# Lifespan of Laptops



## Glacial (Jun 16, 2010)

I am sure it depends on the model and manufacturer, but what is the average lifespan of a laptop? I heard 3-4 years, is this true?

Mine is a 2008 and I am starting to think about saving all my important docs on a USB drive so if my laptop goes on the fritz, I will at least have my important documents. 

BTW, mine is an Acer, purchased 2008--no problems at all so far. I have been satisfied with it. I was apprehensive at first because it was the cheapest at Best Buy.


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## panopticon (Nov 14, 2010)

I don't know, but it's probably a good idea even if your laptop isn't circling the drain, just to be safe.


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## purplefruit (Jan 11, 2011)

Mine is a 2008 as well, Toshiba. Coming up on three years old this June. I've got an external HD and planning on buying another one becasue I feel like my laptop is on the fritz. I'd say even if it's a new computer, you should have at least one backup drive.

My mom had one of those Cheapest Acers too but it didn't last long. I can't remember when she got it though.


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## watashi (Feb 6, 2008)

A few years. Possibly longer if you clean the vents and don't let it overheat. My previous laptop kept dying from constant overheating. After having to replace the graphic card for the 3rd time I decided I'm better off getting a new laptop.


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## successful (Mar 21, 2009)

Probably 2-3 years if you take care of it, but like you say it depends on the brand.

not sure about acer but Asus should probably last close to 4 years if it doesn't catch a virus since it's a reliable brand.
Apple Mac laptops been know to last 10 years strong for the people who kept it that long. 
but im sure no one will want to use a laptop for more then 5 years lol.


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## Fragment (Mar 23, 2011)

I have a 3+ year old Dell Inspiron that still works fine, but I have had to replace the hard drive and battery. I upgraded to an XPS 15 recently though, since the Inspiron can barely run any recent games.


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## Dane (Jul 27, 2009)

I'm posting this on my 4 1/2 year old HP right now. No problems so far.


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## dullard (Aug 4, 2008)

My old Dell Latitude was built in 2003 and it was still serving me just fine until the hinge snapped off around a month ago.


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## Some Russian Guy (Mar 20, 2009)

successful said:


> should probably last close to 4 years if it doesn't catch a virus


http://pic.phyrefile.com/n/na/narf/2010/06/14/facepalm.jpg


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## daniel1989 (Feb 14, 2011)

My toshiba was only 2 years old and I had to replace the hardrive already >.<. I prefer using desktop pcs at home though.


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## kindasorta (Apr 20, 2009)

I'd say Dell and IBM/Lenovo laptops generally have a longer life span. Acer is known to not be all quality, you get what you pay for in most cases. However if you take care of it and get a bit lucky any manufacturer can make a laptop that lasts for much longer than it "should".

Keep it clean, watch out for noises. Things that commonly give up are primarily the fan circulating the air to cool the laptop. The fan can determine the lifetime in many cases. If noted in time it could be replaced before the computer takes actual damage.


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## ImmortalxApathy (Feb 19, 2011)

I personally hate Acer, Hewlett-Packard(Total crap), And Gateway. A Gateway that I had blew out one year and some few months later after purchasing it. Don't be fooled by Apple either. I had an Apple and the airport card went out; BUT, BUT, They are still the best, And if you can afford one, Get one. They don't have any major problems like crapway has or Hewlett-Packard. I also had an Emachines that was refurbished. That computer lasted me a good 5 years, And it still worked, But was just so slow. A refurbished computer lasted longer than a brand new one; Weigh it. LoL. 

Anyways, Apple is the best, But they are expensive. Your best bet would be Lenovo for a PC. I hear great things about them. They were put out by IBM.


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## Christa25 (Oct 2, 2010)

I've had my Sony Vaio for almost 4 years now with no problems.


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## GunnyHighway (Sep 28, 2010)

There's no definitive way to know. No one brand is better than the other, as ANY part could die in a couple minutes or not die for ten years. No company manufactures their own parts, so there's no way to know. A stick of RAM in a laptop coming off the assembly line could be a different brand than the one coming after it if the manufacturer ends up switching for whatever reason. 2GB is 2GB to the end user, no matter the brand. (Most of the time) I think the only thing you can guarantee within a brand name being the same is the cases they use. 

As said though, keep it clean and you will definitely aid your computer with it's lifespan. The little bit of air circulation in there can get blocked up fast with dust and crap.


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## VivaEmptinessRoses (Mar 31, 2010)

I'd say about 3-4 years. I have one it seems it is slowly dying out


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## Classified (Dec 7, 2004)

I plan on using this MacBook Pro for 10 years. It is built well enough and I take care of it. Plus, there aren't cheap plastic or spinning parts (SSD  )

My college laptop was a work of art. I had to custom make a part out of acrylic in my kitchen just to hold the internal circuit boards together. It was about 8 years old at that point.

My 'other' laptop that is used for one thing now, still works and it is a 2004 Gateway. It does have some signs of wear though.

I have a circa 2002 Dell that I converted into a photo frame.


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## purplefruit (Jan 11, 2011)

ImmortalxApathy said:


> I personally hate Acer, Hewlett-Packard(Total crap), And Gateway. A Gateway that I had blew out one year and some few months later after purchasing it. Don't be fooled by Apple either. I had an Apple and the airport card went out; BUT, BUT, They are still the best, And if you can afford one, Get one. They don't have any major problems like crapway has or Hewlett-Packard. I also had an Emachines that was refurbished. That computer lasted me a good 5 years, And it still worked, But was just so slow. A refurbished computer lasted longer than a brand new one; Weigh it. LoL.
> 
> Anyways, Apple is the best, But they are expensive. Your best bet would be Lenovo for a PC. I hear great things about them. They were put out by IBM.


Gateway sucks. But I bought a refurbished, store-model so I dunno if it was the best one to judge :lol It lasted about 6 months before it started to go. It took quite some time to deal with the warranty company (6 months, actually) but they eventually sent me a cheque for the pre-tax value of the laptop, and I bought a new one. I was looking into the refurbished Apple's but they were too bloody expensive.

Lenovo is great, they have tons of deals online. The only thing I've heard is that they ship from China and don't have good customer service or shipping times.


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## solasum (Nov 17, 2008)

:afr Oh no, I hope they last longer than that! I'll be hitting the three-year mark with this one, and the thought of losing my best friend comforts me like a shawl in Antarctica.


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## Glacial (Jun 16, 2010)

solasum said:


> :afr Oh no, I hope they last longer than that! I'll be hitting the three-year mark with this one, and the thought of losing my best friend comforts me like a shawl in Antarctica.


Lol

remember 3-4 years is just an average. yours may last much longer. just be prepared by saving all your important documents elsewhere.


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## Kwtrader (Oct 10, 2007)

i used 150+ laptops over the past year. in my opinion Toshiba is one of the better brands but don't get it with amd processor. if you want it to run cool and last long i would say celeron processor with intel integrated graphics is the best bet. a 2.16 ghz celeron processor runs plenty fast for most activities. nvidia graphics and amd processor run hot and fail more often.


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## Classified (Dec 7, 2004)

I will also say that I have had no problems running Linux and Mac OS X for long periods of time. Windows 98, 2000, and XP all had major problems after a few years. This is why I switched to Linux in 2008 at home, because Windows would randomly lock up.


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## Charizard (Feb 16, 2011)

I had a Dell last from 2001-2007 (I wouldn't trust the company these days though, they've gone a lot more generic). I prefer HP- though admittedly they can run into problems as early as two years into the PC's lifecycle, they have great customer service. My mom's motherboard died in her computer and they had it replaced in ~2 weeks. My gf uses a MacBook and tbh it's really not impressed me. Within a couple years the charger died and the webcam is constantly turning on and slowing everything down while she's trying to watch a movie or w/e, and some of the keys stick. Acer... the low end models just feel cheaply put together. Once you get into the $1000 dollar range they're on par with other manufacturers.


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## ImmortalxApathy (Feb 19, 2011)

Eliza said:


> Gateway sucks. But I bought a refurbished, store-model so I dunno if it was the best one to judge :lol It lasted about 6 months before it started to go. It took quite some time to deal with the warranty company (6 months, actually) but they eventually sent me a cheque for the pre-tax value of the laptop, and I bought a new one. I was looking into the refurbished Apple's but they were too bloody expensive.
> 
> Lenovo is great, they have tons of deals online. The only thing I've heard is that they ship from China and don't have good customer service or shipping times.


Let's put it this way, New or refurbished, Gateway sucks. LoL. Sometimes refurbished is not a bad idea. Yes, Apple's are not cheap. I bought the Macbook for about $899.00 Or something like that at Best Buy. It knocked about $200 off because it was opened and returned to the store. Not because it had something wrong with it, But because it wasn't considered "brand new" and unopened. It is something that the store does with opened merch. Ah, Anyways, Yeah, I don't know how much a refurbished one runs, But maybe about the same, Or at least should.

@Charizard: Does your girlfriend have a Macbook or a Macbook pro? I have a pro, And I bought this sometime last year. I've never had any problem with the webcam automatically turning on.:con The only problem that I had with my desktop iMac, Was that the airport card blew out within a few months, So I couldn't use Wifi. Not a big deal, Luckily Best Buy was gracious to let me exchange it for a new one. Since then, Never had a problem with my now iMac. Dell used to be a great company, I agree. I loved Dell's in the late 90's-early 2000's. But, Now they are junk.

As for the Lenovo, My Uncle has one and enjoys it. I'm not sure about the china service, But I assume that they should have somewhere in America to reach. If not, That really sucks.:no


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