How old is your laptop?

[modhatter]

I purchased a Dell Insperion 17" almost 3 years ago. Have already had to replace the battery for over $100. It has been acting bad lately. Don't really want to have to buy another one. Paid over $1,300, so expected to get a little longevity on it. Is three years all we can expect from one of these now a days? Just curious what make you guys have and how old they are.

 

[Meadbh]

Toshiba Tecra 2003. Had a 3 year warranty. At 2 years 11 months, the hard drive crashed and they installed a newer, faster biger hard drive for free. Still going strong.

Computer: 8 years
Car: 16 years
House: 87 years

 

[Mulligan]

I purchased a Dell Insperion 17" almost 3 years ago. Have already had to replace the battery for over $100. It has been acting bad lately. Don't really want to have to buy another one. Paid over $1,300, so expected to get a little longevity on it. Is three years all we can expect from one of these now a days? Just curious what make you guys have and how old they are.

Have a Compaq Presario, a cheepo bought for $375 almost 4 years ago. Original 2 hour battery still works over an hour before conking out. I only use the computer for internet, thus not needing an expensive one. Hoping it breaks down so I can justify buying an Ipad, but it doesnt appear willing to retire any time soon.

 

[73ss454]

Dell Studio, 1 1/2 years old. I should have bought a Mac., this things is melting my privates.

 

[Mulligan]

Dell Studio, 1 1/2 years old. I should have bought a Mac., this things is melting my privates.

My old back-up laptop is a Dell. +1 on the melting!!!

 

[HFWR]

Have a (~) three-year-old Dell, no issues. Son still uses my old Compaq, seven years old or more.

 

[M Paquette]

2004 PowerBook G4 12" - Battery was replaced under a recall in 2007. No other work done on it. It just keeps on running.

2004 iBook - Originally DD's, and 'inherited' when she got a MacBook three years ago. Replaced the keyboard ($40, 5 minutes to swap) in 2008, and still going strong.

 

[Texas Proud]

Are we supposed to only say what we use Or just anything in the house...

I have an OLD IBM something or other that has a 10 inch screen... it runs on Win 95.. had a whole 256K of memory... it was the in thing back then... very small compared to what you could get... I think mega paid about $3500 to $4500 for it... I pulled it out and used it a couple of years ago when my desktop blew up... I have not tried the battery in over 10 years...

My wife has a nice Sony we got about 2 1/2 years ago... going strong..

My son has a Compaq that is 3 1/2 years... going stong...

We bought a netbook about 1 1/2 years ago... still going...

 

[tryan]

Dell Inspiron 1200 ... left mega corp with it so it's 7 or 8 yo. Battery? What battery ... it's always plugged in somwhere. Dropped it a couple years ago and the bulb that luminates the screen popped. So I use an old monitor (much better than the laptop screen).

 

[W2R]

In the past, I have used mostly Toshiba laptops, with an occasional Sony or HP tossed in for good measure. Usually after 3 years I start WANTING a new laptop, to get the new OS (I am a sucker for new operating systems). Sometimes a laptop will crater after 3-4 years. I think I have always gotten at least 3 years out of all my laptops, sometimes 4-5 years.

My present Dell Inspiron is two months old. My last laptop was a very cheap Toshiba. It was 3-4 years old and still had a lot of good life in it, so I found it a good home and bought my lovely new expensive but nicely tricked out Dell Inspiron. Always wanted a laptop like this one, and it has Windows 7.

 

[RunningBum]

What does "acting bad" mean? Being slow could mean you have some extra programs running that you don't need, or a virus. If it's slow on web pages the problem could be your internet connection. If it's crashing it could be a bad hard drive.

I bought a new laptop this year because the battery on my old laptop went and I didn't want to spend $100 on a new one, and the 3rd party one I bought didn't work well with it--don't remember the details. So I just keep that one plugged in and use it like a desk top, but didn't want to rely on it so I got the new one. The old one was an Inspiron as well, maybe 3-4 years old at the time, now 4-5 or so?

I spent less on the new one (Gateway NV79), since it's enough for what I use it for (no gaming or other heavy duty graphics or processing) and I won't feel bad if I replace it in 3 years or so.

 

[Orchidflower]

I purchased a Dell Insperion 17" almost 3 years ago. Have already had to replace the battery for over $100. It has been acting bad lately. Don't really want to have to buy another one. Paid over $1,300, so expected to get a little longevity on it. Is three years all we can expect from one of these now a days? Just curious what make you guys have and how old they are.

I bought my Dell Inspiron 17" in December 2008, and also had to replace the battery about 9 months ago. First time in my computer using that I ever had to replace a battery. Ever.
Also, paid the same amount as above. So, what the heck is going on with these Dell computers now?

I can say that it runs well, tho, and mine isn't acting up at all in any way...at least, right now it isn't. It was crashing repeatedly until I found out that if you hold a computer on your lap use a cooler under it. Now I use the laptop across the garbage can while I sit and type in a Laz-Y-Boy...it works..haha! (I do have a nice, big desk to use but it's filled with papers right now.)

 

[Orchidflower]

Dell Studio, 1 1/2 years old. I should have bought a Mac., this things is melting my privates.

And, for gosh sakes, buy a cooler for under the laptop like I did or you'll ruin your chances of becoming a father if you want to.

 

[Martha]

My current laptop is maybe a year or two old. A Lenovo. Working fine. It's predecessor also was a Lenovo, a fancier hoity toity one. It had a three year warranty. During that three years it got a new keyboard, new touchpad, and a new fan. Finally, about a month after the warranty expired the motherboard went. Despite the problems I liked the computer as it had an anti-glare screen and the touch for typing was perfect as was the trackpad. I was extremely disappointed of its lack of durability.

 

[Ready-4-ER-at-14]

I have a gateway FX. One of my older sons had two non working laptops. I fixed one of his for him, but the other had a missing hard drive and a shattered screen. He said it cost too much to fix and I could have it if I wanted. I located a used screen and hard drive cheaply and installed an operating system on it I had bought for another purpose. I had never installed a laptop screen before so it was a fun project. So far successful on 2 of 3 laptops attempted to repaid.. #3 went up in smoke though despite my best soldering attempt. ; ) Still looking for a cheap motherboard.

 

[braumeister]

Hey, folks! You have to realize that in the IT world, three years is OLD for any kind of computer, whether a laptop or a desktop. If you're still getting good use out of one after that point, you're WAY ahead of the game.

As for me, my desktop is a 3 year-old iMac, with a 1 yo MacBook, and DW has a 1.5 yo MacBook Pro. We also have a 1 yo Mac Mini that runs the security system. We're probably good for about another year, when the iMac will most likely get replaced with a new one.

Since I bought my first Apple computer in 1980, my first Mac in 1987, used to run the tech support for a Mac software developer, and did some consulting for Apple many years ago, I'm kind of a [-]nerd[/-] guru in the Apple area. I can do Windows, Unix, Linux, and a few other operating systems, but I always gravitate toward Apple.

 

[ERD50]

My son has a 2004 iBook ($999) still running fine. Battery is still holding over 2/3rds capacity after ~ 5 years (the original battery was part of a recall).

DW's 13" Aluminum MacBook Pro ($1,099) ~ 2 YO - Battery still ~ 97% (I should run it through a 'conditioning' cycle).

DD's 2007 Intel MacBook ($999) running fine - battery replaced under the 3 year warranty at year 3 because it was running below 80% (IIRC) capacity.

My ASUS PC901 netbook ($280) (running Ubuntu linux) ~ 2 years old, used daily by DD battery >85% capacity.

My E-Machines EM725, ($380) (running Ubuntu linux) ~ 1 years old, my main machine >95% capacity, seldom unplugged.

Macs and Linux have a report on battery 'health', I'd suggest checking that under your OS of choice, and also see what the mfg reccs for 'conditioning' the battery - usually a matter of running it completely down for hours, then a full charge for hours.

-ERD50

 

[Moemg]

Two and a half year old Dell Ispiron basic budget package . Works fine no battery problems . My Toshiba is six years old still works but the screen went and Gary replaced so it's a back up .

 

[Khan]

Dell Inspiron E1705, at least 4 y o; no problems.

 

[Ronstar]

I have a 1 yr old HP elitebook for work - replaced my Dell Inspiron that blew up a few days after the 3 yr warranty expired. No problems with the HP. Same with my 2 yr old Asus netbook and DW's Macbook - 3 or 4 yrs old. I never have battery problems because we are very seldom unplugged.

 

[Lakedog]

Dell Vostro 1500, paid $450 or so, almost 3 yrs old, no issues

Before that had a Dell Inspiron for 4 yrs

 

[BTravlin]

Bought my Toshiba Satellite in July, 2007. The AC adapter went bad a few months ago and paid about $27 for a new one. Still going strong.

 

[ls99]

'bout 7 yrs old Dell 600 something or other.

 

[Khan]

Also have ASUS EEE, at least a year old, have traveled with it, no problems.

 

[Nodak]

HP laptop purchased in August 08, no problems yet.