The main machine is 9 years old this year. Still, a good machine, but has done some strange things once in a while. I think I paid $280 for this refurbished HP. Nothing fancy, just an HP P7-1414. An amazing machine for nearly 8 years ago. 3.2mhz.
I’m not into speed, as long as it has enough horsepower for video editing, and experiments/projects.
- I upgraded the power supply, from 300 watt to 450
- Added more memory, From 6GB to 10GB.
- Added a low end video card. Nvidia Gforce Gt-710, but better than the onboard video.
- Replaced all the hard drives,
- Removed the CD-Roms,
- Added new ports to it.
- Replaced mice and keyboards as they wore out.
- About the only thing original is the motherboard, and CPU.
It’s been 16 years since I actually built one from parts. I have spent the last week catching up on the finer points of the hardware world. So I am going to save up, like I did last time, and build another. It won’t be a race horse, but a cross between work and gaming to give me the editing ability I need, without the current occasional hiccups I encounter due to older hardware. I certainly don’t have a lot of money, so will have to pick my parts carefully.
Just for fun, I will share the build images from 16 years ago. I can’t remember what the specs were, since the machine has long been gone, but you get to see the end result.
16 years ago. Parts and case scattered about. Click for larger images.
The picture below, shows ugly white cdrom (from another machine). I ran short of money. Can you believe we still had 3.5 inch floppies back then?
I always get nervous when I spend money, and Michelle says I research things to death. Drives her nuts. I’m going to try to keep it down to around $600 for the build. I’ll save $149 or so, just by not buying Windows 10 and using Linux instead, which I prefer.
I’ll update later on once I get around to building it (after saving up).
Comments, suggestions welcome.
I wish I had your skill, but I just bought a W10 HP tower PC with AMD Ryzen 5 processor, 256 GB SSD and 1 TB hard drive combined. 8 GB Ram, and an optical drive. Cost a little over £540. I like it a lot so far, though W10 uses up a huge amount of the space, considering what it is. The SSD is super fast, with boot time to up and running around 25 seconds.
Good luck!
Best wishes, Pete.
Sounds close to the specs I plan to build minus the 1TB drive. Over here your set up would cost hundreds more. W10 is a hog for sure. I will be using Linux, but may make it a dual boot so Michelle can play with windows when she wants. I love my SSD drives, they are fast. You got a great deal Pete.
And here I thought I was doing well by putting all the cables in the correct plugs when I unpacked my computer after the move. 😀
You did more than some people can. I started out of necessity years ago (1982). Piecing together computers to have one. Trial and error, and a lot of reading.
Ron – I’m calling you next time I have a tech problem. In my opinion HPs are workhorses. I am typing on an HP Notebook (G60-552NR) that I bought in the Fall of 2009. I never use a laptop untethered, but this one’s battery is long gone. I must unplug it each night as it is in my bedroom, and it makes intermittent blinks and the light flashes bounce around the walls all night otherwise. I lost my Enter and Backspace keys years ago and thought “should I get a new drop-in keyboard or just use a pair of vinyl gloves to enable me to pounce down on those keys and keep using the laptop?” I opted for the latter and since I am from the “pound the typewriter keys days” (and floppy disk days as well), I’ve had no problems using it with its idiosyncrasies. Since I work from home I need a reliable computer so I have always chosen HP. The computer tech at work ordered a Windows 10 Dell laptop for when we (finally) transition to Window 10 from our current platform. I asked for an HP laptop but he said “Dell is better” – I had a Dell desktop crash and burn after doing a Service Pack update. HP rules in my humble opinion.
Hi, Linda. Thanks for the comment. Pounce away! Whatever works is my motto. Like cars, people tend to like or dislike computers based on the initial experience. My daughter who worked support for Geek
Squad and Apple. Told me once, NOT to buy an Acer I was looking at. The Acer outlasted the Compaq that was purchased at the same time. Just a matter of fate with electronics. I have bought hard drives that lasted 10 years, and had others that lasted 2 weeks. You never know.
Have you tried pricing a battery for your book/laptop? I just bought one for my ASUS laptop that is about 8 years old now. the original was still sky high, but I got an aftermarket one for less than $20 free shipping. I have Dell and HP desktops here, and an ASUS laptop, they have all been great for years. Thanks again, for the engaging comment. Great to meet you.
Hi Ron – No I never priced the battery since I never use it without being plugged in. So I just unplug it every night to avoid the white light flickering – this old laptop which I’m using right now, has all my pictures stored on it and it has a bigger screen. I had to have a backup machine due to working from home and just went right to that one when the keys incident happened, as I thought the missing key issue would be a problem in typing speed. It turns out it was not a problem in the least. The backspace key fell off and I went on YouTube to see how to replace it (it had a little hinge and button on it) and the YouTube video suggestion was to take off another key to see how THAT KEY is on, then replace them all. That was not a good idea as I ended up with more key casualties!! I have just made due and this was my first laptop and I got Geek Squad to put in the router and configure this laptop to the printer/scanner (which he could not do – he said the laptop had a problem – I later did the scanner, but not the printer – I don’t use a printer for my job). I had configured desktops before but not a laptop. I figure he has done something more than I would have to keep it humming along so good, but I do like the HP product. I am intimidated by the Windows 10 laptop – I’m just as glad we have not switched over yet … I’m a creature of habit!
I applaud your incredible determination and am impressed by your techieness. (If that’s not a word, it should be! :-D)
Just for comparison’s sake, My iMac was born in 2008 (That makes it, count ’em, TWELVE YEARS OLD, which in computer years is like 1,052 years old, right?!) I still have an old OS version 10.9.5 (I think it’s up to 12-point-something now, but I just know if I upgrade, then my old programs won’t work (especially Word, which I use all the time, and can’t bear the thought of using a newer version – I used to have a newer version when I worked, and hated it – they’d moved all the menus around, arghhhh!)
I have a Terabyte of hard-drive space – thanks to the ex-bf who gifted me with this – he liked to go all out. Eye roll. But it was super nice of him.
I have 4 GB memory – which is adequate for what I do, lots of word processing, some recording/playback, and playback of videos/movies. It’s ok. 1067 MHz DDR3 Is that enough? I haven’t much to compare with! What else? 3.06 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo. Graphics: ATI Radeon HD 4670 256 MB. I’m not sure what the hell all that means, but just sharing FYI.
How do you “add more ports”??? Wish I could, but 1) the Mac isn’t something one fools around with inside, unless you’re an Apple ‘genius’; and 2) I would faint at the sight of all the innards. I even felt a bit faint looking at your photo up there. 😀
Bye now!
A terabyte, that is great for storage! Just make sure you have backups, so you don’t lose any of your writing if the drive ever fails. That would be a sad day.
That sounds like a really fine laptop Ellie. Plenty of memory for what you do, speed is super great. Macs are great, but not for a tinkerer like me.
If you need more USB ports, you could probably buy one that plugs into the Mac. It plugs into the laptop with a USB cable, and it has multiple ports on the small block. Effectively making one USB port into several. They are generally called a USB hub. You can also get models that have slots for your various media cards from your other devices.
https://www.amazon.com/s?k=usb+hub+for+mac+laptop&crid=220UU3BOO3O0G&sprefix=usb+hub+for+m%2Caps%2C162&ref=nb_sb_ss_i_11_13
I can remember the same faint feeling when working on my first computer. I bought me one from a thrift store so if I messed it up, then I still had my main computer.
Many would buy a Windows machine, then add all types of little programs to run in the background (in the earlier days), like weather, recipe, or even MS word so it would be “instantly available”. This took up valuable memory that wasn’t as plentiful as today. Soon the machine would slow to a crawl. Thinking it was getting old, they would donate, or cheaply sell them and buy another. So that was my supply (and still is) of older computers to learn on. 🙂
Thanks for the great comment, Ellie.
I have/had a cute lil portable backup drive from Seagate, which became full. Since then I’ve been bad – because my belief is that everything is automaticallly backed up to the ‘cloud.’ Yes? No? Ay yi.
BTW it’s a desktop ‘all-in-one,’ not a laptop.
Re more USBs – what a fine idea!!!! Will do!!! Thanx! (Will wait til normal times, though. Have you noticed Amazon has slowed WAY down in delivery times?)
Ha, your last para. reminds me of our very early Mac, around 1990 or so. It had two 3.5 slots. One was for THE SYSTEM. The other for program you wanted to use, e.g. Word 1.0! The SYSTEM would take up practically all the RAM so you couldn’t do much! Lol. Ah it’s like reminiscing about the horse and buggy, eh? We’ve come a mighty long way!!
Love your posts! ‘See’ you later!
Michelle has wanted an all-in-one for several years. Not sure why she hasn’t gone ahead and bought one. I think she secretly likes her tablet more.
I remember those computer back then. Only my first one I saw, was in a state office where we worked out of. It was an IBM compatible with the system, and program disks.
For some reason, I missed your added replay here, sorry. It’s always a pleasure to share with you.
My added replay? I forget what you’re referring to! ?
It was the reply;
“Ha, your last para. reminds me of our very early Mac, around 1990 or so. It had two 3.5 slots. One was for THE SYSTEM. The other for program you wanted to use, e.g. Word 1.0! The SYSTEM would take up practically all the RAM so you couldn’t do much! Lol. Ah it’s like reminiscing about the horse and buggy, eh? We’ve come a mighty long way!!
Love your posts! ‘See’ you later!”
Ah! Ok, lol!!!
Whoops, I meant “reply” not Replay. 🙂
I am again impressed. I think it is a much better use of your time than getting caught up in the craziness out there. How are your trailer neighbors doing with the lockdown? Any “give me liberty or give me Covid-19” placards as I saw in the paper?
I agree, Elizabeth. I’d rather not become a Trailer-hoodie (new word). No placards here, things seem to be normal as far as Covid-19, which incidentally is the number of many IQ levels here. The flowers are blooming which makes things prettier.
A Trailerhood, is like a bowl of cereal. What aren’t flakes, are fruits and nuts!
I hear you about the IQ 19. Here I am in awe of the ones who gather in groups to protest being asked to stand 6 feet apart.
It is so satisfying to create something. Take care.