a 5.25" drive puka'd away somewhere.) I don't think she's ready to discuss diskette conversions yet. Yes, we have 3.25" drives too.

BTW, 8 years of electricity going into a typical P4 machine is > the cost of a core 2 duo machine. My old P4 system pulled about 220-250 watts doing regular this and that, my new c2d machine pulls under 80 running full tilt and goes to 2-3 watts on instant-wake standby.

To say nothing of the reduced load on the home's air conditioning! So perhaps we should use Intel chips during the summer and AMDs during the winter.

I get hassled about my computer time because the Kill-A-Watt showed that our AMD Athlon machine (with LCD monitor, inkjet printer, & DSL modem) pulls down 100 watts peak. Meanwhile spouse & kid's TV/VCR stacks pull down 125-130 watts each but they're lower overall due to their minimal phantom loads...

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

No kidding. I think I can heat my house in the winter just from tv set, dvr, computer and other electronic devices thermal output. :

That AMD machine is somehow tricking your kill-a-watt into displaying lower numbers. Most AMD machines consume roughly 37 gigawatts of power ever 3-5 seconds. Its gotta use something to grow the teeth with, produce the radiation that even wine cant inhibit, and create random flash fires.

 

[freebird5825]

i have a 2005 vintage Dell Inspiron B130. no problems at all except the hard drive was replaced after 2 yrs- a proactive move before it completely crashed. it was acting funny on startup. a minor glitch in the media (bad sector) was the problem. and we just had to replace the battery pack this month. it was not charging properly.
re how to buy a new computer? here's what we do -
- survey the current configuration, then define the basic and high end requirements (memory, image or sound processing reqs, file storage, display size if eyesight is a factor, software reutilization, new software needs, gaming or special apps reqs, I/O ports and type, etc)
- how much of existing equipment can be reutilized (keyboard, mouse, display)
- how much you want to spend, then go shopping.
have fun!

 

[oma]

Current e-machine is 6 yrs old. Upgraded two years ago to a flat wide screen for $200 and made the computer seem like it was new. I have an old Gateway laptop from grad school - not much of a laptop person.

Look forward to buying next desktop, but there's really no reason to right now. This one works like a charm.

 

[Ronstar]

Bought my Imac about 4 years ago with extended warranty - good thing since repair costs have exceeded the computer cost. Great service from Apple, and its running fine now. I'll buy a new one when this one breaks down the next time since my warranty has expired. I've upgraded OS a few times. Also have 2 Mac laptops - one 3 yrs old, one 2 yrs old - no problems with either one. Dell laptop at work has several issues and I'm thinking of getting a new one.

 

[Bimmerbill]

I build my own PCs. Usually ride the crest of affordability/performance. I don't get the cutting edge gaming stuff, but decent stuff for sure. Currently running a C2D E8500, and a E6300.

Been giving away my older PCs, tho still have a 1st gen Pent IV 1.5GHz in the closet.

 

[samclem]

I build my own PCs.

Why? Do you enjoy putting them together, or do you want a configuration that's not available
in a set package? Last I checked, there was no way I could save money building my own, in fact it would have cost $200-$300 more to build it myself. This is probably more of a factor at the bottom end, maybe there's money to be saved by building your own serious gaming machine, high-end graphics workstaton, etc.

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Bought my Imac about 4 years ago with extended warranty - good thing since repair costs have exceeded the computer cost.

Yep, Apple has wobbled down towards the bottom of the reliability ratings from time to time. Funny, given the high quality parts and superior engineering

Sam...by using the el cheapoest rebate/coupon deals from fatwallet to accumulate components, I've been able to knock together a pretty good machine with all name brand top quality components for about 15-20% less than buying a packaged machine. What you dont get is a warranty on the complete system, tech support or an operating system to go with it.

Havent built one in quite a while though. My last one got one of them there newfangled pentium 4's. HP was good enough to sell me a super cheap desktop 2 years ago that was chock full of name brand parts...sparkle PS, asus motherboard, core 2 duo, hitachi disk drive, hp dvd writer, etc.

While specwise its now a weak machine its got plenty of horsepower, so it may go 6 more years before I buy a replacement.

Laptops I wear out after 3 years. Did all y'all know that you can "build" your own laptop? Most of them are made by just a couple of far east companies and then rebadged. You can buy a "white box" laptop all set up with a particular screen and motherboard and add your own cpu, memory, disk drive(s), modem and wireless cardlets in it.

http://laptoping.com/category/barebone-laptops/

 

[Bimmerbill]

I enjoy building my own. I don't build bottom end machines, so building my own is cheaper than buying one of similar specs. Last few I built were in the $800-$900 range.

 

[Marquette]

I go new every 18 months-2 years. I bought a step or two down from top of the line. For example, I built my last rig and went with a quad-core Intel chip but not the quad-core extreme. I went with a very nice video card but not the NVidia 260. I bought a lot of RAM but 800 MHz not 1033 MHz. I bought nice hard drives but not 15k RPM drives.

Between my job, second job, and other projects, I spend a fair amount of time on my computer. It needs to be responsive or else it's frustrating.

I've been tempted to really deck out a machine, but the power would be wasted for what I do so I usually talk myself out of it.