Do Computers Wear Out?

That nice Mr Gates renders computers obsolete much quicker than they can ever wear out.

(Grumpy Del)

Do bubble gum loose its flavour?

I kept almost all the computers I had. I have a 197? model HP. All soft plastic parts disintegrated but the rest is working.

The 1984 cga screen has a permanent "view"

1990 models. the contacts are bad or intermittent. floppy drives an HD almost gone.

The answer is YES they do wear out.

Computers do wear out. Electonic circuits do generate heat, and if the heat is not disssipated properly the computer will not even meet its expected life cycle.

The normal obsolescence that occurs with software updates (not every update is an upgrade, however) is not the only thing that can shorten the life of computer. Lightning strikes, power spikes and accidents can suddenly turn the latest and greatest machine into an ugly doorstop.

A well cared-for computer can still be useful. I read an article in a computer magazine years ago about how businesses were using old computers for "drone" work, repetitious or simple tasks that didn't require lots of memory, or a fast processor. One case in particular was a Commodore 64 used to control a building's elevators.

Its more the mechanical things that wear out, such as the drives, the fans, the switches etc...

BUT having said that EPROMs and Flash memory only have a limites life, for EPROMs the data stored is only guaranteed for 10 years, then the bits start failing...

Flash memory as used in the BIOS only has a limited read write life...

So besides being flung out of a 3rd storey window, computers do have a use by date!!

John.

My Atari ST520FM wore out. Bloody good little computer back then. Lasted 10 years until one day it said enough is enough and all it did was show little bombs on the screen. Then I had to move over to PC's cos everyone else was using them but I still think the Atari was the best option.

Little bombs on the screen???

Yeah, Atari used a bomb icon to represent various problems. Apparently the number of bombs it displayed told you what the problem was. Very strange but that's what they chose.

More informative and entertaining than uncle Bill's messages. Page error at 0xfff...

It would have been interesting to have diagnosed the problem. In those days computers were simple enough to actually diagnose.

Every thing wears out sooner or later. Most likely though that their old and slow. As the computers have gotten faster the programs written have gotten more expansive which take a slow processor longer. They are most likely just looking to up grade. As far as the price that is a little pricey. If they don't know any thing about computers and want to network. The addition cost could be the hire of technical help to set them up , new software and contractor to run cabling.

Computers do wear out...

And so us using computers.

We wear out - updating the Windows OS every month, updating the anti-virus every now and then. Scanning for viruses, spywares, adwares, malwares, etc... and much much more...

I need to stop now...for I'm getting "worn out".

Also depends on the quality of the machine. On cheap computers, one of the first things to go is the power supply. Another great source of death is the hard drive. Almost everything else will run indefinitely.

Of course, no one here has mentioned a repair. Good for jobs!!!

I concur that they just have computer envy and want an upgrade. But 7 grand?! The nastiest game machine I can find only goes for about $5,000.00!

Hey verm we thought you silicon valley guys all lived in one vast super computer like in TRON...are you sure you are not just the 'ghost in the machine' ?

No. I'm more like the Ghost in the Shell...

The replacement PCs are WAY too expensive........!!!

With screen & printer, a (very) good office machine with OS but without an Office program should cost around $1000-$1200 each.

Using Sun's free office program, that would be it!!!

Do not get taken for a ride!!

If you buy in quantity, they get even cheaper.....

Hold on..... if all the computer is doing is sending out millions of faxes that's not a very demanding computer that's needed is it?!!

Its a heavy duty phone line that's needed!!

Also what's all this talk of using up reams of fax paper?

I thought most offices these days used their computers to send and recieve faxes, like I do, so if a fax arrives that nobody cares about its just hit the delete button!!

John.

Ahh the paperless office..cough ...splutter..fall off chair.

My Gawd..... he he he he he.... the paperless office LOL

That was talked about decades ago and look at it now.... we have more printers churning out reams of useless stuff then ever....

John..

All of our faxes are received by one PC...then we print off a thousand copies & give them to all the staff, passing strangers & anyone in the vicinity (at least it feels like that sometimes). A couple of weeks ago I had one of those experiences you hear about but never believe where someone sent me a fax, e-mailed to say they had sent the fax & then phoned to see if I got the fax and e-mail.

Spam faxing is now illegal in the US. Why don't you guys make it too.

I'm sure our government is working on it, perhaps in another 10 years when no one can remember what a fax machine is they might legislate. (Did you know that the fax machine was patented in 1843 & the telephone wasn't invented until 1876 ?)

I keep asking my office mates to fax me to Hawaii, but they say, I'll just gum up the works!

I agree, there is something VERY fishy here......its not what its supposed to be at $7000 a go!!!!

Yep, I've worn out several computers. Usually the drives and peripherials go. But heck, I'm wearing out too, so there you are.

$7000 would buy me a phenominal gaming computer that would be obsolete almost as quickly as a $1000 job. Sounds like the request has been padded.

Are the protesters using Sun workstations? If yes, that's about the price for the base model, isn't it?

If true (Sun work stations) that is entirely over the top for such a job......and far, far too expensive....!

Yeah, but no body said what these guys do? Without knowing we can't just assume that they're doing Word and Excel.

Just a little more info please.

There ore on here !

I had a pair of pants made of Commodore 64s. They seemed to wear out really quick, especially in the knees.

That's so much funnier when read by an Englishman, in our vernacular pants are underwear & I now have an image of a little verminous figure just in his PC based underwear with the knees worn out.

Just imagining...

Maybe, they needed a computer that:

1. Never wears-out.

2. Is immune from computer viruses, spywares, malwares, spams, junk emails, etc.

3. Is not going to crash on Windows (will not experience blue-screen, slowdowns due to bloated software, etc.)

4. Is Energy-Star compliant, environmentally friendly (green).

And most of all, I think, they wanted somebody to pay for this expensive computer. Hmmm...!!!

Re-read the OP and see if you agree.

Sounds to me it is a ploy to raise some extra cash flow rather than to solve a real need.

I make you out to be around 99.9% correct!! AT LEAST, maybe even more.....

What say we chip in and send them some new capaciters of varying values and let them do a bit of soldering, instead.