# How Old Is Your Computer?



## mach 0.0013137 (Jan 10, 2005)

Caroline has had her computer since around 1993 and it`s still in regular use, I gather the internal battery is dead but that`s all B)

Dell 325SX










Even her printer is of a similar vintage 

Hewlett Packard










So does anyone have an older computer that`s still in regular use ?


----------



## lewjamben (Dec 4, 2007)

Wow! That's impressive! My last computer lasted just over it's year guarentee (always had a spelling problem with that word) so my current one is a matter of months old.

I don't think any electrical item could last 16 years anymore!


----------



## BlueKnight (Oct 29, 2009)

mach 0.0013137 said:


> Caroline has had her computer since around 1993 and it`s still in regular use, I gather the internal battery is dead but that`s all B)


That has to be some sort of record! My *HP Pavilion Suite* is about 18 months old. Already I had to trash the 22' monitor ( Burnt screen) and two printers.( The first one never worked.) Now I'm replacing all the ancillaries with *SAMSUNG*. So far so good. Needless to say HP is no longer in my good books. When time comes for the tower, I'm migrating to MAC.


----------



## Silver Hawk (Dec 2, 2003)

mach 0.0013137 said:


> Caroline has had her computer since around 1993 and it`s still in regular use


Regular use for what? What O/S are you using on this? :huh:


----------



## Stan (Aug 7, 2003)

I still have my Amiga A1200 from 1992 and it still works, I donâ€™t use it much as I donâ€™t have the desk space for it and can emulate the platform on the PC these days.

My old laptop is a HP omnibook EX2 from 2000 and that gets used at least once a month so I can revel in the joy that is Windows 98se.


----------



## Cats are nice (Feb 12, 2009)

Silver Hawk said:


> mach 0.0013137 said:
> 
> 
> > Caroline has had her computer since around 1993 and it`s still in regular use
> ...


Hi, Paul.

It's nice to be able to respond as myself - I've had to hijack Mac's identity twice recently to add comments to the 'Make us Laugh' section! 

In answer to your question I do have Windows on my computer but I prefer to use DOS as it runs my programs faster. I mainly use my computer for two things: Symphony for my finances, and Word Perfect for my creative writing.

And believe it or not my computer has *never* crashed!  :swoon: :thumbup:


----------



## tixntox (Jul 17, 2009)

Mines an 8A8AGE!


----------



## Robert (Jul 26, 2006)

mach 0.0013137 said:


> So does anyone have an older computer that`s still in regular use ?


I thought I was doing well with a Latitude D600 shipped from Dell on 15/09/2003. It was an office one which suffered broken hinges. Brought back to life with a Â£12 pair from Ebay.


----------



## Stan (Aug 7, 2003)

The Dell 325SX specifications:-

http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/DTA/325sx/00000001.htm

I reckon the CMOS battery could be replaced quite easily: http://www.smallbattery.company.org.uk/sbc_840.htm

That's it, I'm off. I'm getting into geek mode and feeling full of electronic empathy for this old Dell.


----------



## PhilM (Nov 5, 2004)

Robert said:


> mach 0.0013137 said:
> 
> 
> > So does anyone have an older computer that`s still in regular use ?
> ...


I should of done that, instead I went for 2 metal pieces that were then bent at around 75 degrees and glued to the bottom with areldite


----------



## Guest (Nov 12, 2009)

Mine's like the Triggers broom in Only Fools And Horses, it's around 5 years old but I buy new hardware to upgrade it every now and again-in fact the only thing that remains from the original build is a few cables lol!


----------



## Andy Tims (Apr 13, 2008)

Mine's about 8 years old and runs verrrrryyy sloooowwwly, but I have a brand spankers one at home to for me to unpack & set up at the weekend


----------



## minkle (Mar 17, 2008)

Mines about four i think, thinking about upgrading the ram and its very noisy, still works well though 

I bought the cheapest one i could find in PC World, its one that was intended to be upgraded while you wait but i just took the basic thing!


----------



## thunderbolt (May 19, 2007)

The desktop is about 8 years old, don't think it works as the last time I tried to use it about 3 months ago it took me about 5 attemps to boot it up. I should get it fixed as spec wise it's excellent and very fast when running properly. The laptop is a 2 year old Advent QC430 and in need of a ram upgrade as it seems to be slowing down a bit now.


----------



## hotmog (Feb 4, 2006)

Mine is an Evesham that was originally bought probably at least 8 or 9 years ago. But I think the only bit of it that's still original now is the shell. Over the years I've ugraded the hard drive, motherboard, processor, RAM, sound card, graphics card, PCI card, monitor and keyboard, not to mention several mice.

I don't see any point in buying a new one, just replace/upgrade components as and when they either wear out or are no longer adequate for the job.


----------



## jeffvader (Jun 10, 2008)

Oldest is a 14Mhz 286 with 16K RAM from 1987. Newest is last week a 3.33 Ghz i7 with 16GB RAM


----------



## Matt B (Nov 10, 2009)

about 5 yrs old - just about copes with the www. age!


----------



## Robert (Jul 26, 2006)

PhilM said:


> Robert said:
> 
> 
> > mach 0.0013137 said:
> ...


140358733475

Â£7 posted from HK. I was expecting some adjustment would be necessary but they were a perfect fit - and easily done.


----------



## chris l (Aug 5, 2005)

ummm. geek answer. one of the machines running in the museum (back bedroom) is a non enhanced Apple 11e, which dates it to <March 1985.

Wrote my thesis on it. 5" disks. Cub Microvitec.

CPM Wordstar, anyone? COBOL? PASCAL? FORTRAN?

Memory? Memory? We don' need no stinkin' memory..... we got plenny o' time...


----------



## Flibb (Nov 2, 2009)

My main rig has bits swapped in and out as and when, old bits go to frinds and familly. Have a new case and PSU turning up tomorrow, and building a rig for my parents with my old socket 939 bits.

on the flip side I also have an amiga A1200 that gets used once in a while. And a friend has my old C64, complete with a 5 1/4 floppy drive that he plays games on while visiting his mum. That setup was used by me while at uni, I had a graphical OS and office app called GEOS for it, with a 9pin dot matrix printer for hard copy. Still works all these years later.


----------



## mattbeef (Jul 17, 2008)

My MacBookPro is coming up to 3 years old and think it will be here for a while.

Its still got plenty of places to go with me yet before i think about a new one


----------



## Guest (Nov 13, 2009)

Bugger, maybe I should be looking at an oldie...me and the Mrs both have a laptop under 2 years old, mine keeps turning itself off for no reason and hers won't hold a charge and doesn't always recognise the power cable!


----------



## ValvesRule (May 20, 2009)

B.B.C. Master 128, fitted with 65C02 coprocessor.

1989.

I got this from my History teacher at upper school.

The C.M.O.S. battery went flat about a year ago. I didn't realise this initially, so bought another Master 128 from E. bay. This had the same problem, until Dad discovered some stuff on the Internet. Then I modified the E. bay C.M.O.S. battery pack so that A.A. cells could be replaced and put it in my original Master 128.

So, if anyone wants a fully functional (apart from the battery) B.B.C. computer, then I've got one.

The software I run on it is based around a G.U.I. which I have written (C.I.S.C. E.S.).

The cassette deck plays into my hi-fi, as well as the computer.


----------



## mrteatime (Oct 25, 2006)

ValvesRule said:


> B.B.C. Master 128, fitted with 65C02 coprocessor.
> 
> 1989.
> 
> ...


that is mental!!!! i bet you have a shed, with individual names for the spanners and screwdrivers.......do you smoke a pipe?


----------



## pg tips (May 16, 2003)

I loved the bbc's, had an electon and a B never had a master though.

I've got an acorn somewhere, A4000 I think?


----------



## Benzowner (Nov 11, 2009)

I've got an old Sinclair Spectrum at home which loads up with a cassette :jawdrop:


----------



## PhilM (Nov 5, 2004)

Actually have a couple, a 1979 Texas T149A and an early 80's Atari 800 that also loads via cassette and cartridge


----------



## ValvesRule (May 20, 2009)

mrteatime said:


> that is mental!!!! i bet you have a shed, with individual names for the spanners and screwdrivers.......do you smoke a pipe?


No, only my bedroom, I'm afraid; hence the density of stuff visible in the photograph.

To answer all three accusations simultaniously, I'm not James May.

And I don't smoke at all :hypocrite: (I don't get out enough to smoke passively).



> I loved the bbc's, had an electon and a B never had a master though.


We've got two Electrons (ours, and an extended family's cast-off), one of which I have turned into a laptop.


----------



## pg tips (May 16, 2003)

ValvesRule said:


> We've got two Electrons, one of which I have turned into a laptop.


B)


----------



## HereBeMonsters (Jul 27, 2009)

I have a 1985 Mac which still worked last time I tried to use it. All I ever do is turn it on, fire up MacPaint, doodle around then turn off again.

Oldest computer in regular use is my Panasonic Toughbook. 266mhz Pentium MMX with 192mb RAM. Runs Windows XP just fine, IE 6 and Office 2003. All I need it for when I'm out on site.

Have just bought myself a replacement though - Dell Inspiron 11v with all the options ticked. Well, a mate works for Dell and by combining deals I saved over 40% on list price.


----------



## pg tips (May 16, 2003)

forgot about the works toughbook, must be 5 years old at least now.


----------



## JonW (Mar 23, 2005)

mach 0.0013137 said:


> Caroline has had her computer since around 1993 and it`s still in regular use, I gather the internal battery is dead but that`s all B)
> 
> Even her printer is of a similar vintage
> 
> Hewlett Packard


Eeek, I had one of those... one of the first affordable decent inkjets... 'DeskJet something or other'... I got it in 1991 and chucked mine out in about 1995 when my folks upgraded as they had been using it... Ive had laptops for the past 15+ years. Why anyone would want a tethered computer is beyond me LOL.

Anyway, if Caroline uses that beast to surf the net good on her, its a minor miracle!


----------



## mach 0.0013137 (Jan 10, 2005)

JonW said:


> mach 0.0013137 said:
> 
> 
> > Caroline has had her computer since around 1993 and it`s still in regular use, I gather the internal battery is dead but that`s all B)
> ...


It has never, nor will ever be connected to the net









We have time share on the use of `Deepthought`, in fact I`ve got to get off right now as it`s her turn to get on :taz:


----------



## Andy Tims (Apr 13, 2008)

As of today - my computer is a lovely fast brand new Dell


----------



## shadowninja (Apr 14, 2009)

Got an Acorn Electron here. Well, I say here, it's in the loft. My main computer's about 6 years old. It still does what I want so I don't see the point in upgrading. I have a spare of the same age should it die.


----------



## gregory (Feb 13, 2009)

It's not so old.. but I have two daughters aged 12 and 9.. and mine is the *3rd* most effective computer in the house!!!

How bad is that??

If I need to surf anywhere quick, such is the state of my thing, then I borrow theirs!!

:cry2:


----------



## matts (Apr 17, 2009)

main one i made about 18 months ago, this laptop's about 3 years old and the other about 5 years. all still going strong and the laptops knock spots off anything newer (IBM Thinkpads)


----------

