On Mon, 2 Sep 2002, Matthew S. Hallacy wrote: > On Mon, Sep 02, 2002 at 10:26:17AM -0500, Daniel Taylor wrote: > > <yes, i'm feeding the troll> I didn't _think_ I was trolling... > > > Because it is better? OK, maybe I was a bit, but I am serious. > > Macs are much more durable than their x86 counterparts. I have > > a second-hand Mac 7200 that has outlasted 3 x86 boxes, just > > in the time that _I_ have had it. My kids use it for games > > now, so it isn't treated gently. > > Kinda like the 486 SX-25 i've got running in my pile-o-computers, along > with the 486 DX4-100 laptop, and the various P100-P233's also running without > problems. > I've had x86 systems like that too, but my experience has been that it is more common with Macs. > But then there's the various Mac hardware that's hanging out in the closet, > under everything else, not running because of the lack of backwards > compatibility of Macintosh hardware. > Mind, I don't have any Mac hardware older than my PCI+PPC 7200 system. But I think we are at a point right now where engineering is more important than raw performance for most uses (hardcore gaming and similar high-performance applications excluded). After all, you can still get good use out of a P233 if you run Linux or BSD on it, and you will be able to for quite some time to come. Any Mac you buy today should be more than adequate for at least the next few years, and should last far longer. > Don't get me wrong, I think Mac hardware is great, but it isn't as easy > to swap around as x86, you don't get the variety, and you certainly pay > more for something that may or may not be useful in a year or two. > > (compared to an x86 system that you can just swap in $100 worth of > components (motherboard, cpu) and have an up to date CPU and motherboard > that's capable of using all that old hardware from the last computer.) > I think that upgradability is overrated (I've done enough of it over the last decade+ to have some perspective), and it only applies to desktop/server type systems. Laptops are rarely upgradable to any significant degree. -- Daniel Taylor dante at plethora.net