Buying a new computer? What stops you?

[Baker]

After posting about Tenebrae, it made me think about why I haven't upgraded my computer.

I purchased my computer in late 2002 and it was a higher end machine at the time and it still runs well. I'm about out of hard drive space and have been for about 1 year. I had an external hard drive but it stopped working 3 months ago (man, that sucks ... I'll tell ya).

This led me to think about the reasons why I don't buy a new computer.

1. My old computer (1998 ) never really got completely tired and I still find myself booting it up occasionally for old stuff. I did transfer all of that to the (now unoperational) external hard drive, but even when that was working I still needed the old computer every once in a while because I can't transfer software.

My 1998 machine had some software where either I lost the original CD and therefore couldn't re-install it .... or the site where I downloaded the software from wasn't providing the download anymore and I didn't keep the original download, thinking the company would always be around or something.

2. You can't really copy the whole hard drive and even if you did, half the stuff isn't what you want. I don't care about the files in the windows directory, but oddball programs store stuff in there sometimes and basically a lot of software really can't be transported to a new machine keeping all the settings/preferences in place.

3. The Window registry and My Documents folders ... those were the worst ideas ever.

You see all these people that you know could buy a new computer that keep sticking with their old computer because it is a major time investment (100 hrs) to switch to a new computer and break in everything.

It's funny, because if they ever solved that issue, people would probably buy and upgrade computers much more frequently.

The only time ppl seem to buy a computer is when they must (usually a new game does it) or when a virus causes them to have to format their computer making it a non-issue or due to hardware failure.

That's my 2 cents, at least.

[Net-Tyme]

1. My old computer (1998 ) never really got completely tired and I still find myself booting it up occasionally for old stuff. I did transfer all of that to the (now unoperational) external hard drive, but even when that was working I still needed the old computer every once in a while because I can't transfer software.

My 1998 machine had some software where either I lost the original CD and therefore couldn't re-install it .... or the site where I downloaded the software from wasn't providing the download anymore and I didn't keep the original download, thinking the company would always be around or something.


That's my 2 cents, at least.

And they wonder why there is pirated software. Once I buy something.. and register it.. It should always be available to me. CD's scratch,warp,lost,etc. I should be able to store my CD Software at a hosting site for when I need to buy a new machine.. And guess what? I bought that damn program.. and I want to install it on my PC AND my Laptop Period. It's mine.. I should be able to do that without recourse. Yes I know I "can".. thats not the point. Telling me I can't is the point. As long as the computer is "owned" by me and I use that computer.. I should be able to do what I want.

I have to look. I think my Ghost program DID copy the software load to my backup drive. And they should. It should be a complete clone. That's what I paid for when I bought the program. !!!

[Baker]

And they wonder why there is pirated software.

Last year, when we all started making things for this site, I couldn't find the CD for the software I used to make this. I ended up having to boot up the old computer.

The company that made the software went out of business, the product line was discontinued, I couldn't find it on E-Bay ...



... and yes, I searched for illegal downloads of it too. I figure I already own it so it isn't illegal for me.

-------------

Speaking of that, let's say your car gets broken into and someone steals all your CDs --- it happens quite frequently --- the CD says you don't own the music, you are just entitled to use it.

Who else feels you are entitled to download the music for the CD since you already paid for the right to listen to the music?

[Solecord]

I agree with the music thing. Whenever I buy a new CD though the first thing I do is rip it to my computer (either mp3 or sometimes I'll rip to flac if it's a really good cd and I want to hear all the intricate stuff in the background of the songs). I usually then burn a copy for my car. I stick the original CD back in the case and stick it on the shelf. I hardly ever use the actual store bought cds, just burned copies from the original. I used to listen to them and my favorite CD ever got so scratched after a couple of months I had to buy another.

As far as your computer - why don't you just upgrade? Stick in a second harddrive? You can pick up a 250gig drive real cheap now. Stick some new memory in your box and you'll be like new. If you need to upgrade everything (sound, video, memory, hd, etc.) it may be cheaper to just buy new but if only a couple things, just upgrade. Check out sites like www.newegg.com or www.tigerdirect.com for cheap parts!

[Canadian*Sniper]

All I need is a computer with 500 memory and atleast 60GB of space. Everything else isn't mandatory as I don't play games on my work machines and can accomplish all I need with what I specified.

Therefor, buying a new computer isn't too expensive with those options

[QuadRaptor]

Who else feels you are entitled to download the music for the CD since you already paid for the right to listen to the music?

I agree with you there. Something I considered a while back as well.

[Baker]

I agree with the music thing. Whenever I buy a new CD though the first thing I do is rip it to my computer (either mp3 or sometimes I'll rip to flac if it's a really good cd and I want to hear all the intricate stuff in the background of the songs). I usually then burn a copy for my car. I stick the original CD back in the case and stick it on the shelf. I hardly ever use the actual store bought cds, just burned copies from the original. I used to listen to them and my favorite CD ever got so scratched after a couple of months I had to buy another.

And the music industry thinks if they somehow made CDs completely copy-proof that people would still buy them. I've always thought that the music industry were morons for that way of thinking.

As far as your computer - why don't you just upgrade? Stick in a second harddrive? You can pick up a 250gig drive real cheap now.

I've thought about it. I just haven't been up for the hassle so far.

[Sajt]

Yup, I rip my CDs and put em away too. Some of my old game CDs I rip to images to use with Daemon tools. I don't buy games anymore really, I don't feel like supporting any of them because they're mostly crap.

I had bought Mechwarrior 2 Titanium Trilogy but lost it several years ago, and I just downloaded it recently. Unfortunately it doesn't run in Win XP

[IEEE 802.11]

At work I'm in charge of creating the imagie for our PC's and also the software load (because the guys who do the actual software loads will take forever in doing it and then they won't do it to my specifications). Anyway, I've learned how to "redo" a machine in less than 30 minutes and I have have a customized machine machine ready for any person in any of the departments ready in less than 45 minutes (given all the resources are at my finger tips).

I can do all that at work, but at home I would just cry if my PC crashed. And if I bought a new PC it would take forever to get everything back to "normal" (but most of that is because I'm dialup, if I had to update everything again I would be without internet for 3 months solid).

And after posting on this note, I think I'm going to back up everything again, because i haven't doneso in a year now.

[Baker]

I can do all that at work, but at home I would just cry if my PC crashed.

Work machines don't quite accumulate the same personally important mix of miscellaneous "stuff" that home computers do.

I've got all sorts of things scattered around everywhere on my hard drive, from images saved off the internet and saved pages, saved AVis and games, documents and notes.

One of the most annoying ones are utilities or games that were actually completely free at one point and then the company or what not decided to change their mind (ws_ftp le) or a couple of utilities I got from sites that later changed the status for those things to "premium users only".

[IEEE 802.11]

You CAN actually move the image of your PC from one machine to another, as I found out. I wouldn't do it too many times tho.

NOTE: This is just considering you're using Windows XP

First make an image of your hard drive as a back up in the event that you screw up.

Install Windows XP on the target machine to find out what version of HAL (Hardware Abstraction Layer) is used for that system. On your other machine change the HAL to match the targetmachince. Shutdown the computer, do not reboot. Insert old harddrive into new machine, boot up. If all goes well Windows XP will load. Now simply install all the correct drivers for your hardware! Yay!

Be sure to have at least the network card drivers at hand before moving over to the new machine.

Here's an image of how to see what HAL you have:


Yay! The image comes up as a link instead of a picture!

[foq]

Didn't feel like reading everything. But my dad runs bittorrent and I get alot of stuff from him myself (nearly A L L of my games, music, vids, etc) came from eithert bittorrent, kazza, or the 10$ rack at wal mart. Shoot me for stealing, I guess.

[Bank]

I'm actually getting my new machine from iBuyPower on the 29th.

[foq]

Whenever I get upgrades (I am the mastermind behing my computer, basically)
my family pays for it and my uncle will get it off newegg or something. Customize your computer... I would not liketo buy one off a big-name company. Not that thier ram is worse than say ValuRam, but that its about 2x expensive to upgrade. It's nice if you have money, but not for us poor folk xD

[scar3crow]

My first (as in mine, not the family's) PC was built in 2002, by my brother. Lightning crashes, a stick of ram dies, the processor falls to the floor. The network card closes its port, and motherboard sighs, the videocard, saves only its hide.

Yes I just rewrote a Live song into a bit about my computer in late 2003. So Ive since then been running on loaner processor, motherboard, and network card from my brother. Only one of the sticks of ram was fried so I fell back to 512megs.

Now I am looking at upgrading my machine... Processor needs to go up to at least 2.5ghz amd, at the very least a gig of ram (Im looking at getting 2 gigs) and a new motherboard and videocard, maybe another harddrive just for space's sake. So really my only obstacle to upgrading is... saving enough money to purchase a motherboard compatible with the newer video cards so I wont be bottlenecked too much. So really the only thing preventing the upgrading of my pc into something decent is money. Which is on its way just... waiting, every 2 weeks... Unfortunately I have to pay for food.

Maybe I'll reopen a bank account, deposit the paycheck and take out 150$ to live off of until the next paycheck.... It will force me to be more frugal with my day to day lifestyle, resorting to the grocery store which means generally healthier eating, and I can reach my mark for ordering the parts sooner.