I get what you mean. eg a P3 makes for a quite powerful Win98 computer. I know a P3 can run XP and people did at the time, but I can't see that been a fun setup for gaming.
So it's boundaries are pretty well set BUT if it has ISA then it also makes for a great dos rig and can be forgiven for not running a couple of games.

- Pentium 1 and below are pretty much limited to dos.
- P4 is a good way to make a cost effective Win98 build but nothing requires that speed, yet you probably want something faster for XP.
- LGA775 makes for a pretty powerful XP build and well above just about any of my gaming requirements.

That said I do love the convenance of newer computers. Disk space not being an issue, mounting ISO's rather then physical CD's.
It's why I don't have many period builds, I want the convince.
Older hardware is more fun to tinker on, the more modern the more integrated everything became (even my 486's have integrated I/O.... so modern!) so if something dies its harder to replace.

CRTs (and overstating their benefits and pigeonholing into two brands revising history while misunderstanding the signal loss part of the deal) are the hot new thing to collect for "retro" now.

CPU-wise there's always AMD. AMD didn't have big ads on TV (Athlon Classic's all I remember) so the kids going through tape compilations won't know how relevant they were and only think Pentium III and 4 are the things to get from the help of bunny suits and blue man group and dell dude

Hi, there is always emulation, too.

Emulators can simulate CRT screens and floppy drive sounds quite authentic.

The overall experience is more faithful than what a random x86 PC with LCD monitor from the 2000s-2020s can provide natively.

Just think of WinUAE floppy sound vs a Gotek floppy emulator.
They also need no physical media anymore. That's most convenient.

You need nothing physical that even remotely resembles the vintage hardware anymore.
No need for serial mice with ball anymore. No need for an AT or PS/2 keyboard.
Just use a 4000 DPI Razer gaming mouse with laser technology and enjoy playing SOMI or SimCity. ;)

Edit: Too many edits. I also deleted the prior reply, since it wasn't friendly enough. Sorry about that! 😅

I mostly enjoy the process of tinkering and once I started taking the lid off I dont care too much if it is a P4 or a G4. I usually also dont care much about what it cant run, because then its simply not the machine for the task. There is always a generation ahead and one behind, so you better choose a machine that does what you want it to do. I can relate a little bit to the frustration with machines that are in an state of bad decay. For that reason I mostly avoid tinkering with old laptops. While I love them on paper, the frustrations are often too big. The vinegar syndroms (or dust specs after replacing the polarizer), the gooey plastics, dimming screens and screeching speakers often leave me frustrated. There is an video featuring the 8Bit guy where he claims laptops are the best DOS computers. Wow - I could not disagree more. In theory yes but in real life ... ?

There is an video featuring the 8Bit guy where he claims laptops are the best DOS computers. Wow - I could not disagree more. In theory yes but in real life ... ?

Hi! Is that a rhetoric question or a real one?
If I had to guess, it's in parts also because he used to be more of an ibook guy who loved to thinker and repair laptops.

Then there's another aspect of it, on paper: vintage laptops are completely period-correct.
They are complete with monitor and keyboard, mouse (trackball) of their time and everything fits together.

I have some 286 and 486 laptops, too, that I love to power up from time to time.
The old, slow LCD screens remind me of the 80s and 90s.

On other hand, everything is a baseline setup sort of.
RAM (expandable), video RAM, monitor has basic resolution (640x480), tiny HDDs, no soundcard often.
Expansion on 80s laptops via ISA slot (1x 8/16-Bit), PCMCIA on 90s laptops.

Aui wrote on 2025-05-15, 10:02:

I mostly enjoy the process of tinkering and once I started taking the lid off I dont care too much if it is a P4 or a G4. I usually also dont care much about what it cant run, because then its simply not the machine for the task. There is always a generation ahead and one behind, so you better choose a machine that does what you want it to do. I can relate a little bit to the frustration with machines that are in an state of bad decay. For that reason I mostly avoid tinkering with old laptops. While I love them on paper, the frustrations are often too big. The vinegar syndroms (or dust specs after replacing the polarizer), the gooey plastics, dimming screens and screeching speakers often leave me frustrated. There is an video featuring the 8Bit guy where he claims laptops are the best DOS computers. Wow - I could not disagree more. In theory yes but in real life ... ?

Yeah I don't really touch laptops for the same reason unless it's verified already working or it was free. I've had a few that worked for a bit and then just randomly died for no obvious reason so I'm done messing with those. I guess personally I just don't get the same sort of hit of pleasure is what I mean when I'm working on a machine like the iMac G3. It's built poorly, hard to service and it doesn't (in my opinion) look very good sitting in a room. I'd much rather have a beige box than a transparent blue bulbous thing sitting on a desk. 😜 I just never realized how much I just wasn't into that sort of thing until I got one a few weeks ago and have been trying to fix it. 🤣

I love old laptops, but I essentially use them like desktops because I plug them into external monitors, speakers, keyboards, and mice. I live in an apartment, so I don't want my computers to take up a lot of space. I've also found them to be both easier to find and cheap, probably because people are more likely to hold on to them for years because they are smaller.

Hi! Is that a rhetoric question or a real one?

no, its from (limited) past experience. If you have an old laptop that works as intended - great. But when trying to fix them and tinker around with them, there are many steps that are "suboptimal". Like tearing apart things that have been glued together, or ultra slim bezels that crack by just looking at them. Also the already mentioned speakers are often troublesome. Especially the gooey plastics (also sometimes foams used inside laptops) - thats by far my No1 anoyance - not only with computers. I have a SLR camera thats about 70 years old - works flawlessly. I also have an early superzoom camera where the handles feel like a a scoop of softcream ice. And this (relating to the OP) - makes the end result often slightly frustrating.