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[–] 205 points 2 years ago (5 children)

For context, the emachines "never obsolete" wasn't referring to this computer, it was a recycling program where you could send your old machine back and get a huge discount on your next one. It was actually a pretty good deal at the time, especially when your average family machine was a lot more expensive than they are today

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    [–] 116 points 2 years ago (4 children)

    Wow, that computer can run Windows 98? Here I am on Windows 11, not realizing that I'm 87 versions behind.

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    [–] 93 points 2 years ago (6 children)

    You conveniently blocked the part of the sticker saying what they mean by "never obsolete" with the red circle. IIRC, they gave you a massive discount to trade in your computer every 2 years for the latest model, so you were always up to date. Kinda like phones now.

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    [–] 61 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (12 children)

    What do you mean, this bad boy is probably powering a semi-critical government system somewhere, definitely not obsolete.

    Edit: not even joking or shitting on it, there's probably a proprietary software system out there somewhere that a contractor was paid to build ages ago. The contractor is out of business or doesn't support it anymore, but it works perfectly in its one little spot. Also an update is gonna cost a quarter of a million dollars.

    I've seen disk chart meters at facilities that are 40+ years old and need a new disk chart every so often. You could replace it with a digital meter, but that won't integrate with the rest of the control panel and a third party took over production of the disks 15 years ago. The system works great and it's unlikely to be updated unless they stop making the disk charts.

    Edit 2: the correct term is circular chart recorder

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    [+] 45 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (3 children)
  • [–] 40 points 2 years ago (6 children)

    God,the number of these I sold at Best buy....rolling my eyes the entire time...and making absolutely sure the customer understood exactly what that phrase meant in this ultra-scammy context...

    Ended up not being able to handle that job. Something about literally full-time debunking of lies printed on everything in sight was exhausting for me.

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    [–] 33 points 2 years ago (3 children)

    Cmon that thing will run Linux like a champ!

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    [–] 31 points 2 years ago (3 children)

    The "never obsolete" refers to a subscription service, where they would periodically send you updates somehow. LGR has a good video on this.

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  • [–] 26 points 2 years ago (2 children)

    Holy shit my grandfather had this exact PC up until ten years ago or so lol

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  • [–] 23 points 2 years ago* (10 children)

    I wonder if it's possible to get a bunch of these, daisy chain the processors, and span hard drives until it can install and run Monster Hunter World. Lack of VRAM is the only foreseeable issue.

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    [–] 22 points 2 years ago (5 children)

    What's the form factor? ATX?

    Rip out the guts and slap in a Ryzen with some SSDs. Troll people by playing Farcry or something equally as demanding on it.

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    [–] 22 points 2 years ago (2 children)

    If it can still play SimCopter, the I have to agree.

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    [–] 20 points 2 years ago* (1 child)

    This PC has the clocks and it rocks, but it was obsolete before you opened the box.

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    [+] 18 points 2 years ago (1 child)
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    [–] 14 points 2 years ago (5 children)

    How many sales stickers can one machine have?

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  • [–] 31 points 2 years ago (4 children)

    Manufacturer mandates a certain amount of flair.

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  • [–] 12 points 2 years ago (2 children)

    Seems like about every pubic US university was selling those back in the late 90's. So overpriced, even for the time!

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    [–] 12 points 2 years ago

    Damn son you got dem AGP graphics! At least that is 1 thing that can be upgraded.

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  • [–] 11 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    This was a computer for idiots even when it came out.

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    [–] 9 points 2 years ago (7 children)

    Reminds me of my first desktop PC.

    Intel Pentium II 266Mhz, 64MB of RAM, 2.99GB HDD.

    Of course a 3.5" floppy drive was also included, and a CD-R Reader.

    I had to purchase a 33.6k modem separately, tho.

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    [–] 9 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    I think we had this exact computer when I was growing up.

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    [–] 9 points 2 years ago (5 children)

    It will still run Windows 98 just fine.

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    [–] 9 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    My families first computer was a Goliath of an IBM tower. Similar gross color I believe. If someone came home suddenly when you were wackin' it you had to just unplug it because it took too long to get the porn off the screen and onto something else. It also would give you away at night with it's insane modem sounds when connecting to the Internet.

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    [–] 8 points 2 years ago (12 children)

    Common ig has a Celeron!

    It always baffles me when like the old hard drive fit in the RAM of am average today PC. What will it be in 10-20 years, 2TB RAM in an average PC?

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    [–] 8 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (4 children)

    Most of people use computers just for memes and emails, so yea, it is never obsoleted

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    [–] 8 points 2 years ago (6 children)

    antiX linux on a zip drive

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