How long do you keep a computer?

[QuarterMillionMan]

When buying a new computer you’ll want the most recent processor. 11th & 12th generation is old. Get a 13th or 14th generation processor. For AMD you’ll want 9xxx’s or 8xxx’s. Older are 7xxxx’s and below. Before someone jumps on me and says what about RAM and hard drives yes but people will get overwhelmed with all the specs so I’m keeping things simple.

[ua_guy]

I'd recommend going with the most RAM. And to non technically-minded folks I'd still recommend Chromebooks or Chrome desktops, or Apple products.

Best thing I ever did for my parents and their limited interest in understanding computers was get them on the Apple ecosystem. It just works.

[disneysteve]

Best thing I ever did for my parents and their limited interest in understanding computers was get them on the Apple ecosystem. It just works.

Totally. My mom had a PC laptop and it was nothing but trouble. We got her a used MacBook and it was wonderful. Now she has a newer hand me down MacBook from us. Not a single problem.

[disneysteve]

When buying a new computer you’ll want the most recent processor. 11th & 12th generation is old. Get a 13th or 14th generation processor. For AMD you’ll want 9xxx’s or 8xxx’s. Older are 7xxxx’s and below. Before someone jumps on me and says what about RAM and hard drives yes but people will get overwhelmed with all the specs so I’m keeping things simple.

Our old Mac had a 1TB hard drive so I figured we’d need that on the new one. Before going shopping I checked the storage and it turned out in 6 years we had only filled 170GB of that drive. Now we store even less on the drive because I use Google Sheets and Docs and Google Photos so documents, spreadsheets, and photos aren’t stored on our device. I ended up buying the new computer with a 256GB drive. It would have been $200 more to get a 512GB but for way less than that we can just pick up a 1TB external drive if we ever need additional storage.

[QuarterMillionMan]

Mac’s’ have a huge learning curve. For work from June 2024 to September 2024, I had to use a Mac and felt like a fish out of water. As for iPhones, I tried to switch to Samsung and went back to iPhone and sold the Samsung for half where I paid $1000 then sold for $500. I’m not experimenting again and sticking to iPhones. It was a costly mistake.

[disneysteve]

Mac’s’ have a huge learning curve.

I think very much the opposite. Macs are way more intuitive. My mom is 94 and I haven’t had to explain a single thing to her since soon after she got it. With the PC I was constantly having to go there and teach her how to do things (often repeatedly since she didn’t remember).

[QuarterMillionMan]

A few of my co-workers were complaining as well and asking how to perform certain functions. Granted they were all about my age. The younger staff seemed the know how to operate the Mac books.

[ua_guy]

There's a learning curve when trying something new at any age.

Apple is definitely the correct solution for my folks, and for me, the guy who has to be "tech support" for everything electronic they own. It's harder for them to get into trouble on a Mac, it's easier for me to support, their phone/computer and whatever other device just all works together and gets backed up, and I typically know the devices inside and out because I have one of my own. And they've told me they like Apple stuff better, it makes more sense and feels easier to use.

I won't say I don't have a rule with them: "Buy whatever devices you want, but if you don't buy Apple's model if one is available,, I'm not helping with it!" So far they still prefer Apple products Interesting.

[kork13]

I've mostly always used Apple computers, all the way back to the early 90s when it was a small gray cube. Their user interface is admittedly very easy (and they're designed to be)... But if you don't like anything about how the computer/phone functions, you're out of luck. Very little real customization is possible, which is partly why I actually hate using iPhones. I've always used Android (and Google's Pixel line since they first came out)... But I have an iPhone for work, which is constantly aggravating me with how inflexible & awkward it is to use.

One thing that I really appreciate about Apple products is that they last incredibly well. My current laptop, I've had since 2019 & it's still going very strong. The one before that (another MacBook), I had for ~9-10 yrs. I've had a Mac Mini (small form desktop) since 2008, and only in the last 1-2 years has it finally gotten bogged down & fallen behind the times sufficiently that it's no longer practical to use. Getting over 15yrs out of a computer?! Pretty incredible in my book. Yes, paying $1k+ for a computer stings... But when I can reliably count on using that computer for a decade or more, the price is easily justified for me.

[EasyMoney00]

You couldn't pay me to use a Mac. I'm glad where I work we only have around 100 iMacs. I like those all in ones for their compactness, and they do look sexy. Problem is when something goes wrong, have fun cracking that open. Why apple thought it was a good idea to fuse the screen to the case is beyond me.

Even PC all in ones have simple screws that can be removed to open the backing/case to access the guts. They just dont look as hip as iMacs.

Fortunately, 99% of what I deal with are windows boxes, specifically dell. From my experience, dell has the most user friendly bios settings too. HP's are garbage imo. If any family member or friend asks me what to buy, I tell them to buy a dell.

[disneysteve]

You couldn't pay me to use a Mac. I'm glad where I work we only have around 100 iMacs. I like those all in ones for their compactness, and they do look sexy. Problem is when something goes wrong.

That’s exactly the point though. With a Mac you’ll never have any reason to open it and mess with things. I understand that tech folks like to tinker but the rest of us just want our computer to work and never have viruses or compatibility issues.

[QuarterMillionMan]

In preparation for selling my old Dell 11th gen laptop I just ordered this $9.99 M.2 PCIe NVMe 126 GB SSD. In addition, I removed this Viper 32 GB RAM which I'll sell separately. On eBay a new one is $54. My used Viper will sell for about close to that maybe $45 or $50. Why you might ask that I'm changing the SSD. It'll be a fresh SSD where a techy person can not retrieve my data and information even after I wipe the drive clean. Not taking any chances.

[ua_guy]

That’s exactly the point though. With a Mac you’ll never have any reason to open it and mess with things. I understand that tech folks like to tinker but the rest of us just want our computer to work and never have viruses or compatibility issues.

Sometimes they do need service, and when they do, it's best to take it to a certified Apple service shop.

But you are correct, no, Apples are not intended for people who want to continuously build and upgrade their system over time. Although, that is still possible with some Apple machines, it's not as easy as with a PC. I don't see that as a downside, it's just something Apple is not intended for. Folks interested in that should buy something other than an Apple. Just like price and quality...if an Apple is too expensive or the ecosystem is too refined, a PC with a bunch of no-name stuff inside it is much cheaper.

To that point, though, getting 5-10 years years on an Apple computer isn't uncommon at all, and things like the hard drive capacity can be upgraded, or external peripherals can be added. Personally I don't want to build my computers. I did that as a kid and it was a huge waste of money. Now I just want something I don't have to mess with. Turn it over in 5-10 years or whenever I want a new one. Simple.

[QuarterMillionMan]

Question for the Macbook owners when it's time to sell do you wipe your hard drive clean and sell it. The prevailing theory is that even after wiping the hard drive clean smart techy people can still recover your information. Do you still sell it anyway? With Windows based laptops I remove my old hard drive and replace it with a fresh one. With another old laptop that I recently sold I had sold it without the hard drive which I broke apart with 2 pliers. The buyer gave me a good review and was able to revive it. I don't trust someone getting my hard drive even after I wiped it clean.

[EasyMoney00]

That’s exactly the point though. With a Mac you’ll never have any reason to open it and mess with things. I understand that tech folks like to tinker but the rest of us just want our computer to work and never have viruses or compatibility issues.

They do break. There isn't a zero percent chance an iMac will not break. More hardware related than software. Im not even sure what hard drives are in a Mac. In all our new PCs, desktop or laptop, they have nvme drives. They're tiny little sticks. Even those go bad. We've had plenty of iMac drives fail. I know sometimes even a reimage of the machine doesn't work. Again, I'm not the one that typically supports those. I have to assume you can swap out iMac hd's?