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Ask HN: How old is your current PC/Laptop?

1 points by sourcecodeplz ↗ HN
Spent $200 for a new desktop PC just a couple of months ago. It came with Linux + mouse&kb. Already had my own monitor. It has the Athlon 3000G processor (released in 2019).

Before I decided on this one, I also checked the second-hand/refurbished market, which in my country is quite extensive. The cheapest refurbished PC is just $29.

Thing is, one of these companies that sells refurbished PCs has been in the market for more than 20 years. There must be people buying these.

I expect to use this PC for at least 10 years.

How old is yours and how long are you looking to get out of it? Do you have a back-up old one that you keep around just in case?

11 comments

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scombridae
I don't know how old it is, but I got it for $29. I plan to use it for at least 11 years.
sourcecodeplz
No need to be edgy.

The reason I posted this is because I was reading a post (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33766878) here the other day where the person talked about optimizing web page sizes at some Google service. As soon as they reduced the page size significantly, they've noticed an influx of visitors from Africa. That was about bandwidth.

This is about processing power.

uberman
About 5 years old.

I tend to replace my system when one of the following is true...

My current boot drive is the size of the ram I would get in a new system

My current ram is the size of the ram on the video card I would get.

My system is basically at both of these thresholds. That and I also dont like that my laptop is probably more powerful at the moment.

ohiovr
I sold my over built ryzen system for $350. I am using a laptop with 8 gigs of memory with some spare parts shove in there. It was made in 2012 and cost me $160 4 years ago. I can do pretty much everything I need to do with the computer just at 1/10th the speed. But actually single thread speed is pretty good.
chinabot
6 Months old, but I replace them annually because they are effectively a tax write-off, lots of family and friends downstream benefit from this arrangement.
LinuxBender
Linux PC: 11 years. Gaming mini-pc: 1 year. Laptops: 3 years, 12 years, 15 years. I back up everything to a central Linux NAS and that backs up to multiple external SSD's.
__d
Mid-2014 15" Retina MacBook Pro

I'll replace it soon: the 1TB SSD is has been "full" for a year or two now, and with macOS Ventura it cannot run current software any more. If it weren't for that, I'd likely keep it for another few years -- unless I drop it, it would likely be fine for a 10+ year life.

My model has been to double the storage capacity with every purchase, but I think I'll likely go 4x this time (unless SSD prices go up).

JoeMayoBot
I'm averaging every 2-3 years. With the growth of OS and application usage they tend to bog down over time. e.g. My previous laptop wasn't fully compatible with Windows 11 and my hard drive was filling up, so I bought one with a newer processor, more RAM, and a faster/larger drive. I have a couple of older machines for old software and usually keep the previous machine for testing.
justsomehnguy
Desktop with Intel G2010 [0], 20Gb RAM, 128GB SSD for OS, 500Gb WD Black 2.5". Originally built somewhere in 2008 with A64 X2 4200+[1] on EPOX nForce4, upgraded to SSD in 2012, upgraded to Intel ~2016. Still on Vista.

ASUS VivoBook TM420, Ryzen 3 4300U, 12GB RAM, 256GB NVMe. ~1 year old, current beast of burden.

Lenovo T440, i3-4010U [2], 8GB RAM, 120GB SSD. In my usage since 2016, model is from 2014.

Of course there is X301 somewhere, with 1.8" SSD (probably 128GB?) and unknown amount of memory. The only machine with working DVD-R drive.

> I expect to use this PC for at least 10 years.

On a new $200 PC? Doubt it. It would work, of course, but... It's probably on Celeron?

[0] https://ark.intel.com/content/www/us/en/ark/products/71071/i...

[1] https://www.cpu-world.com/CPUs/K8/AMD-Athlon%2064%20X2%20420...

[2] https://ark.intel.com/content/www/us/en/ark/products/75107/i...

sourcecodeplz
The G's from Intel have always been a bang for the buck, esp. single core perf. I got an AMD now for that $200 (Athlon 3000G).

I know 10 years is hard to believe, but I just use a text editor and the browser for my work. I do front-end mostly with a focus on CSS.

enonevets
Currently on the M1 Max Macbook Pro so about a year old. I generally go for a newer system every 4-5 years now.