My question: How long do you think the software vendors will continue to support your hardware. The more versions that a vendor has to support the more costly it is to them. It seems hardware lasts a lot longer than the software vendors want to support the hardware. We are moving out of the old generation of information processing, where people bought/owned software on their machines. Then there is the use of the internet, which increases the attack vector for hackers. If you have an old but stable environment, and want to continue to use it without fear of changes, then you should keep it isolated/off of the internet (no network communication). If you want to use the internet, get yourself another machine that is up-to-date, and keep it up-to-date. For this other machine choose a fairly cheap machine. My son-in-law did that for 5+ years, but then the need to transfer images between the two environment (via memory stick) for a professional became just to cumbersome. There is always a cost.

Also, the advances in hardware and software are another cost you pay without internet connection.

In this new (today's) environment, the vendor cost to support older environments is becoming too costly. Google has moved to a limited support period for its operating system (6+ years). Microsoft is also moving into this direction for the same cost reason. Adobe has already abandoned it ownership program for photoshop, in favor of a rental service.

Also if your old environment is not on the internet, any recovery after hardware failure will be possible if you keep very good back up. Depending on the type of failure, you may not be able to recover your data. You may not be able rebuild your system as it was (some of the hardware or software will not be available). The 1960's space program had this problem. The data was in unknown formats, there was not existing program that could read it. The format of the data was unknown. If you take backups, make sure they are in a format independent format, so that 5 years from now you will be able to move the data to a new environment.

For these and other reasons, I try to stay reasonably close to the current tech environment. (the days of building your own systems are over - but then we still have black smiths even today - but their usefulness is very near zero - nice for nostalgia) I now expect to replace my systems every 5 to 10 years. I have moved to cloud storage, and let the professionals take care of backup and recovery. This requires an internet connection, which makes an isolated environment obsolete.

I have worked in IT environments for 35+ years. Just like an automobile, I no longer want to or can maintain an IT environment like an auto mechanic. I have no problem driving a car, and using it for its purpose. The IT environment has moved on just as the auto environment has changed in the past 20 years.

I've heard a variety of opinions on when to replace a computer.

I currently use a Hewlett Packard Envy 700-230 Desktop. Intel CPU of 3.10 GHz. 8.0 GB Ram. Disk space: out of 2 TB 1.37 TB is free. (I also use a WD external drive.) It will be six years old in September.

Usually the machine is on for hours every day. I've never had a problem with it. My last HP computer lasted years until 2006 when I found out that it used a rare and expensive type of RAM that never caught on. It was more practical to build an Asus from a kit than buy more RAM.

Among the programs I run are Lightroom, Photoshop and Microsoft Office.

I'm loyal to HP because I've had printers, copiers, and even a 2 MP camera that all were heavily used and didn't fail.

All feedback will be appreciated!

That is an interesting issue. Just curious what you mean when you say a “hybrid”?, and when you say it will only accommodate a duplicate, do you mean a second card or a replacement of the same type? And were you able to install the driver of the any of the three you tried, and did they show up in control panel as enabled? Not doubting your information, just wondering if once the 3rd party card was installed if the driver was able to be installed and enabled. Just an issue I’ve never seen before.

Hybrid as in, the Dell model was a Costco variety. The Dell PCs and others have to meet Costco specifications. So that on top of the proprietary design. (it is a AMD Radeon HD 6450) The card was an entry-level graphics card launched in April 2011. Built on the 40 nm process, and based on the Caicos graphics processor, which has a relatively small chip compared to today's Radeon. It has 512 MB GDDR5 memory on the card, which are connected using a 64-bit memory interface. The GPU is operating at a frequency of 625 MHz, memory is running at 800 MHz.

It is a single-slot card, and does not require any additional power connector, its power draw is rated at 18 W maximum. Display outputs include: 1x DVI, 1x HDMI, 1x VGA. Radeon HD 6450 is connected to the rest of the system using a PCI-Express 2.0 x16 interface. The card measures 168 mm in length, and features a single-slot cooling solution.

The way the bios is setup it will only except a like card. When I loaded the other drivers there was no option to pick/update a driver or even to install the new card when new hardware search was run. Because the graphics card is programmed in the bootup in the bios I would get recognition but no signal as though the full programming of the new drivers had not occurred. When I tried to manually override I would get the "blue screen of death". :)

I have had no issues with the old card other than load times on large graphics. I was trying to improve the load and gaming response by upgrading the card type/memory. Oh well. Time for a new Dell. This one has been issue free since 2011.