The Lifetime of a Studio Computer
Feb. 20th, 2011 07:04 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
billroperSo I was curious as to how long I've had the studio computer in the basement -- it is running Windows XP after all. And it turns out that I've had it for a bit over four years. That's not too bad.
That is, if I hadn't had to replace the motherboard two years ago.
The previous studio computer was three years old before it died.
This is a bit more unplanned obsolescence than I approve of.
That is, if I hadn't had to replace the motherboard two years ago.
The previous studio computer was three years old before it died.
This is a bit more unplanned obsolescence than I approve of.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2011-02-21 01:17 am (UTC)We have a Gateway upstairs in the office, server for the home network, that we bought about 1997. Haven't replaced any hardware. It does run on XP instead of 98, because MSPaint98 crashes all the time. And it's been complaining for about a year about available discspace on the C drive (though it's been longer than that since we last put anything substantial on it). But it still chugs along quite nicely.
no subject
Date: 2011-02-21 07:00 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-02-21 11:15 pm (UTC)But I've now had three different motherboards from two different manufacturers go flaky on me -- or possibly the processors, as it can be hard to say without parts to swap. And it may be that I'm just hanging out too far on the bleeding edge of technology down there.
no subject
Date: 2011-02-22 06:58 am (UTC)Think about it- how much money/time have you spent in the last three years just trying to keep the studio running (on the computer/tech side).
My impression is that, especially with the kids, your time is *not* cheap. And when you add to that what you've spent in hardware just in the last three years- I think it likely gets *very* expensive. Much more so than it should be.
And while I realize that its fun to build your own; given that in the last 19 years (yes, we've known each other nearly 19 years)- there has never been a point where you have not been messing with your tech just to get it working the way you know it should be.
It shouldn't be that difficult. For many, it isn't- but they don't build their own systems, either.
So, if your goal is to mess with the tech- cool. Have fun. If your goal is to get work out of the studio, IMO you need to revisit some of your assumptions.
But that's just me. :)
Love, your concerned Son. :)
no subject
Date: 2011-02-22 07:32 am (UTC)Sadly, I've had both Western Digital and Seagate drives fail on me, so I can't even blame a single manufacturer. I think it's just lousy QC.
Either that or I'm having really bad luck with my position on the MTBF curve. *sigh*
The good news is that I'm getting out of this for less than $1000 worth of hardware...