I got a new computer today....

[Danni]

well....sort of.......dad did and I talked him into it and I am the one who will use it the most!

Just a general comment............I got 'my computer' 18 months ago, the computer this new is replacing was 4 years old.........and of course the one we got today is not top of the line of the current models.........but it seems sooooooooooooo fast.

On average, how long do you think a personal pc should last these days? I thought 4 years was a pretty good innings for the last one........but many ppl have said no it should have lasted much longer before 'dying'.

 

[M29]

Depends what you use it for. I continually upgraded mine until I ran out of room, then I got a new one. About 3 or 4 years with upgrading. I've still got the old one.

 

[Bucks]

Originally posted by Danni
but it seems sooooooooooooo fast.

it seems fast at first, but wait till you put more stuff on it then it will be bugger slow!

 

[daicos4ever]

Originally posted by M29
Depends what you use it for. I continually upgraded mine until I ran out of room, then I got a new one. About 3 or 4 years with upgrading. I've still got the old one.

I'm exactly the same!

But I think improvement in technology will dry up in coming years, there doesn't seem to be much more the can do. You might find that a new computer might last 4 instead of 2.

 

[roofus]

Originally posted by Danni
On average, how long do you think a personal pc should last these days? I thought 4 years was a pretty good innings for the last one........but many ppl have said no it should have lasted much longer before 'dying'.

To keep up with technology a 2 year life cycle.

But, as that's a bit out of the question for most people, it can last for however long the hardware lasts depending on what it is that you use it for.

My neighbor has an old 386 that just keeps chugging along that he uses for his bookkeeping.

For other more "important" things....he's upgraded twice from P2 to P3.

 

[KingyOrTheKing]

Originally posted by daicos4ever


I'm exactly the same!

But I think improvement in technology will dry up in coming years, there doesn't seem to be much more the can do. You might find that a new computer might last 4 instead of 2.

I dont believe it will. I mean, soon we will have cpu's going up by a Ghz every six months, video cards will need replacing every six months(if you play games) etc. But if you dont play games, then a computer should last about four years before its seriously outdated.

 

[Hay Billy]

Originally posted by Danni
well....sort of.......dad did and I talked him into it and I am the one who will use it the most!

Just a general comment............I got 'my computer' 18 months ago, the computer this new is replacing was 4 years old.........and of course the one we got today is not top of the line of the current models.........but it seems sooooooooooooo fast.

On average, how long do you think a personal pc should last these days? I thought 4 years was a pretty good innings for the last one........but many ppl have said no it should have lasted much longer before 'dying'.

Bull****! Ive heard many experianced computer technicions, say that a new computer is only good for 18months

 

[Desredandwhite]

depends on what you use it for I guess. if you like games, or doing lots of stuff with graphics, video etc.. faster the better, and you can never ever get fast enough, with enough HDD space or memory.

for most apps, a relatively old PC will do nicely as long as you keep it neat and tidy (don't forget to clear out and do a clean install every now and then too... highly recommended)

 

[TheMase]

Originally posted by daicos4ever


I'm exactly the same!

But I think improvement in technology will dry up in coming years, there doesn't seem to be much more the can do. You might find that a new computer might last 4 instead of 2.

Disagree.

As hardware gets developed, so does software, which you need a high level system to run. They will continue to develop more software which will need higher level systems, therefore higher level systems will continue to be produced.

Games will also get more realistic, which means more hardware power and higher graphics.

 

[tihsamikah]

bah!

cpu's have a life of around 10 years
assuming you look after the computer, one of the first things that should fail is your hard drive... I have had one thats lasted 6 years

so from anywhere between 6-8 years b4 the computer will fail

 

[M29]

Originally posted by tihsamikah
one of the first things that should fail is your hard drive... I have had one thats lasted 6 years

Worst hard drive I ever bought was a western digital. Lasted 2 years.

 

[KingyOrTheKing]

Originally posted by tihsamikah
bah!

cpu's have a life of around 10 years
assuming you look after the computer, one of the first things that should fail is your hard drive... I have had one thats lasted 6 years

so from anywhere between 6-8 years b4 the computer will fail

Yes, computer parts should last a very long time, but they will be outdated very quickly.

For those people that say technology couldnt get any better, I bet 20 years ago they were saying "Gee..computers couldnt get any better". Theres always improvement even if you cant see it currently..

 

[Captain Random]

Made the last one (P2-266) last for about four years, but added more memory, a bigger hard drive and went through about five video cards (2D and 3D) in that time.

The PC I had before that one (a P166, bought in 1996 for $3,500!) is still running perfectly.

Remember thinking when I bought the P2, wow - who could ever need a faster PC than this?

 

[Mr Eagle]

PCs have a "useful" life cycle of about 2 years, if you want to keep up with modern game and application demands. Upgrades can probably push that out to 4 or even 5 years depending on what you are willing to replace. Of course if all you want is a word processor you can probably go 8-10 years with some low end software and never notice a problem.

This is how computers in my house have gone (roughly):

1986: XT8086 --> 1992: 486SX-33 / later upgrade to DX2-66 --> 1996: P2-233 --> 1999: P3-550 --> 2002: P4-1.8Ghz.

 

[daddy_4_eyes]

I'm running a P3-733MHZ, bought it a bit over 2 yrs ago for $1300 (gotta love swap-meets ). Even though its starting to struggle with some newer extremely demanding games, it still easily handles most games (currently playing Hitman, FIFA WC2002 and Max Payne). So from experience, 2yrs is the maximum lifespan of a computer used for gaming.

But in terms of word-processing type software, they can have in excess of 8yr life spans. My dads computer was a 486 later upgraded to a Celeron 133. Hasn't been formatted in over 5 yrs eek: ) and still runs fine. I've been bugging him to format the b*tch, which should improve its capabilities quite significantly.


And who was it that said computer technology is reaching its peak? Pretty funny stuff mate In the 19th century it was suggested that the patent office be closed down as new technology couldn't possibly be invented Lucky they didn't listen, hey?

 

[Blue'n'Gold]

Originally posted by Mr Eagle
PCs have a "useful" life cycle of about 2 years, if you want to keep up with modern game and application demands. Upgrades can probably push that out to 4 or even 5 years depending on what you are willing to replace. Of course if all you want is a word processor you can probably go 8-10 years with some low end software and never notice a problem.

This is how computers in my house have gone (roughly):

1986: XT8086 --> 1992: 486SX-33 / later upgrade to DX2-66 --> 1996: P2-233 --> 1999: P3-550 --> 2002: P4-1.8Ghz.

Very true.. its not really how long the PC will last for... its more a case of how long it can keep up with the current software demands... at the moment I have a 133, 166, 450, 700 and 900mghz running.. all with no problems.. of course its only the 450 and up that can even look at todays software though.. the others are great for the kids to bang away on though

 

[Bluey]

Each of my machines and those of my brother have been passed on to other members of the family. My first P133 machine is now with another brother and is good enough to surf the net and play some basic games, run word processing etc.

So far I've ben through about 4 machines in 9 or 10 years, with memory and 3D card upgrades along the way.

I am looking to upgrade my P3 800 early next year (post-xmas discounting).

 

[FreeSpeech]

Ive heard many computer technicians say that computer technology only lasts for 12 to 18 months.

Cheers!
Adam

 

[jim boy]

Originally posted by FreeSpeech
Ive heard many computer technicians say that computer technology only lasts for 12 to 18 months.

Cheers!
Adam

The way they make them nowadays, it isn't technology that's going make you upgrade, it's the fact that's it's going to fall apart. Technolgy may have improved, but reliability has gone backwards.

 

[Fred]

Still running a pentium2 - 300. It's been running 18 hours a day for 41/2 years and never missed a beat. I don't have a need for high-powered graphics etc so it should be good for a few more years yet. Probably see me out.

PS - Got ADSL on saturday and it's great.

 

[KingyOrTheKing]

Originally posted by daicos4ever



But I think improvement in technology will dry up in coming years, there doesn't seem to be much more the can do.

With that teleporting laser technology thats being developed at the Australian National University, geez computers are gonna fly...

 

[FreeSpeech]

Originally posted by KingyOrTheKing

geez computers are gonna fly...

Litterally !!!

 

[Harry]

Does that mean my Commodore 64 is out of date?

 

[Basic]

I know it's an old thread but I felt like giving some useless info.

For those of you who don't know almost every system now days is running a 32bit operating system. AMD has just developed a new 64bit processor and is working with Microsoft (bleh) to produce an operating system than can fully use it's power. This means that within 3-4 years 32bit systems are going to be pretty much useless.