Poll: How Old is the Oldest Computer You Still Actively Use?
[polldaddy poll=4883226]
What’s the age of the oldest computer you still actively use? Answer the poll and share the details of the machine in the comments below. The oldest machine we actively use in our home is a PowerMac G5 2GHz (rev. A model) which was purchased new in 2003. It still runs well but I imagine in a few years it’ll be difficult to find a modern browser that will still work with it.
And speaking of polls, here are the results taken from the previous poll, which asked: “How many icons do you have on your desktop?”
40% indicated that their desktop contained between 2 to 10 icons, while it was fairly close between the “none” and “I’ve lost count” categories.
-Krishna
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William 'Shaggy' Chrapcynski
April 10, 2011 at 8:31 pmI have a Commodore 64 that still sees use in my studio.
Jose A. Gonzalez
April 10, 2011 at 8:40 pmT30 Thinkpad, manufactured early 90s, acquired 2nd hand 2005-6.
Just gave up the ghost again recently – battery totally screwed, but it will live again, I tell you, it will live! Good old Ubuntu on it. Don’t know what CPU speed its got (don’t think its in the GHz ballpark, but it doesn’t have wireless connectivity. 30GB HD, 512MB RAM
I do have a neighbor with something even older, but we’re planning to dig into the neighbor’s library room some time soon to see if its still alive. An old PackardBell I think. We’ll see.
Tovias
April 10, 2011 at 8:59 pmI still use my clamshell Blueberry iBook that I picked up way back in 2000. I just can’t let it go for some reason. The word processing (ClarisWorks) still works fine for what I need. I don’t have wireless on it so it helps keep me focused when I need to sit and just write.
The oldest computer I own is my Macintosh Performa 466 that I picked up way back in 1994. Still boots up fine with it’s 4 MB of memory and 160MB hard drive. While I don’t use it for anything, I do fire it up every now and again to show the kids.
Larry Gusaas
April 10, 2011 at 10:59 pmMacBook 2,1 (Late 2006). My first and only Mac. It is still working well. I hope to upgrade to a new MacBook Pro soon. Will keep current Mac as a second machine.
Mike
April 11, 2011 at 3:12 amUmmmm, this is a difficult question to answer because I upgrade parts in a semi-regular pattern and rarely buy whole. The oldest parts are probably 2009 in my NAS and 2010 for my main computer.
I have actually had a philosophical debate with a friend about when a slew of upgrades becomes a “new computer.” We came up with no definitive. However my general rule is when the motherboard and/or CPU changes it’s a new computer.
Antoine
April 11, 2011 at 6:19 amWhile I still use a 3 years old computer, I only use it to watch movies or TV Shows and it is plugged on my TV. Also, Even if 3 years old, I kept upgraded it, until I got myself a new one at the end of 2010
SimVTX
April 11, 2011 at 7:14 amRecently, I managed to scrounge up all the comps not in use in my house. I dug up 5 different PC, each with its own missing parts. I would say all of them range from mid 90’s to about 2002. We managed to salvage one so far after reformat its 60GB hard drive on it and switching some IDE cables. After that we put ubuntu on it and it works fine. Has 768MB of ram inside it after switching around some RAM sticks from the other comps.
Alex
April 11, 2011 at 11:54 am2001 Pentium 4 Dell tower here- basically only runs Firefox and Skype for me these days but it has served me well over the years. (Albeit me having to replace the gfx card and that the DVD drive doesn’t work any more…
kaitou
April 11, 2011 at 8:21 pmMy firewall/DNS server is a Gateway GP6-400 purchased in 1998. originally used as my desktop machine, it’s pretty much been up solid the 12.75 years I’ve had it. The home-build 1.33GHz Athlon machine I used as my server went belly-up 6 months ago when a bunch of the caps on the motherboard started leaking (stupid electrolytics).
mdhondt
April 30, 2011 at 1:37 pmI think I win for the oldest computers, I have a desktop and a laptop and use my laptop 90% of the time.
My laptop is a Panasonic Toughbook CF-27 from 1999, Pentium 1 233MHZ, I have upgraded the ram to 160MB (maximum), and replaced my dead 3gb hd with a 10gb hd when it died, and bought a couple new batteries over the years, I just upgraded from windows 98 and office 97 to Windows 2000 Professional and Office 2000, I use Firefox 3.5.1 and IE6 for browsing.
Desktop is a Pentium 1 150MHZ with 32MB ram running windows 98 first ed with a 2.1gb hd.
Mick
October 27, 2012 at 9:11 amWhimps!
I use a Dell XPS Pro200n as my main PC all the time since 1996. I replaced the 200MHz processor with a 333MHz Pentium II Overdrive processor. It has a meagre 128Mb of RAM (the maximum it can have) and a 32Mb Matrox graphics adapter.
Originally came with an NT4.0 operating system which I upgraded to NT4.1 then eventually replaced with Windows XP SP3 a couple of years ago.
The latest version of the Firefox browser runs on it as effectively as on any dual core processor PC as does Word, Excel, and Microsoft Outlook (Office 2003).
Everytime I think of replacing it for a new PC. I think “what for?”. It does everything I need it to do. The only thing I can’t do with it is play the latest computer games. But that’s ok because I didn’t buy it to play computer games on.
Krishna
October 27, 2012 at 9:22 amHow can you load the latest Firefox with XP using only 128MB ram? I’m calling your bluff.