Computers now are so fast for every day tasks

[SlowSpyder]

It's more often I upgrade for the sake of the hobby then an actual 'need'. That's probably the case for a lot of people here.

 

[Idontcare]

Originally posted by: Nightsilencer
That's because you don't have to upgrade. Most people are driven by the "OMG IT'S NEW AND SHINY!" argument. Some people just gotta have the latest and greatest.

Those people don't realize that in the long run, they are throwming money away.

For example, I spent money on a whole new system back in October 2008. I went with an E8400. I'm really, REALLY happy with it. Do you even think i'm considering upgrading in the next 2 years? Of course not! I want this CPU to exhaust its horsepower.

Just let your hardware live its lifecycle.

There's no reason to be negative about it or the people who do it.

Originally posted by: SlowSpyder
It's more often I upgrade for the sake of the hobby then an actual 'need'. That's probably the case for a lot of people here.

Exactly. It is entertainment. Cheap entertainment for many of us. To be loathed no more so than other entertainment activities such as paying a monthly cable bill, going out to dinner at a restaurant or McDonalds, or the movies, or buying a magazine or book, etc.

I'm always perplexed when the holier-than-thou posters appear in threads like this and proceed to attempt to demonize/vilify the actions and choices of other computer enthusiasts. The "Its all for epeen", "throwing their money away", and "ZOMG its shiny, must have" comments.

Just needless belittling of people who are just trying to do something that provides them some enjoyment in life by people who undoubtedly "waste" their money on things I wouldn't spend my money on (but I'm not about to hold it against them and belittle them for it...).

 

[ochadd]

Originally posted by: SlowSpyder
It's more often I upgrade for the sake of the hobby then an actual 'need'. That's probably the case for a lot of people here.

I'm in the same boat. Upgrade for the sake of upgrading. I've got very little use for a quad core or SSD but I check prices 3x a day for no good reason.

 

[imported_Scoop]

Maybe Sandy Bridge will make me go for a quad. Right now I'm thinking about buying a new GPU but I can't even justify that. Every game runs well enough at decent settings and I don't game that much anymore.

 

[Deadtrees]

About 5 years ago, when I spent about $1100, I got Celeron 1.8 or 2.x CPU, 256MB of RAM, 64 bit FX5200 GPU and 250GB of HDD.
That was a slow machine even old day's standard. I was very limited.

About 2 years ago, the same amount of money got me Q6600 @ 3.2Ghz, 6GB of RAM, 8600GT and 1TB of HDD.
It's just fast and I don't feel limited at all. Yes, in some cases, I wish it were faster but nowhere close to being limited.

 

[akugami]

You know, I've switched to a laptop as my main computer. My desktop is sorta overkill (Q9550 @ 3.4ghz, 8GB RAM, Radeon 4870) but in truth my laptop which is significantly weaker in terms of power is all I need for daily computing. For the vast majority of people this is the case. My desktop is used mainly for video encoding or gaming as well as when I need dual screens. Having two monitors when typing up a report or comparing two different reports is a huge time saver rather than minimizing and maximizing windows.

Basically unless the consumer plays video games or is getting into recording AVCHD videos, a $500 computer is more than good enough. It's really amazing the amount of power one has for cheap on the desktop and even on the laptop front.

 

[s44]

Originally posted by: videogames101
Gaming ftw, always a reason to upgrade!

Except that consolitis has severely limited games' demands too.

What's the next Crysis? Even Crytek is working on something less bleeding-edge.

 

[spittledip]

Originally posted by: SlowSpyder
It's more often I upgrade for the sake of the hobby then an actual 'need'. That's probably the case for a lot of people here.

Yeah this is how it is for me, although I do tend to make big leaps when upgrading.. but do I really need to upgrade? Of course not.

 

[videogames101]

Originally posted by: s44

Originally posted by: videogames101
Gaming ftw, always a reason to upgrade!

Except that consolitis has severely limited games' demands too.

What's the next Crysis? Even Crytek is working on something less bleeding-edge.

In that case, I'll just move to a higher res screen! Upgrade reasons FTW!