Originally Posted By: martinfocazio
I'll chime in here with the sad news that a 4 year old computer is actually OLD and you need to get ready to say goodbye.

You'd probably freak out at the old P-III 1Gz 768kb machine I'm typing this on right now! Yes, it's a Dell, a Dimension 4100 - and I bought refurbished at that. I don't even remember HOW old it is (10 years?) but it just keeps going and going. All original parts, including the fans. I have upgraded the original OS (Windows 95 I think).

I'll admit it's the oldest of our seven (!) computers, but it works fine for what I require of it. Windows 2000, Firefox, Thunderbird, Word, Excel, Powerpoint, Visio, Photoshop Elements, iTunes, The Sims game (my kids), Warcraft III, etc. I have other newer and more powerful computers, but no reason to trash this one. I don't expect to edit videos on it, but I have other computers that could do that (not that I actually edit videos!) I also sometimes run a minimal Linux on it (totally running in memory, not from harddisk or CD) and it runs like a scalded ape in that configuration. It's a workhorse.