Anyone have an idea how long can A500 last (or vintage comps in general)

[Damion]

Thanks for all the responses.
So from what you guys are saying it sounds like you could maintain the system for quite a while (I assume the appropariate capacitors and transistors which seem to be the main points of failure can always be purchased at radioshack and such, right)

Caps are probably best purchased from an electronics store like DigiKey, Radio Shack parts are usually not the best quality available. SMT radial caps in A600/A1200/A4000 were junk, thru-hole caps used in the earlier models weren't all that bad (Elna, SHOEI, Nichicon), but will still need replacing eventually.

[Damion]

IMHO, if you're going through the trouble of removing the motherboard to replace the caps, might as well do them all. Symptoms usually begin with general instability... lockups, reboots, etc. (Worst are A600/A1200/A4000.) Often the problems don't show up until an accelerator or other expansions are connected.