Thread: How long does your laptop usually last ? What killed your past ones ?

Heat is what kills them, as well as having tiny components packed into a small space.

I have a Dell desktop which, although secondhand 7 years ago, had a new SSD hard drive about 2 years ago, and with 8 G of ram, it's fast enough for me. And it's roomy enough for me to wave my hands around inside.

Originally Posted by Backspin

All i do on a computer is post on forums , read and store some pics. No gaming or movie downloading or any of that shit. So for me, 1000 is overkill spec wise

Yeah they get spendy when a Quadro video card is needed.

my experience (as both user and network admin in 2 companies) is that if laptops have these high-end video-cards in them they run at higher temps which shortens their lifetime. Usually the standard intel graph-chips last a lot longer. Also acer is, as mentioned before here, terrible with their hinges. And I can confirm earlier remarks about dell: their business lines (like latitude) are very sturdy. I have one running from 2010, with an ssd instead of the original hdd, as a daily driver. topnotch! Also still going strong, an asus with a ulv processor from 2009 (lower temp!), but that is a 32bit, which makes today's OS-es choice small.

MacBook Air. Easily last 5 or 6 years+

Originally Posted by Tommy

my experience (as both user and network admin in 2 companies) is that if laptops have these high-end video-cards in them they run at higher temps which shortens their lifetime. Usually the standard intel graph-chips last a lot longer. Also acer is, as mentioned before here, terrible with their hinges. And I can confirm earlier remarks about dell: their business lines (like latitude) are very sturdy. I have one running from 2010, with an ssd instead of the original hdd, as a daily driver. topnotch! Also still going strong, an asus with a ulv processor from 2009 (lower temp!), but that is a 32bit, which makes today's OS-es choice small.

I guess i will switch brands again next time. I want solid god damn hinges.

But every time i look at laptops, the Asian brands look slick and the HP or Dell ones look wonky and ugly. The style just sucks most of the time.

You can see it in this picture. The Acer or any Asian brand, looks right. The other ones not so much

^ It could be that you are too rough on your laptops.

Originally Posted by Tommy

my experience (as both user and network admin in 2 companies) is that if laptops have these high-end video-cards in them they run at higher temps which shortens their lifetime. Usually the standard intel graph-chips last a lot longer. Also acer is, as mentioned before here, terrible with their hinges. And I can confirm earlier remarks about dell: their business lines (like latitude) are very sturdy. I have one running from 2010, with an ssd instead of the original hdd, as a daily driver. topnotch! Also still going strong, an asus with a ulv processor from 2009 (lower temp!), but that is a 32bit, which makes today's OS-es choice small.

Dell are the go to for Business machines. Mine is a 17" Precision 7000

^ I agree about the heat from video cards causing problems but there are quality issues as well as software faults. My Dell had a motherboard swapped under guarantee because the cooling fans stopped when in standby mode. A quick update was issued to fix this. That was many years ago circa 2002.

my laptops have always gotten cleaned reasonably regularly , the current one has been opened at least once a year - 1 inch paint brush removes the dust easily off the fans and vents - this helps a lot with heat

there will always be youtube vids showing you how to dis assemble

Originally Posted by Backspin

Oh no. This is exactly what's gonna happen to mine soon. I just thought of something. I'm gonna get a small drill bit and drill a hole into the hinge. And then try and get some silicon spray in there

If you don't mind how it looks a paper clip like the one I used works perfectly, and takes the strain off the screws. try one they are so cheap, if you don't like it throw it away.

double npost

Originally Posted by baldrick

my laptops have always gotten cleaned reasonably regularly

I wonder how many bother to do this. It makes a considerable difference to extending the lifetime of a laptop. Another reason to buy that compressor you Thai dwellers were thinking about....

Originally Posted by Troy

I wonder how many bother to do this. It makes a considerable difference to extending the lifetime of a laptop. Another reason to buy that compressor you Thai dwellers were thinking about....

I took very good care of my early laptops and they just blew up anyway.

Now I use them like cheap whores. So I dunno

so now you don't clean the sperm off them ?

Originally Posted by Backspin

So I dunno

Yea . . . we guessed.

^ Is your laptop set to backspin-auto-reply?

Originally Posted by Latindancer

Heat is what kills them

Didn't realize that and fried my first laptop in the mid 00's with a few years in Thailand - no USB fan base or cleaning.

Was a Dell, and I think 512mb Ram back when 256mb was the norm and 1gb just coming out. Can't even remember what OS was on it, probably butterfly's XP. Without any care and a quickly outdated amount of Ram it finally cooked itself at around the 5 year mark.

Originally Posted by Edmond

^ Is your laptop set to backspin-auto-reply?

Nah, it's a Mac and wouldn't go near things like Skidmark of its own volition . . . is yours with Dill?

Originally Posted by Edmond

backspin-auto-reply?

Originally Posted by Backspin

I guess i will switch brands again next time. I want solid god damn hinges.

But every time i look at laptops, the Asian brands look slick and the HP or Dell ones look wonky and ugly. The style just sucks most of the time.

You can see it in this picture. The Acer or any Asian brand, looks right. The other ones not so much

Doesn't anyone agree with me here ? The Toshiba's ,Asus, Sony (RIP) and Acers have a way better fit and finish than HP or Dell

Originally Posted by panama hat

Dill

Who?


Just booted up me ol' 5-6 year old lappy for the first time in a few months, sent a few reds on that one's nik, and all seems to be still working well. Viva Asus!

Or Acer. Or whatever fookin' brand it is.

i have 2 laptops one is 13 years old and the other 7 years old. the latter is an i7 which I will change the HDD to an SSD with 1 TB shortly. The old one is on XP and has many engineering programs that dont work on anything later. That's why i keep it. They both still work no problems apart from a battery 2 new fans and the internal speakers are rooted all in the later i7. The old one everything is good. Both are Toshibas. A tecra with centrino and a satellite i7.

Strewth, mate ! Isn't the 13 year old one getting a bit slow by now ?

Originally Posted by Hugh Cow

i have 2 laptops one is 13 years old and the other 7 years old. .

How the fawk................... Must be crazy to see stuff from 13 years ago on there eh

I tried cleaning mine.
It did not turn out well, I think I used too much soap.

^ I blew my first one out with a shop air compressor. I didn't go full blast. It got all the dust out