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2003 would have meant a 32-bit single-core CPU with perhaps SSE2. I imagine you'd have encountered quite a lot of software that simply wouldn't run by now. I ca

by Delk 4y ago

2003 would have meant a 32-bit single-core CPU with perhaps SSE2. I imagine you'd have encountered quite a lot of software that simply wouldn't run by now. I can't blame you for buying a new one. I used a 2003 (or so) desktop computer as my only personal one until 2014, and I'm not really one to upgrade often or for no reason, but it has started becoming seriously limiting by then. That was partially because of the growing performance demands of the web and, in particular, because (proprietary) software started requiring features that the CPU simply didn't have. It was probably one of the last AMD CPUs without SSE2 support, though, and that was the first hard limit I ran into. Nowadays 32-bitness alone would probably limit even general desktop software you can run. I have a hard time imagining what it would have been like to use a similar machine all the way until recent years.

vonwoodson 4y ago
I had to supplement my machine with cloud hosting and mainly work from the command line. I also need to say that my “actually pays the bills” work was done on company computers, which were modern but not purchased by me. I play games on a video game console, so that was never an issue. I’m primarily a C++ programmer, so making software always worked well on a Pentium 4 and is developed in the terminal. GNU/Linux, of course, still runs great on this old system. The biggest issue had been that web browsing had become a chore. The bloat of the web is well established, and loading huge websites was out of the question. Ad-blocking has become more difficult but was absolutely necessary, not loading JavaScript makes many pages unreadable, and so on… I got to the point where the fun of extending the life of my old laptop needed to be balanced against my lack of free time. I also really started to consider that a raspberry pi would be more powerful and consume less power, that my machine was not a collector item, and that the “greenest” thing may be upgrading. Honestly, though my new machine is faster, I’m still not convinced that it provides me and added benefits or capability other than websites now working as intended. I think I was expecting more.

by Delk 4y ago

vonwoodson 4y ago

I had to supplement my machine with cloud hosting and mainly work from the command line. I also need to say that my “actually pays the bills” work was done on company computers, which were modern but not purchased by me. I play games on a video game console, so that was never an issue. I’m primarily a C++ programmer, so making software always worked well on a Pentium 4 and is developed in the terminal. GNU/Linux, of course, still runs great on this old system. The biggest issue had been that web browsing had become a chore. The bloat of the web is well established, and loading huge websites was out of the question. Ad-blocking has become more difficult but was absolutely necessary, not loading JavaScript makes many pages unreadable, and so on… I got to the point where the fun of extending the life of my old laptop needed to be balanced against my lack of free time. I also really started to consider that a raspberry pi would be more powerful and consume less power, that my machine was not a collector item, and that the “greenest” thing may be upgrading. Honestly, though my new machine is faster, I’m still not convinced that it provides me and added benefits or capability other than websites now working as intended. I think I was expecting more.