Hard drives can often be re-used as a backup device with a removal tray. System boards can live longer if you pump enough RAM into them. Make a distinction between mature and emerging technologies. If you spend a lot of money on emerging technologies, you will see the most rapid depreciation. A lot of things are fairly mature and inexpensive now, such as scanners, video cards, and TV cards.
Network adaptors are very inexpensive.
And the Windows 98 operating system is a big improvement because it integrates the various hardware devices better. Windows 98 has problems. Everything and everybody has problems. But Windows 98 is a big improvement over Windows 95. It has fixed a lot of problems for people.