Author Topic: why computa's always gotta be so damn unreliable (Read 8268 times)

Jaitsu · « **on:** 2010-06-29 05:16:21 »

ok, one unfixable laptop, one laptop with a fried battery, a desktop i had to whipe yesterday due to it being stuck in a strange booting loop.

>.< IS IT JUST MY LUCK OR ARE COMPUTERS A HUGE UNRELIABLE ANNOYANCE.

i never expected my xbox 360 to outlive 2 laptops

yoshi314 · « **Reply #1 on:** 2010-06-29 06:21:58 »

the more complex technology the less reliable.

current pc's last a few years on average. mostly because manufacturers chase about new features and cutting costs, instead of making sure the product will last.

Jaitsu · « **Reply #2 on:** 2010-06-29 06:24:33 »

Quote from: yoshi314 on 2010-06-29 06:21:58

the more complex technology the less reliable.

current pc's last a few years on average. mostly because manufacturers chase about new features and cutting costs, instead of making sure the product will last.

i noticed, there are times i just wanna walk up to the inventer of computers (if he was still among the living) and smack him upside the head

Mendelevium · « **Reply #3 on:** 2010-06-29 07:44:19 »

It isn't the man's fault. If anything blame the companies.

. He probably didn't intend on computers to be used for gaming or anything or the sort (solitaire anyone

), weren't they purely for science, war, and other things along those lines, back in the day?

And think of it this way! If the computer was never invented, we would never have gotten out beloved gaming systems. :S. And that makes me sad.@.@. Even if I am not a hard-core gamer. :O.

Sorry if this post seems kinda trollish... I am half asleep.

. I think Ima go crash now.
Goodnight!

- Mendel

Furzball · « **Reply #4 on:** 2010-06-29 09:07:59 »

For me, laptops last two years. Desktops I would guess 5. Haven't had one in awhile. Mostly with my laptops is the parts stop working and things start overheating. I clock alot of time onto the laptop. My next thing is the desktop. Trying to save money bit by bit. Hard between gas, bills, and fixing new used car.

I tend to have to reset my laptops time to time as well. I spend alot of time online with minimal protection. My sex life is the same...I should go check in with my doctor...

Aali · « **Reply #5 on:** 2010-06-29 09:26:53 »

In my 10 or so years of being into computers I have had exactly one piece of hardware fail for no apparent reason. A 10GB harddrive from christmases past that started showing some bad sectors.

I have two desktop computers on 24/7 and two laptops, one of which is now 7 years old.
I have enough hardware to build another two computers that all still works perfectly.

Either I am extremely lucky or computers are only as unreliable as their owner

Mirenheart · « **Reply #6 on:** 2010-06-29 09:36:50 »

Well, my dad builds a new custom computer every few years or so, despite the previous one being in perfect condition. The most recent one has lasted for 4 years so far. But then, it is custom, so it may last longer than most others.

... Wait, on 24/7? That's yer problem right thar. I don't think any personal computer except the most powerful ones could survive for more than a couple years with them going 24/7. And even if you're over exaggerating and really mean on for several hours a day, still, that's alot...

Aali · « **Reply #7 on:** 2010-06-29 10:03:14 »

My desktop has been running since the 22nd of march, which is when we had our last power outage.
I rebooted the other one 27 days ago to install a wireless card but it has never been off since I moved in.

I expect every part of them to last until I stop using it because it's too slow to be useful.

Opine · « **Reply #8 on:** 2010-06-29 11:49:33 »

Planned obsolescence? Have the computer work for a few years, and then *poof*, time to shell out another couple k.

yoshi314 · « **Reply #9 on:** 2010-06-29 15:53:01 »

Quote from: Opine on 2010-06-29 11:49:33

Planned obsolescence? Have the computer work for a few years, and then *poof*, time to shell out another couple k.

i remember a story that some technical-savvy guy bought a music player. the earphones broke in a few weeks. so he took them apart to see why.

what he found was that the wires inside were too thin. if they were ~30% thicker the earphones would last at least a couple of years with his way of handling them.

it's really weird to save money by making thinner wires for earphones. especially that savings on each model are very small.

Kudistos Megistos · « **Reply #10 on:** 2010-06-29 16:10:28 »

The reliability of a computer is highly dependent on the person using it. I have an uncle and aunt who go through them every couple of years and whose computers seem to spend more time being broken or getting fixed than they do getting used, thanks to tech retardedness. Some people, on the other hand, seem to be able to get theirs to last forever.

I also think there's some truth in yoshi's comment about manufacturers cutting costs. OEMs often use fairly cheap parts so that they can show of the specs. You'll notice, when looking at pre-build computers, that the OEMs will tell you the specs of the parts but not the manufacturers of them. Wanna know why? Because they tend to use cheap brands for things like hard drives, GPUs and PSUs, meaning that they are less reliable than custom builds in which you can use trusted brands for all your parts.

Of course, this last comment only applies to pre-built computers, but nearly all laptops are pre-built and so are most people's desktops, so even if only pre-built computers usually fail every couple of years, they'll be enough to make the general public thinks of computers as being generally unreliable. Hmm, know I want to know what the failure rates are for pre-builts when compared to custom builds (although user incompetence will skew the results a little).

Bosola · « **Reply #11 on:** 2010-06-29 17:53:39 »

I for one don't recommend skimping on parts for your machine. That £20 you save on a motherboard, RAM array or hard drive could well mean a legion of issues in future. They will get in your way, and you will notice them.

Frankly, if you're going to be using a computer all day, every day, you need to make sensible choices about the hardware you rely upon, and don't be scared of paying a little extra for the reliability. Ideally, you'd custom build your OS too (presumably using Yoper Linux, sorry, GNU/Linux), but that's a matter for another time.

* RAM leaks will cause poor reliability and instability
* poor hard drives will slow your machine to a halt, as it's the time taken reading from a disc that provides the main bottleneck for most computers
* a lack of caching (RAM) will mean the hard drive will need to be used post-boot more often, which again radically reduces overall performance.
* poor cooling will reduce the lifespan and general performance of your machine. The fact remains, silicon wafers like to be cool. Conductors in general like to be cool. When they are not cool, they do not conduct. You cannot maintain performance when hot.

Personally, I'd use a small SSD to boot from, perhaps using an external drive / USB flash for the relatively small 'personal' files and a secondary hard drive to keep vids / games on. Depending on the OS, I'd research the optimum RAM use to cache my five most oft-used applications, and have my OS precache in this manner (easier with ~~Linux~~ IF I MIGHT INTERJECT FOR A MOMENT...)

Aali · « **Reply #12 on:** 2010-06-29 18:42:35 »

I always buy the cheapest crap I can find that still has the functionality I'm after, never gave me any trouble at all.
Buying something more expensive is certainly no guarantee that it will last longer, and if you're looking for hardware thats built to last you should really be looking at relevant information like MTBF, not the price tag. In my experience, "broken" computers are almost always software or user errors.

Bosola · « **Reply #13 on:** 2010-06-29 18:49:15 »

no U broek it

yoshi314 · « **Reply #14 on:** 2010-06-29 20:51:59 »

i decided not to save on my pc in 2005. i bought all branded parts and that pc still works to this day with little replacements.

well, the dvd burner tray is damaged and i replaced the cpu with dual core chip, but surprisingly i found that i don't really need to use cd/dvds or burn them anymore, and the old cpu is still operational.

and surprisingly none of the parts, except for burner, were marked with "made in china". i think this is the best testament of quality one can get nowadays.

Jaitsu · « **Reply #15 on:** 2010-07-05 21:23:38 »

just an update on things with this, the desktop is up and running, turns out a fan was busted inside and something or other melted (i dunno..) and as for the ACER laptop that can't charge, something broke the piece between the charger and the battery, so i gotta fet a quick fix. so hopefully, everything works out

Mirenheart · « **Reply #16 on:** 2010-07-05 23:12:35 »

Well, my grandfather once gave me a computer that had a screen bigger than the PC itself. And the operating system was MS 1.0 or something (i don't really remember, I think it was new back in 1991). The thing still works. If I were to hook it up now and turn it on, it'd work.

yoshi314 · « **Reply #17 on:** 2010-07-07 13:48:17 »

Quote from: Mirenheart on 2010-07-05 23:12:35

Well, my grandfather once gave me a computer that had a screen bigger than the PC itself. And the operating system was MS 1.0 or something (i don't really remember, I think it was new back in 1991). The thing still works. If I were to hook it up now and turn it on, it'd work.

it's nothing strange nowadays to have pc smaller than the display device. and by display device i mean something like 17" monitor, not some 42" hd tv set

i guess i didn't really understand what you meant by this

as far as small boxes go, i have an xtreamer hd player, that is in fact a linux box (at a size of a router), a few routers running some WRT. i also have a few mini itx boxes, and i love all of them.

i really should go and try doing some embedded development.

Opine · « **Reply #18 on:** 2010-07-07 14:28:29 »

Quote from: yoshi314 on 2010-07-07 13:48:17

Quote from: Mirenheart on 2010-07-05 23:12:35
Well, my grandfather once gave me a computer that had a screen bigger than the PC itself. And the operating system was MS 1.0 or something (i don't really remember, I think it was new back in 1991). The thing still works. If I were to hook it up now and turn it on, it'd work.

it's nothing strange nowadays to have pc smaller than the display device. and by display device i mean something like 17" monitor, not some 42" hd tv set i guess i didn't really understand what you meant by this

I think he meant dimension-wise. Most screens now are flat. While older screens were giant cubes.

pyrozen · « **Reply #19 on:** 2010-07-07 22:20:10 »

my last PC ran for 10 years, then i disassebled it and sold all the parts. I find that anyone who uses only 1 desktop computer should do a full backup/reformat every year. It only takes 2 hours(great for a hangover morning) and nothing beats a freshly formatted computer. Failing components is another issue, but i've only had one mobo blowup, and it was due to faulty capacitors and 1 harddrive fail, due to using it far beyond its normal life expectancy.

lee

Jaitsu · « **Reply #20 on:** 2010-07-27 04:47:25 »

another update, and a sad one at that (sorry if this is necroing, i'm kinda tired and forgot to check).

the desktop crashed for no given reason, it was working fine one night, i went to a friend and got home in the morning to turn it on and CRASH.

my old acer is working nicely still, so, i'm hoping to save what i can on the desktop and just whipe the damn thing. (for the record, this thing has had serious issues sinse the day it was bought)