[OT] How often do you upgrade your computer?

[kenjib]

I think that you should upgrade on a need-basis. The only thing driving computer upgrades for mass consumers at this time are computer games. This is a big problem looming over the industry right now. People are waiting for the next app to come out and drive hardware sales but there's nothing on the horizon.

Microsoft tries to drive hardware sales by putting out bloated operating systems with dramatically increasingly inefficient resource usage but very little innovation from version to version (there haven't been any really major innovations in OS for desktop consumers since the Mac - just better screen resolution and color depth) but I think it's one of those Emperor with no clothes kinds of things. Win95 can still handle anything that needs to be done by a typical home user and the UI is not really much different from XP - except for the fact that it is being made intentionally obsolete by not releasing backward compatible applications and by changing file formats to force upgrades in the MS Office suit and other apps. I think that it's all a scheme to get you to buy stuff that you don't need to generate revenue streams for various corporations.

You said that you don't want to upgrade just to play a game. If that's the case - then why upgrade? I would recommend that you just wait until you've got a real problem and do the upgrade then. I'm on a PII 300 and still playing recent games with no problems on Win98. I just had to upgrade my 3d card at one point, but I buy cheap cards behind the bleeding edge curve so it's not expensive.

I think you can get another year or maybe two out of your system. If you don't care about games possibly even longer. I think people pay too much money to get a system that boots up 10 seconds quicker and loads programs 3 seconds quicker. It's not worth $1000+ in my opinion. Save the money and wait 13 seconds. I work in IT too, so it's not like I don't care or don't know better either.

In summation the only real indicator of when you need to upgrade is when your system can't do the things you want to do and the $1000 expense is justified for obtaining this extra functionality you want - that's a lot of money. It doesn't really sound like you've reached that point yet to me, but I don't know all of the details.

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

It is not only a question how often you do an upgrade, but also what you upgrade.

A better CPU is not always the best option.
More RAM can greatly increase the perfomance of a Computer.

I use computers since I was 12, I believe (I am actually not sure about this, but I believe that is right).
I had a 286, a 486, a K6-II (400 Mhz), and a Pentium2 (800 Mhz), and a notebook (Celeron 1.1 Ghz).
The notebook is not a real "upgrade", it is an additional option.
Currently, I am 21, so this means 9 years computer experience. So, approximately every 2 years I make a major upgrade. Between, I sometimes add some RAM (that was done for my K6-II and my P2...) to the PC. Oh, and the K6 orginally was only a 333 MHz, but I was able to get a cheap 400 processor...

My old PCs I sold to family members - once a cousine, currently only to my parents and my sisters...

Mustrum Ridcully

 

[UD]

I upgrade my PC as i need to in bits. Say a new graphics card here, new processor here, more memory there. I probably spend £300-£400 a yaer on it. But then I am a computer scientist student so its probably to be expected.

Edit: Old computers? I upgrade friends computers with the spare parts, or my house router.

 

[drothgery]

I plan on replacing my computer in 2003, about 3 years after buying it. I've added memory (128MB->512MB), and will upgrade the video card eventually, and even picked up a new mouse and a new printer. But other than that, I haven't done much. Still, going 5 years before replacing my first computer was a bad idea; I only did that because I was broke.

 

[Hand of Evil]

Every three years but you can do things like increase RAM and such. I also recomend checking with your computer maker and find out if you can replace your CPU, it is cheap and not hard to do.

 

[Tsyr]

I tend to do one "major" upgrade a year or so (New top of the line video card, DVD burner (my next planned one), etc... I do "small" upgrades (Extra hard drive, more ram) a bit more often. Totaly new system about every 3-4 years.

 

[Roland Delacroix]

Been 4 years since I bought my first computer, upgraded the MB and Vid card since then. Looking to upgrade in the next few months if i can get the money. The k6III-450 is just too slow on some of the big apps i wanna learn to play with. Waiting for AMD's new chip. Not to mention my western digital 19 GB HD is almost full of porn. Need a pair of 120 GB's.

 

[Reddragon]

$$$$

Well if I was a rich gamer I would upgrade at least once a year.

But since I am but a lowly poor gamer I only upgrade about every 2 years.

It is helpful that I can install my own stuff and ebay is a BIG help in getting good prices. Got to love those dutch bids!

;D

 

[drothgery]

and a Pentium2 (800 Mhz)

That's got to be a typo. The fastest Pentium II (and slowest Pentium III) was 450 MHz, and there's no way you could get a stable overclock to 800 on a PII.

 

[Kesh]

I change computers every two years or so, now. Usually, I sell the old one, or pass it down to a relative. This iBook, though, I'll probably keep for a long time. I might pick up a desktop in another year or two, but the iBook will be at my side for writing and casual internet use, while the desktop will be for gaming and more regular downloading/browsing.