Ancient computers that are happily still your primary machine
 

In January of 2000, I received $2,000 for my college graduation from my parents to be used specifically toward a new computer. I spent about $2,130 on a system, and I still use it every day. I don't feel a need to upgrade anytime soon.

I don't play games, and do only basic photo editing. It's used mainly for Internet, poker, music and basic word processing.

Here are the specs. I'm at work, so this is from the top of my head:

Dell Dimension
Pentium 3 (1ghz)
128k memory (upgraded to 512k after first year)
40gb hard drive
Paid extra for nice sound card and speakers with big block woofer (makes a good foot rest underneath desk)
Windows ME (upgraded to XP in 2002)
CDRW drive and DVD drive (seperate)
Floppy drive
Two USB ports
19-inch, old-school tube monitor.

Upgrades I haven't already mentioned:
256gb external hard drive
USB and firewire card (along with USB hub)
External DVD burner
Network Interface Card (didn't come with one, don't remember an option).
I've used several mice, but still use the same "internet" keyboard.

I've reformatted it twice. Once because I was stupid and manually deleted explorer (I couldn't boot and panicked) and once when I changed operating systems.

I love this machine. The only thing it absoultely fails to do is import video from my DV camcorder. I use my laptop for that.

In 2004, when I was having trouble with AOL, an asshat AOL rep insisted my computer was too old and the memory was "going bad." That's the only time I considered replacing it. Luckily, I sought a second opinion. As mentioned in another thread, I leave it on all the time, and am guessing I've powered it down <100 times.

I think I might cry when the thing finally craps out.

Am I unique in this experience with my desktop, or are there some like me out there who are still completely happy with a 7-year-old system?

Re: Ancient computers that are happily still your primary machine
 

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Am I unique in this experience with my desktop, or are there some like me out there who are still completely happy with a 7-year-old system?

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I still remember the sad day when my father finally threw away the CGA monitors.

Within the last year I was still regularly using a P2 266. I finally broke down and replaced it with a 2.2GHz Athlon 64 which I will very shortly be replacing with a dual opteron. I use a different computer for poker though, so I can't really say it was my primary computer.

Re: Ancient computers that are happily still your primary machine
 

lol, my main computer is a celeron 1 ghz from ~1999 it runs netbsd and really fast too. 8 years old.

we are keepin' it real