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As technology enthusiasts we sometimes forget that not everyone is caught up in our never ending state of gadget lust, and the law of averages has mainstream consumers driving up the age of most hardware found in the wild. According to industry analysts’ quoted by the New York Times, most people are now upgrading old cellphones every 18 months, a sharp rise from just a year ago when it was only 16.
On the laptop front the average consumer is milking 4 years a 4 months out of a typical machine, up an extra 30 days from the same period last year. The Time’s report cited dozens of products across all segments that follow this trend, but it’s interesting to benchmark yourself against the average sane technology user.
Are you quick to turnover technology? Or are you still reading us on a Pentium 4? Let us know in the comments below.
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OhSoCheesy
March 26, 2011 at 7:22pm
until 4 months ago I was using an Athlon XP3200+. It's now my home server system replacing an agind Dell Optiplex with P4 1.7Ghz. Laptop is still Pentium M 2.1Ghz. It's time to be replaced because it chokes on anything above 480 video files. Before married life (one is college and one about to be), I used to buy something PC hardware related at least every month. I never cared what new phones cost and always had the newest. Such is life...wouldn't trade it for the world!
hitman_vic@msn.com
March 10, 2011 at 3:12am
Pentium 4 HT prescott 3.0 socket 478, 2gb (2x1 gb) corsair xms (ddr) 3-3-3-8 running on dual channel, xfx geforce 7900gs (agp). Mobo Gigabyte 8IPE1000 pro-G, Os Win7. Still playing COD 4, cod 2, supreme commander and forged alliance, the settlers, gangsters 2.
nickb64
March 02, 2011 at 10:07am
I'm reading this on a P4 right now, but that's at school. Our family desktop is still a Pentium D with 1GB RAM and a 6600LE, pushing about 4-4.5 years old I think now. I want to replace it in the coming months, but that will probably wait until I get a new gaming/production rig, and my Core i3 laptop will probably become the family PC for a little while. It does what my mom and sister need it to decently, though it does choke on some video and occasionally because of the low amount of RAM and the other mediocre components.
vectorizer
March 01, 2011 at 8:42pm
I used to be able to justify a two-year PC replacement cycle because my older stuff would be hand-me-downs to wife and kids. Now that kids are leaving home, I need a replacement excuse.
BTW, the article's picture caught my eye. The Osborne 1 was my first portable, bought in '81 instead of an original IBM PC.
domih2009
March 01, 2011 at 12:08am
My 2002 Motorola 120e (http://www.google.com/images?q=motorola+120e) still goes strong. It replaced the Microtac (http://www.google.com/images?q=motorola+microtac) when I could no longer find replacement batteries. I'm not planning to replace the 120e soon, it works great and does not drop calls like the last brand new best of the best you know what.
RatPatrol
February 28, 2011 at 7:06pm
well I still use a Black Razr that says Cingular on the back .......
and my PC was built out of 9 Kick Ass rated items from 08
Striker II Extreme
GTX-280
Sound Blaster X-Fi Titanium Fatal1ty Pro
HAF 942
Logitech Z5500
+ 6Gb of Crucial Balistix, 2 500 Gb Mirrord HD and a 1.5 Tb data drive, 2 Samsung OEM DVD Burners ...
Receltly Added a R.A.T. 7 ...
Items Other.
Mac Book Pro 17 3.06 Ghz ...
Mac Performa Power Mac 6500/250, G3 Pismo, Dell Optiplex 110, Mac SE, Dell SC 400 various P II and PIII Dell laptops ......
Yeah Old Tech Works Well ...
tiger8sugar
February 28, 2011 at 3:58pm
I'm still rock'n with an i7 920 and two 4890s buid. I hope to get a few more years with this setup. The i7 920 replaced an Athlon 64 with an AGP ATI X350 build, which could play Crysis at lower settings. Computers capable of more than just serfing the net are not cheap. I'll dive it till the wheels fall off. With that said, I enjoy reading about the newest hardware and look forward to my next build.
slooksterpsv
February 28, 2011 at 3:34pm
I'm using a Gateway NV53 that I bought last year, battery's already dead.
I have an AMD Phenom I built about 4 years ago, i still use that quite a bit, especially for gaming.
I plan on using these computers for a lot longer, especially with linux.
dcomander1
February 28, 2011 at 2:56pm
I have several computers (1 to 5+ years) that have been aquired from friends,bought as a prebuilt, as well as custom built from retail parts bought from computer stores, computer shows and online. As for replacing tech, the timeline should be at least 6 years, unless the conditions favor a shorter timeline. As far as my tech timeline goes, I usually replace my tech every 1 to 3 years unless the tech lasts longer, as I do push my tech very hard to learn how long they last, and what their limits are, considering I'm a freelance IT Technician, and PC / Console gamer and Im also on a very strict budget, as I'm also unemployed.
M1K3Z0R
February 28, 2011 at 10:48am
Glad to see I'm not alone. Running a Pentium D 820 @2.8GHz, 4GB Ram, Geforce 9600GSO, 750GB HDD, all in a thermaltake Xaser III case. Does everything I need and work beautifully.
I have a Pentium 4 530J @3Ghz, 1.25GB ram, 80GB hdd and Geforce 8600GT as the basement rig. Also in the basement stockpile are 3xpentium 1 units, 3xpentium 2, 2xpentium 3, a Dell 8400, AthlonXP 2800, and a Sony P4 1.4Ghz as well.
One of my previous main computers was an HP Pavilion 8860 - 1GHz Athlon T-Bird, 512MB ram, 80GB HDD, and a Radeon 9200. That thing lasted me from 2001 to 2008, life ended by a leaky capacitor that I thought was too much trouble to replace, it had passed it's time anyway.
I game occasionally, but mostly older games. Works fine for me. Otherwise, I can't really see myself using anything more than a Core2 for awhile - hopefully I'll manage to land a E8400 for cheap someday
User69
February 28, 2011 at 9:00am
I have my Gateway laptop, core 2 duo 2.1 ghz, 4 gb ddr3 @ 1066, 9800M GTS, with a 17in monitor at 1900X1200 with HDMI from 2008 with origional battery. This bad boy will still kill the newest sandy bridge Macbook pro in gaming as it still has a bettery graphics card. $1200 in 2008 compared to a $2,500 2011 macbook pro its kinda sad really that anyone would buy a Macbook. But really who would by a macbook pro for the performance right? All show and no go! Holla at my haters!
big_montana
February 28, 2011 at 6:57am
I am still running an AMD Athlon X2 4000+ (Toldeo core), 4GB of ram, ATI 5670 Graphics card, 6 1TB HDD, Windows 7 Pro 64 bit. Repalced the mobo last year, due to Asus still not knowing how to make a quality mobo for AMD that will just work (was repaired 3 times, finally got tired of it failing and replaced it with a cheap ECS). Smartphone is an HRC EVO, but I am thinking or upgrading that to Windows Phne 7, as I need one that works in the enterprise market. Android and iOS just ahve to many issues with Exchange sync, Blackberry and Windows phones are the only ones that seem to just work.
Brechan
February 28, 2011 at 6:28am
My system still does what it needs to do-mostly gaming-after more than 3 years now; running with a 1st generation Phenom (9950), an ASUS AM2 board that is capable of running a newer Phenom II CPU if I ever decide to upgrade from what I have now, and 8GB's of DDR2 RAM.
I've upgraded my GPU's every other year or so (2 HD5770's in CrossfireX), or whenever I've got a few extra pennies to spend. This year for my major upgrade; I'm planning on building a water cooling setup ( I'm tired of loud fans and lousy temps from air cooling and cheap w/cing knock-offs, e.g. CoolIt).
krash3x
February 28, 2011 at 6:17am
I have a core i7 965 in my desktop a turion 2 in my laptop and a dual core atom in my asus 1201n. The difference between the 3 is drastic as far a performance goes. As far as software catching up goes I havent seen software that didnt run better with the machines with faster processors. Most of you guys are just finding excuses to have old outdated machines. I hate the fact that I havent changed my cpu in two years but I'm going to wait for the new sockets to come out in november
krash3x
February 28, 2011 at 6:17am
I have a core i7 965 in my desktop a turion 2 in my laptop and a dual core atom in my asus 1201n. The difference between the 3 is drastic as far a performance goes. As far as software catching up goes I havent seen software that didnt run better with the machines with faster processors. Most of you guys are just finding excuses to have old outdated machines. I hate the fact that I havent changed my cpu in two years but I'm going to wait for the new sockets to come out in november
Engelsstaub
February 28, 2011 at 1:06am
I wish Intel and others would stop pushing "new CPU-tech" so hard and fast. Most of the software we use has barely caught up with the original i7s/Phenom IIs. (I actually had to change the settings of Fallout 3 to run on one core just so it would run right!)
It makes ppl feel as though they need the latest/greatest when they really could be adequateily served by a Core 2 Duo or something yet.
I now have two notebooks, one with an i7, and plan on keeping them for about four years or more as well. My "old" laptop from 2007 is still running great according to its happy new owner. Still looks new as well.
d3v
February 28, 2011 at 6:45am
I wish Intel would release faster CPUs sooner. If anything they are holding back. That tends to happen when you have no serious competition. The way I see it Intel could easily be releasing CPUs that are 3-5 times faster than their current crop. Instead they want to milk us for every penny by releasing slower CPUs first.
I do agree with you that most people don't need faster computers. In fact if the netbook craze has shown us anything its that even p4s are fine for most people (atoms being about as fast as a p4). The bottleneck is no longer the CPU. Instead its permanent storage that is holding computers back. Cheaper SSDs will likely take care of that problem in time.
logicmaster2003
February 28, 2011 at 12:41am
Intel 80386 DX 40 Mhz here... with Compuserve dial up (JK !)
GeneralEvilG
February 28, 2011 at 12:04am
Been using laptops for my main PCs, my first laptop was a Compaq Presario F700 (AMD Athlon X2 @ 1.9Ghrz, 3GB RAM, NVIDIA GeForce 7000M) I wanted more power, but was stuck on a strict budget. About 2 years later, I finally got my current laptop a ASUS N61jq-x1 (i7-720QM @ 1.6Ghz, 4GB RAM, ATi Moblitiy Radeon HD 5730), it runs all my games on high/highest settings and will tear into any processor-heavy program with ease. I'v only had it for a year, so I don't know when I'll feel like upgrading, but I think I will build a home gaming rig and just keep it for mobile use when it gets too outdated.
qhoa1385
February 27, 2011 at 10:29pm
lol
I still got a P4 running a bunch of server hosting stuffs and an experimental machine, not a bad machine, still grinding for its money
my philosophy of upgrade is only when that item is at least Double the performance/features (or at least some significant notices) , and still stay at the same price of my current stuff
avenger48
February 27, 2011 at 10:09pm
As of two years ago, I was using a (then) 5 year old Dell laptop with a Pentium M. At that point, I thought to myself, "Wow, this really sucks" and vowed to stop using old, miserable components.
Shortly thereafter, my lappy died, and I had to live with my friends old P4 build. It was a 2A GHz Willamette. 'nuff said.
Since then, I have spent all of the money I could on PC components (not that much, actually, given I'm a high school student) and am proud of my 3.8 GHz AMD tricore (didn't unlock, I tried), 6GB RAM, and GTX 460 SLI-equipped gaming PC. It makes me happy.
As for my cell phone, I keep meaning to upgrade it and seem to never have the money to pay more than $50. The problem is, by the time the phone I want costs $50, a better model is out. So I have a 2.5 year-old Samsung Blackjack II.
DogPatch1149
February 27, 2011 at 9:47pm
The laptop is a four-year-old HP dv6258se - AMD Turion X2 TL-56, 2GB RAM, GeForce Go 6150, originally had Vista Home Premium 32-bit but is now rocking 7 Ultimate 64-bit. I don't game except for emulators of classic systems, which the machine does quite well. It's had the mobo replaced once because of the infamous overheating problem with the GPU, but since that and a rebuild that used a copper penny and some AS5 thermal compound, it's ran beautifully.
The current desktop is a Compaq Presario something-or-other - AMD Athlon 64 3400+, 1.5GB RAM, ATI All-In-Wonder Radeon 9200 AGP, and Windows XP Pro 32-bit. It's been humming along with no problems for about four years now.
No smartphone or anything like that, just a Motorola i856 Debut on Nextel with no internet access at all. It does have a 8GB MicroSD car to store music, since it's a really decent MP3 player. I don't have a need to be connected all of the time.
HVDynamo
February 27, 2011 at 9:03pm
I am still running my Asus A8N-32 SLI board with an Athlon 64 X2 4400+. It shows its age from time to time with some things, but honestly it still runs all the games I play decent enough. I also have a 9800GTX in it, upgraded from a 7800GTX. I built it early 2006. I do kind of want a new one, but I don't 'need' a new one as this one does do everything I need it to do, and money is tight right now.
PCLinuxguy
February 27, 2011 at 8:17pm
while an interesting article, People need to realize that not everyone is rich and able to turnover technology to the bleeding edge every few months. Some people are on tight budgets, are college students, etc. It's the same reason that every Tom, Dick, and Harry doesn't drive a >$100,000 car around like it's nothing. I'd love to be able to turnover tech for the latest and greatest, but the economy has screwed me out of that for a long time.
aerotive
February 27, 2011 at 8:01pm
Oh, forgot to mention the biggest upgrade I've done in that four-year interim--going from a single 22in, 1680x1050 panel to dual 24in, 1080p displays. Doulbing up on monitors changed the way I use my computer and made me noticeably more productive. Highly, highly recommended.
aerotive
February 27, 2011 at 7:53pm
The pc I'm typing this on is over four years old. AMD X2 2.0GHz, 4GB RAM, HD2400 GPU. Have upgraded it to Win 7 64-bit though. I think I will get at least another couple years out of it, possible three or even four with a proc upgrade. The thing still feels modern.
If you don't do video encoding or high-end gaming (neither applies to me) there's little reason to buy more hardware these days.
It's heresy around here but I switched to console gaming in 2006 and don't regret that decision at all. Think I'd get a faster Internet connection before upgrading my pc hardware.
Still using the original 2G iphone. Fully unlocked and jailbroken, it still has better multitasking than the newest ones. Will likely break down & sell it off & get a refurbed iphone 4 once the new one comes out.
scoop6274
February 27, 2011 at 7:38pm
I don't do complete upgrades often, but I do try and do upgrades that keep a current machine more current. My main machine is just about 2yrs old. My wifes machine is my old machine that had reached 4ys old. It is now 6yrs old and still running strong. I purchased a netbook last year just before Christmas as an office/web machine for while I am watching TV. My laptop is a work laptop and was just replaced about 8 months ago. Unfortunately it was year old tech when we go it. For some reason we tend to run that far behind at my work (it is rather annoying, but hey a c2d is far better than a pentium m).
As far as my cellphone is concerned, I am on about an 18 month replacement schedule. The reason is, this is the quickest my provider will let me upgrade at the promo prices.
vistageek
February 27, 2011 at 6:56pm
I am still using an aging Q6600 machine, with 4 gigs of ram, 2x GTX 260's in SLI, and 2 500 HDD's in RAID 0. It still plays every game on the market maxed out and photoshop CS5 is usable, so I haven't upgraded. I don't see games getting too much more demanding until the dinos in the console sector getting upgraded. My PC is several times faster than an xbox 360.
ShyLinuxGuy
February 27, 2011 at 6:38pm
I use an old Dell Optiplex w/ a Pentium III as a file server. It runs Ubuntu Server 8.04.Then I have two generic 486 Baby AT towers and a Compaq with a Pentium II in my closet,they're unused, but I *do not* want to throw them out (I eventually want to do something with them, and they're too cute to throw out :P and are becoming INCREASINGLY rare). And then...in the garage I have maybe 8 or 9 different towers, anywhere from Pentium III to a Core 2 Duo, and then a large box of old computer parts (large meaning a HUGE box) that I have collected over time since I was probably 12 (I'm 19 now). I do not want to throw perfectly good parts away if they work--even if they're really, really old (like a 10+ pound SCSI hard drive that still powers up). I am not exactly an environmentalist, but I don't like throwing working technology away. I hope that when I get married, my future wife will allow me to have the whole basement to myself to house my collection :P.
The Core 2 Duo from 2007-ish mentioned above in the garage used to be my old PC, until the motherboard died a year ago. It was then I decided to just build a new PC, because it was not really worth fixing (it was a proprietary slimline PC from HP). The PC I'm using now has an Athlon II and I don't plan on replacing that machine for another 3-4 years.My laptop, a Compaq CQ62, will see a processor upgrade in the near future though.
Since I don't do "intensive" stuff like gaming, I tend to keep my machines a bit longer. I do use Photoshop, but I don't need an i7 or anything like that for what I do, so my Athlon II will stick with me until I have a good reason to get rid of it. My friends, on the other hand, it seems like I see a new system in their room every 3 months to me, and they consider my Athlon II *ancient and slow*.
Ghok
February 27, 2011 at 6:21pm
About every three years for a PC. That's usually when I start craving more, and my fans start to die anyway. I usually wait about the same with cell phones, too. I love new technology but I don't make the kind of money to afford to upgrade very often.
When I was a teen I got one PC to last waaaaaay longer than it had any right to. I remember playing Max Payne on a 166mhz (though it was MMX). It was pretty playable with all the settings turned down; I did upgrade the ram and video card once in its lifetime.
jackal49
February 27, 2011 at 6:13pm
In the military, we're a little different. Laptops and Netbooks are almost a necessity due to personal space contraints. I bought a new laptop every three years, at each new duty station.
However, I built my wife new computers in 2003, 2007, and 2011.
I built my gaming rig in 2006. I just sold it and I'm building a new i7 rig this month. So I got 5 years out of my machine.
My HTPC is need of an upgrade, and I built it in 2007.
I got through phones like crazy, about 1 every 14-16 months. Partly gadget lust, partly work abuse. However, I bought a smartphone and I've had it for 2 years. I love my HTC Touch Pro. It's the now gone Windows Mobile 6.1, but it does everything I need, except Angry Birds. I have an eLocity A7 Tegra 2 Android Tablet for that!
Wingzero_x
February 27, 2011 at 5:46pm
Really it's just getting to a point where the big advances aren't that big. We actually have onboard graphics that are respectable. Both Windows and OSX feel complete and are easy to use. I play FEAR on a 3 year old C2D based laptop with Intel X3100 graphics!
Pleekmo
February 27, 2011 at 5:25pm
I have no cellphone. Current main computer here is a Q6600 processor acquired in the summer of 2007. My recently purchased Sandy Bridge processor is awaiting a replacement for its recalled mainboard before it becomes the new main machine. The Sandy Bridge is a replacement for a file server built in 2004 that has developed issues -- neither machine is operational at this time. Current oldest running machine is an AMD Athlon 64 3000+ also acquired in 2004. Notebook with a C2D processor was acquired in 2008.
Yusonice
February 27, 2011 at 3:53pm
This is not surprising considering core 2 duo released in 2006 is still reasonably powerful to run HD videos. average folks dont care about gaming anyway. if they are gamers, they would have upgraded frequently.
Still i think c2d will last for another 2-3 years?
whathuhitwasntme
February 27, 2011 at 3:02pm
yeah pretty sure you will find that most of us dont really do a complete "upgrade" any more, and on the rare occasion we do, the old stuff gets repurposed as working gear and handed down or away to another user.
My last 2 pc's are still here in the house as I upgrade parts I save the old ones and build systems, and when I do a complete build often the replaced machine is still servicable and is just given to one of my kids or the neighbors kids. Darn shame to fill land fills with working machines because we got a new shiny toy.
as for cell phones and portable devices, my laptop is 3 years old, but my smart phone is a year old. It does a lof of what my laptop used to so like mentioned above, it has allowed me to not upgrade the laptop.
jackal49
February 27, 2011 at 6:16pm
I constantly upgrade. I still keep my old parts for freinds and family. I'd say I build a new machine every 4-5 years. No way I'm throwing them away though. Like you I repurpose them. I almost have enough parts for a server, which is my next project.
sweetjeebus
February 27, 2011 at 1:51pm
i7 920, 6 gigs of ram, and a 5870. Been rocking it for 3 years. I will upgrade when they start making games that demand more. Looks like this console generation will last about 10 years, so we have to wait til they upgrade, because there aint enough money in PC exclusives apparently.
leokon95
February 27, 2011 at 1:36pm
These stats definitely don't apply to me, my current phone is a 3 and a half year old brick. Of course, I don't really use it that much, but the main reason I haven't upgraded is the fact that many of the functions of the newer smartphones are already fulfilled by my other assorted gadgets.
I even just recently wrote a blog post about this exact thing, here:
lordmidnight
February 27, 2011 at 1:34pm
The bleeding edge of PC hardware used to be driven by PC gaming. Games aren't designed for PCs anymore, they're ported over from consoles. And the consoles used to be on a pretty strict 5-year cycle. Instead of introducing new consoles, both Microsoft and Sony have simply added to the existing hardware with Kinect and Move. Is it the economy? Is it a growing familiarity with technology that causes simple complacence? Or is everyone simply saving all of his or her technology money on the inevitable new version of the iPhone every year? That seems to be the only thing people are standing in line for anymore. That and whatever Call of Duty gets released this year.
fuddco
February 27, 2011 at 1:22pm
There really isn't a reason for most "regular" people to upgrade. Anything released within the last couple of years will do pretty much what you want/need it to do. I think also alot of people who would upgrade are watching their finances, I for one have put a hold on spending my gadget income until my business shows signs of improving.
nbrowser
February 27, 2011 at 1:18pm
heh I've still got a system here rockin an Asus P2B-DS board with dual Pentium III 450s in it, runs quite nicely with XP Pro !
On the flipside, yeah I've got the kinda sorta latest, i7 950 etal but sometimes having an old machine is priceless.
Sodman
February 27, 2011 at 1:10pm
You also have to take into account that there is new technology out there, a person with an aging laptop may not have upgraded their laptop as early this time around becaue he/she now has a shiny new Ipad or similar and the same thing with phones and the release of the Ipod Touch and all the Ipad again when it comes to the phone upgrade cycle, who needs the latest phone technology if they just bought that Ipad.
Maybe this study should be taken with a grain of salt as do a lot of tech surveys which don't tell the whole story, just the out of context facts which the press and Analysts love to throw around.
raven199009
February 27, 2011 at 12:44pm
my machine is just about one year old. with new technology becoming available from day to day it is hard for people like me not to get the latest and greatest hardware. my phone only last me about a year before i decide to get a newer and better one. everytime i can save up that extra money i tend to upgrade peices of my machine. it may not be the best that is out there, but i do upgrade.
Neufeldt2002
February 27, 2011 at 12:34pm
I may not have that old (P4), but my system is at least 2 yrs old already. I would like a better graphics card, but this system will do for a few more years. My son's system is my old one, and it is pushing 5 - 6 yrs. I believe that the answer is simply that tech is lasting longer, so people aren't forced to upgrade due to failure.
