How long do your laptops usually last? Do you take good care of your gear?

[Mrcricket]

I got a cheap-ass Acer something in 2013.

Celeron?

 

[Mrcricket]

Only real issue has been a battery replacement and the screen hinge is a bit wobbly.

Yes, the generics don't give you as much power as the original and it's not feasible to buy an original replacement battery.

I just had to settle for a generic. The original was good as gone and the laptop would immediately turn off if the charger even moved slightly. It just got annoying after a while.

 

[HavocXphere]

Depends on what it is.

I bought an ancient zenbook and that's OK for travel. Must be 2015 era.

Gaming laptops...new one every 2 years because the GFX get outdated so fast. I just repurpose them for something else because the rest of it is still punchy

Work is usually on a 2 year cycle too, which seems like overkill but not my money so whatever.

 

[Rocket-Boy]

Had an HP Envy laptop for around 5 years. Replaced the HDD with an SSD and added more RAM. Only sold it after I got a laptop from Work

I still have my Envy, its going strong as a home server with built in UPS.
512GB SSD makes light work of what I need it to serve.
It hasnt given a single problem since new.

My one year old macbook pro on the other hand has been far from reliable.

 

[greg0205]

MacBook Pro’s about 18 months old.

It replaced my MacBook Air which I got in 2012... The Air was an insurance replacement of my first MacBook Pro which I got in ‘09.

 

[Smugs]

Celeron?

I have no idea...

 

[Mawirepower]

Been using an Acer i7 I bought second hand in 2017. I put an SSD in it and it's still rocking strong and fast.

 

[MirageF1]

Lenovo T420 5th gen dual core Intel® 2.50GHz i5-2520M processor was released in 2011, nearly 10 years ago.

Had once since 2013.
Coming from 15.6" laptops took a bit getting used to the 14" screen but now I'll never look back, esp weight wise. It's also rugged as hell and never failed, although been used almost constantly, daily.

Upgraded to 500GB SSD and 12GB RAM earlier this year and have always optimized o/s by disabling most non essential services, using contiguous page file, etc
Boots in 20 secs max.

It still flies. Perfect for my day to day use, browsing, streaming, video and most importantly bulk processing my RAW Canon astro images and final stretching/editing in Adobe PS no sweat.

 

[KleinBoontjie]

I still have a 2009 Lenovo netbook, with atom processor. Linux and Windows 10 still installs, but too slow for streaming or anything.

 

[Francois Marais]

Have a MacBook Air 2012 that I still use. Only problem I have with it is HDD’s over 3TB IN NTFS format. Purchased an AMD system beginning of the year Ryzen 5 1600 with 32GB’s of RAM for my work PC used for Photoshop, Lightroom and Adobe Premier.
The MacBook had a hard time to process 4K videos and the only reason why I got the PC or else I would still have used the MBAir

 

[skimread]

My 2013 MacAir has been on since the day I bought it 7 years ago, I don't think it has ever been switched off.
Still as fast and reliable as the day I bought it.
Only use it for surfing the net, email, YouTube, VLC, downloads and Kodi

I had a Macbook I bought around that time as well but after 2 years the thing got super-hot due to dust on the fan. And Apple doesn't make it easy to open it to clean the fan. That's why I won't get a Macbook again.

I sure wish manufacturers use cooling pad instead of a fan. But they won't as it means they won't sell as many laptops.

Current machine is 2.5 years old. I upgraded the SSD to 512GB. Battery had to be replaced after 2 years.
I usually replace laptops after 4 years when the battery dies out a 2nd time when it isn't under warrantee anymore. Batteries with daily use always seem to last 2 years exactly.

 

[chrisc]

I have replaced batteries in MacBooks. Once you have the correct screwdriver (some are star, some pentalobe), its very easy

One fellow's Macbook battery swelled up so bad it damaged the trackpad. Replacing this was a mission. As well as screws and a flimsy connector, there was a soft plastic seal between the top of the trackpad and the case which seemed to be glued on

There is a shop, Znet computers at the bottom of Klipfontein Road in Athlone. I have purchased at least 20 batteries from him and only one gave trouble soon after installation

To pay R1400 for a MacBook battery is a bargain, some repairers ask R4000 for the similar thing. An ACER battery was R390

I always blow out the dust from the slots with an industrial blower. If you can, its wise to clamp the fan

 

[mister]

My Dell Inspiron from 2008 is still working nicely

 

[akescpt]

toshiba sattelite...upgraded ram..need to put in another SSD..only repair - repaired the charging port..battery last 5 minutes...

10 years old this year...

 

[Hemps]

Work bought me a refurbished Dell 7720SE, 8gb ram 2x 750 HDD, i7, 17 inch in 2011

Added SSD and the thing still flies, even runs CS:GO

 

[Brawler]

Usually every year or so (work issued) but on I'm on my 2nd or 3rd year on a Dell XPS 13 and happy as can be.

 

[Craig_]

My Dell Latitude is a 2011 model, and an i7. Fitted a 256GB SSD 3 years back and upgraded the RAM to 16Gb.

Boots up in Windows 10 in 40 seconds. A result of Window 10 is that the on-board sound does not work, so I use a USB device instead

Its my music computer now. I did have a MacBook Air from 2017, wonderful machine. Last year while stationary at a traffic light, a bakkie rear-ended me. As well as the car, the MacBook was written off. The bakkie's owner was insured with Outsurance and they messed about for over a year and refused point blank to pay for the computer. My own insurers, Alexander Forbes said dealing with Outsurance was the most frustrating thing ever. I was awarded R9000 by the Small Claims court from the bakkie driver but he never paid.

One strange aspect of the Dell was some kind of furry plastic around the keyboard. This gradually got sticky and horrible. I found alcohol dissolved it so scraped it off. To give the plastic a textured finish, I rubbed it with a coarse plastic cleaner, similar to that you use in the kitchen. It looks really good and is completely smooth

That's infuriating, I would've been very upset. I also keep my stuff in the boot usually, no choice as you can't keep it in the car for fear of thieves.

 

[HumanShield]

MBP since 2016. Previous company's HP ProBook lasted from the day I started till the day I left. Replaced a keyboard, battery, HDD and had more ram installed. That was impressively strong. New company started me off with a hand me down Dell that had probably a good 5 years use before that. I had it for another 2 before I got a replacement HP.
Planning on keeping the MBP for a few more years. No need to replace it. Still humming along nicely.

 

[friedpiggy]

Dell Inspiron going on 8 years old now and only recently is it starting to struggle a bit, however I think that has to do with the fact that I have never reinstalled Windows on it. So, 8 years for laptop and 8 years for win 8.1. I did an SSD upgrade and went up to 8GB RAM (max it supports) a few years back, but it still does everything I want/need, just a bit slow lately.

 

[Moto Guzzi]

I am currently on my second laptop in six years.

I got the first Lenovo G50 in October 2014 and used it until April 2018. The hinge was eventually broken and the charging port as well. I sold it for R600. Probably stupid now but I needed to get rid of it as I was travelling.

I have had my current one HP I3 since April 2018. I have probably spent over R2000 on repairs for it. It had a few mechanical issues last year and the original charger became faulty eventually which caused my original battery to stop functioning (I had to replace both with generics). The laptop also has some body damage (I dropped it once and also took a fall last year when I was robbed, fortunately the thieves did not take my back-pack). I covered the cracks with power glue to prevent them from spreading.

Overall, the laptop has been working fine since January. I got an SSD which made it faster than it was when it was bought.

But it's safe to say that I'm not the best at taking care of laptops. I'm much better with phones.

My oldest laptop was when XP came out, or just before, a Dell, it still functions but too slow to use.
Never had troubles with Dell and HP.
The only laptop I owned that gave trouble since new was a Mecer I7-Win 7, it was just troublesome all along. I parked it and forgot about it and so the guarantee ran out, it seems in the end it was the motherboard, looking at it again.