How old is your laptop?

[obgyn65]

Compaq Presario, about 4 years old. It's getting slow so I plan to buy another laptop computer this year.

 

[waltwill8]

Cheap Acer (2006) Lasted 2 weeks (Lightening - got everything in the house with transistors) Got another. Just replaced the HD for about 80 bucks. Saved/ghosted all the data OK. Whew.

 

[KingB]

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 have a Dell Inspiron 8600, 15.6" that I bought maybe 2003-2004 that I am still using. Paid $1200 at that time. The prices now are low that I am tempted to replace it. But what for? The laptop is still good and perfectly serves my purpose. I bought a spare battery from EBay for less than $20 that I rotate with the original battery.

 

[MDJO]

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.

Dell Inspiron - 7 years
HP widescreen - 3 years
Toshiba Netbook - 1 year
Honda Accord - 10 years
Mid life crisis car - one year
DW - 36 years

 

[Sue J]

I use a desktop that my son built for himself a few years ago but DH has a Lenovo laptop that is at least 4 or 5 years old. He upgraded to Windows 7 and is just fine with what he has. Lately he's been shopping online for a new battery as his does not last long and keeps giving him messages that it's low. He has to be plugged in all the time now.

Prices have come down so much that I would not mind if he got a new laptop. He uses it much more since he retired.

 

[madcityacct]

7 year old R51 IBM ThinkPad. Bought it used about 5 years ago. Works great!

 

[flyfishnevada]

Gateway NV series. Use it nearly every day, all day. Had it a 14 months and it's going strong. Cost about $500. I run the virus protection and mal/adware scans now and then. For the price, if I get another couple years out of it, I'd be happy. If I had to upgrade the OS, replace the battery or the like, I'd likely just buy a new one and donate this one for he tax write off.

I do like my son's 17 inch. Has a bigger screen and hard drive and much better speakers. Only cost about $150 more. Honestly, these things are so cheap anymore, that they are approaching disposable territory, especially considering the cost of repairs and upgrades. Even if the hardware lasts a while, the operating system, software and such eventually become obsolete. Not to mention all the crap that inevitably builds up in your registry and slows down the system unless you keep up on it.

 

[audreyh1]

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

Well - I changed to a new model Mac 'cause my older mac laptop was melting my privates! Some of the older Apple powerbooks were real burners!

We actually measured how hot it got on my lap one time. 118 degrees F!! I take some meats off the grill at 125 degrees F!

I'm sure it was because I had web several pages up running Adobe Flash which is a serious CPU power-hog for no good reason.

My newer model Mac laptop doesn't get nearly as hot.

Audrey

 

[Bestwifeever]

Compaq Presario turning five years old in May. Dell Inspiron Mini netbook just one year old. When Presario goes (or before), I'm replacing it with a desktop with lots of memory.

 

[Rambler]

I got a new MacBook Pro last year. DW has a Sony Viao that is nearly 4 years old. It crashed and died a couple years ago, while still under extended warranty, so it was fixed without cost. DW has no clue about PCs and I have only a little more of a clue about them than she does. So, we need laptops that work without too much trouble. DW's is getting to the point that I just don't feel like fiddling with it after traveling all week. I will probably get a MacBook Air sometime this year for ease of use in traveling, and will cede the MacBook Pro to DW. We probably won't go back to Windows anytime soon...fed up with having to spend time fiddling with it to get it to run rathe than actually using it. Also, we both have iPads that we use for most web browsing and email, and for shorter trips.

R

 

[MichaelB]

I have an ThinkPad purchased in 2003. Hard disk fried in '05, otherwise no problems. Previous laptop was '99. Before that I had a new laptop each year - but that was work related.

 

[flotsamandjetsam]

Fujitsu P1610 here. 4 years old. I don't know why but I love this tiny computer with its 8.9" screen and cramped keyboard. I can take it anywhere. I hook it to a big monitor when I need the extra real estate. It needed a new battery at 3 years.

We take this one when we travel. We check email and dump pictures on it from the camera. DW uses a more normal laptop, HP in a docking station, at home. That one is 2-1/2 years old.

I want to keep this one through the summer and buy a high-end ultraportable in the fall.

 

[Texas Proud]

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.

I thought you were supposed to warm them up if you wanted to be a father....

 

[REWahoo]

I thought you were supposed to warm them up if you wanted to be a father....

Hot testicles may lower sperm count

 

[martyb]

My Toshiba Satellite A205-S4577 is about 4 yrs old, I believe. Somewhere in that range, anyway. I bought it new, for $1000. It came with Windows Vista, which I dumped within the first 6 months & replaced with Win XP that I got cheap from a friend. The only problems I've had with it have been a couple of viruses. I did have to get it reformatted once about a year ago, & it's been running fine since. I've got a lot of stuff on it now, and don't have much hard drive space left. It still does ok, but has slowed down a little. I need to do some serious clean-up & file size reduction, just need to find the time. The battery is down to only about an hour of performance, but rather than spend the $100 plus for a new one, I just keep the power cord handy. About a year after I bought this computer, I happened across a Consumer Reports article on laptop ratings & it turned out they had rated mine as number one in it's category. This is my first laptop, and my first Toshiba, but I like it enough that I'll look at Toshiba again when it's time for a new one. My destops have been 1 Gateway & 2 Dells. At work I have 3 Dells (2 owned by the US Govt. & 1 owned by the defense contractor where I work).

 

[VaCollector]

I'm using a 15" MacBook that I bought with my DD's Apple education discount when I bought hers....about 4-5 years ago.....had HP's before then and am now sold on the benefits of the Mac....I actually use my old HP monitor as an extra monitor for the MacBook....I only recently upgraded the OS on the Mac in order to be able to use it with my DW's new iPad and the Netflix app on the TV (which I still haven't subscribed to yet!).

I did buy a refurb'd Asus 10" from Woot a year and a half ago.....for something to keep next to the recliner....but it now languishes as the iPad seems to have replaced it....

 

[HFWR]

I thought you were supposed to warm them up if you wanted to be a father....

Two words: calf fries...

 

[easysurfer]

I have an old Dell Latitude D600 laptop which I bought used in 2008. Runs Win XP. It's pretty much patched together (battery, built-in USB ports don't work). (I use a USB PCIMA card and an added USB hub for my USB connections).

Just the other day, I bought a used Dell Mini Netbook. Runs Windows 7 Starter. Cute, sharp display, but I can't look too long at the tiny screen without some eyestrain.

For now that's my hobby computer (brings back memories of the tiny Timex Sinclair 1000 I had way back).

 

[yakers]

I have a HP netbook, 2 years old, needed replacement battery and screen cover is cracked but not dysfunctional, runs XP, works for me. DWs Macbook is 3 years old and works like new, son's Macbook is 5 years old and still does everything he wants including some serious music mixing. I would get an ipad but with DWs iphone & my netbook we are pretty well covered.

 

[W2R]

Two words: calf fries...

Eww, I googled that. Leave it to a Texan...

They DO make laptop cooling pads on which to rest your laptop, y'know. I got one from CompUSA during their going-out-of-business sale. I like the way that it raises my laptop a little bit so that i can see it better, too.

 

[freebird5825]

Dell Inspiron B130
laptop purchased in 2005
Running on my third battery. I bought a 2nd battery from a 3rd party vendor online to save money. Big mistake as battery #2 lasted only 1 year. Bought an OEM one, 3rd battery still running strong.
Original hard drive had some issues with inconsistent performance once it was > 50% utilized, but it never crashed. Replaced it with a higher storage capacity model, no problems since.

 

[freebird5825]

Two words: calf fries...

I had Rocky Mt Oysters at a weekend party in Tuscon AZ back in the 90s when I was there for a 2 week optics course.
We techno-geek students attended a BBQ party at a nearby dude ranch. The Western band leader wanted to see if any Easterners had the [-]bollocks[/-] nerve to try them. You KNOW I wasn't going to let that challenge go by.
They were actually delicious. The people at my table turned a little green watching me savor them in an exaggerated way for the benefit of the band leader.

 

[bright eyed]

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

Yeah have a 2 yr old dell studio and i hate it - it nearly burns my wrists when it is on - had an inspiron before that that was fine for 4 years - this one the plug line went bad, drained down the battery, then when I got new plug (which was expensive), battery woudn't juice. I refused to buy a new battery.

So early this year, I got a toshiba portege - I am really happy with it - it is smaller, faster, lighter and was way cheaper than the dumb dell. I think Dell has gone down hill. Toshiba has good ratings on reliability - HP has the worst...

 

[Meadbh]

I thought you were supposed to warm them up if you wanted to be a father....

Umm, no. If they were supposed to be hot, they would be inside the abdomen. They like it cool.

 

[grasshopper]

Just came home last week with a new 17" Acer 2.0 laptop $398.

Now Ms Grasshopper has my 3 YO Acer 15" 1.7 laptop, which is running wonderfully.