Laptop life expectancy?

I’ve had my laptop for about 15 months now. The machine itself seems to be running ok (apart from sometimes making a funny clucking noise and freezing up, and just getting a bit slower in general). But the laptop itself is cracked around the hinges on both sides just from general opening and closing and its getting a lot worse. Its a really cheap feeling plastic Toshiba laptop, so thats probably part of the reason… even though it wasn’t that cheap.

Aaaanyway, how long have others had their laptops for? I’m tempted to trade mine in now as I suspect a year is probably the amount of time most people keep them for.

Ta!

I’ve had 3 in the last 10 years. Current one should do a couple more years so 4 years each. I’m not careful with them.

Pretty rubbish here, first one did three years, had two batteries in that time, and then the mouse started going a bit haywire once it warmed up. A new touchpad didn’t fix it.

Second one is two years old, battery pretty much done in after the first 12 months, and now the keyboard is on the blink, some of the keys are sticking, and despite a full format and reinstall, its now freezing intermittently on shut down and has also had a couple of blue screens about a power issue.

🙁

3 or 4 years here .

laptop shopping i find is definantly best done in person.

high spec cheap laptops often have a cheap case that wont last.

id rather lose a bit on the spec and have one that will last.

i made the mistake once of buying a high spec advent – best spec i could get for the cash – fell apart within 6 months of buying.

have had HP , acer and now on lenovo. none more than 300 quid and all used for 3/4 hours daily for lesson planning by the mrs.

certainly wouldnt dream of changing it after a year.

my works dell E series lasted 3 years before it developed a mobo fault. it was beaten to death from being thrown in and out of helicopters and hilux pick ups , the case was smashed on every corner 😀

they replaced it with the new magnesium cased E series – bit heavier but much more solid.

our communal toshiba laptop is 3 years old and a sgood as new.. its used 12 hours a day by the whole family and i even take it to fix boilers… cost 299 from john lewis.. bargain

Mines a handme down from my father in law, for some reason he was using a top spec wide screen lappy built for multimedia and editing for abit of word and excel…. About 10 years old and no worries, been on trains, planes, boats and automobiles. Its a bit heavy tho and the battery is shot.

Dell Precision M4300 here.

It’s coming up to 6 years old, and is still going strong. It’s been hammered. The fan filter got blocked & it overheated in a big way. 8 mins in the oven for the mainboard has fixed it and it’s survived to see another day. Regularly gets used, and the battery is still good for an hour.

It’s all as solid as the day I got it, save for a slight wobble on one of the screen hinges.

Have a Macbook that is now six years old and chugging away. I even dropped it on a escalator in its first month.

6 years here. Macbook Pro running windows and OSX. Used as a main machine for 2 and a bit years but now used for more normal portable laptop style duties as well as running trainerroad in the shed.

No problems with software or hardware and no intention of replacing it for the foreseeable future.

We have Dell XPS which I bought as present for my wife. Upgraded it with HiRes HD (1800-1200) screen at the time and now after 6+ years battery is shot. It was battered by our eldest son so few keys don’t work on it anymore have to copy paste few letters but otherwise its still going strong. This time I would go for Mac but screen resolution on dell is so lovely can’t justify spending monies on Mac to match it.

Mechanically mine have all lasted well (Sony magnesium case, a black Macbook, and an eeePC).

Hardware wise, the Sony battery started going downhill after about 6 years. The eeePC has been going well since eeePC’s came out (4-5 years?), but the Macbook battery lasted less than a standard EU warranty period, and the replacement last a massive 6 months max. And even counting both batteries together didn’t even get it to the 2 year mark. Quality is no better than Dell/HP/Tosh, just made to look better quality on the outside imho.

The eeePC is the one I use all the time, and I’ll be annoyed if/when it packs in.

So Macs cost a lot more but they last a lot longer?

I really hate the cheap plastic feel of my Toshiba, works nice apart from that though.

OHs Toshiba Satellite feels horrible and cheap and while it wasnt too bad while she was using it as soon as I started to borrow it for work, but being very gentle on it and just using at home on the table, it started to show wear and tear very quick.

My current dell XPS15 feels like it’s built like a tank in comparison. 1 year old and did have a new screen due to dust and a new main aluminium chassis as it was countersunk wrong from the factory so the screws would not bite but other than that (touch wood) it is a very solid laptop and doing well. I’ve had ‘issues’ with Dell customer service though unfortunately so will probably go Mac next as nothing else seems to feel close to the dells build and only macs seem to better it.

My old work Sony was really well built, showed minimal wear.
My home Lenovo is heavy, but feels very ‘robust’. Some wear on plastic, but hinges etc are great.
Works new Acer ultrabook also feels pretty good, helped by the fact that it weights not a lot and is smooth opening etc – like many a mac…

It depends, but mainly on the user/owner.

While I’ve never broken a laptop, more worn them out and/or changed due to O/S upgrade with most lasting +4 years – I’ve known other users destroy one a year.

Had my sony for 7 years the battery only lasts 15 min these days and the silver colour has worn through by the track pad but its still going although now semi retired by a tablet gadget.

Had a 2009 13″ MacBook Pro until recently. Was indestructible!

Even managed to sell it a couple of months ago for £400…

Rachel

OHs Toshiba Satellite feels horrible and cheap

Yep, mines a Satellite…

I would never buy a non Apple laptop. They’re the definition of planned obsolescence.

Apple obsoleted my laptop, well before it became obsolete from a CPU/GPU/RAM/HDD point of view. SHould have another few years in it imho, if only the batteries lasted more than 18months.

Personally I reckon it was because it was no longer shiny enough for Starbucks.

SO yes mechanically they could last years, in reality they last no longer than a plastic Dell on a standard 2+1 year corporate replacement scheme.

running a 2009 macbook pro, original battery now only lasts a few hours. Other than that no issues, touch wood.

5 years, the acer was on it’s last legs after 4 but kept it going much longer. Prior to that using various Dell Precisions that were well over 5 years. Now have 2 Dell Lattitudes in the house, one is my work machine so flys everywhere and is used everywhere and is holding up really well.

All of these together probably cost the same as a mac…

Tosh have a history of dodgy hinges, you should find something on Google, my last one went back for warranty fix for this issue.

Current thinkpad X201 is 4 years old
Previous Dell 9400 is 8 years old – doing light duties in my workshop
Previous Dell ?? 12 years old – still working but living in a cupboard at my parent’s place since they got an iPad
First Dell ??? is 13 years old – Being used by my aunt/uncle for looking at their photos.

I’ve always bought pretty good spec’d machines and planned to keep them for a number of years, rather that getting something cheap and have it fail sooner than might otherwise be the case.i

I would never buy a non Apple laptop. They’re the definition of planned obsolescence.

Retina MacBook Pro ‘least-repairable’ notebook ever, says iFixit

My 2007 MacBook is still going strong despite daily use. It’s had three new batteries. No plans to replace it yet. Mrs Redford has had hers since 2009.

My mate is currently using my 9 year old toshiba P4. It warms the room nicely. I wonder how long this chromebook will last. Probably a while if I don’t drop it in the bath 🙂

Our Compaq presario is 9 years old , battery last 20mins gets very hot and the cd draw is a bit tempremtale but it still keeps going .

andytherocketeer – Member
Apple obsoleted my laptop, well before it became obsolete from a CPU/GPU/RAM/HDD point of view. SHould have another few years in it imho, if only the batteries lasted more than 18months.

I don’t really understand this. Apple laptops in our household vary from 6 to 3 years, all still in use. I recently put 8GB RAM (upgrade from 2GB) and a 750GB HDD (from 160GB) into my 2009 Mac Mini myself and machine is running very sweetly now. I’ll be upgrading to the latest OS when it’s released (which will likley cost £20 instead of the £100’s Microsoft used to charge) The 6 year old MacBook is creaking a bit for certain but that is due to the abuse it’s had from it’s student life. We’ve had to buy 2 new batteries for 4 machines over 4 years – they cost about £100 each which is less than we were paying for Windows machine batteries before.

FWIW our Windows laptops (Toshiba, Dell, Levono) used to last 2-3 years, even if hardware was ok the Windows software used to just creak and become unusable.

I am of the view that Apple kit costs more but is of far higher quality (screen etc) it will last longer (hardware and software) and after 2 or 3 years you can sell it for 30-50% of what you paid for it when a windows machine is going in the bin.

“The new MacBook Pro is virtually non-upgradeable — making it the first MacBook Pro that will be unable to adapt to future advances in memory and storage technology,” said Wiens.

I don’t really understand this. Apple laptops in our household vary from 6 to 3 years, all still in use. I recently put 8GB RAM (upgrade from 2GB)

As in the MacBook Air, the laptop’s memory is soldered to the logic board, eliminating any later RAM upgrade. Customers must order the Pro with the exact amount of memory they desire, and pay Apple’s high prices.

Although the MacBook Pro with Retina display comes equipped with 8GB of RAM standard, boosting that to 16GB at the time of purchase adds another $200 to the already=steep $2,199 sticker price of the base model.

and a 750GB HDD (from 160GB)

Nor can the solid-state drive (SSD) be swapped out for something larger, at least not currently.

“The proprietary SSD isn’t upgradeable either, yet, as it is similar but not identical to the one in the [MacBook] Air,” said Wiens.

FWIW our Windows laptops (Toshiba, Dell, Levono) used to last 2-3 years, even if hardware was ok the Windows software used to just creak and become unusable.

FWIW a simple re install of windows would probably fix that very soon. Windows allows a huge amount of crud to accumulate (well people install heaps of it)

I don’t really understand this

Nor do I. Just bad timing on the exact model.
Mine is upgraded to max RAM, HDD still original, but a 5min job for me to upgrade it (plus reimaging/reinstalling).
Apple decide what models their new OS can go on, not the user, so mine can only be upgraded to whatever came after Snow Leopard.
It’ll more than happily run Linux, Windows 7, Windows 8, etc. But Apple decide it’s too old to run the latest release. Or not shiny enough.
Sure it still runs, but stuck with 2-3yr old OSX feature set. Or the latest bleeding edge Linux.

When plugged in to the mains of course 😉

I am of the view that Apple kit costs more but is of far higher quality (screen etc)

Not IME. Bought mine cos it was €10 less then the equivalent Dell. Screen – yes very good. Mechanical build quality – no better than any other laptop I’ve used. External lines, the way everything lines up and feels solid – yes, better, but inside, it’s just like any other laptop.

it will last longer (hardware and software)

Again – not IME. Lappy yes, battery hahahah. I nly used it like you use a laptop. Charge it, use it, charge it and use it a bit at the same time. Then 0% battery left. Straight from 99% to 0%, without even a slow degradation over years. Wasn’t even the batch where they had to do a firmware update for the battery.
See above for Software – Apple decided I could no longer keep it up to date after about 3 years.

after 2 or 3 years you can sell it for 30-50% of what you paid for it when a windows machine is going in the bin

Anyone want a Black Macbook, 2 knackered batteries, no HDD (I’m keeping that), got install discs for Tiger, upgradeable to Snow Leapoard+1?
I’m guessing, probably not.

Yes, the big problem with Windows is what people do to it without realising. They click ‘yes’ to install everything and everything they buy comes with crappy software that they install because they bought the thing, so it gets bogged down. It’s not necessarily the users’ fault, but a bit of awareness helps massively.

An advantage of Apple is that they control what developers do more tightly I think, so this becomes less of an issue. Of course that’s a disadvantage too. (Willing to be corrected here though).

A tip for laptop users though – be careful how you handle it. Picking it up by the corner puts strain on the casing and this flexing over time causes components to crack and joints to come undone. I think this explains why some people trash them in a year and some people keep them for 6. Without realising it, some people are putting much more strain on than others.

^^ that, and some people are actually using laptops in the field as laptops, flying weekly, picked up, opened and shut 20 times a day. Others just have them as a desktop replacement or stuck on a docking station most of the time. Or opened once a day on holiday to sort photos. The latter will of course last 6 years.

Late 2008 MacBook here. Still going strong.

Anyone want a Black Macbook, 2 knackered batteries, no HDD (I’m keeping that), got install discs for Tiger, upgradeable to Snow Leapoard+1?

Friend had Lion on his, but didn’t get all of the features.

I am of the view that Apple kit costs more but is of far higher quality (screen etc)

This is how I look at their kit as well. Never had an issue with any apple kit.

jambalaya – Member
I don’t really understand this. Apple laptops in our household vary from 6 to 3 years, all still in use. I recently put 8GB RAM (upgrade from 2GB) and a 750GB HDD (from 160GB) into my 2009 Mac Mini myself and machine is running very sweetly now. I’ll be upgrading to the latest OS when it’s released (which will likley cost £20 instead of the £100’s Microsoft used to charge) The 6 year old MacBook is creaking a bit for certain but that is due to the abuse it’s had from it’s student life. We’ve had to buy 2 new batteries for 4 machines over 4 years – they cost about £100 each which is less than we were paying for Windows machine batteries before.

FWIW our Windows laptops (Toshiba, Dell, Levono) used to last 2-3 years, even if hardware was ok the Windows software used to just creak and become unusable.

I am of the view that Apple kit costs more but is of far higher quality (screen etc) it will last longer (hardware and software) and after 2 or 3 years you can sell it for 30-50% of what you paid for it when a windows machine is going in the bin.

Can you run the latest Apple OS on your 6 year old Macbook? No you can’t because despite the fact that the hardware is capable, Apple have artificially prevented it from booting in full 64bit mode. Likewise the IO controller can operate in 3GBPs mode and does when booted into Windows, but only 1.5 is enabled on OSX, hence adding an SSD doesn’t boost performance nearly as much as it should. Also TRIM is not enabled unless you use a third party hack, despite the underlying OS supporting it. It is disabled for non-Apple SSDs.

As for hardware quality being far higher quality, that is not really true either. The cases crack, the hinges fail, the wires have insufficient strain relief so they fray, the chargers get so hot that the plastic casing cracks, the touchpad button loses its ‘click’ over time. In other words they have the same problems as virtually all other laptops, and some extra little Apple treats thrown in.

Oh and on the new ones you can’t upgrade/replace the battery, memory or disk! What in the name of Woz is that about!?

They’re not bad computers, hence why I use them but they are not some magical beacon of quality far surpassing other brands.

A bit like Audi I suppose. Yes, they look lovely, but when it comes to changing the timing chain, you’ll be in for a bit of a surprise.

I am of the view that Apple kit costs more but is of far higher quality

Apple kit is better quality than cheap Windows stuff (obviously) but no better than top quality Windows stuff. And surprise, it’s similarly priced. There’s nothing magic about what Apple do, they work in the same economy that Dell, Sony and everyone else do.

Apple laptops do seem to last well and I believe there are stats to back this up. The other key thing that most people seem to ignore when they slate Apple for being expensive is they hold their value incredibly well – so the total cost of ownership isn’t high if you buy one and sell it on after a few years use.

Never used a MacBook beyond 2 years as I sell them to the guillable for nearly what I paid for them ex-vat and buy another. Just got a 15retina that will still be a usable fast computer for somebody in a couple of years time.
The last 3 I sold are all still running though the HD went in the 13in MBP I sold 2 years ago (a hitachi drive that could have failed in any laptop)

Can you run the latest Apple OS on your 6 year old Macbook?

Actually, as long as it’s a Core2Duo model (like mine) or newer, yes, you can.

Likewise the IO controller can operate in 3GBPs mode and does when booted into Windows, but only 1.5 is enabled on OSX, hence adding an SSD doesn’t boost performance nearly as much as it should

SSD in this machine (aftermarket Crucial M4) benchmarks the same on OSX as in Windows… do you really think they would limit things for OS X, but not when people are booting into another OS?

Also TRIM is not enabled unless you use a third party hack, despite the underlying OS supporting it.

It’s just a kernal option, although enabling it could be easier. It not really a hack as it’s built in, just activating it requires what everyone calls a ‘hack’ which actually just runs a command on the CLI in the background. Also, this depends on the make/model. It is enabled by default for some.

As for hardware quality being far higher quality, that is not really true either. The cases crack, the hinges fail, the wires have insufficient strain relief so they fray, the chargers get so hot that the plastic casing cracks, the touchpad button loses its ‘click’ over time. In other words they have the same problems as virtually all other laptops, and some extra little Apple treats thrown in.

Please point of any of these issues on mine. It’s all down to how the end-user treats it (admittedly the same for any brand)

I’m not trying to **** on your parade mate, but in my experience this is wrong, although I’m sure in other peoples experience this may be the case.

Actually, as long as it’s a Core2Duo model (like mine) or newer, yes, you can.

Not on mine you can’t!

Some yes, but not all.