How old is old?.............

I was wondering how old does a pc need to be before it should be dumped and a new one bought? Mine is running fine(It's just 3 years old). I'm not interested in replacing the hard drive when the time comes or even for size purposes. But I do feel under pressure to buy a new pc as hard drive sizes, speed and memory etc have all increased in size on new pcs which is appealing. And this makes my 13gb Hard drive feels a little lacking as does my pentium 3 processor. When should I take the plunge and hand over the cash for a new model?

I think, that's your own choice: when you'll feel that it's impossible
to work with this old computer. Or when it'll fail...

BTW, my grown-up son works still with my old PII-450MHz computer --
though increased memory, and later attached the second HDD via UDMA-66
PCI card -- when felt the barest necessity.
--
Mikhail Zhilin
http://www.aha.ru/~mwz
Sorry, no technical support by e-mail.
Please reply to the newsgroups only.
======
On Wed, 5 Jan 2005 16:18:02 +0000, PSYCHOPIXIE
wrote:


I was wondering how old does a pc need to be before it should be dumped
and a new one bought? Mine is running fine(It's just 3 years old). I'm
not interested in replacing the hard drive when the time comes or even
for size purposes. But I do feel under pressure to buy a new pc as hard
drive sizes, speed and memory etc have all increased in size on new pcs
which is appealing. And this makes my 13gb Hard drive feels a little
lacking as does my pentium 3 processor. When should I take the plunge
and hand over the cash for a new model?

There is one thing to consider:

What does your current machine not do that you need it to do?

Unless you play games, do a data base, edit graphics, etc., a P3 is plenty
fast enough for most operations. At three years old, your PC should have
plenty of life left in it. If hardware starts wearing out, then you have to
weigh replacement costs against the cost of a new machine.

The slowest thing about a PC is the internet connection so if you don't have
DSL or a cable modem, consider that as a good investment if you don't
already have it.

--
Regards

Ron Badour, MS MVP for W98
Tips: http://home.satx.rr.com/badour
Knowledge Base Info:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?pr=kbinfo

"PSYCHOPIXIE" wrote in message
...

I was wondering how old does a pc need to be before it should be dumped
and a new one bought? Mine is running fine(It's just 3 years old). I'm
not interested in replacing the hard drive when the time comes or even
for size purposes. But I do feel under pressure to buy a new pc as hard
drive sizes, speed and memory etc have all increased in size on new pcs
which is appealing. And this makes my 13gb Hard drive feels a little
lacking as does my pentium 3 processor. When should I take the plunge
and hand over the cash for a new model?


--
PSYCHOPIXIE

PSYCHOPIXIE wrote in
:

I was wondering how old does a pc need to be before it should be dumped
and a new one bought? Mine is running fine(It's just 3 years old). I'm
not interested in replacing the hard drive when the time comes or even
for size purposes. But I do feel under pressure to buy a new pc as hard
drive sizes, speed and memory etc have all increased in size on new pcs
which is appealing. And this makes my 13gb Hard drive feels a little
lacking as does my pentium 3 processor. When should I take the plunge
and hand over the cash for a new model?

This is no different than deciding when to get a new TV. There are always
newer/better/cheaper ones coming out. You simply need to decide if what you
have meets YOUR needs and if it does there is no reason to upgrade unless
you WANT the newer stuff. In addition the longer you put it off the more you
will get for your money when you do decide to upgrade.

FWIW I am running Windows 98SE on a PIII/700 with 512MB of RAM and a two
hard drives that total 16GB (only about 5GB used). This system, while dated,
does everything I need to do just fine and I have no plans to change it
until it dies or work volunteers to give me a computer.

I use Windows XP Pro at work and my friends like to bug me about my home
system as I do computer support for a living. It's hard to resist given the
steady push to get the latest and greatest but it can be done. I just keep
thinking about all the work required to reinstall/reconfigure the software I
use on a regular basis and that puts me off considering the new system.

Of course if you are a PC gamer they really have you in the upgrade loop as
you will need the latest and greatest if you want to play the new big games.
I got out of that by doing all my gaming on a console.

"PSYCHOPIXIE" wrote in message
...

I was wondering how old does a pc need to be before it should be dumped
and a new one bought? Mine is running fine(It's just 3 years old). I'm
not interested in replacing the hard drive when the time comes or even
for size purposes. But I do feel under pressure to buy a new pc as hard

Positive guidelines can be the peripherals (printer,
scanner etc.) which in future will probably require
the XP OS which may oblige you to upgrade.

Or you could follow my method, of picking a price.
It so happened my first PC cost $2,500 in 1973 and
so did the second 4 or 5 years later. When next
thinking of upgrading, I designed a "dream machine"
and priced it, with the idea of upgrading when the
total price fell to $2,500, the same figure. When I
got around to it, the price was nearer $2,000. My
last new machine cost barely $1,000 i.e. component
prices have fallen so fast that the old rule is no longer
a practical guide. The flip side of this is that your
old PC is fast becoming worthless in the market . . .

--
Don Phillipson
Carlsbad Springs
(Ottawa, Canada)

I personally am quite happy with my pc at the moment but I would love to have at go on Xp and have been told my pc would crawl along on it. Well I may buy a new pc with my bonus this year but don't think I'll part with the old one

Originally Posted by PSYCHOPIXIE

I was wondering how old does a pc need to be before it should be dumped and a new one bought? Mine is running fine(It's just 3 years old). I'm not interested in replacing the hard drive when the time comes or even for size purposes. But I do feel under pressure to buy a new pc as hard drive sizes, speed and memory etc have all increased in size on new pcs which is appealing. And this makes my 13gb Hard drive feels a little lacking as does my pentium 3 processor. When should I take the plunge and hand over the cash for a new model?

PSYCHOPIXIE wrote:


I was wondering how old does a pc need to be before it should be dumped
and a new one bought? Mine is running fine(It's just 3 years old). I'm
not interested in replacing the hard drive when the time comes or even
for size purposes. But I do feel under pressure to buy a new pc as hard
drive sizes, speed and memory etc have all increased in size on new pcs
which is appealing. And this makes my 13gb Hard drive feels a little
lacking as does my pentium 3 processor. When should I take the plunge
and hand over the cash for a new model?

Let your application software and accessories make the decision for
you.

When there is an application program that you need to run, and your
current system just will not handle it, or when you want to have some
new accessory for your computer and it cannot be installed on your
existing machine, then that is the time to look for new hardware.
Until then enjoy what you have and get your money's worth out of it.

Good luck.


Ron Martell Duncan B.C. Canada
--
Microsoft MVP
On-Line Help Computer Service
http://onlinehelp.bc.ca

"The reason computer chips are so small is computers don't eat much."

PSYCHOPIXIE wrote:


I personally am quite happy with my pc at the moment but I would love to
have at go on Xp and have been told my pc would crawl along on it. Well
I may buy a new pc with my bonus this year but don't think I'll part
with the old one


What are the specs for your current system? A 3 year old box (bought
in late 2001 or early 2002) should be reasonably robust although it
may need more RAM in order to run Windows XP.

Here are my basic guidelines for deciding if the hardware is adequate
to run Windows XP.

1. Must have at least 4 gb of unused space on the hard drive.

2. If the CPU speed is between 400 and 800 mhz then it needs at least
512 mb of RAM.
If the CPU speed is between 800 mhz and 1.2 ghz then it needs at
least 384 mb of RAM
If the CPU speed is faster than 1.2 ghz then it needs at least 256
mb of RAM.

Good luck


Ron Martell Duncan B.C. Canada
--
Microsoft MVP
On-Line Help Computer Service
http://onlinehelp.bc.ca

"The reason computer chips are so small is computers don't eat much."

"PSYCHOPIXIE" wrote in message
...

I was wondering how old does a pc need to be before it should be dumped
and a new one bought? Mine is running fine(It's just 3 years old). I'm
not interested in replacing the hard drive when the time comes or even
for size purposes. But I do feel under pressure to buy a new pc as hard
drive sizes, speed and memory etc have all increased in size on new pcs
which is appealing. And this makes my 13gb Hard drive feels a little
lacking as does my pentium 3 processor. When should I take the plunge
and hand over the cash for a new model?


--
PSYCHOPIXIE

Assuming you have no hardware upgrading experience:

When...
Your PC cannot handle applications you intend to use.
Your OS cannot handle applications you intend to use.
The application requires physical memory in excess of the operating system's
capabilities.
Partition size exceeds the operating system's disk tool capabilities, and
you want to use such tools.
Your urge to "keep up with the Jones" exceeds your control of fiscal
restraint.
Your urge for ease of use and eye candy, exceeds your control of of fiscal
restraint.
Lack of support by the operating system manufacturer in regards to security
of system files and their vulnerabilites.
And, just cuz you want to.
Age of the PC has no bearing.

What I will consider also is to build a new one myself the next time. I now
got one which is new.
Before, I run a laptop that got the hard disk broken momentarily.

It had a P II processor and 4 GB space on the disk. Well, I was used to it
and it was fine even
with ISDN internet.

Before the breakdown was I did research to build my next myself. Just for
the reason I had no
internet connection as the laptop broke I ceased from doing so.

Meanwhile in the one I currently own I replaced the power supply and the cpu
fan trough items
that arch much more silent. This is a great experience to make. The best
thing as I think is to be
able just to choose and to screw in the components that you really want.
Dare, make it.

Steve Miller

-------
Vacuum was when the volume of the O - room was bigger
than the volume of the mass of it's particles.

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