How old is your laptop?

Dave Van Ronk

I'm using a healthy running sony viao laptop bought 6 years ago to the month. I put her longitivity down to fairly regular defragging and delousing of spyware.

Just wondering is mine an exception or are there many out there with older, functioning laptops>?

(note: laptops only, not desktops)

Jackobyte

Dave Van Ronk wrote: »

I'm using a healthy running sony viao laptop bought 6 years ago to the month. I put her longitivity down to fairly regular defragging and delousing of spyware.

Just wondering is mine an exception or are there many out there with older, functioning laptops>?

(note: laptops only, not desktops)

Well, I got a new one yesterday but before that I had a 3 year old one that had been through the wars and had to be fixed a number of times.

Nearly 4 1/2
Cheap ole yoke but does the job.

Dave Van Ronk

Jackobyte wrote: »

Well, I got a new one yesterday but before that I had a 3 year old one that had been through the wars and had to be fixed a number of times.

Cheers, im just trying to gauge the average life expectancy of a laptop..How long are they designed to last...& how long do they actually last?

Is 3 years an acceptable laptop life?

Personally, I'd say no!

TanG411

I've had mine for five years.

After about 15 months, I had to return it as there was a problem with the motherboard. It was a common problem with the laptop model, and HP fixed it for free.

Never had any problems since.

Jackobyte

Dave Van Ronk wrote: »

Cheers, im just trying to gauge the average life expectancy of a laptop..How long are they designed to last...& how long do they actually last?

Is 3 years an acceptable laptop life?

Personally, I'd say no!

Depends how you treat it. I had lots of trouble with multiple mobile dongles installed on it and I had to get it wiped and restored once in that time for an unknown reason. There about mid-December, the battery in it went dead and couldn't hold any charge at all (had to be kept plugged in constantly). The battery could have been replaced handy enough and the system would still work fine but specs wise, it was time to upgrade or replace it.

Dave Van Ronk

What model is the 10year+ laptop polster?

Dave Van Ronk

Jackobyte wrote: »

Depends how you treat it. I had lots of trouble with multiple mobile dongles installed on it and I had to get it wiped and restored once in that time for an unknown reason. There about mid-December, the battery in it went dead and couldn't hold any charge at all (had to be kept plugged in constantly). The battery could have been replaced handy enough and the system would still work fine but specs wise, it was time to upgrade or replace it.

Were you able to trade in/resell the 3 year old model?

Mint Sauce

About three to four years. No major issues yet bar a forced factory reset after getting bombarded with virus/trojens one day, and the anti virus only rid of all but two or three.

First laptop is still running after about 8 years, with a new hard drive, an external dial up modem, and a wonky CD/DVD drive. Is currently only used once or twice a week by my parents.

Overheal

Going on 4 years.

Regularly format the system drive and do software maintenance. Have upgraded the RAM to the board's maximum take, upgraded the wireless to N (which didn't seem to take. Cheap chinese parts) and replaced the screen after a short fall in the first year, and replaced the MoBo under warranty for the nvidia issue. Most recently disassembled the whole thing to dust the innards out. Runs as quiet and cool as the day I got her now, unlike the leafblower she had become.

Once you setup your files and programs right you're never afraid of a factory reset. Just a matter of doing it, takes a total of an hour to move a handful of files over to D and wipe C. The OS itself takes about half an hour to get back to Desktop.

The power ribbon for the Screen seems like its giving out on me. The left side's backlight keeps bugging out on me while it's on battery power.

Mint Sauce

Oh forgot to add, both are more of desktop replacements since the battery dies on both within minutes if not plugged into the mains. Mains adaptor replaced on second one after cable became cracked and wire inside exposed.

plonk

Have an acer 2920z for 3 years and apart from some aesthetic damage its running fairly decent. Though I dont think it can take too much more travelling. Got a new one toshiba portege at christmas though just in case.

pow wow

About 4 years. Once you go Mac... :pac:

Maxpv

30 minutes ago I import laptops from China which I sell on wholesale to shops, the laptop I'm using now I bought about 2 months ago, but was only first turned on around a half hour ago.

Jackobyte

Dave Van Ronk wrote: »

Were you able to trade in/resell the 3 year old model?

Didn't try. I will buy a replacement battery for it at some stage, wipe it and reinstall windows and give it to the old folks.

woolymammoth

am proud to say i'm using a 6 yr old compaq nc8230 running Win7. Replaced the battery 5 months ago. Applications struggle sometimes with the 1gig of ram (really must upgrade that ) but apart from that it's perfect. The business models really do last better i think.

ttoppcat

Using an IBM thinkpad which much be definitely pushing 10 years old I'd say. My aunt gave it to my mum years ago and then I inherited it. Its slow as feck but thats probably my own fault as i'm rubbish at computer maintenance and the battery is totally dead on it, but I love it for being so resilient!

RolandIRL

mine's just over a year old, but my brother's laptop is 8/9 years old. keyboard stopped working a while ago, but he replaced. battery only lasts about 10 mins on it. still going strong, though i always slag him off for it

jonnny68

Bought a new HP Laptop in England about 7 months ago and so far no problems, funny as some people said they had a lot of trouble with HP Laptops but not me and i got a good deal on it.

barneysplash

I have a Dell Inspiron 6400. I bought it 4 years ago and wouldn't trade
it for all the tea in China. I believe this line was one of the last great series of
laptops that Dell made. Then they went mad on making the selling point of their
products how brightly-coloured they were. Remember the "Lollipop, Lollipop" advert?

It can't be operated without the battery connected to the mains, a common problem amoung
Dell and Sony laptops, I believe. This usually happens after a few years use apparently.

Dell have a bad histry of believing their own hype and thinking they could not be replaced
by cheaper models from the Far East, i.e. Acer, Samsung etc. If I was to buy a new one
in the morning, it would probably be an Acer. They may not be pretty, but they are built
to last.


I agree with the Original Poster, by defragging your hard drive regularly and practising safe
computing you can get years out of your equipment.

I use Piriform Defgraggler, it is a great freeware program that degrafments
your hard drive.

I have disabled the autorun command for memory sticks and CD/DVD media. This can help avoid
nasty viruses and malware that tries to jump into your computer when you attach a removeable media device.

I use AVG free and Spyboy Search and Destroy for virus and malware protection.

The main reason why my laptop is old is that I am content with Windows XP. Windows Vista
was a nightmare, and Windows 7 doesn't have a compelling reason to make you upgrade.

Hopefully I'll have her for many more years to come. I must give her a polish and tell her
how much she means to me this evening.

Mc Love

Have a dell inspiron 1300 - think its nearly 8 years old. Getting slow now though

woolymammoth

barneysplash wrote: »

regularly and practising safe computing you can get years out of your equipment.

and never rely on anyone else for protection boys and girls!

rhonin

My Dell Inspiron 8600 is just over 7 years. During that time I've upgraded the hard disk and RAM. It runs Windows 7 nice and smooth.

Skerries

pow wow wrote: »

About 4 years. Once you go Mac... :pac:

you turn into a snobby Apple elitist?

Kinetic^

Asus 1000 since nearly launch, so about 2-3 years. Recently turned it on to be told that the battery needs replacing. It gets little to no use so it'll be a while before it's done. Have installed W7 on it rather then the xandros installation that came with it but the 8GB ssd is rather limiting.

AntiRip

Just got a dell XPS 15 today. Beautiful laptop. I had a 3 year old dell 1520 that I sold a few weeks ago. Also loved it :-)
I also have a dell 9300 which is going on 5 years. Working perfect with win 7 as a server laptop plugged in 24/7 for a couple of years. Power jack broke in it

Dude111

I cant vote!!

There isnt an option: 'What laptop'

Cabaal

Got a MacBook in the US back in 07, can't fault it software or hardware wise.
Not a spot of bother ever and runs apps like the day I got it without any slowness

AlmightyCushion

pow wow wrote: »

About 4 years. Once you go Mac... :pac:

Ah well. Nobody's perfect.

I've had mine about 18 months now. Still want to upgrade it though. Core i5 and a beefier graphics card would be nice.

PCPhoto

I have a laptop which I dont use - which I bought 12yrs ago, Sony something or other...huge feckin thing,

have one that I purchased in 2008 (June) and a Macbook which I've been using since 2008 (Dec) - after the GF at the time decided to smash my 17inch macbook pro.

garhjw

mine died at smas after about 4.5 years. very emotional time for me, we were through a lot together

dunworth1

i have just bought a new one before christmas

but i have one that still going strong and its 8 years old its a IQon multimedia by Philip's i put it down to lasting so long to being made by Philip's they make good stuff as its been hoped off the ground by young children a few times been chewed by a dog had a two year old dance on top of it and its still going only thing is one of the kids broke the Ethernet port with a pencil

Khannie

4 years old. I stuck an SSD in it and it flies along. I expect it to be useful for another 3-4 years at least.

BostonB

I find most laptops last 4yrs + as long as they are not completely abused or have a fault.