![]() ![]() I can still run applications dating from 1984 on my PowerBook G4. The hardware seems to be reliable and the OS and apps stay useful for a very long period of time. ![]() One serious problem with Macintosh computers is that they last so damn long virtually eliminating a major forcing function for an upgrade. I don't want to mess with this again, especially since the newest computers have so much CPU smoke out of the box such that they won't need an upgrade during their normal service lives. These all worked and materially extended the usefulness of the computers, but they were all a hassle with special drivers and some hardware incompatibilities or kludges required. I've done CPU upgrades on several older Macintoshes, taking them from PPC 601's or 603e's to G3's. I'd rather wait and save my pennies to get a whole new computer in one shot and get everything upgraded at once. One can spend a fortune on "goodies" to enhance the performance of a computer. Open architectures that allow various pieces to be upgraded piecemeal don't hold much appeal for me. I usually upgrade RAM because new computers never come with enough, but the rest of the hardware stays the way that it came. When I buy a computer, I plan to use it pretty much box stock. By the time that those criteria are met, the graphics hardware has usually improved significantly as well. This has worked pretty well and kept me at least near the state of the art. In order to justify the expense the new computer or upgrade needs to have 4 times the capability in processing speed, RAM and disk as compared to the existing computer. In order to more or less keep up with the times and still not break the bank, I've developed some personal upgrade rules.Īfter many years of iterations I had settled on what I call the "4X" rule. One can spend a fortune "upgrading" to marginally better hardware with relatively little performance improvement. Since there is always a newer and better computer to buy, the question is how much better does it have to be to justify buying it. Over the years, I've developed a philosophy on upgrades. A day doesn't go by without Windows finding some way to irritate me. If they offered me a Mac (fat chance), I'd take it in a heartbeat. Although I've never personally owned a DOS/Wintel machine and probably won't ever, I do use Wintel stuff at work, but only because I don't have a choice. Since then I've gone through Z-80's, 8086's, and the whole variety of Motorola processors in a bunch of Macintosh's. The LSI-11 computer was fine for UCSD Pascal software development and it made me a bunch of money. At this time an "advanced" personal computer was an S-100 box with some 8 bit processor in it. My very first computer was a 16 bit LSI-11 with a 10 meg hard disk and a romping 60 kB of RAM. ![]() I've been buying and upgrading personal computers since 1979. It's mid-2005 and I thinking about my next computer. The timeline may seem a bit jumpy in places but new information was added in the place that it seemed most appropriate for cohesive story. Since it was originally written, it has been edited and updated many times to keep it current. Note: This page is a running commentary on my experiences and expectations about computer upgrades. Version 6.4.1 includes many bug fixes and little enhancements and is a recommended update for all customers.Thoughts On Computer Upgrades Thoughts On Computer Upgrades GraphicConverter is the ultimate tool for image editing, image browsing, metadata editing, slideshows, image conversion from more than 200 file formats and much more. Lemke Software has announced the immediate availability of GraphicConverter 6.4.1, their image editing and conversion utility for Mac OS X. ![]()
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