I hate computers.

[thekarens]

Well, I know a few people who would say what many here spend on bikes and accessories as wasteful. :-) I figure if you're passionate about it and it brings you pleasure then go for it.

I spend no more than 200 on a new phone every year and about 500 on a new computer every 3 years. Not to mention i sell my old phone to fund my new phone so it's a wash. Personally, I love all things tech and I don't think that kind of spending is unreasonable for something I truly enjoy. Generally it's cheaper to buy new after 3 years than to upgrade parts or fix a computer.

[tulip]

Yeah, if it makes you happy and you plan for it so it doesn't break the budget, then have fun! Good point about the spending on bikes...i don't buy bikes often, but I do go on bike trips alot. While not wasteful, some people might see that as frivolous. We all can choose how to spend our money and our time, so rock on!

[Irulan]

I too update ever three years or so with a desktop. It helps that technology is a business expense for me. Over the years, we have had a lot of computers around here. When my son was at home, plus two home businesses, we had at least 7, old and new, desktops and laptops.

When it comes to aging technology, there's a point where you cross the threshold of keeping something because it works, and being inefficient. There's a point where the older systems won't run program updates, or the damn thing is so slow it's just frustrating to use it. The mechanics of the computer might run fine, but the processes just slow down. Even if all you do is send email and check the web, sloooooow is horrible.

What we do here, now that my son isn't here to build systems for us, is get custom build desktops. I would never, ever buy a computer from a box store. They are loaded with so much junk programing that it's much slower than it needs to be right from the start. It takes a lot of time and know-how to delete it all. So, we just skip that part. I have a very good relationship with our local computer place. We get bare naked systems with only an OS, security and a few base programs, and have very stable systems with very few problems.

If any of you don't have some kind of backup, well, if you lose stuff in this day and age you should know better. We have an off site backup service for $50/year... that is so cheap and it's great insurance. If a computer does go down, ( and they do on occasion) you can retrieve files and use them right away on a different system. We use off site as a second hard drive isn't much good if your house burns down.

[OakLeaf]

Talk to me about security in offsite backup. We're very reluctant to store anything sensitive in the cloud. Taking the second HD to the safe deposit box is a PITA.

(Long term stuff like DH's photo archive is on Blu-Ray discs and that just gets added to, so that's easy enough to store offsite.)

[Irulan]

The cloud being apple's system, or the cloud, as offsite in general? I don't know much about it except the service we use caters to businesses.

[smilingcat]

Cloud computingand storage is secure if you use Amazon and few other "Tech" kind of services. Not so sure about the cheaper cloud storage places.

Amazon EC2 service is good
IBM Cloud storage service is good
HP cloud storage service is good

But they all want real money!

And for more general storage check this site out
http://www.thetop10bestonlinebackup.com/cloud-storage

I've heard good things about drop box and hear quite a bit about carbonite. Never used them so can't tell you if its super good or not.

[Irulan]

we've used Carbonite for years. It has saved our butts serveral times when a hard drive fails. Which they do.