Fun fact: Windows XP x64 edition was based on Windows Server 2003, so under AD management (I think that's where this would appear), any XP x64 machines would show up as Server 2003 machines.
That totally didn't throw sysadmins for a loop
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Older computers usable today
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That totally didn't throw sysadmins for a loop
Lenovo really had a terrible habit of using bad panels. Basically everything until they offered 1920x1080 panels was utter trash, and a leap backwards from IBM's. My T23 has better color accuracy than a T420 that's 10 years newer, and certainly the 1400x1050 T43p is miles ahead.
Lots of IBM PC compatible knowledge I learned here. That said I don’t see lots of value apart from retro Windows gaming. Sure the machine could run a modern web browser on Windows or Linux but would it be snappier than an iPad? Would it be capable enough for a video call?
Depends on how retro we're talking about. A Core 2 laptop with a webcam isn't going to have much trouble doing a video call. Not much more than it has trouble doing anything else, anyway. And, I believe the resolutions of webcams in the era of the Pentium 3 was around 240x320, and they were large things that sat on top a CRT. But because Microsoft supports basically everything forever, I own a i7 laptop from 2011 that shipped in a configuration with, and has online driver support for, Windows XP. The Pentium 3, Core 2, and i7 all ended up under the support umbrella of an OS released in 2001.
So it's really a lot less about "should it be done?" and a whole lot more about "can it be done?"
Especially if you already have the hardware.
Oh, and those old Thinkpads really were amazing. I've almost always had business class Dell laptops, but back in the day, IBM laptops always made me a little jealous.
To me, the question is why would I browse the web on an ipad when I can use a "real" computer instead?
I do like to tinker with old PCs as much as I do old Macs. To me it’s just fun either way.
This is what has always bothered me about Apple. Planned obsolescence. They do better with iOS devices. But the macOS support is pretty bad imho.
I love ThinkPads. And I’ve always liked pre-lenovo IBM PCs quite a bit. I buy them whenever I see them like I would an old mac. The “Think” line of lenovo is still good and I would definitely buy a new ThinkPad (in fact if I could afford one right now I would get a Ryzen 4000 based one). The downside to Lenovo has been their usage of whitelists on their hardware, even on desktops.
In all fairness, eg. El Capitan runs on eight-year-old Macs. Catalina runs on seven-year-old Macs. So in terms of macOS running on older hardware it's somewhat decent. They just drop older versions way too quickly imo.
There's also the use case of older equipment. I personally have older devices that have software that requires an older version of Windows to work properly, which is one of the reasons why I keep older systems around. I also keep older stuff around because it's fun to play with.
Ever seen Windows 95 at 1.13 GHz? Stupidly quick. Or Windows 3.1 at 1600x1200 pixels? More space than you can shake a stick at.I also keep older stuff around because it's fun to play with.
I once hooked my Power Mac up to a monitor that was 27" or thereabouts in sizeEver seen Windows 95 at 1.13 GHz? Stupidly quick. Or Windows 3.1 at 1600x1200 pixels? More space than you can shake a stick at.
I once hooked my Power Mac up to a monitor that was 27" or thereabouts in size
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I can up the ante :) (No offence intended @LightBulbFun!) OS 9 at 3840×2400 OS X 10.1 at 3840×2400 OS X 10.2 at 3840×2400 OS X 10.4 at 3840×2400
I too had a IBM thinkpad for years before my employer at the time switched to HP. The difference was pretty big. I mean at the end of the day both got the job done, but the Thinkpad was just better. It seems that most everything we discuss and do here falls into the "Can it be done" category. I thoroughly enjoyed reading the how slow can you go thread for example.
There's also the use case of older equipment. I personally have older devices that have software that requires an older version of Windows to work properly, which is one of the reasons why I keep older systems around. I also keep older stuff around because it's fun to play with.
For Windows a VM would cover it? Fun sure.
I found a C2D could handle 1:1 Skype but the fan is spinning fast. So I assume it would drain the battery fast if not plugged. Granted this is on High Sierra.
XP is an anomaly in terms of time of support. Remember it took forever to release Vista? Also what is the appeal of an OS that cannot do translucency. I can have translucency on a PowerPC G3?
To me, the question is why would I browse the web on an ipad when I can use a "real" computer instead?
Apart from access to developer tools. I would rather use a fanless thing that could move with me. I still use various real computer to do coding or whatever for sure.
EDIT: Btw, the Apple designed chips optimized JavaScript performance well, according to benchmarks.
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This is often not the case, especially when you need to deal with hardware such as serial ports and double especially if that port is connected to a sensitive device/operation that can't handle missing an interrupt. VM drivers are tangled messes of spaghetti, held together by goo.
Speaking of old computers, I got nostalgic and looked up Gateway. What a sad tale. My dad bought a Gateway laptop back in the day that was tremendously expensive (for our family) and I remember learning Linux and BSD on that. I wish I still had it or at least knew what the model was because I'd buy one today if I could. It was a pretty nice machine.
My pentium M was bought exactly for the “legacy” ports. Then I put the Linux device driver book into the back of the queue...
EDIT: grammar
What matters is what's under the hood, not a bling-bling UI.
There are fanless and very lightweight laptops.
At this point? XP isn't that much of an anomaly. Windows 7 only just left extended support, and the fun thing is, you could also install Windows 7 on a Pentium 3. Sure, they did drop Pentium 3 support 2 years early, but that's just 2018 instead of 2020, for a chip that was first released in 1999. Imagine still being able to install El Capitan on a Powermac G4. Yes, it's slow, but with the right video card, you can get Aero Transparency working. Sure, that's a waste of resources, because at that point, the gpu is over matched for the cpu, but the x86 world proper has always had some properly wild options.
And really, if translucency is your breaking point, you're never going to understand.
@556fmjoe Hit the nail on the head. For me personally, I need to interface with old TI calculators and synthesizers. The latter of which already have somewhat shaky driver stability on a good day and the former of which uses an esoteric piece of software that is only partially translated from Japanese and extremely picky about just about everything. I'd rather have the process be simplified by using a physical machine dedicated to such a purpose rather than complicate things tenfold by trying to run VMs to fit my needs.
Additionally, all hardware limitations and requirements aside, it's a known fact that VMs just don't run as well as actual hardware and, if I have the hardware available, I might as well use it.
A Science Project: "Make the 486 Great Again!" - Modern Linux in an ancient PC
What is the oldest x86 processor that is still supported by a modern Linux kernel in present time? I asked the above quiz question during the Geekcamp tech conference in Nov 2017 during my emcee role. The theoretical answer as you can glean from the title of this post is the 486 which was first...
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So Windows 7 on PIII could do what well?