Random Thoughts # 6 - Time for a new computer?

There is a question mark in the post title because I'm not certain that the current PC has fully outlived it's usefulness or if it's just that bits of it and the operating system that have.  The PC is ten years old and still does 95% of what I need it for with no problems.  The areas where it is showing it's age are the operating system and an annoying file handling problem.

My computer is a little more modern than this, really it is! (Babbage's Difference Engine)

The machine runs Windows 7 and support ended earlier this year.  So no more security updates or software patches.  I tried to upgrade to Windows 10 but for some reason the hardware or the software doesn't want to install it.  Which is annoying as the actual hardware is still fine for everything I want the computer to do, with the exception of the other fault.  When ever I try to move a file between applications I get the dreaded blue screen of death and a memory overflow error message.  So I can't move images between the PC and blogger and if I try to embed a file into an email the system crashes.

I can't complain I suppose 10 years is a good run in PC terms, I don't think any of my previous machines have lasted anywhere close to this long.  Thinking back we got our first family PC back in 1999 which was a purpose built machine to get the sound and graphics and internet we wanted to play online computer games.  It was a big old beast running Windows 95 or 98, with a dial up modem that would drop out after an hour, or it may have been two, the point being that Internet access was rationed back then before broadband and fibre.  In the end we paid extra to have a commercial BT internet connection that didn't time out!

Remember this?  Internet connections got faster......eventually

Since then we have progressed to a two computer household, plus a couple of tablets and the ubiquitous smartphones so I don't think bandwidth is the limiting factor any more.  After that first machine I have run a couple of desktops; an HP and a MESH neither of them came near to the Acer I'm currently sat typing on, in reliability.  When we bought this one we spent what was needed to get as near to a state of the art home machine as possible and it has paid off.  What is strange though is that given the speed with which my earlier machines became obsolete so little in the design specifications have moved on in the last decade.  Yes the tech inside has changed to become more efficient but in general the results that tech generates are pretty much the same, either that or what I want from a PC hasn't moved on much in the last decade.  What has changed beyond all recognition is the infrastructure.  Net connections just happen as soon as the PC is turned on no more long waits while a modem dials in, no more data limits, no more time outs.  I'm not sure how I coped back in the day.

I suppose I will have to bite the bullet and buy a new PC.  It just goes against my frugal Northern mindset to have to replace something when it is still doing 95% of what I want!