I'm looking to replace my current laptop which still works okay but looks to be an outdated dinosaur (Windows 98, Office 2000, 2 GB hard drive, 48 MB RAM, Intel-MMX, floppy disk and CD-ROM - which I used primarily for MS Encarta and MS Flight when I bought the laptop, has USB ports – but can’t read flash disks)
Now 6 years later, I am looking at much improved specs machine (40 GB 512MB DVDrw, 1.7GHz, no software). It's not state of the art, but that would be too expensive and computers have a short technological half-life.
I was thinking of all the gadgets I have used and discarded in my lifetime - communications (answering machines, pagers, cordless phones, car phones, modems), music (LP's, real player, cassettes, mini discs), entertainment (VHS, gold disks, camcorders, hand-held video games, still camera) etc.
Who knows which of the items we use today - laptops, DVD's, satellite dishes,- will be around in 6 years time. E.g. is dvb-h the future for TV's? - only time will tell.
7 comments:
Your '6 year ON' laptop specs are already getting obsolete :) - but then it depends on what you use it for - coz state of the art .. is an ideal state which keeps changing every week - i have friends who use laptops with 4Gb ram :)
Yeah its really scary how technology advances at such a blinding pace - and with no intent to slow down, it seems.
dont get it coz friends have it. It all depends on what U use it for. For surfing the internet, a simple machine would do....
get Windows Vista on the new one since it takes you 9 years to change the OS. Good luck
With the technological advances comes the ever increasing E-waste problem, electrical and electronic garbage. What measures does Kenya have in place for recycling or dealing with obsolete electronics?
I read somewhere it takes 50,000 cellphones to produce a kilogram of gold. Now there is an idea!
Alpha Quadrant & Ruheni: still works well 6 years on, but some features missing that I now need. I will not chase start of the art tech - and the features I have identified should be good for the next 6 years (i hope)
Kayliz: Nothing wrong with the advances, except the choices to make.
Mitzy: E-waste not a significant problem because we hand down items when we upgrade e.g. old cell phones and computers to cousings, maids, schools. If they are in worse shape, they can get repaired, but if not, they are broken apart by scrap fundi's
You could install an alternative OS on your Win98 laptop which supports plug&play USB support and leave a small partition for those MS Encarta & FliSim needs.
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