Why do laptops seem to only have around 2.5 yrs lifespan?

navegante88 on 26/04/2015 - 20:41

Based on my own experience, laptops are great for the first 2 years and after that they seem to deteriorate tremendously in regards to performance, even after a fresh install. I understand that sites and programs require more resources as time passes but most of the time, I can barely run something simple like chrome smoothly after the two year timebomb. My wife bought a laptop in 2010 (i5 processor) while I bought a PC in 2008 (core duo). Even after reinstalling windows on her lappy, it still feels like we're using a 10 yr old piece of junk (2012). Sites like YouTube don't run smoothly any more and we've pretty much given up on it. This can also be said with my brother's relatively new laptop. Whereas my PC has no issues whatsoever and is running everything smoothly despite having much worse specs than the laptop. To make matters worse, the only thing installed on her laptop is chrome.

I'm assuming it comes down to wear and tear of laptop being moved around so much , but it still surprises me how much better a PC runs after many years. Is it worth buying laptops in the long term?

Computing

Comments

  • OldBugger on 26/04/2015 - 20:51
    +13

    An issue I've found with laptops is that the fan intake gets full of fluff. This causes the processor to run warmer and less smoothly. Touch wood, my laptops have lasted well over a few years and I usually sell them in good working order with the odd fan clean out and reformatting.

    • adante on 29/04/2015 - 10:03

      with regards to heat monitoring I like to use cpu-z, gpu-z and hwmonitor to track these things if something is up. No doubt there are alternative apps available (I'd love to hear about them) but I like these for their lightweight simplicity. perfmonitor is another one which has come to my attention although I have not used it regularly.

  • scrimshaw on 26/04/2015 - 20:53
    +35

    It's because a) you haven't properly maintained the hardware components and b) perceived slowness after using machines of a higher spec and moving back to your older device or possibly c) maybe you just need to reinstall windows and start from a clean slate?

    Laptops generally have the below moving parts, and possible failure points that require maintenance

    1. Hard drive — to fix: upgrade to an SSD or replace with newer 7200RPM drive. While a 2 year old hard drive may not need replacing, it's a pretty good idea to run a HDD diagnostic program to see if the health is still good, twice a year. If less than optimal, replace it.
    2. Cooling components — to maintain, clean out heatsinks with anti-static brush and compressed air and replace the thermal compound / thermal pads of the GPU and CPU.

    The other things you can try to troubleshoot a slow performing laptop is to run a couple of benchmarks and keep an eye on the temps (HwInfo is good for this). You can use Crystal Disk Mark test HDD performance and GeekBench test CPU performance and test it against other similar-specced machines.

    Edit: should also mention MemTest86, a handy RAM diagnostics tool.

    • Noblejoker on 27/04/2015 - 15:37
      +1

      A good answer here
      Heat is usually the issue with laptops and clogged fans etc exacerbate that
      Try a clean out of all you can reach for clean running
      And a new ssd will do wonders - smaller ones very affordable now and can be moved to the next pc when done
      best upgrade possible - although consider a new battery too for longer portable use on an older lappie

    • [Deactivated] on 29/04/2015 - 16:41

      This is what I keep telling people.

      They don't need to buy expensive Macboox

    • diddy50 on 29/04/2015 - 19:44

      Yeah the SSD with Windows 8 made the 5-6 year old xps new again.

  • gawky on 26/04/2015 - 21:18
    +5

    As mentioned above - optimisation and physical maintenance is the most likely culprit for slow down if you are comparing it to brand new state.

    Apple lappys, in my limited experience, seems to keep consistently up to speed. So it is not that laptop just low optimisation and hardware deterioration that goes with age but could also be the engineering/design you end up with.

    Upgrade to an ssd - that is one of the most cost effective ways to make your computer feel "fast".

  • iridiumstem on 26/04/2015 - 21:28
    +3

    Maintanence, definitely. Heat damages the computer components, and laptops have less room for heat dissipation than a desktop.
    Unless you clean the internals frequently, it usually gets filthy and ends up getting heated up too many times, damaging the internals (though degree of this happening is heavily dependent on whether your laptop is designed with heat dissipation in mind). Even if it doesn't get damaged, usually the laptop throttles its performance to stop overheating, meaning that it will become sluggish as a result.

    Not to mention, laptops improved a lot compared to desktops. So laptops might feel more sluggish because the components improved heaps in the time frame.

    So my suggestion is, open the laptop up and clean it. See whether that makes it faster. It might be the laptop throttling because of the overheating issues (I had my laptop crashing with just one internet explorer tab due to overheating issues, so it is possible as far as I see).

  • Axelstrife on 26/04/2015 - 21:35
    +1

    sounds like you don't maintain your pc at all.
    ev3ery one of my laptop which i buy used cause i have limited funds all last way beyond 2 years.

  • mrmarkau67 on 26/04/2015 - 21:47
    +11

    Everyone should keep in mind that all PCs are not created equal. Our family has a 2008 Macbook Air which is still going fine (hinges fixed and battery replaced) and a 2010 Dell Precision that almost made it 5 hard years before blowing something on the motherboard.

    On the other hand my Dell Studio (aka a hotted up Inspiron) only made it three years and even then with multiple visits to the service centre.

    If you want five years, go business class Windows or Apple.

    • CheapandUsed on 26/04/2015 - 22:13
      +6

      I'll second your sentence "If you want five years, go business class Windows or Apple."

      Business class laptops actually don't have the price premium they used to, even the entry level business laptops from HP and Lenovo have significantly better build quality than the consumer equivilents.

    • fleabag on 28/04/2015 - 12:09
      +2

      kind of a counterpoint on apple, is my 2010 macbook pro that had GFX card failures, they did a recall, but it died about 2 an half years into use. Last I heard the 2011 model had the same kind of problems, but they hadn't done a recall so you were SOL if you didn't have apple care.

    • schwinn on 28/04/2015 - 17:15
      +1

      My 2008 macbook air is also going strong. It was one of the first with SSD's, and the 128gb is sufficient for the missus to do her work, basically office worksuite, or RDP'ing to her work VPN.

      I also had the battery replaced and instead of the hinges, they replaced my entire top half (screen etc), everything done 1 month before 3 yr warranty expired. That's Applecare for ya!

      • kyin on 28/04/2015 - 21:20

        Was your MacBook actually damaged or did you ask them to replace it for you?

        • schwinn on 28/04/2015 - 21:23
          +2

          Hinge was actually damaged. It was the old design where if it opened too wide it would bend against itself.
          Battery was also dying, it showed up as needing replacement when the geniuses ran their diagnostic software

  • GnarlyKnuckles on 26/04/2015 - 23:57
    +2

    One thing I'll add to the 'heat-related' issues raised above, is that maybe you should try one of the many available 'cooling pads' that you can get to sit your laptop on. They usually have a few fans, and you can get either USB ones (so no external power-source required), or externally powered ones, depending on your needs/ available resources etc.
    The USB one's can be picked up really cheaply, but of course if you want to maximise the additional cooling you'll achieve with a mat, you would want to use one that was not powered by the lappy you are trying to cool, itself. But even these ones do work really well, to cool a hot laptop, in my personal experience.
    I'm no expert in the field, but I thought I'd mention these mats cause no one above has (oddly?), and the one I have worked absolute wonders for me. I have a cheap POS laptop that used to over-heat and crash all the time, but I bought a USB cooling mat from a '$2 shop' (for about $6, from memory), and it completely solved the problem.
    So that's a 'low cost'option you may wish to explore!

    • scrimshaw on 27/04/2015 - 00:31
      +7

      Cooling mats? Come on, what is that, stuff for millionaires? Just use a floor fan…

      Or if you want serious cooling:
      http://i.imgur.com/JoIuySn.jpg

      • ProjectZero on 27/04/2015 - 14:28

        lol, no joke I actually thought of making that portable AC cooling unit before I spent money on watercooling…

      • ozkiwi75 on 29/04/2015 - 20:18
        +1

        LOL, can't be that serious if he's still using a PS/2 port!

  • navegante88 on 27/04/2015 - 07:20

    Thanks for the tip guys. I think it's most likely heating issues and the fact that the laptop goes through a lot, as it is moved overseas quite a fair bit. I also have no idea how to maintain a laptop but will try the above suggestions.

    Do you think my wife's laptop is worth ressurecting? Specs wise it is fairly decent however, it has a half broken hinge and a few buttons don't work like up and down key plus the del key.

    • iridiumstem on 27/04/2015 - 08:06
      +1

      If it is from 2010, it's the first gen i5. I think it's going to be better for you to upgrade, especially with a half broken hinge and damaged keys (you might be able to fix these, but is it worth the hassle to clean, fix, get an SSD and reinstall Windows, find drivers etc etc?). Just my opinion though.

    • moar bargains on 27/04/2015 - 08:39

      I second the suggestion of replacing this one. Sounds like it wouldn't be worth the effort to me unless you enjoy doing things like that, but now you'll know how to look after the next one!

    • mrmarkau67 on 27/04/2015 - 13:27

      Do you think my wife's laptop is worth ressurecting? Specs wise it is fairly decent however, it has a half broken hinge and a few buttons don't work like up and down key plus the del key.

      Depends on the laptop's other qualities:
      - does it have a great keyboard and trackpad?
      - does it have a great screen?
      - is it nice and slim? or does it have dedicated graphics card which makes it good for gaming?
      - does it have good battery life?

      Or to put it another way … is it more like this? http://www.cnet.com/au/products/sony-vaio-z-series-vpc-z116g…

      Or like this? http://www.cnet.com/au/products/dell-inspiron-15r/

      Another way of looking at it is via eBay. If you could fix it and sell it for $300, but the parts + labour is $350…. then answer is obvious.

    • Seiko on 27/04/2015 - 19:25
      +1

      I have a 3.5k alienware that I was close to turfing. Even after trying another HDD with a fresh install of win8 it still ran like an absolute dog. This comp was regularly cleaned with compressed air and well looked after. I decided to do a full strip, including removing the mobo and removing the CPU.

      Turned out the thermal paste had dried up and the CPU was thermally trotttling.

      Don't let the fact that hot air is not coming out from the CPU fan fool you. In my case it was running cool because the heatsink was not receiving the heat load from the CPU, thus giving you a false sense of security.

      My previous Dell Insperion ran like a champ for over 8 years (hand balled to the wife) Decided to replace it for a host of other reasons, but the was still kicking when retired.

  • SlickMick on 27/04/2015 - 08:07

    I suspect the components start failing, probably due to the heat. Reading above, the cause might be letting the fan get choked with fluff.

  • veej on 27/04/2015 - 08:55
    +3

    There are two main factors in premature death of a laptop.

    One is the overheating issue as mentioned several times. If you don't clean out the heatsink/fan the crud gets trapped in between these two components. Unfortunately some laptops are designed in such a way that to access these to clean they make it extremely difficult. Some are only accessible via way of removing the motherboard. If you are lucky or do your research before purchase you might end up with one where it's extremely easy to clean out via way of a bottom access panel.

    Two is the hard drive. Since laptops are moved around a lot they are prone to shock damage from jolts which accounts for the higher failure rate of a laptop hard drive compared to a desktop. If they don't just die they start slowing down and it's one of the first things I'd check on a laptop that's slow regardless on whether or not the operating system needs to be formatted for a clean install.

    • OBEY YOUR MASTERS on 27/04/2015 - 09:07
      +1

      +1

      Take the covers off and blow out the dust carefully.

      In my experience bad HDD's can slow things down dramatically. Do a test with HDD sentinel (or equivalent) to see where the health is at. Chances are there are bad sectors the drive is trying to read from or re-allocate. Might be time to replace it.

  • Mobe1969 on 27/04/2015 - 08:55
    +2

    It is odd, but my home laptop was bought back in 2009 (a dell studio 15 with a 1080p screen), and is still going fine. It isn't high spec, just a core 2 duo with 4GB. I recently replaced the HDD with a hybrid 1TB and rebuilt it, and have replaced the optical drive, but I have no complaints or need to upgrade for my home usage. If it developed a terminal physical fault I would, but not something easy to replace like a HDD or keyboard etc.

    My work ones though I've had so much trouble. We have had vostros another dell business ones that seem to timebomb. Like fine for a couple of years and then just inexplicably bad, even after rebuilds. My current one is getting replaced, because it was just getting inexplicably slow. Like hdd io or something. It is nearly unusable. I'm a longtime (since 91) windows developer so I'm not approaching this stuff blind. I have so little installed (I don't even have outlook installed I just use web mail), but I do have development stuff installed that I don't at home. But the behaviour I see is slow when there is a reasonable amount of spare physical ram, and plenty of spare cpu and cores.

  • Hellfire on 27/04/2015 - 08:57

    I've got a dell xps 1330 that I bought in 2007 that is still performing well. Battery life sucks at around 1hr but we just leave it plugged in most of the time. My wife uses it regularly for office and web browsing/youtube/facebook with no slowness.

    • Ramrunner on 27/04/2015 - 09:32

      +1 for the XPS range. The JBL speakers have blown up since I gave it to my son a few years ago, but otherwise performance wise the best lasting laptop I've bought so far….ALTHOUGH my Asus UX31A is catching up.

      All others have been crap so far, and I've gone through heaps.

      • rapoot6 on 27/04/2015 - 18:59

        Top notch build quality. Excellent customer service when things go wrong with next day on site repair. We have 2 in our home

  • Mobe1969 on 27/04/2015 - 09:12
    +3

    I wonder too if the bloating of the OS itself is a problem. For example, now when you install windows 7, even with the latest release available, you have about a gigabyte / 200 updates that get patched onto the OS. There is no such thing as a clean version of the OS. Even if you install a latest download of 8.1 you have a load of updates needed.

    • arescarti42 on 29/04/2015 - 13:59
      +1

      This is not something to underestimate.

      I was gobsmacked when installing windows 7 onto an old desktop the other day. Before installing all the updates the machine was idling using about 500mb of ram, once it'd finished updating it was more like 1.8gb of ram just idling the OS.

    • Claggs on 29/04/2015 - 18:47

      wat?

  • blitz on 27/04/2015 - 10:54
    +1

    In addition to what everyone else has said, don't forget to defragment your hard drive. I still regularly use an old Samsung from 2009 - in fact, it's running so well that when I bought my new Samsung, I actually left it in the box for a year before getting the time to switch over. I keep both working by defragging and removing software that I do't need or use.

    • Mobe1969 on 27/04/2015 - 11:31

      From Windows 7 on, by default it schedules a defrag to occur weekly.

      It really is odd the behaviour we've noticed on some machines though…

  • akastyl13 on 27/04/2015 - 12:13
    +2

    Hi mate,

    Hardware components are definitively aging thru time on a laptop.

    Here are some tips if you are not a "geek" or into computer:

    1/ Never watch a movie or use your laptop laying directly on your bed. The blanket will completely isolate the air ways of your computer and it will heat up much more than if you rest your computer on a table or something flat. (I always use a book of a computer stand when I am in bed)
    2/ Computer off, remove battery and use Air-Spray can to clean fans and aeration without having to open your computer
    3/ Run CCleaner once a month, and defrag your computer
    4/ Think again about 1/, after 2 years I can tell you your computer will be grateful about that one
    5/ if your computer is still incredibly slow after a windows reinstall, you might want to open it and give it a great clean
    6/ if it is still slow, go for a SSD. It will change your life.

    I have an i5 computer since 2012, and it still runs like a dream. I have had a SSD from day one that I installed, and when I look at my friend's laptop brand new i7 with 8gb of ram, well I am not ashamed about mine running "faster" than theirs :)

    • kawinuyo on 28/04/2015 - 15:46
      +2

      Don't defrag if you have a SSD though!

      • akastyl13 on 28/04/2015 - 16:06

        Correct! Haha

  • bigticket on 27/04/2015 - 12:44

    If heat is an issue then would it not be best to find out your CPU specs and run diagnostic software checking temps and frequencies on all cores before doing anything else?

  • cupcake on 27/04/2015 - 14:53

    I've had my laptop for 5 years and it's only starting to slow down now. Thanks for the suggestions, guys.

    The laptop I had before that lasted 7 years and also died a slow death! lol

  • tonyjzx on 27/04/2015 - 15:58

    i think you guys are buying the wrong laptops

    eg. one of my most used laptops is a 12" Lenovo x200, 4gb, 120gb ssd, windows 7

    i dont have a great deal of apps on it except for productivity and its a general road use unit

    original battery still does 6hrs plus

    do antivirus thingos still use too much disc and mem?

    • iridiumstem on 27/04/2015 - 16:06

      You bought a laptop in the lenovo's business laptop range (ThinkPad x, t, w lines are business grade laptop line).
      I think this coincides with what everyone is saying, "buy a business grade laptop, if you want it to last"?

    • congo on 13/06/2015 - 10:01

      My old IBM T40 which I got for $2K at the time, still runs ok (for web browsing, office 2003 and movies) after 12 years :-)

  • smpantsonfire on 27/04/2015 - 16:24
    +6

    Macbook Pro 2009 here, 5/6 years on, battery 4hrs. Going strong, I should put an SSD in though.

    • exp1 on 27/04/2015 - 20:45
      +2

      same here, macbook pro 2010. upgraded the optical bay with an ssd

    • SeVeN11 on 28/04/2015 - 23:52

      Come to think of it my primary machine is an early 2008 Macbook (the old white unibody ones)
      I use it daily for day to day use.
      Specs are not spectacular.
      * 2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
      * upgraded go 4GB 667 MHz DDR2 SDRAM
      * Intel GMA X3100 144MB
      * Running the latest OSX Lion 10.7.5 (can't upgrade any further)
      * I also dropped a SSD in here 1-2 years ago. <=== SSD is a MUST!

      I do zero maintenance on this except the RAM and SSD upgrade.
      Apart from needing to wait a good minute for the screen to brighten up it just never dies.
      It's will be 9 years in a couple of months and I think it will last many more years to come especially after that SSD!

      During this period, I've have churn through 4-5 dell/lenovo laptops/pc. - the reason why I had to replace them is because they actually die, either the graphics card dies or some overheating problem or the keyboard becomes possessed.

      I was thinking about getting a surface pro as my next device, but after writing this I might stick with a mac and just dual boot it with windows.

    • phamid on 29/04/2015 - 02:18

      MBP Early 2011. Upgraded HDD to SSD, removed DVD for another HDD and bumped up RAM to 16GB. Four years in service and no hiccups.

  • captobvious on 27/04/2015 - 16:30
    +1

    an ssd will make a world of difference in any laptop. Even A hybrid hdd Helps a bit. Gave a 10yr old hunk of junk IBM t60 work like a dream with new legs.

  • [Deactivated] on 27/04/2015 - 17:29

    LG lw40 purchased on 05 and still going strong even though battery lasts less the 2 hours but is a perfect backup tool. Never plugged into internet has win xp and used for backing up and running offline software.

    ASUS eeepc 1000h used as daily got a replacement extended battery and can go 10 hours doing the basics like web surfing emailing and office applications but it is running xubuntu now.

    Would not want to trade these off as they work well.

    Also have an optiplex desktop and some older single core machines working great.

  • watty on 27/04/2015 - 17:40
    +1

    I've owned a Sony Vaio since 2008 and it's still going strong. I've smashed it pretty hard accidentally one time causing it to shut down completely but luckily it still works fine. Only complaint is the slow load up (no surprise there) and the battery life which lasts about 30 minutes before it prompts you to recharge the battery.

    • kawinuyo on 28/04/2015 - 15:47

      me too! I've owned two Sony Vaio. The one from 2004 is still working but slow (so my mum uses that). And the one I currently have is from 2009 and still runs the latest games so can't argue with that!

      I think being made in Japan has something to do with it though. My cousin went through 2 sony vaios made in China in the time I had one.

      • SlickMick on 29/04/2015 - 08:31

        My wife got a Sony Vaio in Singapore (not sure where manufactured) - it's the one playing up and seems to be hot and logging errors that seem like might indicate memory is failing.

  • bjdchwr on 27/04/2015 - 19:16

    I got a Acer 4920G with T8100 and 4GB of RAM in 2008. It was getting slow so I decide to change the paste and swap the HDD to SSD.

    Everything is still running smoothly and the Windows 7 is running fast on that machine even if the motherboard is equipped with SATA 2.

    I would recommended you do a little upgrade (SSD and RAM is quite cheap now) which will make your laptop fresh :-)

  • srr on 27/04/2015 - 19:21

    I've got an HP born in 2007 - still going strong. As others mentioned you need to clean heatsinks/fans once in a while, normally once a year.

    • watty on 27/04/2015 - 19:35

      Touched nothing with my sony, in fact mum uses it now and she says why on Earth did I waste money buying another laptop lol.

  • iSamurai on 27/04/2015 - 19:30
    +3

    I have a mid 2011 MacBook Air and a mid 2010 iMac. They are still going strong and running smoothly on 10.10 and have no urge to upgrade anytime soon (I did upgrade the iMac's RAM). They are still very nimble but I've done a couple of reformats over the years. The MacBook's battery still lasts for about 4 hours doing web surfing and word processing. All parts of the hardware works and nothing has been broken.

    I think Apple computers generally last longer. I may be a bit biased as I like to use Apple products but I look after my stuff regardless of the brand. On the other hand, I feel Apple iPhones/iPads don't last as long. iPhone battery dies after ~2 years and I had to replace it myself, and over the years iOS lags more and more on older devices.

    If you're experiencing problems you might want to disassemble the computer and clean out the dust inside. It causes the CPU to heat up quickly. When Apple recalled the hard drive in my iMac, some guy came to my house to replace it — I was surprised the amount of dust it has collected over a few years when he opened the computer up.

    • scrimshaw on 27/04/2015 - 19:46
      +1

      You get what you pay for. A minimum starting price tag of $1.2k generally gets you a well built machine. Thing is, Apple don't make mediocre machines (and they don't sell cheap laptops either). They only make high end stuff, because if they built a lower end device it would tarnish their image and reputation of being a premium manufacturer.

      Other manufacturers on the other hand… let's say Dell. Dell has many different product lines for different markets — Venue, Inspiron, XPS, Latitude, Optiplex and the list goes on, but they're all priced very differently ranging from a super cheap $400 netbook to a ridiculously expensive $3000 ultra-rugged corporate laptop.

      • iridiumstem on 27/04/2015 - 19:50
        +1

        Just adding on, Apple does have advantage of being the both manufacturer and the OS supplier. MacOS only need to support certain hardware, meaning that it's going to be better for optimisation.

        In hindsight, I should've replied to iSamurai

  • [Deactivated] on 27/04/2015 - 20:22

    I think that everyone else has pretty much well covered it, I just want to add though, HDDs do deteriorate in speed over time. A new HDD would improve it back to factory speed but if you're replacing it anyway go with a SSD without thinking twice about it.

    • McFly on 28/04/2015 - 13:53

      HDDs do deteriorate in speed over time

      No, that's incorrect.
      Never heard that one before…

      • [Deactivated] on 28/04/2015 - 14:53

        I have worked in the field and this seems to be the case, no matter how many defrags I do they wear and eventually fail.

        • McFly on 30/04/2015 - 00:48

          Any mechanical device will eventually fail - a HDD will just stop working at some point, not slowly… slow down (well, maybe due to a stack of bad sectors but that stuff used to happen a looong time ago.)

        • [Deactivated] on 30/04/2015 - 09:31

          @McFly: sometimes it will just crash (click of death) but slowdowns (even when seatools/dlg says it's ok even when it is ridiculously slow) is ok too.

          When this has happened I can then duplicate the HDD which could take up to 48 hours and the data would be intact (obviously restore from backup it's preferred but not everyone does).

          I would estimate it happens like this about half the time a fund fails when dealing with mainly cheap consumer desktops/laptops.

  • xuqi on 27/04/2015 - 20:23

    I suggest the following:

    • Clean out the cooling system using some compressed air.
    • Change HDD to an SSD

    It would also help if the system had 4GB's of RAM.

  • Feeblely on 27/04/2015 - 20:58
    +1

    macbook pro 2010 going strong. i play league on it daily lol.

    • centrelink on 28/04/2015 - 22:56

      I tried league on it as well and I must say its quite difficult with its keyboard layout. Do you just add a separate keyboard to it?

      • Feeblely on 29/04/2015 - 19:19

        ye keyboard layout sucks. i dont use the shift and cnrtl keys so it doesnt bother me too much.

  • tc4101 on 27/04/2015 - 21:19
    -1

    Stop installing virus scanners and ask Jeeves toolbars.

    A 2010 i5 is plenty fast for someone doing word excel and internet browsing.

  • TScott on 27/04/2015 - 21:24

    I still use my 10 year old (2005) HP business class laptop. I have only upgraded the ram over the years. It has a great high res screen too. The thing has taken numerous falls and still no LCD breakages yet. Runs youtube, chrome, microsoft office perfectly. I also have a 2010 macbook pro but the thing became slow after the recent Yosemite OS upgrade; I might downgrade it back to mountain lion. However, if I was to buy another laptop I would buy another business class HP laptop over a macbook because there are always stories of their graphics failing from mid 2010 to 2012.

  • geoffellis on 27/04/2015 - 21:37
    +2

    You need to choose the right brand/model.

    A really cheap laptop - of course it's not going to last as long. a 5$ pair of thongs isn't going to last as long as a 150$ pair in most cases. Better quality components.

    Conversely, a really expensive laptop, particularly those targeted at gamers, will not last as long because they are designed/configured to get the most bang for their buck. they overclock and stress the components to get that extra fps, etc.

    A mid range, good quality laptop, in the 1200-2500$ range will probably last for years. I have a Toshiba Tecra that was manufactured in 2009 that I was using right up until the end of 2014… because it had started to have cooling issues. Thats a solid 5 years of use. I even had the Toshiba laptop I bought in 2005 until 2011, at which point I gave it my younger siblings because I had upgraded and was planning on travelling. No issues except for a small dent in the screen where a small rock hit it. I also had a highend dell that lasted from 2007 to 2011 at which point i also gave it to my siblings. had no issues at the time. You may say 'hey! you upgraded every 2 years' - and sure - I did. but im a tech guy. I like having the latest and greatest. still got solid use out of the older ones as secondary workstations, file servers, media servers, etc. The reason I stuck with my last one for so long was because I travelled from 2011 to 2014 and had no desire to upgrade.

    But ya - I also do Laptop Repair as a hobby/side job. A decent laptop has no problems lasting for years… far more than 2. Just gotta spend a decent amount of money at the outset. I work part-time at a used computer store when im not in uni and they have decent quality laptops still running well on XP. batteries are shot, but they run perfectly fine. Most of their laptops for sale are 2011 and older. but they are all decent quality dells, toshiba's, etc that had a 1000-1500$+ price tag to begin with.

    But its up to you. You could spent 500$ on a low-end laptop every 2 years. Or you could spent 1000-1500$ every 3-4-5 years. Though by year 4-5 you're probably still at the same specs as the low-end laptop you would have bought 2 years earlier. so meh. doesn't really make a difference in the long run.

    • paulojr on 28/04/2015 - 22:45

      I agree.

      I've got a couple HP nx7010's which are around 10 years old and going strong. The quality of these units is significantly different to the consumer grade shite that is sold today (e.g. samstung, asus, etc) so definitely build quality is a key factor. StinkPads are also good. (ThinkPads) Macbook Pros are also generally high grade and can run windows if required.

  • vivasawadee on 27/04/2015 - 21:39

    Run malwarebytes and remove malware

    • [Deactivated] on 29/04/2015 - 19:19

      SO true

  • sal78 on 27/04/2015 - 22:55
    +1

    have had macbook pro for 5 yrs. never going back.

  • [Deactivated] on 27/04/2015 - 23:57

    Still have an IBM Thinkpad in use from the Protozoic period I think, monitoring outdoor webcams and uploading, so they can last 10-15 years.

    My laptop problems have been with the charging system/battery on all my laptops go first. I have five currently, none are portable now. I wonder if this is common or just bad luck.

  • Talonparty on 28/04/2015 - 01:19

    There's nothing wrong with old laptops. I'm using a 2008 hp and have been using it for years. Upgraded to 7200 rpm drive + ssd (has two slots). Put windows 8 on it and added a usb3 cardbus card plus a new battery. Thing is fantastic and I'm going to be using it for a long time yet I think.

    The key is that I downloaded the service manual and learned how to open it up and get to the fan. Gotta keep it clean because it will lower the cpu clock speed if it can't shed enough heat quickly enough.

    • mrmarkau67 on 28/04/2015 - 13:58

      Pavilion, Probook, Elitebook or other?

      • Talonparty on 28/04/2015 - 17:14

        pavilion, dv7-1005tx i think. it's huge and not very portable, but the response time is great since I put the ssd in

  • umoddbro on 28/04/2015 - 07:55
    +2

    I've had my Macbook Air for 4 years and it's still good as new. I've never encountered any slow downs or issues whatsoever. I've maybe dropped it about a hundred times as well. The Lenovo Thinkpad which I had before this broke within a year, and it was supposed to be a 'durable' laptop as well. My brother is still using his Macbook Pro after 6 years and I think he's only had to bring it in once to Apple to replace the battery. So I reckon it's better to invest in something which costs a bit more and lasts you a long time as opposed to a cheaper one which will need to be replaced after 2 years.

  • Praeto on 28/04/2015 - 08:53
    +2

    I still have the first Macbook Pros I bought in 2006, and they're still running fine. The only hardware that will almost definitely fail in older laptops, is the battery.

    I always order my laptops with the maximum amount of RAM that can be installed in them, and I've found it has the biggest impact on the longevity of the machine. Throwing an SSD in an old laptop will also make it feel like new.

    • smpantsonfire on 28/04/2015 - 21:09
      +1

      I wouldn't even say the Battery is hardware, I would class it as consumable, so replacing the battery is like changing tyres.

  • untg on 28/04/2015 - 09:41
    +2

    I've got a 2009 MacBook Pro and just (yesterday) had the battery replaced and new power adapter (I bought a crappy aftermarket which failed). It now works just like new, they even cleaned it up for me and I'm really happy with it. I plan to get at least another 5 years out of it. Cannot get that from a dodgy plastic thing, most laptops I've bought over the years do start to fail on the 2.5-3 year mark because of poor build quality but these Mac's are as reliable as they get.

  • edfrane on 28/04/2015 - 10:06

    I recommend cleaning up the fans + Heat sinks from dust.
    Also, maybe apply a new thermo paste for the heat sink, as your current most likely be cheap and all dried up by now.
    You can download a trusted program, or view via BIOS your CPU temperature, to see if this is the case.

    As Laptop VS desktop. It really depends on how either of them are built. Some are built to last, where some are built just to last for the warranty period.
    Companies think they can get away with laptops, as it's all compacted, and easier just to buy a new one, hence the lower overall lifespan. Where as desktops tend to last longer, as everything isn't so compacted and joined, so it's easier to replace, so they don't even try.

  • systema on 28/04/2015 - 10:43

    3 things that desktops are usually better spec'd than laptops of similar price range.

    1. GPU - Midrange desktop usually have discrete graphics while mid-range laptop usually comes with integrated Intel graphics. Integrated graphics is usually designed to meet the basic requirements of the software when it is first released (i.e. 2/3 years ago in your case), they don't usually leave much performance headroom for future proofing.

    2. RAM - Midrange laptop tends to underspec the amount of memory a few years back (usually 2-4GB of RAM alongside with 32bit OS), which was adequate at that point of time, but unlikely to be adequate these days. At the same time, manufacturer usually fit more RAM on desktops when compared to laptops.

    3. HDD - Hard drive size sells, so most manufacturers tend to sacrifice hard drive performance (320GB hybrid) for hard drive size and form factor (slow 500GB 5400rpm 7mm drive) on laptops. However, you usually see 7200rpm hard drives as they don't really cost that much more compared to slower ones and form factor is less of an issue there.

  • tonyjzx on 28/04/2015 - 10:53

    i think the biggest issue is the HDD

    i just did a reinstall of an old 2010 spec HP which is quad core, 4Gb and 5,400rpm hdd

    its ok, not bad but not great

    also i think my expectations of speed has improved since 2010

    with an ssd i think it'd be a lot better

  • [Deactivated] on 28/04/2015 - 12:12

    I have 3 windows based mid price range laptops; MSI 610 built 2005, HP pavillion DV6000 built 2008, Lenovo E520 built 2012 they are all still going fine. I clean the fans and have replaced a hard drive in one. Apart from one of my kids ripping apart one of the keyboards and eating the rubbers the laptops are still all 100%

  • Danthemanz on 28/04/2015 - 13:53

    I hope you are running the latest drivers!

    Seriously, any i5 laptop ever made with a new added SSD, fresh load of windows 7/8 and the correct drivers will run chrome/youtube just fine and actualy be quite fast for 90% of PC tasks.

    • mrmarkau67 on 28/04/2015 - 13:58

      And 4GB of RAM.

  • ITveteran on 28/04/2015 - 17:32

    OP must have been confused by this flood of enthusiasm. I think you properly save more by hiring a computer service guy to do the diagnostics and optimization than combing through these messages and trying out. However I would like to offer you my two cents for simple troubleshooting.
    First you try installing Windows cleanly and see how the system responds. If it's slow then it has to be hardware issue, such as hard drive degraded or faulty processor(damaged cache can dramatically slow down the processor). Otherwise if the performance is good then it's very likely your application software is contaminated with malware - sometimes from antivirus software. Remember I'd you are using Windows 8.1 you don't have to install third party AV software as Windows defender it's more than capable of protecting your computer. Add back your applications one by one to see which is the culprit.
    Good luck.

    • veej on 28/04/2015 - 23:42

      I dare say a processor is the least of someones worries on a laptop, they rarely ever fail. If something hardware related dies it's nearly always the hard drive or the motherboard.

  • jaybo on 29/04/2015 - 08:48

    Moore's law.

  • MementoMori on 29/04/2015 - 09:17

    I had a hard time explaining to my Mum why her 1 year old $800 ASUS laptop is practically unusable.

    It never went anywhere, just sat on her desk, always plugged in. The battery died after being constantly plugged in but still the thing runs terribly… so bad I literally can't use the thing.

    Dust could be a possibility, but I doubt it… once again it just lives in the study on a desk and is rarely used by 2x 60+ year olds.

    I think there is something else going on other than HDD faults, this laptop never moves.

    • akastyl13 on 29/04/2015 - 13:34
      +1

      viruses & spywares.
      people that did not grow with a computer do not know to NOT click on the banner, the ad, the pop-up windows that says you won $1,000, dont know to not download skype from "dodgydownload.com" etc etc.
      Viruses and Spywares are the main reasons why a computer that is not used for crazy things is slowing down

  • birdmaster on 29/04/2015 - 09:41

    Just to share my personal Experience i had bought 5 Windows Laptops since Jan 2005 To December 2011 which is 7 year life span and after using all the laptops Average use of software not much of web browsing and any thing excessive and with full care of them always keep them clean and cooled environment. None of them give me a solid 2 year. All of them were made me to reach a stage that i was pulling my hairs to get them work.

    Than i decided to try differently i bought Mac Book Pro in December 2011 Until now its all most 3.5 Years and no complain. Not to mention all my previous Laptops were top the price over AU$ 1000. Now a days laptops are of similar specs are a lot cheaper you can get them easily around 500-700. I remember my first Laptop was 1500 and Next one was 1800.

    Actually my usage is more than the Double of these Windows Laptops because of much faster speed, consistency and no unusual stuck between work and no hard restart of Mac book pro 10 times a day.

    My Macbook gives me still 5 hours of usage after full charge and none of these laptops were giving me 2 hours of usage after 6 months of their usage. And I used to got Max 2 hours even when they were New.

    As i am ozbargainer now even some body gives me free laptops i will not accept them as i will consider the cost of electricity and my time to running and maintaining them is much more valuable than these piece of craps.

    Note: I am not a Apple Fan boy any more only sharing facts of my life.

  • xsacha on 29/04/2015 - 11:30
    +1

    I have a HP core i5 laptop from 2010 just like your wife's. Still in use and as fast as the day I bought it - fairly similar speed to brand new laptops.
    My secrets:
    1. I'm using a SSD. It just makes everything crazy fast.
    2. I clean out the inside of the laptop from dust every year. The computer gets noticeably slower if there is too much dust build up or the heatsink or fans aren't working properly.
    Dust is a problem no matter where your laptop lives. Mine just sits on a desk since the battery died long ago.

  • frewer on 29/04/2015 - 12:00

    My Hp Pentium 4 Pavillion 5000 did last me seven years. Beside what others mention above, i did open it up and clean out the dust though ( after the warranty period of course )

  • DrPayne1990 on 29/04/2015 - 21:12

    Because as a society we are getting more and more impatient with technology.

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