How long did your desktop computer last?

[furb & dez]

I got my current computer right when Vista came out. Since then, I've upgraded memory and did two video card updates, as well as upgrading to Windows 7. Still a great machine.

The only reason I'll be buying a new PC next year is that I began using a new software suite that takes advantage of 64-bit processes, and the motherboard for my current machine isn't designed for 64-bit memory access (it can only access up to about 4GB of RAM). Will be looking for a nice PC with 12-16GB of RAM and will take full advantage of it!

To those whose machines are "slowing down" - you're not maintaining them correctly, or you're filling them with crapware. Let me guess, search toolbars, comet cursors, and Gator?

 

[rndmr2]

I bought my Gateway in late 2002, it has been taken in and cleaned out a couple times and it needs it again now but for the most part it is still going. I have a small Acer laptop that is the primary one at the moment.

 

[jlewisinsyr]

To those whose machines are "slowing down" - you're not maintaining them correctly, or you're filling them with crapware. Let me guess, search toolbars, comet cursors, and Gator?

...or smiley apps, coupon clippers, Norton/McAfee and download all the "free" stuff they can.

 

[dfchelbay]

So far , I've got you all beat. I am sitting here DIS'ing on a Sony Vaio that we bought in 2001! lol! we format it once a year, and it still runs like a champ, original hard drive, original everything! We do plan to buy a new one after the first of the year, just cause we need something with a much bigger hard drive. faster processor, more up to date video cards, etc..but believe me..Sony is the first one we are going to check out! and like another poster..I am knocking on wood as I type this..lol!

Got the same one too. Doesn't get used anywhere near as much as the laptops do. It isn't as fast either, but it does the job it is intended to do. It's nearly ten years old now and is working just fine. I like it because it is a hardwired internet connection, which I can unplug when not in use. I like that it can be completely removed from the internet by just unplugging it, not having to go thru all the disconnect stuff on the computer. It's more a peace of mind thing than anything else. We've deemed it the not for surfing the internet computer. It's for paying bills and record keeping. When the kids were younger, they were never allowed to touch this computer. They could have at any other one in the house, but this one was on password start up that they were not allowed access to. That kept it virus free for sure...lol.

 

[DisMN]

I bought my first PC in 1995. I replaced it in 2005 and just posted this on it.

If your computer is running slower, then you don't take care of it. There's a difference between a computer running slow and using newer software that runs slow on your computer. This PC runs no slower than it did in 2005. I just have some newer than that programs that I use that run a little slow on it, but they still are very useable.

The only thing I've done as far as upgrading this computer is putting a large 2nd hard drive in it and putting a network card in because we were hit by a power surge and the onboard network port was damaged. I wouldn't call the network card an upgrade though because it is probably 5 years older than the computer itself.

Not true at all. My computer is a 2002 Gateway and it's slow slow slow. I take care of this sucker very well because I'm too cheap to buy another one. LOL The main issue is I keep getting the "your computer is running low on memory" notice which is why the dang thing keeps slowing down. All my techie friends give me different advice on what to do about the problem and I'm quite frustrated by it.
Buy and install more memory? An additional hard drive? What? LOL LOL

My desktop is an 8.5 year old Dell Dimension. Other than general computer maintenance, I upgraded the memory about 2 years ago....and it still runs great. It's not quite as fast as my year old Toshiba laptop...but, knock on wood, it's been a great, reliable computer and still seems to be running strong.

I think that's what I need to do but as I said above I can't get a straight answer from anyone as to what the actual problem is.

I got my current computer right when Vista came out. Since then, I've upgraded memory and did two video card updates, as well as upgrading to Windows 7. Still a great machine.

The only reason I'll be buying a new PC next year is that I began using a new software suite that takes advantage of 64-bit processes, and the motherboard for my current machine isn't designed for 64-bit memory access (it can only access up to about 4GB of RAM). Will be looking for a nice PC with 12-16GB of RAM and will take full advantage of it!

To those whose machines are "slowing down" - you're not maintaining them correctly, or you're filling them with crapware. Let me guess, search toolbars, comet cursors, and Gator?

Um, no, not a single extra search toolbar (not that they don't keep trying to sneak them in on me!), no curser crap and nothing unnecessary here. I take care to do regular virus scans and defrag often.
My computer just gets used a lot and holds a ton of photos, a few videos and mucho music.

Initially I was slightly put off by the several people who said machines are slowing down because *we* don't take care of them properly. Then I remembered that most of the people I know really truly don't do scans, dont know how to defrag or use spybot type programs, so yeah, I would come to the same conclusion I guess. LOL

If anyone has any suggestions on what to do about the "running low on memory" issue please comment! I could really use the advice.

 

[furb & dez]

If anyone has any suggestions on what to do about the "running low on memory" issue please comment! I could really use the advice.

If you are running out of room on your hard drive, it will slow your computer down because the computer will be forced to copy/write from the swap file much more frequently.

To see how much room you've got, open Explorer (right-click on the Start button and click Explore), right-click on your C: drive and select Properties. You'll see a pie chart showing used vs. free space. As a general rule, once I start getting more than two-thirds full, I look at cleaning up older files and moving things that I want to keep onto another drive.

Honestly, one of the easiest things to do is to take all your photos and put them on an external hard drive. The drives are cheap (and modern ones hold A LOT of data) and it will help keep your computer healthy. Photos (particularly if they are uncompressed, like directly from a camera memory card) take up a lot of space. Music takes up a lot of space as well, but most people actually use their music files a lot more than their photos.

 

[DVC-Don]

My first desktop was a Gateway that ran for 5 years. Second was a Dell that ran also for 5 years. Third was a Dell that ran for 7 years. The Dell I have now is about a year and a half old. The prior ones every couple of years I'd throw some more memory in. I have never ran out of room on the hard drives.

 

[DisMN]

If you are running out of room on your hard drive, it will slow your computer down because the computer will be forced to copy/write from the swap file much more frequently.

To see how much room you've got, open Explorer (right-click on the Start button and click Explore), right-click on your C: drive and select Properties. You'll see a pie chart showing used vs. free space. As a general rule, once I start getting more than two-thirds full, I look at cleaning up older files and moving things that I want to keep onto another drive.

Honestly, one of the easiest things to do is to take all your photos and put them on an external hard drive. The drives are cheap (and modern ones hold A LOT of data) and it will help keep your computer healthy. Photos (particularly if they are uncompressed, like directly from a camera memory card) take up a lot of space. Music takes up a lot of space as well, but most people actually use their music files a lot more than their photos.

Thankyou. I bought an external hard drive just a few weeks ago and plan to do exactly as you suggest. Will that help with the memory issue or is that a separate issue altogether?

 

[furb & dez]

It depends on the health of your drive. Do the steps I outlined in my post and let us know how much free/used space you have... and then we can guess.

 

[mill4023]

Not true at all. My computer is a 2002 Gateway and it's slow slow slow. I take care of this sucker very well because I'm too cheap to buy another one. LOL The main issue is I keep getting the "your computer is running low on memory" notice which is why the dang thing keeps slowing down. All my techie friends give me different advice on what to do about the problem and I'm quite frustrated by it.
Buy and install more memory? An additional hard drive? What? LOL LOL

It's true that computers don't just "slow down". But I also wouldn't say that it means someone isn't taking care of it.

Your performance can go down because of software you install, whether it's crap like toolbars or actual valuable software like updated video card drivers. There are a ton of valid reasons for software to install components that run in the background, but that can still have an impact on overall performance.

Your computer may also seem slower because you are using new versions of software that don't perform as well on older systems because of new features that have been added.

Or your computer can just seem slower than it used to because other computers you use (office, school, friends, etc.) have gotten faster and faster over the years.

If you are getting low memory warnings, that means you probably have more stuff running than you used to, so there is less working memory available and performance will suffer.

Adding memory is almost always a worthwhile upgrade. You just need to see how much you have and how much your computer will support.

 

[mill4023]

If you are running out of room on your hard drive, it will slow your computer down because the computer will be forced to copy/write from the swap file much more frequently.

The swap file is space on the hard drive that is used when there isn't enough system memory to store everything an application needs. So if you are running low on system memory (RAM), that's when you will see increased use of the swap file and things will slow down because it takes a LOT longer for a program to get data from disk than it does to get data from RAM.

Open the task manager (ctrl-alt-del), go to the performance tab, and look at the memory usage.

 

[mill4023]

Back on topic...

It's hard for me to put an age on any of my desktops because I've put them all together from components and done regular upgrades over the years, mostly for better performance, but I've had a few components die on me also.

Earlier this year, I did a complete new build with all new components. Before then, I was using a 10 year old case, 4 year old power supply, 3 year old motherboard and cpu, 2 year old video card.
I still have working motherboards and video cards from around 2000.
The last pre-built desktop I had was a Compaq I bought around 1998.
I think it was still working a couple years ago and it might still be in my garage.

 

[threeboysmom]

3 out of 4 of our Acer computers at work have completely died after only 3 years!

Just waiting for mine (the last remaining one) to bite the dust, lol.

 

[136368]

Computers tend to slow down with use whether you take care of them or not. It's a fact of life. That being said, you can minimise the ageing effects by avoiding heavy downloads and extensions.

 

[GaSleepingBeautyFan]

We replaced the last one after 4 years. This one should last a few more years (it's 2 years old) since I just had everything upgraded on it last week.

It's fully loaded with RAM, updated video card, even the processor has been upgraded. It's fabulous right now.

 

[GaSleepingBeautyFan]

Mine is a Dell from 2005 (Windows XP) and I just rebooted it for the SIXTH time today because it locks up literally every 2 seconds. I've come very close to throwing it out the window lately.

I had a blast when I threw an old laptop out the window. I'd gotten a new one, everything was transferred and I just wanted to see what happened.

The kids thought it was pretty cool when it hit the cement and shattered. I did underestimate the cleanup though. That took me awhile.

 

[136368]

I had a blast when I threw an old laptop out the window.

That's why it's called Windows

 

[mrodgers]

Computers tend to slow down with use whether you take care of them or not. It's a fact of life. That being said, you can minimise the ageing effects by avoiding heavy downloads and extensions.

But they don't. Hard drives don't get slower. RAM doesn't get slower. Processors don't get slower. Video cards don't get slower. If a computer is getting slower it is either because of a bunch of unnecessary crap that is clogging it up from surfing or from installing/uninstalling programs, or it is the fact that you are using newer software that is designed for something faster than your older computer.

I run Photoshop CS3, released in 2007, on my 2005 computer. Yes it runs slow, it always has. It isn't because the computer has gotten slow, it is because it is a 2007 version of software running on a 2005 computer. My computer runs Photoshop just the same today as it did 4 years ago.

 

[tvguy]

3 out of 4 of our Acer computers at work have completely died after only 3 years!

Just waiting for mine (the last remaining one) to bite the dust, lol.

Acer is the Yugo of computers. I never heard of a company buying them. Dell pretty much has the corporate market locked up.