@Lilysmom wrote:
@gardenman, I am going to be looking for you next time I buy a new computer😀! LM
PS, I am using Calibre Library software on my MacBook Pro. I don't believe Apple supports this software.
Wondering if anyone uses a library supported by Apple. I can't use Kindle because it is not supported by my public library. I am still using my Sony PRS 650 ereader. I have a sneaking suspicion I may have to buy a new ereader. Kobo bought Sony sadly. I don't like Kobo. If I get a new ereader I will get one that I can download to directly without using a library...
@Lilysmom
I was pretty lucky when I bought commercially built computers. My first PC was a Pionex with a 100 mhz Pentium 1 processor and cost $1999 in 1995. I got seven plus years of use out of that computer without having to replace anything. (I did add more memory to it however.) I kept that computer hanging around until a couple of years ago when my local Radio Shack had a program where they'd dispose of old computers for you. It still worked fine even then when I'd dust it off and fire it up.
I followed that up with an eMachines desktop for around $500 that I also used for seven years (2002-2009.) That computer needed a new power supply, but was otherwise fine. I then opted to build my own computer and used it in the original configuration for eight years with only a new power supply needed. (The original power supply wasn't great, but it was included with the case I bought, so I used it and got about five years of use out of it.) That computer cost me about $700 to build, but the advantage was I could reuse the case, power supply, optical drives, hard drives, etc. in any new build. I used that computer in that configuration from 2009-2017 then this spring I rebuilt it with a new motherboard, 6 core 3.5 ghz CPU, solid state drive, 8 gigs of RAM and Windows 10. The upgrade cost me around $400. I'm expecting to get another seven to eight years of use out of this configuration.
None of my computers have died. They've all lived long enough to become obsolete. All of them were still functioning fine when I replaced them. I've kept the motherboard, CPU and memory from my first build to use for a home theater PC (HTPC), but with things like the Chromebits computer on a stick selling for $85 it's probably cheaper to just buy one of those than buy the new power supply, case, and whatnots needed to make the HTPC.
I've only had to reach out for tech help twice. Once when Windows 95 came out and my first PC had a quirk where about every six months Windows 95 would look for the PCI/IDE controller and not find it, then start to load a generic one, only to then find the original PCI/IDE controller and get confused and just decide there was no PCI/IDE controller. That issue made my optical drive disappear. It was an easy fix once you knew how to fix it however. All you had to do was delete a "NOIDE" entry from the registry and it was fine.
The second issue came from a failed install of Kaspersky anti-spyware that altered Windows installer and made it impossible to install some software. Microsoft eventually threw up their hands on that issue, but I eventually resolved it on my own. (It was another registry issue and using a registry cleaner fixed the problem.)
When I build or invest in a computer, I don't look for the cutting edge, just out of the lab stuff. I want tech that's a year or two old and the glitches have been found by others and fixed, or at least identified. My latest build used parts that had been on the market for at least six months and in most cases longer. By using older components you can find components with hundreds of reviews highlighting any issues with the component. There are some very expensive, high end motherboards with very bad reviews. There are some very inexpensive, lower end motherboards that are extremely reliable. I tend to go for cheap and reliable. Every component I used in this latest build had at least a four and a half star rating with at least a hundred reviews. You might still get a dud, but the odds of getting a reliable device increase dramatically when you use older, well tested components. It's not hard to find computer components with 1.5-2.5 star ratings. If you build a computer with those components the odds of trouble go way, way up.
My PC's have been amazingly reliable. I've found Windows 10 to be very stable and reliable so far. I like that Microsoft isn't replacing it every few years, but just installing incremental upgrades. My computers won't impress the computer snobs, but they work and work well and that's more important to me than having the latest and gereatest tech.
Fly!!! Eagles!!! Fly!!!
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