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

[tfflivemb2]

<snip>...for at least a day.

You've got that right!!

[NS]

You should aim to get one of these bad boys: http://www.aichi.to/~thinkpad/ibm5535-zad/

I don't like the "Enter" key.

[schen]

I've been out of touch for a few months due to football season, but this is such an interesting thread I could resist reviving it!

My current ThinkPads are:
1) The new T30 that is being built, but waiting the HDD from Brent
2) The old T23 that I'm still working on (as we speak, so to speak), which has a rapidly more reddish display daily!
3) My wife's A31 that keep locking up, but awaiting on the replacement that will arrive next week.
4) Old i1400 that has the dreaded power plug problem awaiting time to repair.
5) Fan error A30 that will probably be sold for parts.
6) A22m Bios locked that is awaiting a password chip swap.
7) 701C needing a HDD caddy.

Non-TP Notebooks
Stack of 15 "OLD" ex-Houston Astros notebooks: 1 Toshiba, 14 Compaqs (Armada 15xx, 1130, 433). Really need to get rid of these to clear the space.

Desktops
1) Homebuilt Athlon 2500+ that serves as my main photo and video editing machine, as well as audio archiving. Attached to an Integrated amp with, 3 Speed turntable, cassette deck, 8-Track deck, minidisk deck and AM/FM Tuner.
2) Homebuilt P4 1.7, that serves as a music server in my A/V cabinet.
3) IBM NetVista SSF that is hooked up to a 15" LCD that serves as a digital photoframe.
4) Homebuilt PII/400 home file-server that is dormant after being replaced by a NAS.
5) Homebuilt Athlon 1500+ PC that needs to go to some charitable organization.
6) Homebuilt Celeron 500 SFF that also needs to go to some charitable organization.
7) Compaq Presario PII/233 that needs to be parted out.

So I guess I'm somewhere around 29 working or near working machines!

[Stargate199]

Okay, here is my computer setup. I still live at home (no jokes please) and I personally have 2 computers, my thinkpad 600E and my HP Pentium III. Along with that are 2 other computers that are used by my family, a Pentium II desktop, and an HP Pentium 4 desktop. My dad is issued a Thinkpad T43 from his office. That computer gets replaced every 3 years. So in all in my house are 5 computers that get regular use. My 600E is used at school, and at home when my P III needs work or when i Play a game on the P III, the 600E is used for AIM.

[pianowizard]

So I guess I'm somewhere around 29 working or near working machines!

As long as you don't feel guilty about it, it's okay. When I started collecting computers, I kept all of them. But when I bought the 17th computer (a Thinkpad 365X), I started feeling bad about not putting some of them into good use, and about taking up so much space in my small bedroom. So I started selling the ones I didn't like or use much. I have now owned 48 computers, but only 9 of them are still around because I sold the rest. All 9 computers get used once in a while, so I feel much better![/quote]

[tfflivemb2]

I still live at home (no jokes please)

You are far from the only forum member that still lives at home, not myself of course.

[dsigma6]

I still live at home (no jokes please)

You are far from the only forum member that still lives at home, not myself of course.

Jokes will only arise if you're 37.



I don't live at home (thankfully), but my Mom is sure keen on getting me home once a week for dinner. That empty nest syndrome is brutal!

[schen]

So I guess I'm somewhere around 29 working or near working machines!

As long as you don't feel guilty about it, it's okay. When I started collecting computers, I kept all of them. But when I bought the 17th computer (a Thinkpad 365X), I started feeling bad about not putting some of them into good use, and about taking up so much space in my small bedroom. So I started selling the ones I didn't like or use much. I have now owned 48 computers, but only 9 of them are still around because I sold the rest. All 9 computers get used once in a while, so I feel much better!

[/quote]

No, I don't feel guilty about it. Except for my stack of Compaqs which were saved from literally being thrown away, all my stuff in general eventually go to some good cause. Most of them were like the Compaqs anyway and were give-aways. I'm a middle school teacher/coach now and I occasionally end up giving some of the computers away to students who can't aford one otherwise. The kids don't care that they aren't the latest, they're just excited to have their own machine! I am behind though and really need to get rid of a bunch of more of them.

[AlphaKilo470]

Well, I just received a Mitsubishi MP 286L laptop today. It's specs include a 10mhz 286, 1mb RAM (I'm guessing), VGA screen, shot floppy drive and a shot hard drive. Another non-functional computer I own is a 450mhz PIII based 390X that had it's mobo fry during a BIOS update.

Adding to my list of functional computers, I received a ThinkPad 770ED earlier this week and I'm in the process of setting it up right now. After using this thing for awhile, I've really grown to like it but at the same time, with multimedia being the only area where the 770 really out-performs a similar spec 600, it's easy to see why the 600 managed to trump the 770 in terms of sales.

[Nigellus]

I actually counted two weeks ago. In my house, there are five working computers. A Dell, an IBM Aptiva, two ThinkPads (a 600E and a 755Cs), and one Gateway M500B1 Notebook. A sixth resides with my grandmother... a Gateway Desktop.

Of these, I only use the Dell, the 600E and the Gateway Notebook. There is nothing wrong with the Aptiva, I just don't use it and I do feel a little guilty (but frankly, all the stuff I can do on it, I can do better on my 600E). It can still go on the internet, and did at my Grandmother's until she got the old Gateway. I just don't have much use for my 755Cs either except that Scorch runs better on it than it does on my 600E and I have no idea why.

The 600E is my work computer since I have to do a lot of typing and the Gateway is my media/play computer since it much more modern than my 600E (but I'd trade it for a T30 in a heartbeat so long as the T30 had 2 Ghz or better).

[wearetheborg]

(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.)

You've got a great wife Ray, I'm sure most other women would give hell for having multiple laptops



I have 5,
Dell precision 17" M90
Dell inspiron 5000 (7 years old - it just became obsolete)
Dead T30
T40 with dead backlight
T42

T42 was the only one bought used. The M90 was bought new last year. the rest were given to me.
Only since last year have I had two decent laptops running concurrently (the M90 and the T30 till it died), and I found it very useful. Especially when doing linux installs.
Now I also expect to take the T42 on trips, the M90 is just too heavy to carry around all day (I'm too scared to leave it at hotel rooms).

[IBMbuilder]

Let me count.

A30p for my lit' 2 year old girl watch DVD
R40 for the wife on the coffee table, X31 for her to carry around the house to skype calling, R50p either me or her to use in the bed room.

me: T42p for gaming, X31 for surf, tecra 8200 for paying bill, A31p on the living room table, T23 special for repairing laptop, netfinity 7100 server configuration for up/down load and keep all stuff there, T40p just for fun need to sold.

5 T30 will be up in ebay. 10 T23 getting ready also be up in ebay

16 more R50s, T41p, T40, R32 is coming this week, and load of part, maybe 50 dead/partially working IBM motherboard laying around the house

total 9 laptops are actively being used everyday + my IBM netfinity 7100 server.

all those above are junk to someone, ebay "called IBM laptop for Part", but work for me.

[RealBlackStuff]

@ibmbuilder

"10 T23 getting ready also be up in ebay "
before you put them on eBay, you should contact Ray Kawakami on this forum (rkawakami). He is an absolute T23 fan!

[Robbyrobot]

My Thinkpad odyssey started in 2004 with a 765D I paid much too much for on Ebay. In the meantime, things look like this:

1. TP765D with all the trimmings (case, extra car power pack, extra diskette drive)
2. TP765L, as above
3. TP 760EL, as above
4. TP 360C, working but only with a port replicator for power
5. TP 760EL, working but put together from parts and optically a mess
6. TP 365X, working but beat up
7. TP 770E, not working, a parts machine
8. TP 770E, working fine
9. TP 600X, in fine working condition
10. TP T21, working, but with a strange intermittent power problem
11. TP 21, working, but with no LCD backlight (not a display issue)
12. Bottom half of a TP 760EL, working but no display
13. 4 desktop computers, one running 24/7, two generally on during the day and one for testing

Oh, yes, and I've bought an A22p that will be delivered in the near future. And I also have a couple of MacIntoshes (Powerbook Duo 230 and Powerbook 5300cs, both working).

What do I actually use? Two of the desktops. The rest is just to play around, and take most of my spare time.

[meh]

My parents are getting pretty annoyed at me now... these systems are under my direct control even though I don't own all of them.

Laptops:
- Dell Latitude D600 (I think I got a decent deal on it; it was $240 shipped to Canada, 1.3GHz PM/20GB/512MB. XGA, nothing to write home about.)
- IBM ThinkPad R50e (Will be giving to brother)
- IBM ThinkPad T21
- IBM ThinkPad 365XD
- IBM ThinkPad 310ED

Desktops:
- 2x Optiplex GX110
- PIII (Asus P2B + 450MHz Katmai)
- PII (Asus P2L97 + 266MHz PII) (pfSense firewalling machine)
- Dell Dimension 4550 (Brother's)
- Dell Dimension 3000 (Dad's)
- Dell PowerEdge 860 (Xeon 3060, 1GB DDR2-667 ECC)(Linux server + Virtualization experiments)
- Apple iMac G5 17"

I'd say out of the 13 machines listed, 6 are used daily. 2 are never turned off (the server and the firewalling machine.)

(And if anyone asks why I'm still living at home, I can't even legally drive yet.)

[RealBlackStuff]

Guess my 'collection' barely makes it into this thread.

Laptops
T23 in PWO, see signature
T30 in PWO, see signature
Both used infrequently, or when traveling
Docking station 2631 in PWO, for the above, incl. 1x floppy, 2x CD-ROM
Compaq Armada 7400 in PWO, PII-400MHz, 256MB RAM (daughter's for school)

Desktops
Homebuilt ASUS P2B-S mobo, PIII Katmai 550MHz, 1GB RAM (wife's daily)
Homebuilt ASUS A7V333 mobo, AMD Athlon XP1900 (1.66GHz), 1GB RAM (daughter's daily)
Homebuilt Abit AV8-3rd-Eye mobo, Lian-Li PC67 aluminum case, AMD64-3000 (1.8GHz), 2GB RAM (my daily)
Expecting a workstation in February, specs not yet disclosed

Our whole house is wired using Actiontec Mega-Homeplug units (84Mb/s)
I've built and sold about 20 other machines, from 286 onwards.
Before we moved to the USA I had a whole lot more half-baked units, but sold it all off.
Other than laptops, I don't believe in buying off-the-shelf.

[jamerslong]

i acctually have 7 computers in my household.

my beloved Thinkpad T20 which is used for Short trips.
My New Dell vostro 1700 which is used for my deployment
My Comcrap home desktop for my daily needs.
My Dell oldschool PII doorstop
My Whitebox PC i am setting up for an HTPC
My Hp Mini PC which is in my car w a touchscreen for my multimedia center.
My wifes Gateway daily use Pc

I have too many computers.

[ajkula66]

Down to the wire...and it feels strange but good...

701c waiting to be fully set-up
T23 (my daughter's "new" favourite)
A31p times several spread around the house...

[losmeme]

Wow, so glad to see this thread, Think I'll call the shrink and cancel all my appointments! I'm not crazy afterall!


7 working ThinkPads, 2 in daily use:

755CV - i486DX - Bought for $50 off CL, MINT. Will keep as museum piece

760XL - Pentium 166 - Bought for $25 off CL, Absolutely MINT with battery that still holds a good charge. This is my newest, and we are still bonding at the moment. She's a beautiful lady. Will keep as museum piece.

570 - PII 366MHz - Given to me by the porter of my building before I moved from New York. Screen flickered, and USB port was broken. Have replaced the MoBo and fixed the flicker. (Porter laughed when I told him I wanted his trash, was really [censored] when he saw it all cleaned up and working again)

570E - PIII 500MHz - Bought from Eric Giles, it came with all original box, docs, etc. Beautiful machine. I'm waiting to put a SSD in this one. Have added wireless with an external SMC antenna attached to the back via the modem cutout.

T21 - PIII 700MHz - Purchased off eBay, but got burned. Screen had undocumented red tint, but has since been replaced. Not really sure what to do with this one.

X31 - PM1.4 - Purchased as refurb from IBM. My take out machine, though she hardly ever leaves the house.

T43 - PM1.7 - Purchased as a refurb from IBM as well. This is the machine I use for internet when I am in couch potato mode.

I also have 3 desktops that get pretty much daily use, 2 others that lie in wait for use. I like to buy IBM chassis off eBay to rebuild.

Desktops:
Intellistation E Pro (the only stock desktop I have) - PIII 933MHz with VIA chipset. Keep to show that PIIIs are actually decent machines when not used with an Intel chipset.

NetVista legacy free SFF - rebuilt with MSI K7N MoBo, a new power supply, and Athlon XP2500 and 36GB Raptor. This machine flys and has served me well for the past three years as my main internet machine.

IBM eSeries 235 chassis with nice perforated metal front. (Introduced WAAAY before Jobs stole the look for the Mac) Rebuilt with MSI Socket 939 Athlon X2 4400, 4X250MB sata drives, two of which are raided. This is my work horse, file storage, video, graphic design, heavy photoshop use.

NetVista Minitower - Rebuilt with Intel 865 MoBo, P4 2.8 Prescott. This is my test machine which I use for uTorrent and Norton. (I run Norton on this machine only. I'll pull hard drives out of all the others to scan them if I need to.) Still looking for pinout for the front panel audio jacks so I can hook them up to the MoBo.

Cheap aluminum thing purchased from Tiger Outlet (It fits where it needs to go, still looking for a good IBM replacement case though) - Fitted with an ASUS MoBo, socket 939 Athlon 3700. OS is on 36GB Raptor drive, 250GB WD serves for 215GB of iTunes storage and video player.

And all this crammed into a one bedroom apartment! Visitors mistakenly think they are in Best Buy upon initial entry.

What's the obsession? I'm an IBM brat whos' father sold mainframes for 32 years, but who also would never buy a PC for the house. ("I'm not spending that kind of money, only to have it worth nothing in a year." Was a stock response to my pleas in the 80s) I started using the Mac after graduating from design school. (oh, wait, I have ANOTHER desktop a 533MHz G4 Apple Digital Audio, but it has not been turned on in 3 or 4 years)

Used the Mac for 14 years until Jobs returned to the mother ship and threw out all those things that made a Mac a Mac. OSX marks the spot where the Mac died IMO. I purchased my first PC, an IBM 300PL 6892-N4U 5 years ago, and haven't looked back since. (since parted out, but you never forget your first time )

My father, brother and three of my best friends work or have worked for IBM at one point or another over the past 20 years, resulting in raging fights over the merits of Mac vs IBM. One Thanksgiving dinner stands out in particular, although no food was thrown. All are very pleased I have finally seen the light.

[jamerslong]

wow losmeme you have an interesting short story, 14 years on a mac. i hate mac... well the new mac. i have never used a mac as a personal machine, just in school and through friends that had one. but the mac just wasnt my cup of tea. now mac users are more commom and they all think they are better because they use macs and i dont. it's one of the biggest mac killers it that mac has become a style, a part of a certin group of amaricans, where the users all go to starbucks and drink coffee while they talk about their clothes and condo's and what they will buy next out of their IKEA magazine(well atleast where i am from).

[Kyaresk]

Beyond the IBM's listed in my sig line, we have several homebuilt desktop computers in different rooms in the house. I think besides 'my' four - there are five others. Most are older, running less than 1 ghz processors and loaded either with DOS or Win 98SE.

I'm the only one that has upgraded to XP Pro and that was only because it came on my T42.

Once my boomerang son gets back on his feet and out of the house again, the TP 600 will become another DOS computer used only for my fiction writing. Right now, the PS/Note serves that purpose.

Kat

[Harryc]

(5) or more, yes I qualify

2 x T21's - One for my son, one for me. Used every day
1 x T43 - My wife's work
1 x T60 - My work
1 x T61/P - My main personal machine

1 Dell Desktop - my daughter's
1 Home built Athlon Desktop - Linux experimental


That's (7). ...LOL.

[losmeme]

Jamerslong Wrote:

wow losmeme you have an interesting short story, 14 years on a mac.

Yep, was right there at the beginning. $12,000 laser printers and $8,000 20MB (yes, MegaByte) networked hard drives with a Mac Plus. Good thing I wasn't paying for all that. PageMaker 1.4 took almost 5 minutes to launch from the hard drive, just long enough for me to go outside and hotbox a cigarette. I was an early adopter of multitasking.

Couldn't agree with you more about the current state of the Mac. It's not a computer platform, it is a style statement by, of and for technophobes. It constantly amazes me how some Macaphite will spend $3,000 on a G5 only to surf the internet and use Word. (Weeee! look at me, I'm a POWER USER!) I spent 14 years being accused of using a "toy", funny how it has actually turned out to be just that.

I'll happily fix any of my friends computers for them, unless they are on a Mac. It has been my experience that it is almost never the Mac at fault, but PEBKAC, as some IT friends used to describe it. (Problem Exists Between Keyboard And Chair. They would actually stand behind the poor user and banter that term about, priceless!)

Sorry to get off topic, I'll shut up now!

[MintyMadness]

New to the forum, had to jump in on this one!

I recently got rid of a LOT of my desktop PC's for reasons I don't really want to discuss So currently I only have 2(.5?) systems at home that I use. Soon to be more I'm sure.

SERVER:
Dual P3 @ 1.26Ghz each (Tualatin cores)
1GB PC133
250, 100, & 80 GB IDE drives respectively
Windows Server 2003 Enterprise

This is my test server. I used it to test and play and learn Server 2K3, and haven't been arsed to take it off as of yet... works great! (although boot time would probably be better with SCSI drives..) It stays on constantly

Thinkpads:
WIFE - T30 1.8ghz; 1gb ram; 80GB 5400rpm
ME - (rebuilding) T22; 900Mhz; 128mb ram
DAD - T23 1.13Ghz; 1gb ram; 80GB 7200RPM

Other Desktop:
Clone P4 - 3Ghz; 2.5gb RAM; 80GB; 6800GT
DELL - Standard ol' dell desktop.. 2.4ghz P4 I think.. It's in a green custom Aptevia case at my wife's parent's house as their personal machine.
This list will fluctuate depending on deals I get or parts friends/family need..

Other Laptops:
("Jetbook")
Grandma - P3 833mhz; 256mb RAM; 40gb 4200rpm
SISTER - mP4 1.6ghz; 2gb ram; 60gb 5400rpm


So i don't have any PC's that sit around and not get used. I typically give them away, or put them into service somehow.. This is due to the fact that I _do_ feel guilty when PC's don't get used, lol.. Plus I get off on lots of PC's networked together. Just the idea of it gets me all hot and botherd.. I am a bona-fied geek I guess..

-Jeremy

[jjames55]

Guess i qualify as the collectors gene has now (also) been turned towards thinkpads

active machines:
#1 T61P wuxga, own machine
#2 T42P wifes
#3 T42P sxga+ living room media player etc
#4 T23 test bed machine etc.

Right now in the 'museum':
PowerPC 860 w. aix (I work with AIX as daytime job)
240x
390x
570
600x
T22
X21
T42P
A31P

Some of these are in absolutely mint condition, most near-mint. Only machine i'm really missing in the collection is a nice butterfly 701C, and maybe some of the real old ones or a tablet, or ....

It started out a long time ago by buying a nice cheap T40 with a broken screen, Then when i saw how nice and easy these machines are to service and repair, i have been buying machines for repair and selling the results off, keeping machines far to nice to get rid of...

Only other active non-thinkpad machines in the house are a shuttle SD11G5 as server (pentium-m cpu and mobile chipset), and an IBM RS/6000 44P aix machine as TSM backup server that's turned on once a week or so.

...Then there is the RS/6000 museum but thats quite another story (and they take up so much more room)...

regards,
Jesper James

[macuser]

What a wonderful post.

1. T60p My first TP (Nikon D200)
2. X61s the travel machine (canon SD1000)
3. Mac ibook 900mhz - kitchen recipe server :p
4. 17 Mac-pro (almost sold)
5. 15 Mac-pro LCD (Nikon D70)
6. Dell pc is still the "work horse"
7. Believe it or not I dont know if I should count this......
iphone - I use this for everything under the sun.

Never really realized I had so many. Im actually content. However I did see a 42p all decked out on ibm certified used which caught my eye. o.0

Funny how I equate a camera to a machine....
Although Ive been from Thailand to the Oakland hills to NYC with the x61s and that alone can be my sole machine..

Needs and wants are sometime askew.

Regards macuser

[BillMorrow]

i see its time for an update on whats scattered about..

oct. 2006 stable:

active computers:
T60p (UXGA)
used for running stuff needing a pristine OS, testing vista, OS/X which does not now boot up, and when I travel to georgia running this forum from afar..

X60s
ditto to the T60p but more portable and a carry around map with gps..

Transnote
24/7 monitoring of the dual wan router, PDA master list and telephone assistant, taking notes i want to keep, servine as an ANON VOIP line for those who use caller id to filter calls, like people who owe me $$

IBM Netvista
My assistants computer, less now that lenovo and ibm killed my new thinkpad business

MORROW special P4 3ghz, 2gig, 2x500gig array and 2x300gig array boot, 2xPlextor CDR, DVD +- RW, 5 active displays, used for some trading, research, new forum member checkout and activation, email and redundant storage/backup and more

inactive but operable:

Transnote
IBM NetFinity
AlphaMicro AM1000
570
5x701C's
770Z
770-1AU
755CDV

inactive and needing OS or HDD..
860 PowerPC RS6000
various 760 series..

might have forgotten one or two..

added:
1 - X60 tablet sxga+
1 - macbook pro 15 inch
1 - 8GB iPhone

upgraded morrow special:
1 - 4 TB DROBO NAS
(made by escapee's from apple and it looks the part)

removed 3 displays

deleted:
1 - transnote
(sold)

i will never sell the T60p.. it is too beautiful with the flexview display..

[BigWarpGuy]

I have 5 computers that work. I use them at different times. I have some that do not work but keep them since they are possible basis for a min-itx projects.

[pianowizard]

7. Believe it or not I dont know if I should count this......
iphone - I use this for everything under the sun.

I can say the same thing about my Palm Centro. I got it in November. It is the first smartphone I've ever owned and it has totally changed my life. Being able to access the internet, work on Office/PDF files, take photos or shoot videos, etc. etc. wherever and whenever is so convenient. And this Palm Centro is so small, barely bigger than a regular cell phone and infinitely more portable than a laptop. And I'm paying only $30 plus fees/taxes per monthly through the Sprint Employee Referral Offer program (look it up on Fatwallet.com).

[gator]

Ah, finally I get to post in this very interesting thread. I right now own the following thinkpads:

1. T60 - primary work/entertainment machine, a great workhorse
2. T23 - primary "take-out" machine, a "Ray Kawakami special" (in storage in gainesville now)
3. 600X - another "Ray Kawakami" special, looks and runs beautiful (in storage in gainesville now).
4. A31p - hastily acquired non-working parts machine that I hope to revive some day (in storage)
5. 380 ED - 24 * 7 firewall for home network running linux (best thinkpad keyboard ever)

Two "additions" in the past week:

1. X24 - recently acquired from Ed for a good friend, am setting up and testing this for him. Looks very pretty, and has a great keyboard.
2. X41 - yet to arrive, this is for someone else too.

I don't plan to sell any of the machines I own. Each of them get used a lot as and when I need them. The 600X was used as the primary interfacing laptop to my measurement setup in school for my research work for 2 semesters last year and it ran 24*7 for almost 5 months with absolutely no issues whatsoever. The T23 amazes anyone who uses it - for a 7 year old system it is very snappy and in amazing condition. I am very happy with my collection - I kind of have the best in every series that I like (I'll skip the T30, T4x and X3x, they are nice thinkpads but I am not as big a fan of these models compared to the ones I own).

My ultimate collection will include (all of the above plus): An IBM PC110, a transnote, a 770z and a 240z - all maxed out, ofcourse