Hardware upgrade cycle

[emorrp1]

I just made a completely biased and unfounded claim in another thread and wanted to test its validity: I reckon that PCs on Linux do not get upgraded as often as those on windows. The reason most people upgrade so early on windows is because it gets slower over time until the point it becomes unusable, and most wouldn't even consider re-installing windows, so they just get a new one. My main machine (laptop) is now approaching 3 years old and running fine (actually better), as I suspect other linux users' computers are too. So, I'd like to know, what are your reasons for upgrading a machine? Do you buy a whole new system, or just replace the major components in an existing one. How often do you upgrade?

[keithp]

My computer (made by a local shop for me) is now five and a half years old.

The only hardware upgrades I have done are:

1) A new, larger, and quieter power supply. (The one they supplied died on me!)

2) A memory upgrade from 500MB to 1.5GB.

It's running Linux perfectly well.

The only other hardware upgrade I would like is a monitor which is a bit larger than this 15" LCD one, but is not widescreen.

Keith

[tinca]

I stopped upgrading computers after I put this one together. Nothing will get replaced until it has broken. It is now two years old and running flat out 24/7.

Best regards Keith

[markcynt]

I buy a new computer around every 3 years or so because I like new computers not because I need them, although I may upgrade this one, probably late next year.

When I buy a new one I donate the old one to someone less fortunate than me.

[Fred]

emorrp1 wrote:

I just made a completely biased and unfounded claim in another thread and wanted to test its validity: I reckon that PCs on Linux do not get upgraded as often as those on windows. The reason most people upgrade so early on windows is because it gets slower over time until the point it becomes unusable, and most wouldn't even consider re-installing windows, so they just get a new one.

Maybe I can flesh this out for you, as based on my experience anyway. I probably have a different perspective than most on this board. There are two volunteer projects that I have been working on for the last several years. One is at a local high school and the other is at a nursing home.

With the help of interested students, I set-up a computer lab at the school that has 18 computers. Two groups of 8 Linux computers that are set up as two different independent networks, and 2 stand alone Windows computers. Students maintain, with my oversight, these networks and the Windows machines.

In the nursing home, we have 10 machines. 8 Linux and 2 Windows machines all independent, not networked. Though they do use a common Internet connection.

All these machines, all 28 of them with Windows pre-installed, were less than 2.5 years old when purchased. They were all bought at yard sales. Most were less than 2 years old, and were infested with malware. All were unusable due to software issues. I think a few had bad hard drives and a couple had bad power supplies, usually a result of over loading them with extra hard drives, CD/DVD drives, etc.

In short, my experience tends to support you hypothesis. People tend to replace their Windows computers when they get slow and infested. This is really illogical on the one hand. If the machine was sufficient to do the desired job when it was purchased, there is no reason why it couldn't be put back in that condition. On the other hand, if the price of a new, better computer is low enough, it could be that reconstituting the software would be a very significant percentage of the price of a new unit. So there are lots of ways to look at the purchasing decision when looking at the Windows world way of doing things.

As for my own computer purchasing, I have always built my own up until just recently. This past Christmas my daughters got me a new, custom made, JNCS, factory made desktop. My wife got me a ZaReason laptop. These are the only store bought computers I have ever had.

Even when I was still working, I built my own servers and client desktops for the office. I admit that I don't build much now though. My eyesight and hand-eye just isn't good enough anymore to make it enjoyable. Anything that has to be worked on I get one of the students to do it for me.

I know I took the long way around and got a bit wordy, but I think you are right emorrp1. I do believe that Windows users upgrade, for multiple reasons, more often than Linux users. This is probably one reason we aren't liked very much by computer manufactures and fix-it shops.

Fred

[AK Dave]

I see it with Windows users, I see it with Linux users, some people just like to brag about the sooper-dooper high specs of their sooper-dooper new machine. Me? Not so much: nothing to brag about.

In the Windows world, you load your system down with all this "I gotta-have-it" crapware. It starts with the antivirus running 24/7 in the background filtering every packet you send OR receive and crosschecking all of your data while you TRY to do something else. Over time, the computer doesn't get any faster but the crapware multiplies AND gets more bloated.

I can often take an older crapware-infested sluggish slow performing XP box and with a broad sweep of "remove program", a defrag, and replacing Norton with something like Avast!, turn an old POS boatanchor into a decent performer. Defining "decent" as "better than it was when it was brand new from the store". But within a few months, the Windows user's crack habit hasn't been changed one bit so the computer is once again laden with crapware: GoPets, Google Chat, Facebook games, $Diety knows what else. Once again, "its an old POS and needs to be replaced".

My wife asked me the other day, as I was installing gcompris for our 2yo, if my "downloading that program from the internet" wasn't the same thing as her installing some piece of random crapware Windows game that one of her Facebook friends told her about.

Wife: "You just downloaded that from the internet, why is that okay and what I do not okay?"
Me: "This package was retrieved via the internet from a safe, clean, certified, signed, and code-verified software repository. I can read the source code, if I want, other people have, and if I was really paranoid I could compile that source code myself."

[DrHu]

I just made a completely biased and unfounded claim in another thread and wanted to test its validity: I reckon that PCs on Linux do not get upgraded as often as those on window

Ultimately. I don't have a clue

I think people of all types who have any computers upgrade/buy when the urge strikes them
--often driven by advertising or sales, whether they use Linux, Apple or Microsoft products; gamers for example are particularly interested in the newest graphic cards and over-clocking

Business users of any type (government/private) have a different set of reasons, and they are also influenced by advertising
--except it is more targeted to get them to buy/upgrade; some of that is due to License issues and OS changes (not only Microsoft, also other products such as Oracle) etcetera..

The people who don't upgrade as much are likely ones who build/assemble their own computers (it used to be build, but that is before the computer became a commodity), whichever OS they use
--building your own PC used to save you money, nowadays it doesn't make any difference, and sometimes the manufacturers products are cheaper to buy, than it is to build/assemble it yourself.

Of course manufacturers often use the cheapest components they can: mainboard, cabling, power supplies, that type of thing.
--if you assemble your own computer, you can select specific manufacturers for power supplies, cases, mainboard, monitors; because it isn't part of a bundled package set to a specific price point, and thereby get a better overall build quality..

Apple is a possible exception, as they tend to pay more attention to the overall build of their systems
--if they don't change that for competitive reasons (price), then they will always have the better hardware products..

[DrHu]

In short, my experience tends to support you hypothesis. People tend to replace their Windows computers when they get slow and infested. This is really illogical on the one hand.
...
So there are lots of ways to look at the purchasing decision when looking at the Windows world way of doing things.

I think that is it, as the reason for a windows user to change their system

Well apart from the advertising effect of new, its new...; get it now, get it quick, its in limited supply..

Which also affects Apple users, a new Ipod, a new Iphone, a new Apple OS, a new Apple product is now available; limited supply
--of course limited, there is never an infinite supply or a perpetual sale

Linux users don't usually suffer from the large scale advertising effects of new products, so are less likely to be upgrading/changing systems at every opportunity

[AK Dave]

Windows laptop user: The keycaps are getting worn, I can't see the A S W D letters any more, I'd better get a new laptop.

Mac laptop user: There is a scratch on the case, and I heard on twitter that a new model is coming out next month. I'll sell this on eBay right now so I can get that!

Linux laptop user: I can't see the lettering on half the keyboard, but I'm a touch typist so I don't care. But maybe I should disassemble this and clean out all the hotpocket crumbs; instead, I'll just turn up the sensitivity on my keyboard to "jackhammer" and cook another hotpocket on the radiator of my server's waterpump.