Computer longevity

[woodworkingboy]

My imac is heading into it's 11th year, working very well, aside from some screen instability that pops up from time to time. I'm probably going to get a new one in the near future, but getting such long good use out of this one has been really cool. I hear that the average lifetime of a computer is considerably shorter....?

One thing I do, is pull the plug out of the electrical socket every night before bed. Could that possibly have any bearing on longevity?

 

[MasterBlaster]

Wow, I sure don't do that. I'm on my second computer right now. My first was whatever year I joined AS... around '03 or '04, hell, I don't remember.

 

[woodworkingboy]

Yeah, it took me awhile to get into the habit of pulling the plug, and it really wasn't my idea to begin with. Now though, I kind of like doing it.....sort of kinky.

 

[rumination]

That's pretty good longevity from a computer Jay. I wouldn't think that unplugging it really had anything to do with it though.

 

[MasterBlaster]

I agree.

 

[woodworkingboy]

I wouldn't think either, that pulling the plug would be a factor, but the thing just keeps going and going.

 

[Greenhorn]

Motherboard in my wife's imac failed in less than a year. She failed to unplug it during several storms, might have had something to do with it. The printer that came with it wouldnt even work outta the box. Apple fixed both issues free of charge but I couldnt believe either was happening.

 

[SkwerI]

Computer technology has advanced so quickly that I don't believe a computer built 11 years ago would have the ability to efficiently handle today's technology. I think a $500-$600 off-the-shelf laptop would blow you away with it's speed and capabilities compared to your old imac.

I've averaged about 4 years each on my computers (except my last POS) and upgraded each time to a faster computer for less money than the previous unit.

 

[woodworkingboy]

I'm aware of the advantages of a newer computer, but this one basically serves my needs sufficiently, for the most part. Yes, there are some speed issues. I do plan to get a new one. I was just wondering about why it continues to work so well, when most folks seem to get 5-6 years of use out of theirs, before kaput, if there is a reason beyond just having been made well.

 

[stehansen]

Yeah, I think 4 or 5 years is about right. The old ones even if the CMOS battery doesn't die usually won't be compatable with the new operating systems. If you had an eleven year old PC it would probably be running Win 98 and wouldn't have enough memory or processor, or video capacity to handle XP. Macs must be a different animal.

 

[NeTree]

I've still got an old Wyse 286-based PC for doing dome HAM radio stuff. 10MB (yes, MEGAbyte) hard drive, amber monitor. Still ticking away.

 

[woodworkingboy]

Yes, mine handles the latest operating systems, no problemo. Kind of the cut off line though, they won't do well on a slightly older model.

 

[Paul B]

had a chip failure on Friday, bought a new HD, mother board and chip. STILL rebuilding my rig after 3 days of on and off desk time. stupid computers.

 

[Blinky]

I'm using a Dell I bought in 1999. The OS is kind of addled but it does the job.

I was such a computer geek before that now I kind of savor being behind the curve.

Those old Wyse 286 slimline boxes were damn good units.

 

[rangerdanger]

It's all because it's a Mac!!!!! I don't know about everyone here, but from what I've seen people get a lot more out of a Mac then they do a PC. I've seen 10 year or older Mac's that still function fairly well and are still serving the users needs.

PC wise, we have gone through 2 so far in 12 years. My parents current PC is on it's last legs, and they are replacing it with a Mac in the near future.

 

[rumination]

We've got a Mac fanboy on our hands here.

You might be right though, Adrian. My first computer back in 1994 was a Mac Powerbook. 16 shade grayscale screen, 25 Mhz processor, 125 MB harddrive, it was sweet! I sold it several years later and it was still running fine.

 

[Frans]

computers seem to have a 2 year life span IMO. Anything past that is luck.
Power surges is one way to mess it up. Instead of unplugging you may want to get a power surge/battery back up.

 

[cybergeek23851]

I got about 6 years out of my first Compaq(system board failure in the first year), which was purchased in the summer of '99. The HDD in it finally died a year ago when the bearings finally failed on the platter.
In a sense, I'm still using pieces of it. The original monitor as well as the speakers, modem, NIC and keyboard are still running. My next computer I built in 2004, and rebuilt it in '07 with a new mainboard, memory, processor, HDD and O/S. I re-rebuilt in late '08 when my brother killed the board with a bad BIOS flash. I added a new board processor, memory, graphics card, and bigger HDD.

computers seem to have a 2 year life span IMO. Anything past that is luck.
Power surges is one way to mess it up. Instead of unplugging you may want to get a power surge/battery back up.

If a computer is kept clean, ie keeping dust from building up inside of it, it will last a while. I also second the UPS as well. A UPS will also last if you replace the batteries as they fail(which is not often).

I've still got ATM's running on old 286 processors and OS/2, because we keep them up to date with preventative maintenance.

 

[Frans]

I would like to check out the inside of an ATM just to see how it works. A stamp vending machine at the post office is a very intricate piece of machinery.

 

[Blinky]

We've got a Mac fanboy on our hands here.

You might be right though, Adrian. My first computer back in 1994 was a Mac Powerbook. 16 shade grayscale screen, 25 Mhz processor, 125 MB harddrive, it was sweet! I sold it several years later and it was still running fine.

Was that a powerbook 160 or a 180? I used to have a 160.

About unplugging computers... don't. Use a high end surge arrestor, setup the OS power management and leave it on unless you're away from home for more than a couple of days. Powering up is a nasty surge on cold hardware. It's baayud, Mmmkay?

Light bulbs make a good analogy, they always pop when turning on. Leave a light bulb burning indoors and it can take years to fail; switch it off and on daily and it probably won't make a year.

 

[JIML]

Ive had this PC for 8 years, I upgraded the processor once and the memory once. Its pretty well maxed out now, the motherboard is whats holding me back now. Only thing I really had go wrong was 2 power supplies. Rest has ran flawless. I leave it on all the time, just put it to sleep when I walk away from it.

 

[wiley_p]

Looks like about 4 years for me. This laptop is now shutting down and will only randomly fire back up. Getting power, just no starting most times the last 48 hours. A very appropriate thread for me right now.

 

[CurSedVoyce]

Built this one 4 years ago.. and just retired two 450 AMDs that I have had since 2000. They were already years old when I got them... LOL I upgraded them till I had no options but they were a good PC to learn about the guts of them on. Handed them down to the kids like they were handed down to me... Still working before they ended up in the "to go to the dump" pile. This one I am on now runs 24 7.. only glitch it had was a power supply that was defective when new. Probably serve the kids as well when I pass it down after the next build... No hurry though.. This one works great for what I do with it..

 

[woodworkingboy]

Interesting on the power surge cautions, was not aware of that. One thing about my imac is that it seems to have an uncanny ability to fix itself. I know that such a feature is built in, but a couple of times it seemed a goner, than started working nearly flawlessly again. It used to have a hard time locating the operating system when I turned it on, would sometimes have to boot up from a CD. Now that is corrected somehow, for the most part. Still, it must surely be on a downhill run after eleven years.

 

[wiley_p]

WTF is the power supply? Are you fellas talking about the cord w/black box you plug into the computer? Or something inside?