My current computer is over 5 years old. It replaced an equally long-lived machine. The only reason I'm considering upgrading right now is because it's having an instability issue that hasn't been solved by swapping parts out. I suspect the poor little motherboard is going. However, computation-wise, I really don't need a new machine. This "old" beast has plenty enough power to do everything I need to do. It may have only one 2.1GHz core and "just" 1 GB of RAM, but that's plenty for what I need to do. Unless you're a gamer, "old" hardware works perfectly fine for web browsing, word processing, etc. There really isn't much motive to upgrade for the standard user unless it dies on you or you feel motivated to inflict yourself with the Vista experience. Oops, my Linux bias is showing there, heh.

This piece of junk is over 7 yrs. old, has been repaired before and I'm ready for something up to date. I hate to throw this one away. I'd like to get it reconditioned, cleaned, etc. and give it to some kid who otherwise wouldn't have a word processor for school. Any organization that does something like that?