Smart Tech
Old PC Holding You Back?
Laptops are helping more people do more of what they love in more places around the world.
That’s what we learned while collecting stories and footage from the [UC Berkeley](http://www.calbears.com/sports/w-fieldh/cal-w-fieldh-body.html) campus, Malaysia and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. We mixed those stories with data collected by Intel computer performance engineers.
In this video:
- HD playing on a new vs. a three-year older laptop
- Editing high quality video at home or even the beach
- Recording and mixing music at home, a club or with other DJ live over the Internet
- A college [field hockey coach](http://www.calbears.com/sports/w-fieldh/spec-rel/061009aaa.html) helping students become well rounded adults with the help of her laptop and digital video camera
Today, high quality HD video and television shows are being served up to computers from ever more Internet sites like [Hulu](http://www.hulu.com), [Disney](http://disney.go.com/index), [Fancast](http://www.fancast.com/), [TV.com](http://www.tv.com), and the networks [ABC](http://www.abc.com), [CBS](http://www.cbs.com/) and [NBC](http://www.nbc.com). Not only are they all offering Internet HD video, many people (myself included and each of our [Intel Insiders](http://scoop.intel.com/insiders)) are creating HD videos and uploading them to various video sites.
If you go to [NASA](http://www.nasa.gov/)’s site be prepared for an HD video experience. And it is not limited to watching. New laptops and desktops are empowering people to do things with rich media they could never do before. But if you got your PC three years ago, that would mean it was built in 2005, before the onslaught of online HD video and the rise of sites like YouTube and Facebook
Intel engineers put older and new computers to the test, and here’s what we learned:
- Compared to most Intel-powered laptops from 2005, a newer laptop from 2009 powered by an Intel Core processor can help you do more things, faster
- The 2009 laptop can multitask better and perform up to two times better,
- play HD internet TV shows, and can convert photos into videos as much as three-times faster than the 2006 laptop
Here is a place to learn about the latest [Intel consumer technologies](http://bit.ly/18UzYz) being used by PC makers around the world. If you’re interested in the sources for the old vs. new computer comparisons, check out the [Intel performance](http://www.intel.com/performance) site.
**My Anecdotal Home Tests**
At home, I have one desktop that is four years old. It helped my wife get through her PH.D program at UC Berkeley. But for the past few months, she feared that the computer was on its last leg, about to croak. I saw her trying to surf and watch videos on FanCast, the Comcast landing page. It worked, but it was painful watching her move from one video to another and then move to searching on Google, even when connected to the fastest home service Comcast offers.
I checked, and my two year laptop doesn’t choke like our old desktop. One other proof point for me is that my one-year-old MacBook is way better at editing video, photos and multitasking than my two year-old laptop.
I’ve been buying computers since 1986, and I’ve always tried buying one that will last at least three or four years. My first computers seemed to last four or five year, especially with a little memory upgrade. It seems now computers are getting much better much faster, so around the third year, I notice my patience wearing thin as computer begins bogging down when I’m working several browser tabs and other applications running at the same time.
I have a few four year old laptops I keep around, but they’re my clunkers for the kids to play with — they’re slower and just not as trusted as my newer laptops.
On the other end, I actually look forward to turning on my 2008 MacBook and quickly diving into my video editing and social media sharing.
I have heard that something like 2 out of every 5 or 6 consumer computers being used by consumers today are three years old or older — “over the hill” and possibly holding back their owners from fully enjoying the media-rich experience that today’s Internet offers.
Maybe some of these older PC are considered collector items by their owners. Or they’re waiting for the right time to buy that right model with specific mix of technologies inside and out.
If you have an old clunker PC story, please don’t hold back! Share it here.
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I am currently using a 5 years old desktop.
It is worst at multitasking, the window always freeze when switching program even i have keep the computer as clean as I can, without all those crapware
It may sound weird but I feel like Intel is the company responsible for making our three years old computers obsolete. During many years, their integrated graphics were the most popular chips in the world and were a major bottleneck in every laptop using them because while the excellent dual-core chip was able to process a ton of data, the video chip was choking on the most rudimentary 3D tasks.
These chips weren’t bad for use on business oriented computers back in 2005 but when Windows Vista showed up, they weren’t even able to render the Aero eye-candy correctly, creating a lot of trouble concerning the “Vista Capable” branding.
Even now, if you look at the current Apple lineup, as much as the priority in 2005 was to transition from the outdated PowerPc processor to the ultra-efficient core duo, the 2008 transition was one from the primitive intel x3100 to the Nvidia 9400/9600.
Speaking of the Nvidia chip, if you look on the video above at the two notebooks, the one on the right seems to have an Nvidia sticker next to the centrino one, meaning the only reason why it handles HD movies better is because the gpu is offloading the task from the CPU more efficiently than the graphic chip in the one on the left.
I don’t want to make Intel look like a cheap company, they hire engineers so brilliant I, as an insignificant teenager, can’t even imagine rivaling someday. I’m just making a point that they shouldn’t advertise their amazing processors for domains where their competitors have the edge but rather concentrate on the numerous aspects where they are miles ahead anything else on the market.
If possible I would really appreciate communicating with the author of this post to know a little more about the specs of the two computers used in the test video.
Until a year ago, we still ran a 386 computer, and currently the oldest computer we are running is a AMD K6 @ 133 MHZ with 32MB running Win98. We happen to live with the philosophy that if it works…don’t upgrade! we don’t have the money to try and keep up with the computer world, and only if we have to do we upgrade, the latest computer(err..laptop) happens to be AMD Turion X2 @ 1.9 GHZ with 2GB running Vista…Yes we have a few Intel Computers but the (evil) AMD processors happened to be on the extremes of my home computer spectrum
Justin,
Ken is out of the office this week, but I did want to provide some answers to your questions. The below comes from Jeff Lo who works in Intel’s Mobile Platform Group.
“The old Centrino (Sonoma) system is a Clevo M4A that used 2005 vintage ATI discrete graphics (ATI Mobility Radeon X700) as well as our Pentium M 740 processor (2.0GHz), 1GB of RAM with and running Vista Ultimate. The newer system is a Sony VAIO FW170J which does use our integrated graphics (GM45 chipset, GMA 4500MHD graphics), Core 2 Duo P8400 processor (2.26GHz), 4GB RAM and Vista Home Premium. The sticker that looks like an NVIDIA sticker is actually a Dolby Sound Room sticker which uses a green similar to the NVIDIA green. However, the videos being played are YouTube videos, which play with the Adobe Flash player, which has not been optimized by Adobe to take advantage of the graphics hardware capabilities to accelerate video playback, so in both cases the video decoding is being done solely on the CPU.”
Becky,
Please be realistic with this test, otherwise I find it biased and will throw it out as company propganda.
Back in 2005, Vista wasn’t around. It, especially Vista Ultimate a resource hog as it stands, needing 2GB to run comfortably; but simply, why won’t you compare the 2005 laptop loaded with Win XP SP2 instead of Vista, if you want realistic results.
I don’t think anyone in their right mind would install Vista on a laptop like that.
BTW, I watch HD on my IBM just fine. (1.06ghz, 512mb, 133mhz bus.)
Maybe you should post the HD video link to us so we can see how it performs in our computer. The fact of old computer is that, after sometime, either because of the hardware wear-and-tear, or software (thx XP) getting stuck with lots of useless libraries files loaded spyware adware loaded in the background, that when we play the video with the simple IE, it clogs. It doesn’t take long for a 3rd grade to understand newer computers run faster better, but sometimes the fact is that the old computer CAN run well too. Who is to blame for not being able to enjoy “media-rich experience that today’s Internet offer”? Lifespan of a computer? Or our cashflow? Hardware not having the capability to upgrade cheaply/easily? Software stupid enough to let all these adware/spyare installed? Or us?
so what you are telling everyone who reads this is to upgrade their computer so they can watch HD on their PC?
Let’s not forget the recession that WE ARE ALL experiencing right now. I find that this post is quite bothersome.
Seeing all this gizmo uprading stuff, i really find it it a enviromnmental crime to see that folks sre folreced out of their pc’s – i own a computer bought in 2000-windows 98 -if i remember rigt the only number i recall of the ptrocessor is intel genuine. ** oy os supposed tto be operating on SDRAM. recently sitetes such as yahoo are not properly opening as i am using . internet explorere 4 or 5. when i tried to upgrade on the net the website said that my hardware wasnt sufficient. The shop guy told me that my computer thaough looks still branmd new has to be yhrown out to my dismay. and new hardware bought. I got some feedback that to install DDRAM 2 but to find out from intel whether it will work in which case i may be abkle to downlaod videos from net and access email. would any body advise on this and whether to go for APPLEE desktop. reghards
MY father has a pentium II of 333mhz ,64ram ,HD of the incridible size of (be preperade) 2Gb runing windows 98 and he still happy.Of course he can’t watch HD movies but get the job done(in parts).And the windows is buged(Suspect of viruses, spywares and all the other things)but he won’t trade that “thing” for nothing in the word.
I haven’t purchased another computer since I’ve lacked the financial means to purchase one. I’m nineteen years of age and an active college student since Spring 2008. I enjoy watching videos online, working w/ 3D animation software, photograph software (Adobe CS4), and etc… I’d become irritated with it and noticed the old HDD was about to give out. I decided to burn my important information on a CD and purchase a new HDD. I manually installed (didn’t transfer) all software drivers, changed/customized administrative settings, stripped away anything useless, [soon to] partition the HDD w/ CMPT, and etc… I’m experienced with working on computers and have done allot of work to successfully speed things up. I’m unable to upgrade my GPU to anything worthwhile since the old AGP Nvidia GPU connections are outdated with the PCI (not PCI-E) connections. I’ve done almost everything possible to this computer to increase the speed and it’s worked very effectively. Though, it’s still barely keeping up. I’d previously overclocked the GPU and decided to change it back. Everything’s very quick on this computer except graphic intensive applications. Believe it or not, this modified desktop computer can outrun most new computers in many areas (excluding gaming & etc…). I’ve pushed this computer long enough and it’s time to upgrade. I think the main reason why people won’t upgrade their computers is because they can’t afford the one they need and not want.
Current Desktop Brief Specs
Dell Dimension 4600
Intel 2.8GHz Pentium 4 Core CPU
Seagate 500GB 7,200RPM HDD
[Modified] Windows XP OS
Nvidia GeForce FX 5200 GPU
Modified Software
I don’t know why anyone would wonder why people have old computers holding them back. The reason is people don’t want to shell out more money for a better computer. The only reason I don’t have a better computer is I can’t afford one.
How do you feel comfortable writing nonsense like this. I side by side comparison of performance should not be run from youtube. The video should have been run from the hard drive.
You & your analysis are a joke.
Jim – We let the videos fully download then played the side-by-side comparison.
Wow people seem so angry. It’s just information. Of course new computers will outperform old ones, but people are intelligent enough to figure out when their computer stops doing the new things that they want it to do. I seem to be on a 5 year cycle with my laptops and desktops. As it stands, my laptop is 4 years old and pretty much struggles with anything graphical and is on its second hard drive, but more than enough to check mail and do regular computing. My desktop is less than 3 years old and pretty much does what I want it to do.
My laptop is next to be upgraded so it’s nice to see what’s out there. Nobody is forcing me to change, but when it’s time it’s time. Nothing lasts for ever.
Of course, newer PCs are more powerful than older ones. They always are.
The question is – do you really need to upgrade? If you are into video editing/encoding or hardcode gaming, maybe you need to. If you’re just into normal browsing and watching DVDs, playing music etc, you probably dont need to upgrade.
Remember that PCs of 2005 are atleast as powerful as the latest netbooks (EEPC and the like). So if people are still read to buy them, they must be of some worth, right?
The simple rule of thumb is…. if you dont feel any particular difficulty in using the PC for your needs, dont upgrade. What’s the point in throwing your perfectly working PC into the dump.
If your PC doesnt play HD videos or youtube properly, you’ll know it when you see it. Trust me
Straight non-sense company propagenda.
I am using a three year old AMD3400 2.2 GHz Computer (with a NVIDA GeForce 6150 card) and still can watch 1080p high definition video clips with no problem at all. And I get only 1.2 GB RAM. So what is the point of rushing out to buy another computer?
Well, my old computer will be not able to play Blue Ray discs, but my Blue ray movies (and HD Channels) look way better on a 50″ LCD Samsung TV than on a small 10″ crappy computer monitor.
To be fair, my family brought two Atom series netbook (ASUS and ACER) recently and both work quite good on the go. No problem watching your propagenda on You Tube HD video.
PCs you can refurbish with new CPUs, GPUs, ram, HDDs…MACs, you may as well throw them away every 3 years. Not very GREEN.
I have both Mac’s and PC’s, most are 3-4 years old and run most everything I need them to do with no problem. I used to want a powerful PC to run some games. I don’t need to do that any more due to the gaming consoles. Why spend big bucks upgrading a PC to run a game when you can spend the few hundred or so on a gaming console?
I just use my PC or Mac’s now just to do the usual web stuff, mail and some photo or video editing which they handle fine. I may buy an iMac down the road, but will settle with what I have currently.
I also think most people probably hate the hassle of trying to move or transfer years of stuff from one computer to another.
Want to extend the life of your computer? Dump Windoze! I have an seven year old dell; tri-boot with Suse and Ubuntu linux and (for a joke) Windoze 2000. It runs very well and I can watch any videos I want with an old Geforce 2 MX 400. Linux has much less overhead, so you don’t need all that power.
- CC
Someone correct me if I’m wrong, but until recently most Linux distributions choked on flash playback. This was especially true for HD, and even more so when pushed to fullscreen. Which is how I, and most people I know watch HD video. Don’t take me as a Linux hater, I’ve got all of my computers dual booted to some Linux distribution. This entire thread comes from the idea that people need to upgrade to newer systems for the purpose of getting more out of an increasingly online lifestyle. (Yes, the video puts a large emphasis on video editing, music recording and multi-tasking; the point of the article remains the same, as stated in this excerpt:
“Today, high quality HD video and television shows are being served up to computers from ever more Internet sites like Hulu, Disney, Fancast, TV.com, and the networks ABC, CBS and NBC. Not only are they all offering Internet HD video, many people (myself included and each of our Intel Insiders) are creating HD videos and uploading them to various video sites.
If you go to NASA’s site be prepared for an HD video experience. And it is not limited to watching. New laptops and desktops are empowering people to do things with rich media they could never do before. But if you got your PC three years ago, that would mean it was built in 2005, before the onslaught of online HD video and the rise of sites like YouTube and Facebook”
New web content is increasingly processor intensive, and the trend does not seem likely to slow anytime soon.
Also, I’m not about to dump “Windoze” as it serves a necessary role in being the platform that most all the proprietary software I HAVE to run operates on. Thanks for your suggestion though, it really came off as well thought out.
1987 – 3 1/2 inch drives?
1985 Amiga – 3 1/2 drives. 32bit pre-emptive multitasking GUI. Dual button mouse.
It just wasn’t Wintel…
I have a 5 year old MacBook Pro. HD works great… maybe it’s the OS and the media player?
My 2 1/2 year old HP (3.0 GHz)gave up the ghost last December. I wanted a custom desktop, so ordered one from an online custom-build shop. New one has NV 9600 and dual 3.0 GHz CPU, priced under $1000 (old one had Intel-integrated vid chip).
Video performance was night and day with the two, very comparable to what Intel is showing here.
A lot of negative comments here. I’ll just add mine–thanks, Intel, for providing ad content (found via DIGG) that was worth my time watching. And please continue to provide products that make our computer experience more enjoyable as time goes on. You too, AMD/ATI and NVIDEA.
Or instead of buying premade PC’s filled with crap programs, make your own? Like I did, cost you way less and you can choose what you want in it, and to add, Mac’s are nothing to be proud about, it’s the brand that makes it “special” have fun running a total of what 12 programs for your Mac. I’ll be running everything else.
Truth is Intel is bad at video, companies like NVIDIA and AMD/ATI are better at it and it will be wonderful once GPU’s do video acceleration so the CPU doesn’t have to do it anymore.
Truth is the comparison of internet video doesn’t tell you anything about the complexity of video encoding/decoding and whatnot.
I’d really like to see a serious discussion and educating users that just buying a faster CPU is only a small part of the equation, I’m sure HD video could be made to run on older computers using more efficient programming techniques.
Truth is I’d like to see advances in software engineering tools and efficiency, CPU’s brute force computation is nice but spaghetti code and a workforce of computer scientists who can’t efficiently program these monsters is even worse since software engineering quality is impossible to measure unless you are a knowledgeable enough or a specialist.
The users only see the end result, while end result user interfaces may work this says nothing about the quality of the code itself.
Truth is Intel is bad at video, companies like NVIDIA and AMD/ATI are better at it and it will be wonderful once GPU’s do video acceleration so the CPU doesn’t have to do it anymore.
Truth is the comparison of internet video doesn’t tell you anything about the complexity of video encoding/decoding and whatnot.
I’d really like to see a serious discussion and educating users that just buying a faster CPU is only a small part of the equation, I’m sure HD video could be made to run on older computers using more efficient programming techniques.
Truth is I’d like to see advances in software engineering tools and efficiency, CPU’s brute force computation is nice but spaghetti code and a workforce of computer scientists who can’t efficiently program these monsters is even worse since software engineering quality is impossible to measure unless you are a knowledgeable enough or a specialist.
The users only see the end result, while end result user interfaces may work this says nothing about the quality of the code itself.
Your 3-4 year old computer was fine for the software release at the time–but the OS has been patched, you’ve changed AV software, and it’s getting s-l-o-w. Memory can help, re-installing the operating system, keeping the misc applications that you don’t use off the computer, and defragging often. A video upgrade might help as well, but laptops, in many cases, don’t have that luxury.
Computers these days are a disposable product, figure on the life-span only 3-4 years at max for an active user, less for video editor, and much less for a gamer. The infrequent user, that primarily sends email and does taxes can probably get by til his Win95 disks crumble with age…. ;-)
I have a 4 year old notebook and it is still running like the day I got it. I do 3D rendering, play 3D gaming, and it has the capability of playing HD videos. The best video player out there is VLC Player. It does not take much resources of the computer and it is light weight. This notebook stays on for a long time. Just do basic fragmentation, clear Internet cookies. Spend the extra money on the higher version on notebook. Trust me it is worth it.
Updating your OS can also slow down your system i had vista run for a while and up to date but i wanted to use Media center for DVD playback it lacked, i back up on a external HDD and reinstall the OS as soon i notice a problem with a DVD playback i undo that update and now i am ramming very well don’t get me started on my custom pc :P
@dave I have no problem watching HD video playback on my ubuntu 9.04 install with a NVIDIA chipset.
The real solution to watching HD content on the web is HTML 5. Then the browser itself (not flash) will be doing the decoding, and be able to take advantage of GPU power. Most (maybe all) 3-year old GPUs have more than enough power to watch HD films. So oddly enough newer Technology(HTML 5) will empower older hardware.
My 5-year old PC died suddenly and I updated to a new Gateway with an Intel Q8200 and an Intel GMA X4500. To be honest I was a little worried about the integrated graphics controller but as it turns out, for no reason – the machine flies. I’m not much of a gamer, but in terms of HD Video I have been extremely satisfied, even playing concurrent HD clips.
Funny, this looks a like 3 year old Apple ad.
Even though Intel was the flagship for many firsts. The so called new chip is quite irrelevant to HD video display on a laptop. Also comparing a new laptop to one thats 2 years old or older isn’t a valid comparsion. Technology changes and improves drastically in 2 years, let alone even 6 months new and innovative hardware is being released, its not an apples to apples comparison, its more like apples to oranges, its more of a coparison of change. The heart of the matter is the chipset on the video card, and also the screens capability of using higher resolution. The chip Intel developed, takes basically the same principals of a HD video card and replaces it with a chip…also if you took a 2 year old laptop and replaced the dvd/cd rom drive with an HD dvd or blue ray drive, you’d be able to watch HD videos on a 2 year old laptop. 2 year old laptops still had teh display capabilities of higher native resolutions, the chip there referring to works in the same manner as an HD video card, except in smaller form…all there doing is improving on older technology, the hype of the chip is for marketing purposes to sell on that idea so people will by new laptops.
What a ridiculous video! I understand that the tech world progresses rapidly, but the video seems to be encouraging wanton consumerism and an ethos of planned obsolence. Buy new and buy now, because you know it only lasts about 3 years!!!!
spell fail on the video instead of videos.
Im still waiting for AMD to bounce back :(
Looks like i’ll be stuck in 2006 forever :(
I’ve got a PIII running at 900MHZ (512mb ram / WinXP) in my moms room, now mind you it does run at 800×600 (sight issues) but she is able to play HD Youtube because of the GFX card that she has in it, Its a 3dfx Voodoo3 AGP i don’t think it could play 1080p but 720p seems to work very well
I have a 3 year old MacBook Pro and it works great..
The coach could edit that video with Muvy (muvy.tk)
I’ve got a three year old laptop, it is extremely slow at playing (almost) any type of viral video. It used to be good at doing that. I remember when I bought this, I could view videos on youtube and metacafe just fine. But now most of the videos are choppy and make the browser unresponsive. I’ve cleaned it a few times, and re-applied thermal compound on the GPU and CPU, but none of that helped.
I feel like the flash players, that render the video, now require more resources that before to give a smooth experience. I think Linux runs better on my laptop (for viewing viral videos goes), but I don’t want to type 1500 lines to configure a hidden wireless network, so I don’t use it a lot.
Someone posted a comment (near the top of this section) saying that it is the onboard graphics cards that choke performance. I agree with that. I have a Turion 64 ML-32 (or ML-30, whichever one is clocked at 1.6Ghz) with an SiS 760GX. The computer has given me a good run for my money, i’ve developed a truck load of software on this thing, but I recently bought a new machine (a desktop) just because I couldn’t deal with the choppy viral videos. I just couldn’t take it anymore.
I think it is about time laptop manufacturers started making laptops with upgradable video cards (just like the WiFi card is). That would make life so much easier.
Of course Intel Core processor will be much faster and can process muliple task.
Half the reason you need a new computer is because Flash sucks and it needs 2x as much processing power as actual HD video (.avi, .mp4, .mkv) to run at a decent frame rate.
Did you notice after the coach story they proceed to talk to a DJ. The DJ is using a MAC….
The computing hardware may be better, but personally I prefer the old screen ratios over the newer 16:9 and 16:10 ratios. If I had the choice today, I would definitely buy a new notebook with an ‘old’ height/width ratio. Sadly, it doesn’t seem they’re offered anymore.
Many other comments here complaining about old computers and just how horrible they are. Others are in the opposite camp, the same as me.
I’m typing this on a Dell Inspiron 600m with 1 GB of RAM, 160 HDD, and ATI Radeon video card. I watch hulu flix all the time with this computer and it does fine.
I have a newer laptop, a 1.8 Ghz Core2 Duo with 2 GB of RAM that I bought in anticipation of running Vista in VMWare (which it does, but only barely passably) and decided that I wanted to “juice it up” a bit it’s 3 years old and I get a new computer from work every 3 years if I want one. (They want the computer under a service contract)
I think my next laptop will be a Mac. My Mac Mini has held up amazingly well over the past 3 years – upgrading the RAM to 1 GB has made it sail.
In 3 years, Dell has gone from Core2 duo 1.8 Ghz to Core2 duo 2.4 Ghz – not enough difference that I’d really notice it. Computers aren’t getting faster faster, they are getting faster slower than ever.
Oh, and the whole “5 year old computer can’t do HD” is just shiatte. Intel is HURTING right now since they are having trouble getting faster chips to fly, and with the down economy, NOBODY IS BUYING.
When I saw the rating on this post, I was really surprised..but then I read it and the comments and I have to agree with the others..this test should not have been based off of a YouTube video for several reasons.
1. Computers from 3 years ago may not have as well optimized WiFi components as we do today so the speed of delivery may come into play.
2. YouTube does not deliver what I consider “true” HD. True HD is a video anywhere in the region of 720p or 1080p that you are testing from your hard-drive.
If anyone wants a true analysis of what can be achieved nowadays I’ll give you my own quick results summary.
My 3 year old Acer laptop (with a dual core processor) and integrated graphics found it VERY hard to play 720p HD video back then. My new Acer laptop (with the better Core 2 Duo processor and 3GB of memory) however can easily playback HD regardless of whether its 720p or 1080p (and thats tested from a file on my hard-drive) and VLC.
More of a question. I have a Powerbook G4 laptop with a Power PC processor and was wondering if it could be changed out for and Intel Processor. The laptop is not that old and my funds are limited to put out the cost of a new computer. If so what would it cost and where could I get it done?
I would have to disagree that PC’s are needing to be upgraded sooner rather than later. I think that laptops seem to go out of date quicker than a desktop will for reasons described later in my post. Maybe as far as a laptop is concerned I may agree with upgrading every 3 years or so, but depending on what you do with the laptop it can and should last longer. To me it doesn’t seem like processors have made huge leaps and bounds. I build my own desktops and I built my current one around 2002, so it is 7 years old now and still running ok. It’s probably not Windows Vista compliant and I really doubt I could upgrade to Win7 but that is ok for now. It still does everything I need to do with no major issues. I think the one thing that you have to think about with any of these pc’s is the better the components, the longer it will last. My nearly 8 year old pc was built with the absolute fastest processor at the time and maxed out with the largest amount of memory and all the best components I could get my hands on. I’m on my second video card and added some more hard drives, but beyond that, it is still running strong. I attribute that to getting the best of everything at the time. If you were to do the same thing with a laptop, you’ll be spending around $4k for one and I would bet that it would last for a good long time. However, the majority of people are buying the $500-1000 pc’s, maybe going up to $1500 and these pc’s can’t be expected to last more than a few years at that price because they become obsolete too quickly. Rule of thumb is buy as much pc as you can afford at the time and it will last you the appropriate amount of time down the road too.
I would love to see MicroSoft offer its Windows 7 in a trimmed-down version that the older PCs can handle. As I see it, bloated OSes from Microsoft (and there are alternatives, but most of us don’t want to hassle re compatability with our favourite applications) is a major logjam in helping folks who can’t afford new desktops and/or laptops every 2-3 years to have satisfactory computer experiences as their needs change and the net provides richer content.
Come on, Intel. You’ve got some clout with MicroSoft. I suspect OS bloat suits you fine, because it compels people to purchase new PCs with your new Core chips in them. You don’t really have any interest in making older PCs work better for those who may be able to afford an upgrade for the old machine but not a new one. (Or, they buy a lightweight netbook at half the price…)
The thing that may drive Microsoft to address the issue is the popularity of netbooks and the Atom chips you make for them. They need a trimmed-down but smart OS that can wait to do things in the background until the user is inactive and the machine is ‘free’. Rather than focussing all your investment on cranking out faster chips, what about working with Microsoft to make computers (where the hardware/software interface is key) that are better at organizing the PCs workload over time?
That’s what we learned while collecting stories and footage from the UC Berkeley campus, Malaysia and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. We mixed those stories with data collected by Intel computer performance engineers.
thanks for sharing your insiders.