Re: @AC0913 (was: During the meanwhile ...)
"Other than the dangers of running a company using geriatric hardware"
Under ten years old is "geriatric" for critical kit? Seriously? The wax seal under your bog is probably over thirty years old, are you planning on replacing it any time soon? When was the last time you replaced your soil-stack? The pipe that supplies freshwater to your house? Your upstairs plumbing? When stuff is built right the first time, for the job at hand, with properly selected parts, there is little need to replace it, until things really go pear-shaped.
"(what will it cost you if it fails and isn't available for any period of time, and is the data safely backed up?)"
Downtime will be in the minutes. It'll cost me precisely nothing, as I have spare hardware if needs-be (see above), which was written off years ago. I'll repair it myself. And yes, the data is safely backed up.
"the GPU capabilities of such a machine are next to nonexistent. Most home users these days expect things like full-screen h264 video playback to work smoothly. A little light game playing is also not unexpected."
Our machines aren't toys, they are the tools we use to run our businesses.
"A modern tablet has about the same CPU power as your ancient box, and a much better GPU."
So, essentially, you agree with me?
"They will have a lifespan equal to a laptop"
Post proof or retract. Near as I can tell, all fondle-slabs get circle-canned as soon as the next "oh, look, shiny" appears on the market. Some folks hold out for two iterations but not many.
"Somebody had to buy that laptop of yours new"
That would be me & the wife. And that would be "those" laptops. I believe in spares when making a long-term, intelligently planned decision on a major business tool.
"(probably for a not inconsiderable sum at the time)."
Wasn't all that bad. Intel had rolled a new line of processors out a couple months before Christmas. I bought a pallet-load of top-of-the-line, last built "last year's model", properly debugged in production & by the general public, at fire-sale prices, new, in their original boxes, with full warranty, from a big chain for roughly fifteen cents on the dollar the following February.
"Where they stupid for doing so?"
I don't think we were, no. But thanks for asking :-)