Dell 386SX..,486P built to last!

[RizThomas]

Just for discussion, we bought a few Dell 386SXs and later on Dell 486Ps when we started using Windows 3.0.
Since my place of work has been Dell workhouse up to the present, I can readily say the the old ones outlasts the new ones.
Up until 2013, we had 2 of the Dell units running 24/7 (running Win3.1 /paging system) and purchased in early 1990s. They only thing done to them was to replace the p/s fan and blow the dusts out. The maxtor drive was spinning but noisy still. When they got retired, I asked if they can give it to me to be part of my collection.

Compared to today's DELLs, they break so often. Drives gone dead or corrupted, Motherboards with blown caps, CDROM problems, etc.

What are your experiences with older desktops compared to new ones ?

 

[Caluser2000]

Sounds like your company got their monies worth out of them. Looking after them and keeping the components at operating temperature would've heiped a lot I'd imagine. They do tend to have less components and run cooler than modern stuff.

There was a chap here who had a client with a 386 ps/2 machine in a fabric mill that was still going strong after members here help trouble shoot a few issues.

In this house hold a mixed bag really. I have a Compaq CDS 524(486) I got in the late 90s that has out lasted a couple of P2/P3/P4s(one of these went west yesterday). Its had two hard drives go west. I've had a Scsi drive fall over in my 386 and replaced that and it's controller with a Bigfoot IDE drive and multi i/o card, as I didn't have access to a replacement scsi hdd at the time. Other smaller IDE drives have gone tits up and been replaced over the years. A big issue was battery damage on a lot of clone machines. Have a few mobos I managed to get to before it got too bad.

At work there's a Compaq 286 Deskpro which is used to run some avionics test software which I donated a vga card so they could use an lcd screen instead of trying to get hold of an EGA monitor. Thats in a temperature controlled servicing area though. My XP box is the only desktop that hasn't been upgraded/replaced at work and has been in use around 10 years. It replaced a Thin Client box. I inherited that from what was our light aircraft division. It gets a dust out once a year. Grown quite fond of it.

Anyway enjoy your machines.