<edited>
Hello, Toast:
Yes, indeed...my present Pentium III system is even more ancient,
than the original poster's! I built it, in May of 2000 and have
constantly upgraded it, ever since.
Currently, it has a "Coppermine" 1050MHz CPU and a pair of
identical Samsung ATA hard drives (SpinPoint SP1614N, 160GB),
plus, a SimpleTech "SimpleDrive" (160GB USB external HDD).
Cordially,
John Turco <
[email protected]>
Everyone's computing needs differ. However, many have modest
requirements.
Making computers with increasingly more powerful hardware components
means software can be written incorporating a lot of mostly
unnecessry baggage, especially slick GUIs needing significant grunt
to drive its graphics.
If you're not editing video in a professional production house,
manipulating digital photographic files for a living or playing the
latest generation of 3D graphics chomping games then a brand new
super-dooper 'rig' just isn't necessary.
Most home users surf the 'net, send email, crank out a few office
documents / spreadsheets, and other undemanding computing tasks. In
many instances there's little sense in upgrading a PC that's well up
to the demands made of it. Keep using your old stuff, flog it to
death. No point in chucking stuff out on whim -- only serves to line
the pockets of companies up the supply chain all the way to
manufacturers and diabolical, monopolistic software vendors. They
encourage consumption for its own sake.
I helped out a friend recently with a 2.4 GHz P4, 256 MB of RAM
running XP from a 60 GB HDD at 80-90% capacity. Thanks to the OS and
the load it invited to be demanded of the system the machine was a
bit under-resourced. He was going to buy a new machine but I
suggested he should wait. With some effort I persuaded him to get
another 512 MB of RAM and a 320 GB HDD. The system now flies and it
should do him for at least a couple more years.
Many users don't realise how to get the best out of the equipement
they already possess. Better to run it into the ground before lobbing
stuff into landfill.
However, it's interesting how things play out with WinXP which has
proved to be a very stable and resilient OS. After running XP on a
machine for a few years, by the stage an ordinary user who has
installed and uninstalled a fair share of software in that time has a
system slowed to a crawl and in desperate need of a rebuild they
often consider buying a new computer. This is often because they
don't know how to reinstall the OS, and if they did perhaps can't be
bothered because it's such an effort to get everything up and running
again like it used to. By the time a system has reached this point
the original HDD is probably near to chucking it in and the ordinary
user wouldn't even realize the perils facing them. In such instances
upgrading can inadvertantly avoid encounters with data catastrophe,
and that is not a bad thing, especially if you happen to be the one
they ask for help in a computing crisis.
Or... it's quite sensible to upgrade HDDs in old computers!
