If you own 5 or more computers (laptops or desktops), do you actually use all of them? If you do, how do you use them?

I am asking this question because, like many of you, I love to collect computers. Unfortunately, I sometimes feel a little guilty when some computers aren't being utilized much. I currently own 10 computers, four of which are in TX in my mom's house and the other six are with me in RI. Of those six, I use four (T43, A31p, T23, and a Dell Dimension B110 desktop with 2GB RAM, 2.53GHz Celeron D and 320GB HDD, which is my fastest computer) regularly, but the X40 and the Toshiba Portege R100 very occasionally. I do need these two once in a while and so I can't sell them, but the fact that they usually just collect dust does make me feel a little uncomfortable. When you have under-utilized computers, do you feel bad about it?

3 Jan 2008 UPDATE:

I now have 9 instead of 10 computers. One of these, an X61 tablet, will be sold within a week or two, so I actually own "only" 8 computers at this point:

Three (Sony K23 laptop, eMachines T1140 desktop and a Pentium I Packard Bell) are in TX with my mom, and I use them several weeks a year when I visit her. In fact, I'll be there next week and all three computers will get used.

The remaining five are in RI and I use all of them frequently. At work, my primary machine is my R50p #1 but I use the 14.1" UXGA T42 in parallel at least once a week. At home, I watch DVDs and video files on my Dell Dimension desktop and use my R50p #2 for work-related stuff, both on a daily basis. The HP nc2400, which is the lightest laptop I currently own, is the one that I usually travel with.

So none of them is under-utilized and I feel good about that!

I have a few that I, recently, put out of general service. An HP OmniBook and a Compaq 1900 Presario, although I have kept some of my older workstations as every little bit of computing helps for what I do. Naturally, I still use my 701c as well.

Never really felt guilty about it.

A couple months ago I had 5 ThinkPads plus a desktop, and I seriously thought WTH am I doing? The guilt got to me so I got two that fit the bill, and got rid of the others. It wasn't about money, as they weren't any newer than 2003, just overindulgence!

As this thread was probably a result of something I posted earlier today, I'll answer this too .

What started out as a couple of 600X systems for my two daughters use (and for backups) has now blossomed into an eBay-fueled, feeding frenzy. Out of the 16 TPs you currently see in my .sig, about 7 of those are in constant use. The others are sitting around, eventually to be sold off. Two are with my older daughter at college, the third with my high school daughter here at home and I use at least two others myself. They use them for school, me for work and surfing. There are two systems available for "loaners" when my daughter's friends come over.

The remaining systems are kept charged, given some active time to keep Windows updates current, and then put back into hibernation, so to speak. Up to this point, all of the T2x systems I bought have had "issues" with them. I've targeted specific laptops on eBay and fixed them with the intention of eventually selling them. Not for much profit as I know these things are fairly old and don't command too much money.

The latest purchases, with probably prompted this thread, is my initial attempt at arbitrage. Well, not really arbitrage since there's obviously going to be some delay in getting these systems checked out, upgraded and sold. How about calling it a "refurbishing service"? 23 (that's right, twenty-three) 2647-4NU systems were recently sold on eBay from one seller. I was able to snag four of them as they were offered up in lots of about 4 each. I had guessed that not many people were willing to invest $800 or more in these lots, so I bid on a couple of them. Since these systems (built-in wireless) are sort of rare, I thought I could at least get my money back and maybe even make $50 on each system after I've upgraded the "pathetic" (thanks for that description Dan ) 6GB drives.

(edit: Just realized I didn't answer the last part of the questions... The only time I feel guilty for not using all of the laptops is when the wife stares at them and asks how many I've sold so far . For the record, it's one.)

Well, out of my collection (which is wider than what my sig states), the computers that I use normally are my OmniBook 4150 and my Pentium 4 desktop.. The Fujitsu Biblo gets some use for games of Tetris while the ThinkPad 380ED, while not in particular use at the moment, serves as a backup computer.

OK, where do I start:

PCs
4 active PCs:
-One in my son's bedroom with moderate usage.
-One in my wife's office with moderate usage.
-One in the guest bedroom for guests and DVD...ummm....viewing, with heavy usage
-One in my office with moderate usage.

20 inactive PCs with no real usage, 15 of which are sub-pentium class.

Laptops
3 active laptops:
-My T21 with HEAVY usage
-My wife's X20 with moderate usage.
-My R40 with minimal usage (running Vista)

21 inactive Thinkpads (19 of which are 600E or older and generally only pulled out for show and tell)
5 inactive non-Thinkpads (4 of which are broken and slowly getting rebuilt)

Steve's winning so far !

I can help you lower those numbers if necessary...

Oh, and how's the project with the i Series going? Have you got either working yet?

Most of what I have are the older ones that I have collected for my own "museum" or tribute to Thinkpads, if you will. The only one that I have for sale at the moment, is a T23(4MU, I think) for $375 shipped, or $350 locally, which is to much here in the forum, but I bought it with someone specific in mind who was in a hurry.



I have the one i1400 working, just need the hard drive connector and keyboard that you and I are working out a deal on. I can't get it to boot from the CD or DVD drive that i have, to run Puppy Linux Live.

You guys make me feel normal.

T40: my main rig
R51: wife's main rig
A20m: guest machine
X22: traveling machine / bedroom machine
A31: music/media server
Dell PowerEdge 1300: data backup/house server
Apple Mac Mini Solo: testing as music/media server replacement

Most are used daily!

This collection is slimmed down compared to prior times.

I don't know if this is worth anything or not but my 380ED has a green and orange "Y2K" sticker with a certification date on it letting me know that the laptop is, in fact, Y2K compatible. At this point, I'm not going to bother peeling it off due to the fact that at this point, it can be considered a real 90s relic; that and the fact that the paint under it is probably discolored by now. The 380ED I had a few years ago also had a Y2K sticker but on the bottom and with a GTE logo on it.

At one point, I had a half dozen computers that I used regularly:

IBM T43
HP ZT3000
IBM R31
Sony F650
Mac Mini
2.4GHz Celeron Desktop

Nowadays, I've consolidated it down to my X60s alone, but I would like to either build a desktop or buy a Core 2 iMac for convienence reasons. Plus, its kinna scary when I look at a 14" laptop screen and get the "*****Expletives removed by Moderator***** thats a big screen" feeling.

A: yep...collecting dust has been the norm for 4 out of the 5 laptops I own...the T42p suffers the worst...the M200 is the one getting all the use...


I own a domain controller/file server with 40GB primary and dual SATA RAID 160GB hd's (recently upgraded to 160's with sata raid) since I take TONS of pictures (Nikon D50) and I need a place to store them, it is a P4 but it sat mostly unused for a year or more...(I had a true server with 80GB storage capacity with raid 0 and 5...but the juice that thing used) I finally tossed the server and configured the desktop instead....

I have a healthy number of desktops, but only three lappies: X40, T41p, and one of the *cough* venerable i Series. I don't use my laptops much anymore..as for desktops, I use the one that's closest to me.

No, I don't feel guilty. After all, they may turn out to be priceless relics of the late 20th/early 21st century!

I used all my thinkpads very regularly. So i have got nothing to be guilty about...

T60 gaming & work
X60 & R52 & R60 for general use
T30 is my backup computer

I'm not going to turn down a free computer ... I have four

Dell OptiPlex GX150 - Web Server
Gateway E4600 - My computer / games
Enlight ?? - AMD K6 360 with 84mb or ram (the lack of memory makes it useless)
Thinkpad T60

I have five and a half, but I only use two regularly:
1. IBM NetVista A30 WinXPP Home Desktop Computer
2. IBM ThinkPad T30 WinXPP Business Laptop Computer
-------------------------
3. IBM PC300PL Win200 Home Spare Computer - Experimentation only
-------------------------
4. Toshiba Libretto 50 Win95 1.9 pound portable - Collecting dust mostly.
-------------------------
5. IBM 2611-410 Win2000 Laptop - probably working.
6. IBM 2611-410 Win2000 Laptop - known defective motherboard.

Sometime when I have nothing better to do, I should take the best of 5 and 6 and make one (but then it is still a P266 160Mb slow computer). Computer 4 is useless by any standard today, and I may sacrifice it to my altar of taking things apart to see how they work.

... JD Hurst

Where to begin? Thinkpads currently in use:

T60P - Work and teaching machine, still getting it up to speed.

T41P - Previous primary work machine, now relegated to my primary "home" machine when wandering the house and grounds. Two backup T41Ps sitting on the shelf.

T42 - Wife's primary home work machine now that she's independent again.

T30 - Wife's cable based home network host, Dock II, two 7K100 HDs, CD-RW/DVD, IBM L170 17" SXGA LCD display, HP color Laserjet, etc.

A31P - My FIOS based home network host, Dock II, three 7K100 HDs, DVD multi-burner, Dell 2001FP UXGA LCD, HP 6P/6MP, color plotter, etc.

A30P - Kitchen machine, usually in a Dock and connected to our 15" kitchen LCD/TV via an external IBM keyboard.

X31 - My "toy" machine, usually in one of the trucks for GPS use and Wardriving. Two others as backups, primarily for my son as that's his primary travel machine when he's flying.

T21 - Six of them among the planes, boats and cottage as primary equipment logs, backup GPS/Navigation and ancillary WiFi machines. Necessary? Nah...., but nice to have.

Transnote - Another "play" machine, but it gets used about once a week for something or other, usually as a drawing pad which I can them print out via its 3Com a/b/g Wifi card to one of the network printers.

701C - Eye candy upstairs on the mantle. Runs 98Lite 24/7 and I rarely have a visitor who doesn't wander over and start playing with it. Got a backup for it on the shelf in my shop.

P-IV Desktop - Workbench machine, runs 24/7 connected to an NEC Multi-Sync 90 19" CRT.

I think that's about it for active machines, leaving out all of the machines that the kids and their respective spouses use.

Inactive machines include several T series machines from T21 to T40, three SXGA 770Zs, about eight 600Xs in various stages of assembly/disassembly (not including several parts machines) two 600Es, and a lone 600. There are several 755 series machines in filing cabinets awaiting their fate, primarily 755CX and 755CD, not including the 755CDV I sent to Bill for the museum. A lone 755C and a 750C.

Yes, my mother was frightened by a packrat when she was pregnant with me!

James

PC300GL #1 - my main computer.
PC300GL #2 - used for scanning, color printing, somewhere else to sit when I get tired of sitting at #1, and to test stuff prior to installing it on PC #1.
PC300PL - my wife's main computer.
TP360 - for my wife's prior occupation, still needed on occasion.
TP365x - used occasionally for client presentations.
Dell GX1 - a "spare," ready to use, sometimes I use it on the weekends.
Gateway "Performance 500" - not currently working, but everything is there. Someday, to be my Linux learning machine.

Except for my vintage Kaypro 2, I've gotten rid of all my older desktop stuff, PII and earlier.

Holy crap, I had no idea some of you own THAT many computers!!!! That makes me feel better LOL!

Well, okay, since people are listing non-Thinkpad, non-working, equipment (something I just assumed was not originally intended from the original post), here's my updated list:

1 Sun Ultra 5 w/120GB, 512MB, 333Mhz Solaris 8
used as a work machine (C programming) and file server
1 Sun Ultra 10 w/20GB?, 512MB, 400Mhz Solaris 9
currently idle; intending to replace Ultra 5 with this one
1 Homebrew 486DX4 100Mhz Windows 3.1
currently idle, but did work last time I used it
2 Gateway Desktop tower systems, 600Mhz PIII and ?Ghz Celeron
both in constant use (file server and wife's machine)
1 Zenith Transport 286 DOS 3.3
in storage; unknown if it still works
1 T22 800Mhz
"blink of death" project; hopefully it will yield a workable fix (works great when it decides it wants to!)
1 T23
parts machine after turning one of the MOSFETs into an LED
1 T23
works, although it's accompanied by a slight burning smell
1 T23
has real bad red screen and sometimes doesn't boot; not something I would consider "working"

We have to include non-workin machines now too? Well, here goes:

NEC Versa w/ 40mhz 486DX, 9" TFT VGA LCD, dead HD, 20mb RAM, cracks in lid, dead battery
Epson ActionNote 4SLC2 w/ 50mhz 486SLC2, 4mb RAM, 9" monochrome VGA STN, no HD
ThinkPad 760C w/ 90mhz Pentium missing HD and battery
ThinkPad 365P w/ 33mhz 486SL missing battery
ThinkPad 380D w/ 150mhz P-MMX missing motherboard and HD
ThinkPad 385D w/ 150mhz P-MMX missing HD and has bad RAM slot
...and I have TONS of 760 and 380 parts

And I just remembered when submitting my vote for Bill for admin of the year...

1 17" Apple iMac
currently sitting on the desk in the living room (hey, it was free!)

Z60t 2513mcu: used daily
R52 185928u: used daily
ASUS P4C-800e Deluxe mobo based desktop: used daily
Two AMD T-Bird 1333 Abit mobo based desktops: used daily
Fry's GQ 3202 (ECS G320) laptop: used daily

Six HP Omnibook 5700 (P166 and P150) trackpointed laptops used at least once a week with one in each of my three BMWs as my car service manual/parts book with wifi card in each. For on the road troubles. Each has a docking station if needed.

HP Omnibook 5000 P90 used infrequently.

Now the following are ready to run but sit there for the rare need to look for really old files . . .

Bondwell 2 CPM 2.2 laptop
Morrow MD-3 CPM 2.2 desktop
Lobo Max 80 CPM 3.0 desktop

I've give away tons of computers over the years.

well, not counting various archived machines such as an original 2-floppy PC--still useful tho noisy--my compu environment runs to troicas: in Ohio:
IBM netvista mini-tower 100GB--general communications/archive machine
a31p UXGA--photo archive
600x--writing (love that keyboard)
onboard in New Zealand:
t22 SXGA+--photo/data archive
x20--email store portable
600e--writing/surfing (PCMCIA wireless)
everybody runs linux (kernel 2.4.27)--emacs, gcc, firefox: additionally, for navigational chart programs, the t22 and the x20 dual boot original w2k. Also Encyclopedia Britannica as the reference is handy onboard.

Guilt? Well, no....

projects (in Ohio):
5xx's (thanks alphakilo470 & tony6264)
701c: disassembly for a "how-does-it-work" exhibit
760xx: boiling 4 parts machines down to one worker
ppc 860 networking (AIX:-)

**and I thought 3 Thinkpads were enough!!

Ron

I have found it really helpful to have two computers at home and two at work. For instance, I can stay logged on to one Yahoo account on one machine and another Yahoo account on the other. With only one computer I would need to keep signing in and out to switch between the two accounts. And by having computers that always stay at work or at home, I won't have to keep carrying laptops to and from work everyday.

Are you talking about IMs? If so, you can get Trillian which lets you use multiple accounts from the same service at once.

No, just plain old Yahoo email. I don't use IM at all, but will keep Trillian in mind. Thanks for the tip.

2 years ago, I bought 6 R31s for re-sale. Its a lucrative affair but you have to be careful and sell fast before depreciation bites you. You also have to find some way to make your machines more appealing - I did this by getting 6 copies of Office 2000 install licenses that I included with the machines. I recovered my cost with 3 machines, sold another 2 and kept one. While it was profitable, I would not do it again as the stress of trying to get them to sell is pretty high.