Sevilla

If you don’t particularly care to work on learning anything on networking/VLANs/VPN/etc, then get a standard router you can buy on Amazon or at any box retail store.

If you actually want to get your feet wet then I recommend either getting a router you can flash to DD-WRT/Tomato or turn an old PC into a PFSense router (you’ll just need a spare NIC card to add to it.)
 
Pfsense makes more sense for the sake of learning because of all the functionality and plugins you can download and use.

I used to be the guy who after every new generation of CPU/GPU, I'd upgrade everything, motherboard, GPU, CPU, RAM, etc. Eventually I became an adult (though to be fair, I was an adult back then, but finances became clearer) and I stopped upgrading every year. I decided to be a bit more sensible and began upgrading GPUs every other gen, but felt my CPU/mobo/RAM would suffice for a good 3 to 4 years.

Well here we are 4 gens later and I am sitting with a PC with the following specs:

i7 4930k 6 core
16GB of 2400MHz G.Skill TRIDENT DDR3 RAM
ASUS Rampage IV Black Edition
GTX 980

I won't list the rest of the components because the cooling/PSU/HDD/SDD setup are trivial in this.

I am considering moving to a:

8700k 6 core
16GB of (insert MHz here) DDR4 RAM
(insert board here that will cost me around 100-150ish)
GTX 1080
 
Back when I built my machine in 2014 I had a pair of 780 TI Classified cards (not sure why) but I gave them up for a 980 which has server me well for years.

So the question is would you upgrade? Why or why not?

Before everyone says "Bruh that CPU won't bottleneck your GPU AT ALL" know that I have been an enthusiast for eons, and have overclocked all hardware I've owned and I'm not a novice at this--so try to be kind and not berate with the Captain Obvious hat. I am merely asking for opinions. All benchmarks I've seen of older CPUs (usually 4 core 2nd gens) usually are lower by a few frames here and there, and even so I don't game/nor plan to game at 4K anytime soon.

I know upgrading it to just a 1080 would probably be comparable for the most with an 8700k, but given how old the system is, and given how I can probably make some decent cash by selling most of my components (though i'd still probably lose 200 to 400 depending on how kind buyers are) is it worth it to upgrade or would it be wiser to wait another year and upgrade then?

Some things to keep in mind:

1. I am not a pro-gamer, but game many hours per week. Mostly WoW/Overwatch/Heroes/GTA5/other games.
2. I am a sysadmin and run my own homelab, so any heavy workloads I typically offload on my server, this PC is 100% for personal/entertainment use.
3. I am not a content creator/streamer (which is why a 6 core is/was overkill, but I'm a PC guy, I don't have a fancy car, but I like having a fancy machine).
4. I run triple 1080p panels, at 60Hz (feel free to laugh at me). I don't intend to upgrade them anytime soon.

What I am MOSTLY looking for is some sound opinions because my system has served me well for almost 4 years now. Should I pull the trigger on upgrading now and build for another great 4 years (except the GPU getting upgraded maybe 2 years after), or wait for next gen GPUs and overhaul the entire thing?

Most* feedback is welcomed!


*except trolls
 

Link aggregation would be your only (cheaper) option, but as others have suggested, you need to make sure your switch supports it. Even unmanaged switches will support this feature, but you need to make sure yours does.
 
On another note, cheap 4Gbit NIC cards would only work in 1 of 2 scenarios:
1. You have a switch that can work with 4Gbit connections (usually costly).
2. You directly make a connection between two PCs through their 4GBit NICs, which would probably not work for you unless your network consists of only your host and client alone.

Nope, dump it. It's over. Get rid of it.

Source: http://www.dailydot.com/technology/phil-schiller-sad/
 
In my time I've owned several Apple products, be it laptops, MP3 players, or desktop units. I am not an Apple hater, nor am I an Apple fanboy. What I am is a tech savvy individual who has a clear understanding of what getting your money's worth means. I am also an IT guy who works with both Apple and PC equipment daily in an enterprise environment.
 
The idea that a 5 year old PC is considered sad took me aback. My current ESXI 6.0 server runs on an old HPZ800 on dual E5620s whose glory days were roughly 6 or so years ago. My media center PC runs on an old HP Z210 on an i7 2600 from about 5 years ago. I have a few laptops running Windows XP and a netbook on an Intel Atom N475 from roughly 2010 running Windows 10. Some of them are slow (XP machines with standard HDDs) and some are very fast for today's standards. I have old computers, and I disagree with saying that using my 5+ year old machines are sad. My machines do what they are tasked to do without problems, and maybe that is because I am a technician. I keep my machines updated, I'll upgrade a few components on the cheap, and I will reinstall the OS and ensure everything is working. Is that sad? No. It's being resourceful, it's being thrifty, and it's being smart. More importantly, it's not being wasteful.
 
Let's talk about the 1st problem about the statement made, and that's the bold assumption that a brand new shinny Apple tablet is better than a PC, current or 5 years old. It's not. A tablet is a niche device, just like ultrabooks, and just like netbooks were back in the day. To compare a tablet to a PC of any reasonable age (not talking Commodore 64 era) is a poor comparison because you're talking apples and oranges (see what I did there?). The utility of a PC/desktop device to this day remains important to several people who use them for productivity, gaming, or just trivial things. I can't plug 5 monitors to an iPad (don't ask), I can't upgrade the graphics on an iPad, I can't upgrade ANYTHING on an iPad. I can, however, upgrade just about everything on a 5 year old PC and make it great again. So once again, poor comparison is poor. 
 
 
What's the real problem with the statement? They'll say anything to market this to anyone who is willing to pay for their stuff (then again, so would most companies,) they'll even bash their own products and point out how slow and obsolete they are when the new revision is out, and here is the messed up part: people buy into this. Suddenly your iPad became slow, suddenly your MacBook doesn't work, yadda yadda...This truly goes beyond just Apple and their tablet, but how they view computing as a whole. 
 
But 1st, a walk down memory lane...
 
I remember when I owned my 1st sleek PowerBook G4. I originally got it because my girlfriend got one from school since her program required her to have one--and it was also part of the cost of her tuition. I got one because the software was interesting, it was different, and it looked cool. The operating system was shiny, user friendly, and well rounded. I had to try one out. Last time So I bought one for about 1600 dollars. It was neat and cool to have, but it just didn't offer everything I wanted, nor software that matched what I had on a Windows laptop. Eventually after some time I sold it and got half of my original investment (less than a year old--lesson learned, so I thought).
 
A couple of years passed and I saw the new MacBook Pros, now with Intel processors. I blame Keifer Sutherland because he voiced the commercial Apple used to show the world that Apples now used Intel, and were no longer trapped in "dull little boxes." Also boot camp was a thing too! I had to have one because now I'd have no excuse to wanting to switch back to a Windows PC. The decision at the time came as follows: buy a $1300 Dell XPS laptop, or a $1700 MacBook Pro. The XPS came with an NVIDIA GPU, and the Apple with a Radeon. Back then I didn't bleed green or red, and I really enjoyed the Apple ecosystem, so I dove and bought the Apple again. I came to realize that spending 1700 on a laptop was a foolish idea, and all I bought into was the marketing, and the premium of both owning a Mac and owning a laptop that looked so sleek. This time around, I learned my lesson.
 
Today Apples and PCs are nothing but similar hardware on varying custom PCBs. You can run OS X on PC hardware and Windows on OS X hardware. The only difference is the OS and software (desktop/laptop/tablets alike). What you're buying is the same thing I bought many years ago: a sleek look and different software that does the same thing. I won't deny some Apple software does some things better than their PC counterparts, but does that apply to everyone who owns an Apple computer? Is everyone a photo/video/audio editor? No, but Apple wants us to believe we all could be should we choose to. They empower us to believe we have the ability to do what we want with their products at the expense of our bank accounts.
 
 
But let's focus, an Apple tablet is better than my 5 year old i7 2600 with 8GB of DDR3 RAM running a GTX 760, right? I'm not sold on that thought.
 
Everyone is entitled to buy what they want and use their money how they choose to, and maybe my take is that of someone whose disposable income is saved rather than spend on shinny things. I am not a photo/video/audio editor, nor will probably ever be one. I am a tech at heart and someone who is always looking to educate people on the wonderful world of technology.
 
 
At the end of the day, to each their own, but these are just my 2 cents (which I saved by not buying an Apple tablet). Don't mind me though, I'll be working on my sad 5 year old PC in my corner.

Source: http://www.dailydot.com/technology/phil-schiller-sad/
 
In my time I've owned several Apple products, be it laptops, MP3 players, or desktop units. I am not an Apple hater, nor am I an Apple fanboy. What I am is a tech savvy individual who has a clear understanding of what getting your money's worth means. I am also an IT guy who works with both Apple and PC equipment daily in an enterprise environment.
 
The idea that a 5 year old PC is considered sad took me aback. My current ESXI 6.0 server runs on an old HPZ800 on dual E5620s whose glory days were roughly 6 or so years ago. My media center PC runs on an old HP Z210 on an i7 2600 from about 5 years ago. I have a few laptops running Windows XP and a netbook on an Intel Atom N475 from roughly 2010 running Windows 10. Some of them are slow (XP machines with standard HDDs) and some are very fast for today's standards. I have old computers, and I disagree with saying that using my 5+ year old machines are sad. My machines do what they are tasked to do without problems, and maybe that is because I am a technician. I keep my machines updated, I'll upgrade a few components on the cheap, and I will reinstall the OS and ensure everything is working. Is that sad? No. It's being resourceful, it's being thrifty, and it's being smart. More importantly, it's not being wasteful.
 
Let's talk about the 1st problem about the statement made, and that's the bold assumption that a brand new shinny Apple tablet is better than a PC, current or 5 years old. It's not. A tablet is a niche device, just like ultrabooks, and just like netbooks were back in the day. To compare a tablet to a PC of any reasonable age (not talking Commodore 64 era) is a poor comparison because you're talking apples and oranges (see what I did there?). The utility of a PC/desktop device to this day remains important to several people who use them for productivity, gaming, or just trivial things. I can't plug 5 monitors to an iPad (don't ask), I can't upgrade the graphics on an iPad, I can't upgrade ANYTHING on an iPad. I can, however, upgrade just about everything on a 5 year old PC and make it great again. So once again, poor comparison is poor. 
 
 
What's the real problem with the statement? They'll say anything to market this to anyone who is willing to pay for their stuff (then again, so would most companies,) they'll even bash their own products and point out how slow and obsolete they are when the new revision is out, and here is the messed up part: people buy into this. Suddenly your iPad became slow, suddenly your MacBook doesn't work, yadda yadda...This truly goes beyond just Apple and their tablet, but how they view computing as a whole. 
 
But 1st, a walk down memory lane...
 
I remember when I owned my 1st sleek PowerBook G4. I originally got it because my girlfriend got one from school since her program required her to have one--and it was also part of the cost of her tuition. I got one because the software was interesting, it was different, and it looked cool. The operating system was shiny, user friendly, and well rounded. I had to try one out. Last time So I bought one for about 1600 dollars. It was neat and cool to have, but it just didn't offer everything I wanted, nor software that matched what I had on a Windows laptop. Eventually after some time I sold it and got half of my original investment (less than a year old--lesson learned, so I thought).
 
A couple of years passed and I saw the new MacBook Pros, now with Intel processors. I blame Keifer Sutherland because he voiced the commercial Apple used to show the world that Apples now used Intel, and were no longer trapped in "dull little boxes." Also boot camp was a thing too! I had to have one because now I'd have no excuse to wanting to switch back to a Windows PC. The decision at the time came as follows: buy a $1300 Dell XPS laptop, or a $1700 MacBook Pro. The XPS came with an NVIDIA GPU, and the Apple with a Radeon. Back then I didn't bleed green or red, and I really enjoyed the Apple ecosystem, so I dove and bought the Apple again. I came to realize that spending 1700 on a laptop was a foolish idea, and all I bought into was the marketing, and the premium of both owning a Mac and owning a laptop that looked so sleek. This time around, I learned my lesson.
 
Today Apples and PCs are nothing but similar hardware on varying custom PCBs. You can run OS X on PC hardware and Windows on OS X hardware. The only difference is the OS and software (desktop/laptop/tablets alike). What you're buying is the same thing I bought many years ago: a sleek look and different software that does the same thing. I won't deny some Apple software does some things better than their PC counterparts, but does that apply to everyone who owns an Apple computer? Is everyone a photo/video/audio editor? No, but Apple wants us to believe we all could be should we choose to. They empower us to believe we have the ability to do what we want with their products at the expense of our bank accounts.
 
 
But let's focus, an Apple tablet is better than my 5 year old i7 2600 with 8GB of DDR3 RAM running a GTX 760, right? I'm not sold on that thought.
 
Everyone is entitled to buy what they want and use their money how they choose to, and maybe my take is that of someone whose disposable income is saved rather than spend on shinny things. I am not a photo/video/audio editor, nor will probably ever be one. I am a tech at heart and someone who is always looking to educate people on the wonderful world of technology.
 
 
At the end of the day, to each their own, but these are just my 2 cents (which I saved by not buying an Apple tablet). Don't mind me though, I'll be working on my sad 5 year old PC in my corner.

Source: http://www.dailydot.com/technology/phil-schiller-sad/
 
In my time I've owned several Apple products, be it laptops, MP3 players, or desktop units. I am not an Apple hater, nor am I an Apple fanboy. What I am is a tech savvy individual who has a clear understanding of what getting your money's worth means. I am also an IT guy who works with both Apple and PC equipment daily in an enterprise environment.
 
The idea that a 5 year old PC is considered sad took me aback. My current ESXI 6.0 server runs on an old HPZ800 on dual E5620s whose glory days were roughly 6 or so years ago. My media center PC runs on an old HP Z210 on an i7 2600 from about 5 years ago. I have a few laptops running Windows XP and a netbook on an Intel Atom N475 from roughly 2010 running Windows 10. Some of them are slow (XP machines with standard HDDs) and some are very fast for today's standards. I have old computers, and I disagree with saying that using my 5+ year old machines are sad. My machines do what they are tasked to do without problems, and maybe that is because I am a technician. I keep my machines updated, I'll upgrade a few components on the cheap, and I will reinstall the OS and ensure everything is working. Is that sad? No. It's being resourceful, it's being thrifty, and it's being smart. More importantly, it's not being wasteful.
 
Let's talk about the 1st problem about the statement made, and that's the bold assumption that a brand new shinny Apple tablet is better than a PC, current or 5 years old. It's not. A tablet is a niche device, just like ultrabooks, and just like netbooks were back in the day. To compare a tablet to a PC of any reasonable age (not talking Commodore 64 era) is a poor comparison because you're talking apples and oranges (see what I did there?). The utility of a PC/desktop device to this day remains important to several people who use them for productivity, gaming, or just trivial things. I can't plug 5 monitors to an iPad (don't ask), I can't upgrade the graphics on an iPad, I can't upgrade ANYTHING on an iPad. I can, however, upgrade just about everything on a 5 year old PC and make it great again. So once again, poor comparison is poor. 
 
 
What's the real problem with the statement? They'll say anything to market this to anyone who is willing to pay for their stuff (then again, so would most companies,) they'll even bash their own products and point out how slow and obsolete they are when the new revision is out, and here is the messed up part: people buy into this. Suddenly your iPad became slow, suddenly your MacBook doesn't work, yadda yadda...This truly goes beyond just Apple and their tablet, but how they view computing as a whole. 
 
But 1st, a walk down memory lane...
 
I remember when I owned my 1st sleek PowerBook G4. I originally got it because my girlfriend got one from school since her program required her to have one--and it was also part of the cost of her tuition. I got one because the software was interesting, it was different, and it looked cool. The operating system was shiny, user friendly, and well rounded. I had to try one out. Last time So I bought one for about 1600 dollars. It was neat and cool to have, but it just didn't offer everything I wanted, nor software that matched what I had on a Windows laptop. Eventually after some time I sold it and got half of my original investment (less than a year old--lesson learned, so I thought).
 
A couple of years passed and I saw the new MacBook Pros, now with Intel processors. I blame Keifer Sutherland because he voiced the commercial Apple used to show the world that Apples now used Intel, and were no longer trapped in "dull little boxes." Also boot camp was a thing too! I had to have one because now I'd have no excuse to wanting to switch back to a Windows PC. The decision at the time came as follows: buy a $1300 Dell XPS laptop, or a $1700 MacBook Pro. The XPS came with an NVIDIA GPU, and the Apple with a Radeon. Back then I didn't bleed green or red, and I really enjoyed the Apple ecosystem, so I dove and bought the Apple again. I came to realize that spending 1700 on a laptop was a foolish idea, and all I bought into was the marketing, and the premium of both owning a Mac and owning a laptop that looked so sleek. This time around, I learned my lesson.
 
Today Apples and PCs are nothing but similar hardware on varying custom PCBs. You can run OS X on PC hardware and Windows on OS X hardware. The only difference is the OS and software (desktop/laptop/tablets alike). What you're buying is the same thing I bought many years ago: a sleek look and different software that does the same thing. I won't deny some Apple software does some things better than their PC counterparts, but does that apply to everyone who owns an Apple computer? Is everyone a photo/video/audio editor? No, but Apple wants us to believe we all could be should we choose to. They empower us to believe we have the ability to do what we want with their products at the expense of our bank accounts.
 
 
But let's focus, an Apple tablet is better than my 5 year old i7 2600 with 8GB of DDR3 RAM running a GTX 760, right? I'm not sold on that thought.
 
Everyone is entitled to buy what they want and use their money how they choose to, and maybe my take is that of someone whose disposable income is saved rather than spend on shinny things. I am not a photo/video/audio editor, nor will probably ever be one. I am a tech at heart and someone who is always looking to educate people on the wonderful world of technology.
 
 
At the end of the day, to each their own, but these are just my 2 cents (which I saved by not buying an Apple tablet). Don't mind me though, I'll be working on my sad 5 year old PC in my corner.

Source: http://www.dailydot.com/technology/phil-schiller-sad/
 
In my time I've owned several Apple products, be it laptops, MP3 players, or desktop units. I am not an Apple hater, nor am I an Apple fanboy. What I am is a tech savvy individual who has a clear understanding of what getting your money's worth means. I am also an IT guy who works with both Apple and PC equipment daily in an enterprise environment.
 
The idea that a 5 year old PC is considered sad took me aback. My current ESXI 6.0 server runs on an old HPZ800 on dual E5620s whose glory days were roughly 6 or so years ago. My media center PC runs on an old HP Z210 on an i7 2600 from about 5 years ago. I have a few laptops running Windows XP and a netbook on an Intel Atom N475 from roughly 2010 running Windows 10. Some of them are slow (XP machines with standard HDDs) and some are very fast for today's standards. I have old computers, and I disagree with saying that using my 5+ year old machines are sad. My machines do what they are tasked to do without problems, and maybe that is because I am a technician. I keep my machines updated, I'll upgrade a few components on the cheap, and I will reinstall the OS and ensure everything is working. Is that sad? No. It's being resourceful, it's being thrifty, and it's being smart. More importantly, it's not being wasteful.
 
Let's talk about the 1st problem about the statement made, and that's the bold assumption that a brand new shinny Apple tablet is better than a PC, current or 5 years old. It's not. A tablet is a niche device, just like ultrabooks, and just like netbooks were back in the day. To compare a tablet to a PC of any reasonable age (not talking Commodore 64 era) is a poor comparison because you're talking apples and oranges (see what I did there?). The utility of a PC/desktop device to this day remains important to several people who use them for productivity, gaming, or just trivial things. I can't plug 5 monitors to an iPad (don't ask), I can't upgrade the graphics on an iPad, I can't upgrade ANYTHING on an iPad. I can, however, upgrade just about everything on a 5 year old PC and make it great again. So once again, poor comparison is poor. 
 
 
What's the real problem with the statement? They'll say anything to market this to anyone who is willing to pay for their stuff (then again, so would most companies,) they'll even bash their own products and point out how slow and obsolete they are when the new revision is out, and here is the messed up part: people buy into this. Suddenly your iPad became slow, suddenly your MacBook doesn't work, yadda yadda...This truly goes beyond just Apple and their tablet, but how they view computing as a whole. 
 
But 1st, a walk down memory lane...
 
I remember when I owned my 1st sleek PowerBook G4. I originally got it because my girlfriend got one from school since her program required her to have one--and it was also part of the cost of her tuition. I got one because the software was interesting, it was different, and it looked cool. The operating system was shiny, user friendly, and well rounded. I had to try one out. Last time So I bought one for about 1600 dollars. It was neat and cool to have, but it just didn't offer everything I wanted, nor software that matched what I had on a Windows laptop. Eventually after some time I sold it and got half of my original investment (less than a year old--lesson learned, so I thought).
 
A couple of years passed and I saw the new MacBook Pros, now with Intel processors. I blame Keifer Sutherland because he voiced the commercial Apple used to show the world that Apples now used Intel, and were no longer trapped in "dull little boxes." Also boot camp was a thing too! I had to have one because now I'd have no excuse to wanting to switch back to a Windows PC. The decision at the time came as follows: buy a $1300 Dell XPS laptop, or a $1700 MacBook Pro. The XPS came with an NVIDIA GPU, and the Apple with a Radeon. Back then I didn't bleed green or red, and I really enjoyed the Apple ecosystem, so I dove and bought the Apple again. I came to realize that spending 1700 on a laptop was a foolish idea, and all I bought into was the marketing, and the premium of both owning a Mac and owning a laptop that looked so sleek. This time around, I learned my lesson.
 
Today Apples and PCs are nothing but similar hardware on varying custom PCBs. You can run OS X on PC hardware and Windows on OS X hardware. The only difference is the OS and software (desktop/laptop/tablets alike). What you're buying is the same thing I bought many years ago: a sleek look and different software that does the same thing. I won't deny some Apple software does some things better than their PC counterparts, but does that apply to everyone who owns an Apple computer? Is everyone a photo/video/audio editor? No, but Apple wants us to believe we all could be should we choose to. They empower us to believe we have the ability to do what we want with their products at the expense of our bank accounts.
 
 
But let's focus, an Apple tablet is better than my 5 year old i7 2600 with 8GB of DDR3 RAM running a GTX 760, right? I'm not sold on that thought.
 
Everyone is entitled to buy what they want and use their money how they choose to, and maybe my take is that of someone whose disposable income is saved rather than spend on shinny things. I am not a photo/video/audio editor, nor will probably ever be one. I am a tech at heart and someone who is always looking to educate people on the wonderful world of technology.
 
 
At the end of the day, to each their own, but these are just my 2 cents (which I saved by not buying an Apple tablet). Don't mind me though, I'll be working on my sad 5 year old PC in my corner.

There's nothing "sad" about it. That's just the reality of the matter. Software demands for the consumer market haven't been escalating to the point where hardware is getting left behind. There's a video on YouTube of the 8-bit Guy installing Windows 10 on a Core Duo Macbook from 2005, and it ran fine all things considered.
 
I mean, let's face it. Most people just use PC's as a telecommunications device. Go on the web, browse web pages, scroll down Facebook and Twitter, etc. etc. Type out a document in word, make a spreadsheet in Excel. That's not something that necessarily demands a ton of hardware grunt. The fact that machines like Ultrabooks and Chromebooks exist is the silent acknowledgement of this: devices that focus on reducing power draw as much as possible to try and maximize battery life to its fullest exists in a thin and light form factor. Even Intel's Core M was explicitly designed and marketed for this purpose.
 
Even in your example of the Macbook Pro vs the XPS, those machines are focused on much the same just only with more powerful hardware. And they're good machines, you can do things like edit 4k content and game on those. They cost a premium, but they're premium machines in the first place.

Nope, dump it. It's over. Get rid of it.

Source: http://www.dailydot.com/technology/phil-schiller-sad/
 
In my time I've owned several Apple products, be it laptops, MP3 players, or desktop units. I am not an Apple hater, nor am I an Apple fanboy. What I am is a tech savvy individual who has a clear understanding of what getting your money's worth means. I am also an IT guy who works with both Apple and PC equipment daily in an enterprise environment.
 
The idea that a 5 year old PC is considered sad took me aback. My current ESXI 6.0 server runs on an old HPZ800 on dual E5620s whose glory days were roughly 6 or so years ago. My media center PC runs on an old HP Z210 on an i7 2600 from about 5 years ago. I have a few laptops running Windows XP and a netbook on an Intel Atom N475 from roughly 2010 running Windows 10. Some of them are slow (XP machines with standard HDDs) and some are very fast for today's standards. I have old computers, and I disagree with saying that using my 5+ year old machines are sad. My machines do what they are tasked to do without problems, and maybe that is because I am a technician. I keep my machines updated, I'll upgrade a few components on the cheap, and I will reinstall the OS and ensure everything is working. Is that sad? No. It's being resourceful, it's being thrifty, and it's being smart. More importantly, it's not being wasteful.
 
Let's talk about the 1st problem about the statement made, and that's the bold assumption that a brand new shinny Apple tablet is better than a PC, current or 5 years old. It's not. A tablet is a niche device, just like ultrabooks, and just like netbooks were back in the day. To compare a tablet to a PC of any reasonable age (not talking Commodore 64 era) is a poor comparison because you're talking apples and oranges (see what I did there?). The utility of a PC/desktop device to this day remains important to several people who use them for productivity, gaming, or just trivial things. I can't plug 5 monitors to an iPad (don't ask), I can't upgrade the graphics on an iPad, I can't upgrade ANYTHING on an iPad. I can, however, upgrade just about everything on a 5 year old PC and make it great again. So once again, poor comparison is poor. 
 
 
What's the real problem with the statement? They'll say anything to market this to anyone who is willing to pay for their stuff (then again, so would most companies,) they'll even bash their own products and point out how slow and obsolete they are when the new revision is out, and here is the messed up part: people buy into this. Suddenly your iPad became slow, suddenly your MacBook doesn't work, yadda yadda...This truly goes beyond just Apple and their tablet, but how they view computing as a whole. 
 
But 1st, a walk down memory lane...
 
I remember when I owned my 1st sleek PowerBook G4. I originally got it because my girlfriend got one from school since her program required her to have one--and it was also part of the cost of her tuition. I got one because the software was interesting, it was different, and it looked cool. The operating system was shiny, user friendly, and well rounded. I had to try one out. Last time So I bought one for about 1600 dollars. It was neat and cool to have, but it just didn't offer everything I wanted, nor software that matched what I had on a Windows laptop. Eventually after some time I sold it and got half of my original investment (less than a year old--lesson learned, so I thought).
 
A couple of years passed and I saw the new MacBook Pros, now with Intel processors. I blame Keifer Sutherland because he voiced the commercial Apple used to show the world that Apples now used Intel, and were no longer trapped in "dull little boxes." Also boot camp was a thing too! I had to have one because now I'd have no excuse to wanting to switch back to a Windows PC. The decision at the time came as follows: buy a $1300 Dell XPS laptop, or a $1700 MacBook Pro. The XPS came with an NVIDIA GPU, and the Apple with a Radeon. Back then I didn't bleed green or red, and I really enjoyed the Apple ecosystem, so I dove and bought the Apple again. I came to realize that spending 1700 on a laptop was a foolish idea, and all I bought into was the marketing, and the premium of both owning a Mac and owning a laptop that looked so sleek. This time around, I learned my lesson.
 
Today Apples and PCs are nothing but similar hardware on varying custom PCBs. You can run OS X on PC hardware and Windows on OS X hardware. The only difference is the OS and software (desktop/laptop/tablets alike). What you're buying is the same thing I bought many years ago: a sleek look and different software that does the same thing. I won't deny some Apple software does some things better than their PC counterparts, but does that apply to everyone who owns an Apple computer? Is everyone a photo/video/audio editor? No, but Apple wants us to believe we all could be should we choose to. They empower us to believe we have the ability to do what we want with their products at the expense of our bank accounts.
 
 
But let's focus, an Apple tablet is better than my 5 year old i7 2600 with 8GB of DDR3 RAM running a GTX 760, right? I'm not sold on that thought.
 
Everyone is entitled to buy what they want and use their money how they choose to, and maybe my take is that of someone whose disposable income is saved rather than spend on shinny things. I am not a photo/video/audio editor, nor will probably ever be one. I am a tech at heart and someone who is always looking to educate people on the wonderful world of technology.
 
 
At the end of the day, to each their own, but these are just my 2 cents (which I saved by not buying an Apple tablet). Don't mind me though, I'll be working on my sad 5 year old PC in my corner.

Added a couple of relevant quotes.
 
Nothing anyone couldn't have skimmed over, but given this is my 1st time posting on this thread, I'd figure I'd comply.

Source: http://www.dailydot.com/technology/phil-schiller-sad/
 
In my time I've owned several Apple products, be it laptops, MP3 players, or desktop units. I am not an Apple hater, nor am I an Apple fanboy. What I am is a tech savvy individual who has a clear understanding of what getting your money's worth means. I am also an IT guy who works with both Apple and PC equipment daily in an enterprise environment.
 
The idea that a 5 year old PC is considered sad took me aback. My current ESXI 6.0 server runs on an old HPZ800 on dual E5620s whose glory days were roughly 6 or so years ago. My media center PC runs on an old HP Z210 on an i7 2600 from about 5 years ago. I have a few laptops running Windows XP and a netbook on an Intel Atom N475 from roughly 2010 running Windows 10. Some of them are slow (XP machines with standard HDDs) and some are very fast for today's standards. I have old computers, and I disagree with saying that using my 5+ year old machines are sad. My machines do what they are tasked to do without problems, and maybe that is because I am a technician. I keep my machines updated, I'll upgrade a few components on the cheap, and I will reinstall the OS and ensure everything is working. Is that sad? No. It's being resourceful, it's being thrifty, and it's being smart. More importantly, it's not being wasteful.
 
Let's talk about the 1st problem about the statement made, and that's the bold assumption that a brand new shinny Apple tablet is better than a PC, current or 5 years old. It's not. A tablet is a niche device, just like ultrabooks, and just like netbooks were back in the day. To compare a tablet to a PC of any reasonable age (not talking Commodore 64 era) is a poor comparison because you're talking apples and oranges (see what I did there?). The utility of a PC/desktop device to this day remains important to several people who use them for productivity, gaming, or just trivial things. I can't plug 5 monitors to an iPad (don't ask), I can't upgrade the graphics on an iPad, I can't upgrade ANYTHING on an iPad. I can, however, upgrade just about everything on a 5 year old PC and make it great again. So once again, poor comparison is poor. 
 
 
What's the real problem with the statement? They'll say anything to market this to anyone who is willing to pay for their stuff (then again, so would most companies,) they'll even bash their own products and point out how slow and obsolete they are when the new revision is out, and here is the messed up part: people buy into this. Suddenly your iPad became slow, suddenly your MacBook doesn't work, yadda yadda...This truly goes beyond just Apple and their tablet, but how they view computing as a whole. 
 
But 1st, a walk down memory lane...
 
I remember when I owned my 1st sleek PowerBook G4. I originally got it because my girlfriend got one from school since her program required her to have one--and it was also part of the cost of her tuition. I got one because the software was interesting, it was different, and it looked cool. The operating system was shiny, user friendly, and well rounded. I had to try one out. Last time So I bought one for about 1600 dollars. It was neat and cool to have, but it just didn't offer everything I wanted, nor software that matched what I had on a Windows laptop. Eventually after some time I sold it and got half of my original investment (less than a year old--lesson learned, so I thought).
 
A couple of years passed and I saw the new MacBook Pros, now with Intel processors. I blame Keifer Sutherland because he voiced the commercial Apple used to show the world that Apples now used Intel, and were no longer trapped in "dull little boxes." Also boot camp was a thing too! I had to have one because now I'd have no excuse to wanting to switch back to a Windows PC. The decision at the time came as follows: buy a $1300 Dell XPS laptop, or a $1700 MacBook Pro. The XPS came with an NVIDIA GPU, and the Apple with a Radeon. Back then I didn't bleed green or red, and I really enjoyed the Apple ecosystem, so I dove and bought the Apple again. I came to realize that spending 1700 on a laptop was a foolish idea, and all I bought into was the marketing, and the premium of both owning a Mac and owning a laptop that looked so sleek. This time around, I learned my lesson.
 
Today Apples and PCs are nothing but similar hardware on varying custom PCBs. You can run OS X on PC hardware and Windows on OS X hardware. The only difference is the OS and software (desktop/laptop/tablets alike). What you're buying is the same thing I bought many years ago: a sleek look and different software that does the same thing. I won't deny some Apple software does some things better than their PC counterparts, but does that apply to everyone who owns an Apple computer? Is everyone a photo/video/audio editor? No, but Apple wants us to believe we all could be should we choose to. They empower us to believe we have the ability to do what we want with their products at the expense of our bank accounts.
 
 
But let's focus, an Apple tablet is better than my 5 year old i7 2600 with 8GB of DDR3 RAM running a GTX 760, right? I'm not sold on that thought.
 
Everyone is entitled to buy what they want and use their money how they choose to, and maybe my take is that of someone whose disposable income is saved rather than spend on shinny things. I am not a photo/video/audio editor, nor will probably ever be one. I am a tech at heart and someone who is always looking to educate people on the wonderful world of technology.
 
 
At the end of the day, to each their own, but these are just my 2 cents (which I saved by not buying an Apple tablet). Don't mind me though, I'll be working on my sad 5 year old PC in my corner.

I'm looking at it from the perspective that a 5 year old machine can and is in fact still viable in many case scenarios. Enthusiast performance is not even in question at this point. As a matter of fact, the only thing you'd need to do to a 5 year old machine is as simple as drop in an SSD.
 
I think we're breaking the argument into sub-categories that needed not be explored anyway because at face value, yeah, an iPad, or a Galaxy Tab S2, or an iPhone would outdo any 5 year old computer, heck, they can outdo your Walmart special i3 laptop manufactured less than a year ago. That's not the point though. The point is and always was that the original statement made was a bold assessment of what Apple sees aging PCs as, as well as their users.
 

Source: http://www.dailydot.com/technology/phil-schiller-sad/
 
In my time I've owned several Apple products, be it laptops, MP3 players, or desktop units. I am not an Apple hater, nor am I an Apple fanboy. What I am is a tech savvy individual who has a clear understanding of what getting your money's worth means. I am also an IT guy who works with both Apple and PC equipment daily in an enterprise environment.
 
The idea that a 5 year old PC is considered sad took me aback. My current ESXI 6.0 server runs on an old HPZ800 on dual E5620s whose glory days were roughly 6 or so years ago. My media center PC runs on an old HP Z210 on an i7 2600 from about 5 years ago. I have a few laptops running Windows XP and a netbook on an Intel Atom N475 from roughly 2010 running Windows 10. Some of them are slow (XP machines with standard HDDs) and some are very fast for today's standards. I have old computers, and I disagree with saying that using my 5+ year old machines are sad. My machines do what they are tasked to do without problems, and maybe that is because I am a technician. I keep my machines updated, I'll upgrade a few components on the cheap, and I will reinstall the OS and ensure everything is working. Is that sad? No. It's being resourceful, it's being thrifty, and it's being smart. More importantly, it's not being wasteful.
 
Let's talk about the 1st problem about the statement made, and that's the bold assumption that a brand new shinny Apple tablet is better than a PC, current or 5 years old. It's not. A tablet is a niche device, just like ultrabooks, and just like netbooks were back in the day. To compare a tablet to a PC of any reasonable age (not talking Commodore 64 era) is a poor comparison because you're talking apples and oranges (see what I did there?). The utility of a PC/desktop device to this day remains important to several people who use them for productivity, gaming, or just trivial things. I can't plug 5 monitors to an iPad (don't ask), I can't upgrade the graphics on an iPad, I can't upgrade ANYTHING on an iPad. I can, however, upgrade just about everything on a 5 year old PC and make it great again. So once again, poor comparison is poor. 
 
 
What's the real problem with the statement? They'll say anything to market this to anyone who is willing to pay for their stuff (then again, so would most companies,) they'll even bash their own products and point out how slow and obsolete they are when the new revision is out, and here is the messed up part: people buy into this. Suddenly your iPad became slow, suddenly your MacBook doesn't work, yadda yadda...This truly goes beyond just Apple and their tablet, but how they view computing as a whole. 
 
But 1st, a walk down memory lane...
 
I remember when I owned my 1st sleek PowerBook G4. I originally got it because my girlfriend got one from school since her program required her to have one--and it was also part of the cost of her tuition. I got one because the software was interesting, it was different, and it looked cool. The operating system was shiny, user friendly, and well rounded. I had to try one out. Last time So I bought one for about 1600 dollars. It was neat and cool to have, but it just didn't offer everything I wanted, nor software that matched what I had on a Windows laptop. Eventually after some time I sold it and got half of my original investment (less than a year old--lesson learned, so I thought).
 
A couple of years passed and I saw the new MacBook Pros, now with Intel processors. I blame Keifer Sutherland because he voiced the commercial Apple used to show the world that Apples now used Intel, and were no longer trapped in "dull little boxes." Also boot camp was a thing too! I had to have one because now I'd have no excuse to wanting to switch back to a Windows PC. The decision at the time came as follows: buy a $1300 Dell XPS laptop, or a $1700 MacBook Pro. The XPS came with an NVIDIA GPU, and the Apple with a Radeon. Back then I didn't bleed green or red, and I really enjoyed the Apple ecosystem, so I dove and bought the Apple again. I came to realize that spending 1700 on a laptop was a foolish idea, and all I bought into was the marketing, and the premium of both owning a Mac and owning a laptop that looked so sleek. This time around, I learned my lesson.
 
Today Apples and PCs are nothing but similar hardware on varying custom PCBs. You can run OS X on PC hardware and Windows on OS X hardware. The only difference is the OS and software (desktop/laptop/tablets alike). What you're buying is the same thing I bought many years ago: a sleek look and different software that does the same thing. I won't deny some Apple software does some things better than their PC counterparts, but does that apply to everyone who owns an Apple computer? Is everyone a photo/video/audio editor? No, but Apple wants us to believe we all could be should we choose to. They empower us to believe we have the ability to do what we want with their products at the expense of our bank accounts.
 
 
But let's focus, an Apple tablet is better than my 5 year old i7 2600 with 8GB of DDR3 RAM running a GTX 760, right? I'm not sold on that thought.
 
Everyone is entitled to buy what they want and use their money how they choose to, and maybe my take is that of someone whose disposable income is saved rather than spend on shinny things. I am not a photo/video/audio editor, nor will probably ever be one. I am a tech at heart and someone who is always looking to educate people on the wonderful world of technology.
 
 
At the end of the day, to each their own, but these are just my 2 cents (which I saved by not buying an Apple tablet). Don't mind me though, I'll be working on my sad 5 year old PC in my corner.

Source: http://www.dailydot.com/technology/phil-schiller-sad/
 
In my time I've owned several Apple products, be it laptops, MP3 players, or desktop units. I am not an Apple hater, nor am I an Apple fanboy. What I am is a tech savvy individual who has a clear understanding of what getting your money's worth means. I am also an IT guy who works with both Apple and PC equipment daily in an enterprise environment.
 
The idea that a 5 year old PC is considered sad took me aback. My current ESXI 6.0 server runs on an old HPZ800 on dual E5620s whose glory days were roughly 6 or so years ago. My media center PC runs on an old HP Z210 on an i7 2600 from about 5 years ago. I have a few laptops running Windows XP and a netbook on an Intel Atom N475 from roughly 2010 running Windows 10. Some of them are slow (XP machines with standard HDDs) and some are very fast for today's standards. I have old computers, and I disagree with saying that using my 5+ year old machines are sad. My machines do what they are tasked to do without problems, and maybe that is because I am a technician. I keep my machines updated, I'll upgrade a few components on the cheap, and I will reinstall the OS and ensure everything is working. Is that sad? No. It's being resourceful, it's being thrifty, and it's being smart. More importantly, it's not being wasteful.
 
Let's talk about the 1st problem about the statement made, and that's the bold assumption that a brand new shinny Apple tablet is better than a PC, current or 5 years old. It's not. A tablet is a niche device, just like ultrabooks, and just like netbooks were back in the day. To compare a tablet to a PC of any reasonable age (not talking Commodore 64 era) is a poor comparison because you're talking apples and oranges (see what I did there?). The utility of a PC/desktop device to this day remains important to several people who use them for productivity, gaming, or just trivial things. I can't plug 5 monitors to an iPad (don't ask), I can't upgrade the graphics on an iPad, I can't upgrade ANYTHING on an iPad. I can, however, upgrade just about everything on a 5 year old PC and make it great again. So once again, poor comparison is poor. 
 
 
What's the real problem with the statement? They'll say anything to market this to anyone who is willing to pay for their stuff (then again, so would most companies,) they'll even bash their own products and point out how slow and obsolete they are when the new revision is out, and here is the messed up part: people buy into this. Suddenly your iPad became slow, suddenly your MacBook doesn't work, yadda yadda...This truly goes beyond just Apple and their tablet, but how they view computing as a whole. 
 
But 1st, a walk down memory lane...
 
I remember when I owned my 1st sleek PowerBook G4. I originally got it because my girlfriend got one from school since her program required her to have one--and it was also part of the cost of her tuition. I got one because the software was interesting, it was different, and it looked cool. The operating system was shiny, user friendly, and well rounded. I had to try one out. Last time So I bought one for about 1600 dollars. It was neat and cool to have, but it just didn't offer everything I wanted, nor software that matched what I had on a Windows laptop. Eventually after some time I sold it and got half of my original investment (less than a year old--lesson learned, so I thought).
 
A couple of years passed and I saw the new MacBook Pros, now with Intel processors. I blame Keifer Sutherland because he voiced the commercial Apple used to show the world that Apples now used Intel, and were no longer trapped in "dull little boxes." Also boot camp was a thing too! I had to have one because now I'd have no excuse to wanting to switch back to a Windows PC. The decision at the time came as follows: buy a $1300 Dell XPS laptop, or a $1700 MacBook Pro. The XPS came with an NVIDIA GPU, and the Apple with a Radeon. Back then I didn't bleed green or red, and I really enjoyed the Apple ecosystem, so I dove and bought the Apple again. I came to realize that spending 1700 on a laptop was a foolish idea, and all I bought into was the marketing, and the premium of both owning a Mac and owning a laptop that looked so sleek. This time around, I learned my lesson.
 
Today Apples and PCs are nothing but similar hardware on varying custom PCBs. You can run OS X on PC hardware and Windows on OS X hardware. The only difference is the OS and software (desktop/laptop/tablets alike). What you're buying is the same thing I bought many years ago: a sleek look and different software that does the same thing. I won't deny some Apple software does some things better than their PC counterparts, but does that apply to everyone who owns an Apple computer? Is everyone a photo/video/audio editor? No, but Apple wants us to believe we all could be should we choose to. They empower us to believe we have the ability to do what we want with their products at the expense of our bank accounts.
 
 
But let's focus, an Apple tablet is better than my 5 year old i7 2600 with 8GB of DDR3 RAM running a GTX 760, right? I'm not sold on that thought.
 
Everyone is entitled to buy what they want and use their money how they choose to, and maybe my take is that of someone whose disposable income is saved rather than spend on shinny things. I am not a photo/video/audio editor, nor will probably ever be one. I am a tech at heart and someone who is always looking to educate people on the wonderful world of technology.
 
 
At the end of the day, to each their own, but these are just my 2 cents (which I saved by not buying an Apple tablet). Don't mind me though, I'll be working on my sad 5 year old PC in my corner.

Nope, dump it. It's over. Get rid of it.

Source: http://www.dailydot.com/technology/phil-schiller-sad/
 
In my time I've owned several Apple products, be it laptops, MP3 players, or desktop units. I am not an Apple hater, nor am I an Apple fanboy. What I am is a tech savvy individual who has a clear understanding of what getting your money's worth means. I am also an IT guy who works with both Apple and PC equipment daily in an enterprise environment.
 
The idea that a 5 year old PC is considered sad took me aback. My current ESXI 6.0 server runs on an old HPZ800 on dual E5620s whose glory days were roughly 6 or so years ago. My media center PC runs on an old HP Z210 on an i7 2600 from about 5 years ago. I have a few laptops running Windows XP and a netbook on an Intel Atom N475 from roughly 2010 running Windows 10. Some of them are slow (XP machines with standard HDDs) and some are very fast for today's standards. I have old computers, and I disagree with saying that using my 5+ year old machines are sad. My machines do what they are tasked to do without problems, and maybe that is because I am a technician. I keep my machines updated, I'll upgrade a few components on the cheap, and I will reinstall the OS and ensure everything is working. Is that sad? No. It's being resourceful, it's being thrifty, and it's being smart. More importantly, it's not being wasteful.
 
Let's talk about the 1st problem about the statement made, and that's the bold assumption that a brand new shinny Apple tablet is better than a PC, current or 5 years old. It's not. A tablet is a niche device, just like ultrabooks, and just like netbooks were back in the day. To compare a tablet to a PC of any reasonable age (not talking Commodore 64 era) is a poor comparison because you're talking apples and oranges (see what I did there?). The utility of a PC/desktop device to this day remains important to several people who use them for productivity, gaming, or just trivial things. I can't plug 5 monitors to an iPad (don't ask), I can't upgrade the graphics on an iPad, I can't upgrade ANYTHING on an iPad. I can, however, upgrade just about everything on a 5 year old PC and make it great again. So once again, poor comparison is poor. 
 
 
What's the real problem with the statement? They'll say anything to market this to anyone who is willing to pay for their stuff (then again, so would most companies,) they'll even bash their own products and point out how slow and obsolete they are when the new revision is out, and here is the messed up part: people buy into this. Suddenly your iPad became slow, suddenly your MacBook doesn't work, yadda yadda...This truly goes beyond just Apple and their tablet, but how they view computing as a whole. 
 
But 1st, a walk down memory lane...
 
I remember when I owned my 1st sleek PowerBook G4. I originally got it because my girlfriend got one from school since her program required her to have one--and it was also part of the cost of her tuition. I got one because the software was interesting, it was different, and it looked cool. The operating system was shiny, user friendly, and well rounded. I had to try one out. Last time So I bought one for about 1600 dollars. It was neat and cool to have, but it just didn't offer everything I wanted, nor software that matched what I had on a Windows laptop. Eventually after some time I sold it and got half of my original investment (less than a year old--lesson learned, so I thought).
 
A couple of years passed and I saw the new MacBook Pros, now with Intel processors. I blame Keifer Sutherland because he voiced the commercial Apple used to show the world that Apples now used Intel, and were no longer trapped in "dull little boxes." Also boot camp was a thing too! I had to have one because now I'd have no excuse to wanting to switch back to a Windows PC. The decision at the time came as follows: buy a $1300 Dell XPS laptop, or a $1700 MacBook Pro. The XPS came with an NVIDIA GPU, and the Apple with a Radeon. Back then I didn't bleed green or red, and I really enjoyed the Apple ecosystem, so I dove and bought the Apple again. I came to realize that spending 1700 on a laptop was a foolish idea, and all I bought into was the marketing, and the premium of both owning a Mac and owning a laptop that looked so sleek. This time around, I learned my lesson.
 
Today Apples and PCs are nothing but similar hardware on varying custom PCBs. You can run OS X on PC hardware and Windows on OS X hardware. The only difference is the OS and software (desktop/laptop/tablets alike). What you're buying is the same thing I bought many years ago: a sleek look and different software that does the same thing. I won't deny some Apple software does some things better than their PC counterparts, but does that apply to everyone who owns an Apple computer? Is everyone a photo/video/audio editor? No, but Apple wants us to believe we all could be should we choose to. They empower us to believe we have the ability to do what we want with their products at the expense of our bank accounts.
 
 
But let's focus, an Apple tablet is better than my 5 year old i7 2600 with 8GB of DDR3 RAM running a GTX 760, right? I'm not sold on that thought.
 
Everyone is entitled to buy what they want and use their money how they choose to, and maybe my take is that of someone whose disposable income is saved rather than spend on shinny things. I am not a photo/video/audio editor, nor will probably ever be one. I am a tech at heart and someone who is always looking to educate people on the wonderful world of technology.
 
 
At the end of the day, to each their own, but these are just my 2 cents (which I saved by not buying an Apple tablet). Don't mind me though, I'll be working on my sad 5 year old PC in my corner.

Source: http://www.dailydot.com/technology/phil-schiller-sad/
 
In my time I've owned several Apple products, be it laptops, MP3 players, or desktop units. I am not an Apple hater, nor am I an Apple fanboy. What I am is a tech savvy individual who has a clear understanding of what getting your money's worth means. I am also an IT guy who works with both Apple and PC equipment daily in an enterprise environment.
 
The idea that a 5 year old PC is considered sad took me aback. My current ESXI 6.0 server runs on an old HPZ800 on dual E5620s whose glory days were roughly 6 or so years ago. My media center PC runs on an old HP Z210 on an i7 2600 from about 5 years ago. I have a few laptops running Windows XP and a netbook on an Intel Atom N475 from roughly 2010 running Windows 10. Some of them are slow (XP machines with standard HDDs) and some are very fast for today's standards. I have old computers, and I disagree with saying that using my 5+ year old machines are sad. My machines do what they are tasked to do without problems, and maybe that is because I am a technician. I keep my machines updated, I'll upgrade a few components on the cheap, and I will reinstall the OS and ensure everything is working. Is that sad? No. It's being resourceful, it's being thrifty, and it's being smart. More importantly, it's not being wasteful.
 
Let's talk about the 1st problem about the statement made, and that's the bold assumption that a brand new shinny Apple tablet is better than a PC, current or 5 years old. It's not. A tablet is a niche device, just like ultrabooks, and just like netbooks were back in the day. To compare a tablet to a PC of any reasonable age (not talking Commodore 64 era) is a poor comparison because you're talking apples and oranges (see what I did there?). The utility of a PC/desktop device to this day remains important to several people who use them for productivity, gaming, or just trivial things. I can't plug 5 monitors to an iPad (don't ask), I can't upgrade the graphics on an iPad, I can't upgrade ANYTHING on an iPad. I can, however, upgrade just about everything on a 5 year old PC and make it great again. So once again, poor comparison is poor. 
 
 
What's the real problem with the statement? They'll say anything to market this to anyone who is willing to pay for their stuff (then again, so would most companies,) they'll even bash their own products and point out how slow and obsolete they are when the new revision is out, and here is the messed up part: people buy into this. Suddenly your iPad became slow, suddenly your MacBook doesn't work, yadda yadda...This truly goes beyond just Apple and their tablet, but how they view computing as a whole. 
 
But 1st, a walk down memory lane...
 
I remember when I owned my 1st sleek PowerBook G4. I originally got it because my girlfriend got one from school since her program required her to have one--and it was also part of the cost of her tuition. I got one because the software was interesting, it was different, and it looked cool. The operating system was shiny, user friendly, and well rounded. I had to try one out. Last time So I bought one for about 1600 dollars. It was neat and cool to have, but it just didn't offer everything I wanted, nor software that matched what I had on a Windows laptop. Eventually after some time I sold it and got half of my original investment (less than a year old--lesson learned, so I thought).
 
A couple of years passed and I saw the new MacBook Pros, now with Intel processors. I blame Keifer Sutherland because he voiced the commercial Apple used to show the world that Apples now used Intel, and were no longer trapped in "dull little boxes." Also boot camp was a thing too! I had to have one because now I'd have no excuse to wanting to switch back to a Windows PC. The decision at the time came as follows: buy a $1300 Dell XPS laptop, or a $1700 MacBook Pro. The XPS came with an NVIDIA GPU, and the Apple with a Radeon. Back then I didn't bleed green or red, and I really enjoyed the Apple ecosystem, so I dove and bought the Apple again. I came to realize that spending 1700 on a laptop was a foolish idea, and all I bought into was the marketing, and the premium of both owning a Mac and owning a laptop that looked so sleek. This time around, I learned my lesson.
 
Today Apples and PCs are nothing but similar hardware on varying custom PCBs. You can run OS X on PC hardware and Windows on OS X hardware. The only difference is the OS and software (desktop/laptop/tablets alike). What you're buying is the same thing I bought many years ago: a sleek look and different software that does the same thing. I won't deny some Apple software does some things better than their PC counterparts, but does that apply to everyone who owns an Apple computer? Is everyone a photo/video/audio editor? No, but Apple wants us to believe we all could be should we choose to. They empower us to believe we have the ability to do what we want with their products at the expense of our bank accounts.
 
 
But let's focus, an Apple tablet is better than my 5 year old i7 2600 with 8GB of DDR3 RAM running a GTX 760, right? I'm not sold on that thought.
 
Everyone is entitled to buy what they want and use their money how they choose to, and maybe my take is that of someone whose disposable income is saved rather than spend on shinny things. I am not a photo/video/audio editor, nor will probably ever be one. I am a tech at heart and someone who is always looking to educate people on the wonderful world of technology.
 
 
At the end of the day, to each their own, but these are just my 2 cents (which I saved by not buying an Apple tablet). Don't mind me though, I'll be working on my sad 5 year old PC in my corner.

I don't disagree with you, but the post was mostly targeting their iPad Pro line, which they claim to be their PC replacement. You pay a higher premium for the Pro iPad over the Air 2, which inherently can do the same things you're commenting on such as browsing, emailing, etc.

It's also commentary to who Apple thinks is their average consumer. The original iPad Pro was marketed at people who would use the size and features for productivity and creation. The Pro consumer was an architect, an artist, a business professional. Them making a 9.7in version is them making the claim "hey, now you can be like one of them too, even though you don't really need any of this because all you do is watch cat videos on YouTube!" 
 
It's almost insulting that they took one product and heralded it for a certain market, and now they wash it down with a smaller screen for just about everyone. We all know they will inevitably abandon their iPad Air line now because why would you want to save money on a tablet that does everything you need already? Right?
 
Your average consumer doesn't know what they want anyway, they will just follow until they get to whatever is shinier. 

If you still have a use for it, why not use it? Who cares if it's 4 years old - my CPU is a 3570K that was released back in 2012, and it's fine. The idea that you need to have the latest and greatest is simply not true. Besides, sometimes it's better to wait it out to avoid potentially wasting your money.

As someone who has recently built an ESXI 6 server, I can tell you that for better compatibility with graphics cards, you may wanna stick to UnRAID, as ESXI has (as mentioned above) mostly compatibility with AMD cards, and even then the select cards that do work are very few. Unless you don't expect high end gaming on it, I don't recommend ESXI as your primary hypervisor.

The only route you have is a software raid via Windows, as a hardware raid (say via a RAID controller in your board) will wipe your 1TB drive. 
 
Simply run Disk Manager (Start>Run>diskmgmt.msc), and convert the first drive (with the data on it) to a "dynamic disk". Do the same to the second drive. Right click on the first drive, and there should be an "Add Mirror" option available.

All this being said, I highly recommend making a backup of your stuff before doing this regardless--things can go wrong in the process like the system getting hung mid-raid creation or the like. I get your data may be scattered everywhere, but realistically if you're that serious about redundancy of your valued data, you should consider actually doing it right, but that's just my opinion.

The only route you have is a software raid via Windows, as a hardware raid (say via a RAID controller in your board) will wipe your 1TB drive. 
 
Simply run Disk Manager (Start>Run>diskmgmt.msc), and convert the first drive (with the data on it) to a "dynamic disk". Do the same to the second drive. Right click on the first drive, and there should be an "Add Mirror" option available.

All this being said, I highly recommend making a backup of your stuff before doing this regardless--things can go wrong in the process like the system getting hung mid-raid creation or the like. I get your data may be scattered everywhere, but realistically if you're that serious about redundancy of your valued data, you should consider actually doing it right, but that's just my opinion.

You are correct, there are performance gains to using a 10k or 15k SAS drive, not going to deny that, but given that he sounds like he is just looking to throw in storage, why would anyone encourage a SAS drive? They're more expensive, transfer rates are not that much faster, and it doesn't really sound like he's looking to deploy a production server over an enterprise 10GbE network that requires low latency access.

I just use 4x4TB Seagate NAS drives in Raid Z. My transfer rates typically cap out at my gigabit network speeds between all wired machines.