What's something from an old build that you miss in your current one?

[da na]

What's a feature or part that was in a previous system you had that you wish you could have in your current system? This can be something extremely specific, like a certain expansion card, or can just be a general idea like socketed CPUs in laptops.

My biggest one is Ethernet on laptops. I didn't frequently use it back when I had a laptop with an Ethernet jack, but I frequently wish now that my new laptop did (and most thin and lights forgo this port.)

Another is easy upgradability of laptops - pretty obvious one here. My favorite laptops to work on are business laptops from mid 90s to early 00s. Many have individual doors on the bottom for network card, HDD, and RAM. Then there's the ones that 2 screws allow the entire bottom to smoothly slide off and you've got access to everything you'd need to replace or upgrade quickly.

What are yours? 

[Arika]

PCI(e) expansion slots

 

ITX is nice, but if the motherboard doesn't have something that you want/need later on, there is no way to add it.

 

My next build is going to be mATX (which my case supports anyway)

[Bitter]

Removable motherboard tray.

[RONOTHAN##]

For me, I really wanted ethernet on my laptop, but I eventually just gave up on finding it for a good price. The moment I can find a Thinkpad T14 on sale though, I'm getting one so I can get that port back. 

 

But the thing I absolutely miss is the old blue BIOS screens. I know there are still a few floating out there, but they're stripped down from the old enthusiast boards with it. To me, they just made sense, and they ran so well. MSI's BIOS, for example, I can't figure out, and therefore actively avoid motherboards from them. I wanna go back to my ASUS P6T Deluxe V2, those were the days.

[da na]

4 minutes ago, RONOTHAN## said:

But the thing I absolutely miss is the old blue BIOS screens. I know there are still a few floating out there, but they're stripped down from the old enthusiast boards with it. To me, they just made sense, and they ran so well. MSI's BIOS, for example, I can't figure out, and therefore actively avoid motherboards from them. I wanna go back to my ASUS P6T Deluxe V2, those were the days.

That's why I love HP's BIOSes (and continue to purchase their hardware over other companies, I don't like Dell's BIOSes.) HP's business/workstation machines have IMO the best BIOS I have ever worked with (compared to Lenovo systems' confusing layout, Dell's weird whatever-that-is, etc.) - it's simple to navigate but still has more advanced options. Granted, latest machine I have from HP is from 2016 but the BIOS looks nearly the same on a Compaq laptop from 1998, Pentium 4 HT system, i5 4th gen system, and Xeon e5 system - so I don't think it's changing anytime soon.

[da na]

6 minutes ago, Bitter said:

Removable motherboard tray.

Lian Li cases were particularly good about that. Definitely a good feature to have. 

[da na]

7 minutes ago, Arika S said:

PCI(e) expansion slots

 

ITX is nice, but if the motherboard doesn't have something that you want/need later on, there is no way to add it.

 

My next build is going to be mATX (which my case supports anyway)

Feel the same way.

I've worked on 1 ITX system, granted it was a business machine but it still felt way too limiting. Only had 1 PCIe 1x slot squished up against the PSU so you couldn't put a dual slot card, long card, etc. Basically the only thing that could go in it is a 2 port USB card. 

[RanchTheHay005]

rattling pc noises....my old pc would sound like an aeroplane going under turbulence under full loads

 

low temperatures at peak loads even with a stock cooler

 

then a bios where you can overclock even if you have a non-K cpu 

[RONOTHAN##]

6 minutes ago, Mel0nMan said:

That's why I love HP's BIOSes (and continue to purchase their hardware over other companies, I don't like Dell's BIOSes.) HP's business/workstation machines have IMO the best BIOS I have ever worked with (compared to Lenovo systems' confusing layout, Dell's weird whatever-that-is, etc.) - it's simple to navigate but still has more advanced options. Granted, latest machine I have from HP is from 2016 but the BIOS looks nearly the same on a Compaq laptop from 1998, Pentium 4 HT system, i5 4th gen system, and Xeon e5 system - so I don't think it's changing anytime soon.

The only reason I don't buy HP products is their customer service is absolute garbage in my experience. Giving bad advice, saying I should do stuff that I said I already did, and just overall not seeming to care. I do see what you mean about Lenovo's BIOS being super confusing, it took me forever to figure out how to do anything on my current Thinkpad (I've still yet to figure out how to enable virtualization support), but I'm more forgiving on a laptop since I go in there once, set everything, and then forget it. For desktops I do go in there much more often and care a lot more. Out of the current big 4 manufacturers, ASRock is the one I can understand the best, but that's just me.

[da na]

2 minutes ago, RONOTHAN## said:

The only reason I don't buy HP products is their customer service is absolute garbage in my experience. Giving bad advice, saying I should do stuff that I said I already did, and just overall not seeming to care. I do see what you mean about Lenovo's BIOS being super confusing, it took me forever to figure out how to do anything on my current Thinkpad (I've still yet to figure out how to enable virtualization support), but I'm more forgiving on a laptop since I go in there once, set everything, and then forget it. For desktops I do go in there much more often and care a lot more. Out of the current big 4 manufacturers, ASRock is the one I can understand the best, but that's just me.

I've also had terrible experience with HP customer support. Lucky I'm able to solve my own problems and their hardware design (in the business line) isn't too proprietary. Sadly same can't be said about their "gaming" desktops.

The thing I hate about my ThinkCentre's BIOS is that there are 4 different function keys for 4 different sections of the BIOS - one is boot order, one is general system info, one is fan and thermals, the other is I forget what. But you have to turn it off, turn it back on and spam that function key to go to the other section - it's not ideal. Took me forever to even realize how many sections there were.

[RONOTHAN##]

2 minutes ago, Mel0nMan said:

I've also had terrible experience with HP customer support. Lucky I'm able to solve my own problems and their hardware design (in the business line) isn't too proprietary. Sadly same can't be said about their "gaming" desktops.

For me I've always just had weird issues with their stuff. I'm pretty good and don't usually need to contact support, but on the two HP laptops I've owned in the past 3 years I had one issue or another. I bought a 2 in 1 from them, I forget which one, and the touch screen would work intermittently. When I finally reached out to the rep, he reinstalled drivers (which I told him I already did), updated the BIOS, and then said oh well. Didn't even give me a number to contact RMA. I gave up on trying to get that fixed and go through their RMA depart since it was going to my Grandmother and she wasn't gonna use it anyway. I then bought a used gaming laptop, about a year old at the time, that had an odd issue where it would throttle to 800MHz when plugged into the wall. I contacted support because of how weird it was, and they basically said "not our problem." That was the moment I swore them off and to never buy from them again. I eventually fixed it with a clever script, but that shouldn't be the fix for a year old laptop.

10 minutes ago, Mel0nMan said:

The thing I hate about my ThinkCentre's BIOS is that there are 4 different function keys for 4 different sections of the BIOS - one is boot order, one is general system info, one is fan and thermals, the other is I forget what. But you have to turn it off, turn it back on and spam that function key to go to the other section - it's not ideal. Took me forever to even realize how many sections there were.

That was a real pain when trying to get Linux installed on this laptop. I tested 3 or 4 different distros before deciding on the one to install (mainly because I wanted driver support for the fingerprint sensor out of the box), and going in to enable and disable secure boot was a nightmare, plus having to remember which key to hit to boot into a USB instead of the actual BIOS.

[da na]

1 minute ago, RONOTHAN## said:

For me I've always just had weird issues with their stuff. I'm pretty good and don't usually need to contact support, but on the two HP laptops I've owned in the past 3 years I had one issue or another. I bought a 2 in 1 from them, I forget which one, and the touch screen would work intermittently. When I finally reached out to the rep, he reinstalled drivers (which I told him I already did), updated the BIOS, and then said oh well. Didn't even give me a number to contact RMA. I gave up on trying to get that fixed and go through their RMA depart since it was going to my Grandmother and she wasn't gonna use it anyway. I then bought a used gaming laptop, about a year old at the time, that had an odd issue where it would throttle to 800MHz when plugged into the wall. I contacted support because of how weird it was, and they basically said "not our problem." That was the moment I swore them off and to never buy from them again. I eventually fixed it with a clever script, but that shouldn't be the fix for a year old laptop.

That was a real pain when trying to get Linux installed on this laptop. I tested 3 or 4 different distros before deciding on the one to install (mainly because I wanted driver support for the fingerprint sensor out of the box), and going in to enable and disable secure boot was a nightmare, plus having to remember which key to hit to boot into a USB instead of the actual BIOS.

For me, HP customer support told me that they couldn't help me diagnose my workstation because I added my own SSD to it. 

I had a question about the freaking power supply. 

[DoctorNick]

9 hours ago, Bitter said:

Removable motherboard tray.

I only have one thing to say. 3DGAMEMAN

[CommanderAlex]

I miss my first case, the Corsair Carbide 400R. That was a pretty nice and big case. The handle on top was great for moving around. You also had the ability to put case fans on the side panel above the GPU to provide fresh air. 

[Xjph]

Front panel drive bays. Not that I have a whole lot of use for them now, I'm just so used to seeing them on all my previous computers.

[IPD]

A Zip drive......jk

 

I miss old laptops.  Before parts were always soldered on.  Before batteries were integrated and (at best) you had to open the case all the way to access them.  Before you had to open the full case to access the RAM or storage drives.  Before when screens bezels were glued on.  Before the "thin is in" fetish arrived and it became easy to make virtually any laptop ping 100C in a game--without trying.  And I miss 16:10.

[Zusafek]

I had an old Compaq desktop computer with a built in 5x7 photo scanner. Best thing ever. 

[DavidKalinowski]

The one this I miss is my old ATI TV Wonder I think it was called. Basicaly just a caputre card, but it came with an IR remote that was a media remote, and could move the mouse and click on things. I loved that thing. 

[da na]

4 minutes ago, DavidKalinowski said:

The one this I miss is my old ATI TV Wonder I think it was called. Basicaly just a caputre card, but it came with an IR remote that was a media remote, and could move the mouse and click on things. I loved that thing. 

Had one of those in an XP system, it was the one with a Radeon 9200 chipset. Sold it last year but fun card to play around with.

[DavidKalinowski]

Just now, Mel0nMan said:

Had one of those in an XP system, it was the one with a Radeon 9200 chipset. Sold it last year but fun card to play around with.

Yea this was back when my high end system was running 1.4Ghz Athlon XP 512 MB of RAM, Geforce 2 GTS with 32MB of Vram, two WD Raport 10K RPM hdds in raid on my Abit KG7-RAID motherboard 21inch flat CRT monitor, god I miss when stuff was affordable lol

[da na]

Just now, DavidKalinowski said:

Yea this was back when my high end system was running 1.4Ghz Athlon XP 512 MB of RAM, Geforce 2 GTS with 32MB of Vram, two WD Raport 10K RPM hdds in raid on my Abit KG7-RAID motherboard 21inch flat CRT monitor, god I miss when stuff was affordable lol

Yeah, even just 15 years ago a decent ATI card, 2x1gb ram and midrange Athlon x2 would get you a great system for sub $500

[DavidKalinowski]

Just now, Mel0nMan said:

Yeah, even just 15 years ago a decent ATI card, 2x1gb ram and midrange Athlon x2 would get you a great system for sub $500

Yea I built a decent system when the core 2 duo came out, and then upgraded the CPU to q6600 and changed the HDD to a SSD, ran that for like 10-11 years, it still works to this day. (The SSD is newer, it was put in like 4 years ago.) Its not my main system though. 

[jimm_eh]

20 hours ago, Mel0nMan said:

That's why I love HP's BIOSes (and continue to purchase their hardware over other companies, I don't like Dell's BIOSes.) HP's business/workstation machines have IMO the best BIOS I have ever worked with (compared to Lenovo systems' confusing layout, Dell's weird whatever-that-is, etc.) - it's simple to navigate but still has more advanced options. Granted, latest machine I have from HP is from 2016 but the BIOS looks nearly the same on a Compaq laptop from 1998, Pentium 4 HT system, i5 4th gen system, and Xeon e5 system - so I don't think it's changing anytime soon.

The BIOS on my still-in-use HP laptop (Pavilion dv6, circa 2012), on the other hand, is so barebones it might as well not be there.

 

[Bitter]

13 hours ago, DoctorNick said:

I only have one thing to say. 3DGAMEMAN

A what?

[da na]

3 minutes ago, Bitter said:

A what?

It's a YouTube channel with kind of "in hindsight" videos of cool old hardware, mainly case designs