How often do you get a new computer?

Saturday, December 31, 2005 by Adamness | Discussion: Personal Computing

Most of you don't seem like the kind if people who would get a computer only when it blows up or something gets fried. And some people upgrade their older computers, but that can get just as expensive and is a pain in the neck.

So I was just curious how often you do get a new computer.

I'd say every 3-4 years, but I know some people seem to get one every year, and there are those still with a 486.

-Adam
Thinkbulb.com
19 Reply 15 Referrals
Corky_O
Reply #1 Saturday, December 31, 2005 12:29 PM

Original one was a 486 with Windows 3.1 and Office 4.2, floppy drive and hard drive only....(circa 1993)

Now I have my homebuilt desktop, and a Dell notebook.....so about every 10 years......

 

 


Corky_O
Reply #2 Saturday, December 31, 2005 12:36 PM

....(circa 1993)

Make that 1994 (IBM manufactured).


SSG Geezer
Reply #3 Saturday, December 31, 2005 12:43 PM
18 months or so, but if you count the ones I build for my kids... less than that.

Nick Blade
Reply #4 Saturday, December 31, 2005 12:45 PM
roughly three or four years is about right but, this time i'm building one with some parts i have now and just replacing the mother board, powersupply and case. and i have a new floppy drive with a built in card readers because the one i have now has no front of its own because its part of the case; one of compaq's dumber ideas anlong with oversized & under powered power-supplies! once my mother board comes back from repair and i get it put to gether i might add a DVD burner. i would also like to have an LCD monitor at least 17" but thats down the road still. and by matching the memory cards i have now with one twice as big to go into the new mother board with three slots i'll have a gig of memory and more than twice the size of power supply. i just want to stop the thing from rebooting on its own and give photoshop more freedom.

terpfan1980
Reply #5 Saturday, December 31, 2005 1:07 PM
And the correct answer is: "not often enough" (for myself) and "too often" (my wife's opinion)


PurrBall
Reply #6 Saturday, December 31, 2005 1:39 PM
6-7 years.

UBoB
Reply #7 Saturday, December 31, 2005 1:45 PM
I build a new one every year using new motherboard, cpu and ram and video card. I'll then use whatever I can from my old computer as far as the case, harddrives and optical drives go. Occasionally even these parts are upgraded to most current. For example, in my latest computer I decided to replace the old 7200 rpm harddrives with 4 new Raptor harddrives that spin at 10,000 rpm's.

brewman
Reply #8 Saturday, December 31, 2005 2:10 PM
Build approx. every 3 years ... recycle my old ones through the wife and/or kids.

r7yea
Reply #9 Saturday, December 31, 2005 2:12 PM
Sat in front of a monitor for the first time in ’99 when I went back to college and my first class was MS Word, by the end of the 1st day I had figured out that I need a computer at home. Borrowed an unused lap-top from my niece (don’t remember the model) for the summer session and for my birthday in Oct. I got a IBM E-Machines, Pentium II, 64 Mb’s RAM, 6 gig HD. Fall of ‘03 my sister was throwing out a Pentium III pavilion that she said was junk. I jumped on it and really started learning all about computers and that she was correct. Fall of ’04 started pinching pennies and price watching. Last Feb I finished and turned on;
Chieftec mid-tower Matrix
600 w ultra power supply
Asus K8N-E Deluxe MB (754)
Athlon 64 3400+, 1mb L2 cache (Clawhammer)
2 gigs Corsair XMS
Asus 6800 GT 256 RAM
Audigy 2 Zs

Figure to get 2 more years out of the MB and processor before upgrade rears it’s money sucking head.

scorpio-logic
Reply #10 Saturday, December 31, 2005 4:48 PM
I build a new one every year using new motherboard, cpu and ram and video card. I'll then use whatever I can from my old computer as far as the case, harddrives and optical drives go.


Same here. I usually stay about a year behind, too, just for cost and stability.

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Lantec
Reply #11 Saturday, December 31, 2005 7:02 PM
I guess I've averaged a new Desktop setup every 2 years since 1984 always buying 12 month old technology until around 1996, at which time I started buying the latest/greatest. In '02 I switched over to notebooks and I've purchased 4 since then, handing the previous books to my wife and employees as I figured out what I needed. Settled for a SONY A-690. It's pushing a year old so it's about time I started looking again.

Sembetu
Reply #12 Saturday, December 31, 2005 7:24 PM
I am really crazy. I have purchased two PC's in the last year and I recently bought a mac. What's more, when the new Intel Macs come out, I will be buying another one of those (as powerful as I can afford), and after Vista comes out Probably another PC with 64bit support and a nice (probably nVidia) video card. So I guess that makes what... 5 computer in a year and a half... I just can't stoop myself. And don't even ask about Palm Pilots (2 in the past year), iPods (3 in the past 6 months), and peripherals (mice (5 in the past year), keyboards (3 in the past year), usb hubs (1), and routers (2 wireless routers - MS and Linksys in the past year)...). Seriously, I have some serious issues...

Jafo
Reply #13 Saturday, December 31, 2005 9:02 PM

I bought a good case...[Lian Li] so I could do the 'upgrade thing'....it originally had a P3/500 put into it [the case was the upgrade] though it already had a P4 PSU ....that was about the time of the first P4 release.  Since then it's had a P4/3.0 with appropriate other bits....and gets added to as and when, last being a 250gig SATA, the 4th physical HD.  Now it's sort-of upgrade time again....the PSU just cashed in its chips. [normally runs non-stop, 24/7].

Last fully new machine...whole box and dice...was a P100 ....way back when 16 meg of ram was 'like wow!'....


lynnyf
Reply #14 Saturday, December 31, 2005 9:23 PM
Right now I have a desktop and a laptop both Pentium4s. My husband builds computers in his spare time so he keeps mine running. I bought my desktop coming up on 2 years ago. I guess I will keep using it until I can't upgrade any more.

Locamama
Reply #15 Saturday, December 31, 2005 9:24 PM
I have had this one for almost four years. So I guess its time for an upgrade. Actually I will probably be getting a lap top at some point this year. That's the plan anyway. As long as I can get on the internet and have a working word processor, I'm good. Oh and my music. I really do want to get a digital camera. That will open up more uses for my computer. I don't do games too much.

Island Dog
Reply #16 Sunday, January 1, 2006 6:11 PM

I built this one a couple of years ago.  I just bought an iBook, so I don't think my wife will let me get anything else for a while.


tameddragon
Reply #17 Sunday, January 1, 2006 6:49 PM
Bought this tower back in 2002. It's my 1st and only. I've since done several upgrades; more RAM, another HDD, video card, some misc stuff, and most recently a motherboard replacement/upgrade. Most likely she'll hang in for a couple more years.

PurrBall
Reply #18 Monday, January 2, 2006 10:54 AM
My 12-year old Gateway with Windows 3.11 still works, except for the CD-Rom drive.

twobadmice
Reply #19 Monday, January 2, 2006 4:11 PM
Just got mine this September/October, so not for a while, my last one I had for just short of two years, the one before that lasted just over a year before it went to PC heaven. I don't plan on upgrading my current for a while yet.

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