With desktop systems selling for under $400, is it even worth re-installing Windows on our six-year old franken-PC?
I mean, I hate to be wasteful and all, but do I really want to do a complete re-installation of everything on a machine that, quite frankly, has seen better days? The DVD drive has never worked properly; the CD drive is on its way out; the monitor is over 10 years old; basically, it's just not worth re-habbing this machine IMHO.
Not when I can pick up a new computer and monitor for under $400. For a little over $500, I can get a Dell system with some upgrades (basically the same specs as our current laptop) that I can put in the office upstairs as our "main" computer. Ever since we got the laptop, we've gotten dependent on having two computers in the house (and I'm starting to seriously consider one of those Acer Eee micro-laptops for home and mobile surfing and blogging...). Our old computer is definitely on its last legs, having undergone yet another bout with a virus/spyware infestation concommitant with multiple hardware failures (the monitor *and* keyboard just gave up the ghost and we are currently using the monitor and keyboard that came with the HP Pavilion we bought when we moved into the house ten years ago).
Besides, I can bring the old PC and monitor to the Cub Scout electronics drive in May and get a tax deduction. The hard drive, of course, will be brought to the sooper-sekrit range in free America and properly taken care of (they can't access your private information if the hard drive has a .308" hole through it)... Honestly, I can't see a good reason for limping the old machine along, knowing that it's currently obsolete and only getting more so every minute...
So... Anyone got a good reason to hold onto the new computer?
That is all.
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13 comments:
"So... Anyone got a good reason to hold onto the new computer?"
The next Blogger shoot?
The only reason why I rebuild aging computers is for cost-savings. If the time/money equations doesn't tip the scales, go with the new box, you'll be much happier.
Tho I've heard Vista sucks.
If the CD & DVD drives are truly kaput, ditch the PC & get a new one.
Weer'd beat me to it.
If you want to learn Linux, you can load that on the old one. Chris Byrne just had a good post about the tech skills worth having, and this is free (just your time).
You can probably get a deal at Circuit City is you move decently fast.
The only thing I would do is make sure that you get XP or Vista Home Premium. You won't be very happy with Vista in my professional opinion but you can at least be content with the ability to get what you need done, done....
Just my opinion...
--Doug
In my personal opinion "No".
BTW, who is this for?
For $349 at Costco you can pickup a Micro-Notebook. These are very small laptops without drives. Not as powerful as a full system or even a notebook. But probably still more powerful than your old franken-PC.
"Besides, I can bring the old PC and monitor to the Cub Scout electronics drive in May and get a tax deduction"
Even smarter!!!
"(they can't access your private information if the hard drive has a .308" hole through it)."
They can, but it might be enough to shatter the coatings. And that would render it fairly unreadable.
That said, keep the magnets. I mean where else can you get uber-expensive rare earth element magnets for free.
I have one reason for hanging on to the old - Vista!
Indeed, ubuntu my friends; or even openbsd for gits and shiggles.
If you can get by until summer, Microsoft should be releasing Windows 7 around then and would be included with a new machine. I use Windows XP Pro on my two machines at home and at work (I'm a software engineer), Vista Ultimate on my media machine and recently dual booted my desktop with the Windows 7 beta.
Vista is fine and they fixed most of the early problems, but it isn't worth an upgrade from XP. Windows 7 on the other hand, even in it's beta form, is stable, fast and a worthwhile improvement over Vista and XP. As soon as it comes out I'm upgrading.
I installed the beta of Windows 7 last week on a system cobbled together from dessicated corpses of old PC's. It runs faster than my other system which has an XP Pro partition on it, and it hasn't crashed yet. Looks good, too- sort of like a nice KDE desktop in Linux. Doesn't gobble up huge chunks of memory, doesn't beg me to ask permission to run apps, unlike Vister. I might be inclined to buy a real version of it this fall when it is released and put it on the wife's computer if it'll make her happy.
As for me, I've got 3 boxes near my feet that run Linux, specifically Suse Linux or something similar. Yes, I have a WinXP Pro partition for those things which I must use it for, but by and large, if you had a half gig of memory running with a gHz or better speed CPU, you'd be pretty pleased with anything Linux. Odds are, the cd problem you've got is a driver issue and either upgrading the device microcode or driver could resolve it. I'd not dispose of it before downloading and burning a copy of Linux (for free) and playing with it.
Regards,
Rabbit.
I built the SCSon a PC just after Christmas. Its a AMD dual core, 2.7GHz, 4GB RAM, 500GB hard drive and DVD writer, running XP home. Total cost around $335.
(Screen, Keyboard & Mouse not included - salvaged from the old system)
I chose this route over the store bought system for the extra horsepower and less crap.
Complete details at SandCastle Scrolls
I'd buy something new myself. There are some good deals floating around out there right now.
Also, if that's the original Hard Drive, you'd want to buy a new one anyway. I wouldn't trust a six year old IDE hard drive with anything important.
Seems damn near universal to just pitch the old machine and get a new one. Good. That's where I was headed anyways...
The other thing to consider is that the current system is using a 10 year old monitor that is definitely on its way out - so I'd need to drop $100 or more on a new monitor anyways.
The goal, for me, is to get a new desktop for the office that will serve as the "main" computer - largest hard drive, back-up UPS, printer/scanner/etc. This will be the main PC for the kids, too. Laptop downstairs for moderate use, and possibly pick up one of the micro PCs for daddy...
Despite what you've read/heard (with all due respect, guys) just about all the problems with Vista have been resolved. Yes, it sucked when it first came out, but now it's fine.
BTW, you can get some sweet deals on some flatscreen monitors.
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