If you've ≥5 computers, do you use them all or feel guilty?

[thinkpadcollection]

Three 600's, Pentium 233mmx 600, PIII 500 600X both working perfectly. and 600E is useless now due to keyboard ribbon broken and pink LCD on startup.
T23 not in use, toying with once in a while.
A31p occasionally used for repair info using serial port.
Two T410 one integrated, one GPU.
One T420 for heavy work and for travelling while visiting friend (in same city).
T60 14.1" as toy. LOL.
Sony VIAO 13.3" C2D 2.5GHz 800fsb with better cooling design both fan and hestsink. (cooling designs; there were 3 revisions).
Toshiba 15.6" 2.93 fsb1066 with DDR2 even equipped with 4500MHD. Don't worry this is good one with good cooling.
Dell Studio 1558, just swapped parts around from T410 for i7 CPU and ram since this is one with better GPU (HD5470) and improved cooling mod. NO pad for GPU, just copper shim.
R42 modded using T42 ATI 9600 motherboard, 2GHz and R52 long heatsink.
R52 bios modded and fully upgraded.

I just swapped my years (7 yr) of use, fully upgraded optiplex 780 tower for HP z220 barebone for good price. Machine sports nice i5-3570 which is so sweet to use now with speedy HD and decent "high end" GPU waiting to use. Pending CPU swap to xeon and eventually get ECC memory then buy good new HD, hey better than SSD in size and cost wise is to get HGST/WD gold 10TB helium w/ 256MB buffer, hey the z220 is a reason to get as they are one of them to get UEFI for first time which is a requirement to handle properly booting from large HD. They are not that bad even some think expensive but worth for long term use from ebay. z220 is equipped with 400W 90% efficiency. I plan to swap 600W PSU 90% efficiency from a z420 one day. That Optiplex 780 came together as parts then upgraded over the years including XP, then 7 Pro finally 10 Pro. That 780 replaced unreliable machine socket A 462 Athlon barton thanks to VIA chipset. MAD.
Also 3 more Dells optiplexes: USFF and SFF 755, DT 760 and fire-breathing SFF GX620 3.8GHz.
One USFF HP DC7900 and HP ultra slim 8200 with i5.

Some were recycle finds and some were sent to me from friends.

Retired:
R40 had looong life hand me downs from many owners then to me then gave it to friend for several years then back to me. Ran into performance limitations and not worth fussing with more upgrades.
A21m due to dead battery kept CPU performance down.

I do depend and collect computers to entertain myself and talk online since I am deaf and not much to do at this moment.

Cheers, thinkpadcollection

[kfzhu1229]

Hi kfzhu1229, I forgot to tell you one more thing that you can deal with undersized power supply for your GX520, There is 280W version DT type are for both GX520 and GX620 and several dell models I have a DT, optiplex 760 and needs to get upgraded to 280W from 255W. Also make sure your 755 also have 280W supply as well.

I actually have a 295W PSU inside my OptiPlex 755. The reason I didn't upgrade till now for GX520 is actually because I have just realized that I missed some great deals of those PSUs from OptiPlex 745 (a school had been discarding those desktop computers and I missed out on that free salvaging)

PS: I had a complaint from my friend about slow notebook and turns out it was a 1 head 160GB HD in it. Swapped for 2 heads 320GB and that sped up lot even they were both 5400rpm drives. Also your 80GB seagate is also 1 head. I have two of them on dresser doing nothing.

Cheers, thinkpadcollection

Well I personally don't mind the speed of that Seagate HDD since Pentium 4 is the bottleneck no matter what, and that is probably also why I swapped that slow HDD into a Pentium 4 computer while for my Xeon computer I have SSD. And yea I know it is plenty slow for SATA because it is not any faster than the Ultra ATA IDE Seagate HDD I have (Seagate ST3200827A) on the same Dimension 5150. But I am fine with the IDE HDD too since it is nothing but a backup hard drive and it is plenty sturdy for that purpose too.
P.S. I actually use the 160GB 5400rpm HITACHI HTS541680J9AT00 IDE HDD for my laptop to avoid the 2010 error the other way since I kinda refuse to flash modded BIOS on my laptop (For the OptiPlex 755 I just have no other choice but to flash the BIOS to work with the much cooler Xeon that both sounds and runs cooler ). I guess I am still okay with the 30-40MB/s transfer speed.
Thanks for your advice though.

[thinkpadcollection]

No problem.

And you have a PM.

Cheers, thinkpadcollection

[kfzhu1229]

Update: I decided to swap in a Radeon HD 8750 inside the OptiPlex GX520 to get it to at least stream Netflix at FHD. I know it is a full waste of power but I just happen to have that card from my friend who upgraded to GTX 1050ti, and I will have trouble mounting the custom fan inside this DT GX520 if I were to move that fanless card inside. I have this rare PCI to PCIe adapter in handy. Yea it doesn't seem all that pretty with a full height slot converted into low profile, and you have to remove the bracket too due to the full height bracket of the adapter, but I guess it still runs and gets the job done.
http://imgur.com/a/j2kkp

[pianowizard]

I can no longer answer the question "If you've ≥5 computers, do you use them all or feel guilty?", because I now have only four...I currently have:

HP 8300 Elite minitower bought in 7/2012
Dell OptiPlex 9010 SFF desktop bought in 11/2012
Sony Vaio Pro 13 laptop bought in 1/2014
Microsoft Surface 3 detachable bought in 5/2017

I just sold the Sony Pro 13 so now I have only three computers! I will soon receive a Dell OptiPlex 5040 SFF desktop (6th gen Core i5), which will replace the OptiPlex 9010 SFF (3rd gen Core i3). Thus, my computer tally will go back up to 4, until the 9010 SFF is sold (hopefully very quickly). I doubt that I'll ever have ≥5 computers.

Update: I decided to swap in a Radeon HD 8750 inside the OptiPlex GX520 to get it to at least stream Netflix at FHD.

I found a GX520 in a recycle bin several months ago, with 3.06GHz Celeron, no RAM and no HDD. After adding 2GB RAM and an 80GB HDD, Windows 7 Enterprise actually ran reasonably well. Last week I downgraded the RAM to 512MB and sold the computer for $10.

[kfzhu1229]

I found a GX520 in a recycle bin several months ago, with 3.06GHz Celeron, no RAM and no HDD. After adding 2GB RAM and an 80GB HDD, Windows 7 Enterprise actually ran reasonably well. Last week I downgraded the RAM to 512MB and sold the computer for $10.

Ah I got mine for around CAD$20 with 2GB RAM so similar pricing.
Well I could've give you my original 3.0GHz Pentium 4 630 for free if you still have that machine though...
Well I also have this one Radeon HD 3450 512mb PCI card lying around, and GX520 has no PCIe slots as you know, so I was actually kinda hesitating about it. With the graphics card, the video performance is worse than the GMA because Radeon HD 3450 is pretty weak, while it plays 480p Netflix and YouTube just fine. Without it, however, produces another batch of issues such as poorer modern application support due to the lack of DX10 (Windows 10 minesweeper won't even work with the GMA), plays YouTube at 720p with Microsoft Edge, and couldn't play Netflix even with 144p thanks to the DMA eating away the CPU power, leaving the GMA unusable for Netflix.
Well, I got a friend who upgraded from that HD 7850 OEM to GTX 1050ti, so I salvaged that card, put it on a PCI to PCIe adapter and a PCI riser (well interestingly enough, I have a riser with PCI and PCIe slot from my GX520 which leaves the PCIe slot hanging there doing nothing, and I recently got an OptiPlex 755 with double PCI riser which lets the PCIe slot on the motherboard sitting there doing nothing. So swapping them around gives me a win-win ), and here I have it hooked up on this GX520 just to enable high-res multimedia. Thanks to the PCI slot, the card's benchmark is PEANALISED FOR UP TO 50%!! But then it's not like I would use any of those Pentium 4 machines for gaming anyways, and I already have a better GT 730 v2 on my OptiPlex 755.

[Thinkpad4by3]

Ha, look at my signature. Am I guilty, not at all. Most arent worth much. Its not like im keeping a whole lot from the world. Are XGA 14" T42s rare? I didnt think so. For the few rare birds, I paid my money so I should get them. Its not like I stole them, then I would feel guilty. Anyway, Ive donated a fairshare of mine. I regret giving away a T61 over my T60p(both 4:3 1050p).

Do I use them on a regular basis.
My custom desktop yes!
X230 yes!
X220 yes!
755C from week to week.
Tandy 1400LT get a charge every few weeks.
All others are stored away for the meanwhile.

[kfzhu1229]

I saved a badly tortured Dell Inspiron, ThinkPad T22, pristine T23 and A30 from the trash directly. A30 has been upgraded from boy to beefy man A30p with every single part other than the base casing and keyboard replaced with the higher options.
Therefore at this point I feel proud instead of guilty to own them.

[sdfox7]

I have six laptops and I am taking delivery of an additional one (ThinkPad T23) this weekend. They are each from specific time periods and I am unwilling to sell any of them. Many of these are from when I was a very young child; I am not the original owner but have taken an interest in collecting them now that I have resources to do so. All are in excellent cosmetic and functional condition except the T40 (notes below):

-1993 Gateway 2000 Handbook 486, MS-DOS
-1995 Gateway 2000 Solo P3C (R0), Windows 95 (Gateway's first laptop [?])
-1996 Dell XPi CD, dual-boot Windows 95/NT 4.0 (I believe this was Dell's first three spindle laptop)
-2001 Gateway Solo (stunning 15" display in July 2001, came with ME but I dual-boot Win98/Win2000)
-2003 IBM ThinkPad T40 (purchased refurbished from IBM; bad southbridge/motherboard [chassis flex])
-2004 IBM ThinkPad T41 (purchased from original owner to replace my T40 that failed, currently my daily driver with Windows XP Professional, Chrome, Firefox, and upgraded to 2GB RAM. I also upgraded the internal Intel 2100 WiFi card to the 2200 to take advantage of modern WPA2 networks. I am handling this one very carefully to try to prevent the well-documented flexing problem.)

-2001 IBM ThinkPad T23, I have already been in contact with the seller and will take delivery this weekend: https://cnj.craigslist.org/sys/6268409947.html

[thinkpadgeek91]

Ryzen 5 1600X custom built desktop. (Home Computer)
2015 MacBook Air (Travel computer)
Dell Inspiron 11 2-in-1 (Cheap Windows support computer)
2012 MacBook Pro (Wife's)
iPad Pro 12.9" (Used for teaching, lightweight study, and meetings)
iPad Mini 2 (On it's last legs, bedside e-reader,web browser)

Now for the PowerPC Mac collection:
PowerMac G4 Quicksilver 867Mhz
PowerMac G3 400Mhz
eMac G4 1.42Ghz
iMac G3 REV A 233Mhz
iBook Clamshell Tangerine 300Mhz
iMac G4 15" 700Mhz
iMac G4 17" 1.25Ghz
PowerBook G4 12" 1.25Ghz

I have a "few" computers.

[kfzhu1229]

I just sold my 390X last weekend to someone who needed the parts or as a fully working machine, so my collection of laptops is down to 9.
Again:
daily use laptop: maxed out T43p (2005)
Spotify use laptop: maxed out A30p (2001)
newest laptop: almost maxed out T530 (2012)
daily use desktop: maxed out OptiPlex 755 with Xeon x3363 (2007)

I just happened to notice that ppl in university all love Apple products - especially girls, which I don't appreciate how they quantify things as well.
I have heard many ppl thinking that their 2012 or earlier MacBooks are too old, and they need the 2016 model with touchbar.
Well, yeah sure you get the newest stuff apple offers, but that doesn't mean it's better. My 2007 OptiPlex 755 can easily outperform the 13" 2017 models, while costing a quarter of what they pay. That is a whole decade of age difference!
As for my Ivy Bridge i7-3720QM T530, there is just no comparison in terms of CPU performance. Only the 6600HQ/7600HQ or higher is able to compete against it, and even if you get that in MacBook it performs like a i5-6200U thanks to its thermal limitations.
Also as a matter of fact, if you look around in university for the PC users, all of them have the square skylake/kaby lake generation logos! Do people not understand how to get the best value in terms of computers??

[ajkula66]

Also as a matter of fact, if you look around in university for the PC users, all of them have the square skylake/kaby lake generation logos! Do people not understand how to get the best value in terms of computers??

Understanding the concept of value requires using one's own mind which had previously been streamlined by proper education...an equivalent of a deep purple unicorn in today's world.

[thinkpadgeek91]

I just happened to notice that ppl in university all love Apple products - especially girls, which I don't appreciate how they quantify things as well.
I have heard many ppl thinking that their 2012 or earlier MacBooks are too old, and they need the 2016 model with touchbar.
Well, yeah sure you get the newest stuff apple offers, but that doesn't mean it's better. My 2007 OptiPlex 755 can easily outperform the 13" 2017 models, while costing a quarter of what they pay. That is a whole decade of age difference!
As for my Ivy Bridge i7-3720QM T530, there is just no comparison in terms of CPU performance. Only the 6600HQ/7600HQ or higher is able to compete against it, and even if you get that in MacBook it performs like a i5-6200U thanks to its thermal limitations.
Also as a matter of fact, if you look around in university for the PC users, all of them have the square skylake/kaby lake generation logos! Do people not understand how to get the best value in terms of computers??

The 2012 MacBook Pro's run just fine and no one "needs" an over priced 2017 model. My wife's 2012 MacBook Pro (previously mine) has a 3rd Gen i5 in it and it runs great with an SSD and 8GB of RAM. I could easily use it as my daily driver if I had too. I have a 2015 MacBook Air I bought new this year and it's my last new Mac. I paid only $600 for it and it still has an upgradable SSD. The new ones everything is soldered on.

[shawross]

I understand you are rebuilding your Thinkpad collection but how does a thinkpadgeek use Macbooks? LOL

[Thinkpad4by3]

It is one of the 7 deadly sins of Thinkpad users .

A Thinkpad a day keeps the Apple away, and therefore you might need to see the doctor more often .

[kfzhu1229]

I have a 2015 MacBook Air I bought new this year and it's my last new Mac.

I personally think a MacBook Air 2015 is a terrible buy. Maybe it is just me, but for that premium price, you are basically getting a netbook. The screen doesn't even compare to even the first IPS screens from A30p, the keyboard is mushy, I/O ports are limited, and the performance easily gets trumped by your smartphone; not to mention how apple tries their best to solder everything onto the systemboard to eliminate any chances of upgradability.
No offense though, but I would rather skip ultraportable computers (tablets and ultrabooks) and get a phablet + laptop + desktop combo instead. This way you save a lot of money and also get a good experience out of them.

[thinkpadgeek91]

I have a 2015 MacBook Air I bought new this year and it's my last new Mac.

I personally think a MacBook Air 2015 is a terrible buy. Maybe it is just me, but for that premium price, you are basically getting a netbook. The screen doesn't even compare to even the first IPS screens from A30p, the keyboard is mushy, I/O ports are limited, and the performance easily gets trumped by your smartphone; not to mention how apple tries their best to solder everything onto the systemboard to eliminate any chances of upgradability.
No offense though, but I would rather skip ultraportable computers (tablets and ultrabooks) and get a phablet + laptop + desktop combo instead. This way you save a lot of money and also get a good experience out of them.

I actually enjoy the MacBook Air and it fits my on the go needs perfectly. It's also my MacOS support machine for my business. For $600 I saved a lot of money verses a MacBook Retina or Retina MacBook Pro with very very limited I/O.

[kfzhu1229]

I actually enjoy the MacBook Air and it fits my on the go needs perfectly. It's also my MacOS support machine for my business. For $600 I saved a lot of money verses a MacBook Retina or Retina MacBook Pro with very very limited I/O.

Well didn't mention that the new MacBook Pros are even worse buys. This choice is fair enough, provided that you are locked to Mac OS for business purposes. But still, I would use the Inspiron or one of the ThinkPads as my daily driver if I were you.

[thinkpadgeek91]

I actually enjoy the MacBook Air and it fits my on the go needs perfectly. It's also my MacOS support machine for my business. For $600 I saved a lot of money verses a MacBook Retina or Retina MacBook Pro with very very limited I/O.

Well didn't mention that the new MacBook Pros are even worse buys. This choice is fair enough, provided that you are locked to Mac OS for business purposes. But still, I would use the Inspiron or one of the ThinkPads as my daily driver if I were you.

Yeah I'm the local Mac guy so it helps to have Mac. I use my Ryzen desktop as my daily driver. I don't have a modern ThinkPad right now so can't use that. The Inspiron is ok but underpowered. I'm buying a X61 from a member hear and going to pickup another T420s for a daily laptop soon. I actually like MacOS and am sick and tired of all the quirks of Win 10. Dealing with it day in and day out at work and home makes me actually happy to fire up the MacBook.

[thinkpadgeek91]

I understand you are rebuilding your Thinkpad collection but how does a thinkpadgeek use Macbooks? LOL

Good question. My computer journey started with Macs. I had a Mac before every owning a Thinkpad. But now a days Apple is just irritating me to death so I am selling my MacBook and buying a couple Thinkpads. A X series and a T series and yes an E series that is now in my sig is on the way. (I wanted an AMD APU) My first step to total enlightenment was switching to Android from an iPhone this year. I'm a recovering Mac addict. My user name almost everywhere else is macgeek.

[shawross]

But now a days Apple is just irritating me to death

Yes many forum members can relate to that and I am personally turned off by much of what Apple represents. Apple in my eyes is fashion / hype and consumerism. Other than that they aren't as sturdy as Thinkpads and anything that doesn't have a trackpoint isn't a real laptop in my eyes. YMMV

[Thinkpad4by3]

Yes many forum members can relate to that and I am personally turned off by much of what Apple represents. Apple in my eyes is fashion / hype and consumerism. Other than that they aren't as sturdy as Thinkpads and anything that doesn't have a trackpoint isn't a real laptop in my eyes. YMMV

Yes, but heres the problem. An apple a day keeps all the manufacturers running back.



You may not see it, but you will feel it, especially its weight.

[thinkpadcollection]

I have six laptops and I am taking delivery of an additional one (ThinkPad T23) this weekend. They are each from specific time periods and I am unwilling to sell any of them. Many of these are from when I was a very young child; I am not the original owner but have taken an interest in collecting them now that I have resources to do so. All are in excellent cosmetic and functional condition except the T40 (notes below):


-1995 Gateway 2000 Solo P3C (R0), Windows 95 (Gateway's first laptop [?])

Hi Sdfox7,

There is a correctable fatal flaw on those Solo 2300 Pentium MMX notebooks ( those one with 3 memory module slots!) had single screw unscrewing under the CPU module due to chassis flex and screws were not coated with thread glue. Disassembly is heavy going and lots of screws, plus parts. Had to fix 3 of them just in case and tube of low torque purple loctite. If unheeded the screw touches underside of CPU module will fry. Yours solo 2K P3C might have similar issue.

Cheers, thinkpadcollection

[pianowizard]

This morning I sold my HP 8300 Elite minitower, as it has recently been replaced by an HP Z440 Workstation that belongs to my university. As a result I have just three personal computers left:

HP Pavilion x2 12-b096ms (12.0" 1920x1280, Core M3-6Y30, 3.14lb)
Microsoft Surface 3 (10.8" 1920x1280, Atom x7-Z8700, 2.00lb)
Dell OptiPlex 5040 SFF (Core i5-6600)

The HP Pavilion, which I keep in my office, is a detachable that I use once or twice a week. The Surface and Dell OptiPlex are at home, and I also use each just once or twice per week. I use my office desktop (i.e. the abovementioned HP workstation) at least 8 hours a day, but other than that I don't need computers very often because my tablet-sized smartphone (Samsung Tab S2 SM-T715, 8.0" 2048x1536) suffices for most tasks. Supersized smartphones, combined with a phone plan that gives me unlimited mobile data in almost 140 countries, have dramatically reduced my dependence on computers outside my office.

[ajkula66]

Heh...as my signature indicates, I'm at 5 computers right now with 2 of them in active use. I don't see that state of affairs changing anytime soon, since I'm not lusting for another "classic" machine nor am I in need of a "daily" system. Might sound boring, but I'm content.

[Droider]

I own 5 computers at the moment but the numbers go up and down as i tend to sell them after my affection is lost by time.

1- Ibm thinkpad T23 with windows 2000, pristine device with great display. I like it and use it from time to time to watch some movies.
2- Toshiba Tecra A3 with win xp sp3, pristine machine with Geforce 6600 gpu and sata port. This has been the natural replacement for my "old" and gone pristine T43 sadly. I use it for retro gaming.
3- Toshiba satellite 2410 with win xp sp3, good condition, geforce 4 4200 go spu, nice speakers and internal floppy drive.
4- Sony vaio SZ780 with windows 10, t9300 with ssd, 13.3" led display, geforce 8400m gpu, thin machine, great display. I have no use for it but it is a unique device which sports a button that can switch between intel and nvidia gpu's.
5- IBM Thinkpad 380ED with win98, no use other than display purposes.

[Glitchy]

I have 7 ... 2 PC`s and 5 ThikPad`s .. one PC is taken apart as was built as a project for gaming and water-cooling and another PC im using daily as its my work force and ThinkPad`s - P71 daily , T440p not so daily anymore but still getting some usage over the week as sometimes im using it as my travel friend, W520 is more for binge watching in my bed
X220 and T61 now resting as no hard drive for them
Oh, i have raspberry pi 3 ( can not remember which version ) connected to my TV and i watch tv series or movies if im downloaded them .

[rjsrjs]

Used two laptops, Acer, and a Gateway, for quite a while. Used Windows XP, Linux Ubuntu, and Mint on both. Both are broken now (they are around 12 yrs. old and 32 bit). Then I got a Lenovo T430, with a 180 GB SSD, 8 GB memory, running Mint 19.3 and never looked back.

[Andrew479]

I have 10 laptops and 2 desktops, should I feel guilty?
After a dreadful experience with x220 back in 2013 (which was sold immediately), I abadoned new Thinkpads in favor of HP Elitebook line.
Now, I'm returning back with x230.

As for usage, all computers get used mostly for remote rendering. Wake on lan, perform a job, then turn off.

[kfzhu1229]

Well now I have something like 20 computers:
7 ThinkPads (600, T23, A30p, 2xT43, T43p, T530i), 6.5 Dell Latitude laptops (CP, CPx, C600, C840, D610, D830, another halftop D610), Inspiron 2650, 4 Dell desktops (Dimension 5150, 2x OptiPlex GX520, OptiPlex 755), one HP Compaq 8300 Elite, and a custom build desktop. The blue ones are the ones that I absolutely need to keep, the rest I will sell off should I encounter good deals.
Since all of the pre 2005 ones were saved from a landfill (either received for free or paid under C$20 a piece locally, the cost of parts), I don't feel bad at all owning this much computers. In fact the reason why I have so many at the moment is I liked the process of restoring them, and then eventually I am gonna sell most of them off as working units.