Pc Users Urged Not To Upgrade, For Planet's Sake

[ForceX]

PEOPLE SHOULD BE USING their PCs for far longer rather than upgrading them every three years, according to a report on the cost of the ubiquitous machines to the planet. Boffins at the UN University of Tokyo reckon that making one PC requires ten times its weight in chemicals and fossil fuels, and gallons and gallons of water.

 

And once PCs and monitors are finished with, they impose an environmental burden on the planet which is hard to cope with, the scientists say.

Rather than upgrading to, say, an Intel Prescott machine running DDR-2 memory, using PCI Express, ingots of heatsink, and a super duper graphics card, people should make do with their existing PCs for much longer. Fridges last 15 years and PCs should last much longer.

 

Unfortunately for hardware and semiconductor manufacturers, there's more than a grain of truth in this.

 

Thanks to the Internet, it's possible to have a minimal amount of memory, enough to boot a browser, and even store your data not in your home but anywhere in the world. Unless you're multimedia crazy or a gamester, an 8MHz AST 286 machine should be more than enough for you.

So it seems like Oracle's Larry Ellison was years ahead when he proposed the Net PC. But the very idea is not going to be welcomed by Intel, Nvidia, Microsoft or any other member of the industrial-hardware combine.

 

Source: the Inquirer

 

OMFG.....I wonder if the figures stated in the about are true....or a bunch of BS....

 

I feel bad about upgrading my PC

[ugenn]

i'm still using a P166. Guess I deserve I environmental award, eh?

[ken_cinder]

Obviously the dumbasses that did this "study" have NEVER played a PC game in their life.

 

I say "STFU n00b!"

 

Oh.....and "Get a REAL job" too

[Agozer]

Heehaw! I'm still rolling on with my Pentium 200 MMX that I've had for roughly 5 years.

[Gryph]

flock them. I'm not going to be alive when my wastes and exploits completely ruin the environment. Let our future generations figure out how to deal with it! Yeah, those kids with their flying cars and zip-zip-zoopty-bop hovering skateboards.

[Shibathedog]

just to piss them off im never upgrading again...

 

Ill buy an entireley new PC every time, and sell my old one to some idiot on Ebay

 

(no not really, but that would be kinda amusing)

[James]

I keep the older pc when i upgrade for parts etc when no longer needed i give it away.

so those tests are BS

[Xeon]

Heehaw! I'm still rolling on with my Pentium 200 MMX that I've had for roughly 5 years.

me too. but with my Celeron 300Mhz PC

 

well ummm....i did upgrade though, my memory from 32->64->128MB, 4MB SVGA->32MB 3D card and nice sound card with crappy modem built-in (bought them both a new separately), and yeah my gamepads took 3 evolutions. all of these within 5 years as well. so....

 

 

im still an environmentalist, yay!

[ForceX]

This so called study is a bunch of BS....if you had the money and you needed a faster pc you would upgrade and not even give a second thought to the environment......as James and others have demonstrated upgrading your pc doesn't mean chucking out your old pc.....

[Gryph]

I throw all my useless parts into the river. That's where I throw all my garbage. Who needs landfills when you got lots and lots of water to take all your trash downstream, far away from you.

[Jiggs]

This made me think of George's Carlin's "The Planet Is Fine" speech.