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about half the 3-4 year old MBPs my work bought have had their batteries bulge and require mail in replacement service. 
To minimize disruption, everyone whose battery pops gets given the repaired laptop originally issued to the last victim, then theirs becomes the spare when returned.
Did you ever see history portrayed as an old man with a wise brow and pulseless heart, weighing all things in the balance of reason?
Is not rather the genius of history like an eternal, imploring maiden, full of fire, with a burning heart and flaming soul, humanly warm and humanly beautiful?
--Zachris Topelius
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The battery would be for power interruptions, but it's part of the costs I need to consider.
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After the arrival of Win7 - I really believe it goes back to XP, but I am not 100% sure - all my PCs have handled power interruptions without any problems. True enough: I am not running much database applications (some of them have their own DB that I do not see directly, though), but then again, any proper RAID DBMS should be capable of handling power failures.
So the only reason for running an UPS for my computer would be to keep it operational during the power down. My local screens would be black, and the network termination would be out, so there really isn't to many users to serve ... So for my private use, I won't have an UPS until I get that controller for my solar panels into operation. Then I will plug my PC and network equipment into that. But I am not sure that it will be any huge benefit.
Others may of course have much different needs.
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I live in South Africa where we sometimes have load shedding. A battery that can last a few minutes just to let me shut down my laptop safely would be nice. Even better would be one that can last for a few hours. Based on that I should probably buy a new laptop as it will also probably serve me a bit longer than extending this one's lifespan.
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When I built my new PC last year (see message below) I found a couple of websites really helpful.
i.e.
Tom's Hardware: For The Hardcore PC Enthusiast[^]
or
Puget Systems | America's Custom Workstation Leader[^]
And another thing I realized is that the best comparison of individual pieces of hardware mostly was in gaming sites.
M.D.V. 
If something has a solution... Why do we have to worry about?. If it has no solution... For what reason do we have to worry about?
Help me to understand what I'm saying, and I'll explain it better to you
Rating helpful answers is nice, but saying thanks can be even nicer.
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When it is possible and needed, I upgrade what it has to be upgraded.
But there are moments when it is not possible anymore, then I build a new machine.
13 years old PC got more RAM (from 4 to 8 GB), an SSD and a new graphic card (built-in died) along the way.
Last year I built a new PC with AMD Ryzen 7 5800x, 32 GB RAM, 2 TB M.2 SSD, AMD Radeon 5900X, Be Quiet fans and chip tower cooler...
Man... was that a difference...
I now am done for the next 10+ years again (hopefully) 
M.D.V.
If something has a solution... Why do we have to worry about?. If it has no solution... For what reason do we have to worry about?
Help me to understand what I'm saying, and I'll explain it better to you
Rating helpful answers is nice, but saying thanks can be even nicer.
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I just "upgraded" my 10 year old Gigabyte Brix (6 core i7, 16B RAM, 512GB SSD, Win7) to an Intel NUC (8 core i7, 32GB RAM, 1TB SSD, Win10) and don't have a need to upgrade individual components, since I'm very happy with the performance of my boxes for development.
/ravi
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The upgrade I need next is a whole new computer. My current one is an Optiplex 760. Yep, it is ancient. With today's bloated software and at maximum memory expansion, it is still slower than molasses flowing up hill in January in Boston. Windows 10 is the end limit of OS upgrades.
Just buy a new one, you may say. It is not that easy when you are retired and running a ranch. Money is always tight. The new equipment we buy is all ranch related - "new" tractor, squeeze chute, chain saw, and stuff like that. Our newest truck is 10 years old and another one is a 2002 model. A new computer for my hobby and former profession is really low on the list.
__________________
Lord, grant me the serenity to accept that there are some things I just can’t keep up with, the determination to keep up with the things I must keep up with, and the wisdom to find a good RSS feed from someone who keeps up with what I’d like to, but just don’t have the damn bandwidth to handle right now.
© 2009, Rex Hammock
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I don't know the specs of your machine, but you can pick up a lower end i5 for $200-$300. At worst you may have to upgrade the RAM in it, but it may handle things better than what your using. It's what I did for my previous machine, and it got me through for a little over a year.
To err is human. Fortune favors the monsters.
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Thank ![Rose | [Rose]](https://codeproject.global.ssl.fastly.net/script/Forums/Images/rose.gif) for you reply. I am aware of those machines, but I do not think they are enough.
My favorite application is Visual Studio, but it is a pig. My hobby is developing software for my own use. Some of it is actually useful.
This machine is also used for some of the ranch-specific applications. These days, ranchers are required to keep records on every animal they raise and sell for human consumption. We even attempt to track the egg production of each of our hens. With free-range chickens, this is a challenge. Older hens who no longer produce enough eggs to justify their feed are slaughtered and turned into stew, pot pie, pulled chicken and chicken fajitas: their meat is too tough  for use as a roast or fryer.
Storage-wise, I have hundreds of gigabytes of photographs, ranch records, financial records and letters (many of my old friends still snail-mail me real letters, even though they have my email address - it is on the bottom of every page) on three external drives plugged in to the USB ports.
__________________
Lord, grant me the serenity to accept that there are some things I just can’t keep up with, the determination to keep up with the things I must keep up with, and the wisdom to find a good RSS feed from someone who keeps up with what I’d like to, but just don’t have the damn bandwidth to handle right now.
© 2009, Rex Hammock
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Jalapeno Bob wrote: My hobby is developing software for my own use. Some of it is actually useful
Maybe it could be useful for others as well! Try selling it, to finance your new computer!
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Do you build a completely new PC each time, or do you upgrade parts in between?
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Mostly I try to order exactly what I need to work from. Once in a while. over time. A person has given me something that is not quite what I need/want then I do some upgrading.
Case in Point.
Current work supplied desktop and lappy are more than good enough because they asked me what I needed before I started.
At home computer for freelancing was a hand over from a gamer. I upgraded the RAM and Harddrives but left everything else the same. Imagine that.
and yes I know the question says primary dev machine. But in my case I really do have 2 primary machines.
To err is human to really elephant it up you need a computer
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Answered: for basic things, but now I think of it that was a lie, I once replaced the video cable of a HP laptop.
Something I hope never have to do again, it was a horrible experience, although I replaced the cable with much blood sweat and tears, only a few weeks later another component of the laptop broke down, and I had to purchase a new laptop, aaaaarrrrrgggghhhh 
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Reminds me of when I brought a well used car to the mandatory bi-annual check: The guy looking over car was highly impressed: It was completely worn down in every sense, yet it was fully operational! He told me that when n this breaks down (highly likely) and I fix it, that will follow soon after, and then this and that and ...
His advice was that I take the car behind the barn and shoot it. I did.
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Coincidentally, I sold my old Skoda last week that was fully functional, but had 185000 km on the counter. The only problem I had with this car was a blown fuse that the Skoda dealer replaced for free 
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I don't know anything about hardware 
It's safer, easier and probably cheaper to just replace the whole thing every now and then.
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Wow. it's a cinch only you knows what's going on in there
"A little time, a little trouble, your better day"
Badfinger
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I was just trying to scare Sander.
That's from the movie Pi.
Here's my actual computer[^]
If you'll pardon the mess. That was when I was putting it together and testing it on the floor at my bench, which is pretty messy most of the time.
To err is human. Fortune favors the monsters.
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Gamer! Looks like the 900 model computer case?
"A little time, a little trouble, your better day"
Badfinger
modified 6-Jun-22 17:06pm.
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Whoops, I totally misread you. It's a Thermaltake Level 20VT. I don't know if I'd call it a gamer case, so much as a trendy open chassis, apple-like case
Not really. Although I can see why you'd say that. I do buy barebones gaming systems as dev workstations because they usually have good build quality, and great performance for good money. It's the best value I've found in terms of getting a rocking machine that can do double duty as a dev server.
The fans in this machine are already lit because they came that way when I bought the bare unit. This isn't the original case, but I just scalped the fans from the old setup it came with.
The guts were from a barebones system
This was what I bought to begin with, and where the fans came from.
CUKUSA Mantis[^]
I've since replaced the keyboard, the system drive (NVMe), added another hard drive (HDD), the power supply, and the case. I've also added a video card because I develop mods for a particular game - but that's coding too. Also to play with OpenCL and such.
To err is human. Fortune favors the monsters.
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Understood. What sort of motherboard are you using? I do share your philosophy on buying systems. I sometimes, build up from case and reuse other gear but I also get lazy and spend more on a more complete system. Gaming systems are sometime the best to start with. They do not need to be fully tricked out but with good basics like cooling, fans, etc.
https://cukusa.com/checkout/cart/[^]
"A little time, a little trouble, your better day"
Badfinger
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The mobo is a Micro-ATX ASUS Prime A520M-K. It's last gen because I bought it right before the roll over - i needed a machine or I would have waited a couple of months.
CUKUSA is good stuff, although if you want their deals, look for their gear on amazon. You can't customize their "specials" but they've got a good variety for sale on there.
To err is human. Fortune favors the monsters.
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