Reply to: How often do you get a new laptop?

[TroubleAtMill]

My 2006 MBP is still a very capable machine but it's started to randomly stop responding (not grey-screen-of-death crashing, everything just freezes*) and as I use it as my primary work machine it made business sense to replace.

*I suspect that it's overheating due to bad airflow.

I'll be taking delivery of a new 17" MBP in a week or so

[scooterscot]

Both my macs, iMac & macbook pro, are 4 & 2 years old, respectively. Still as fast as the day I purchased them, cannot think of reason to upgrade....

I'm sure they'll not last forever though.

[xux42]

I think if you buy a good one each time (good spec and good manufacturer), I think 3 years is a good time regarding performance improvements from having a new system, software compatibility and gettings your £££ worth out of the purchase.

T43P Apr 2007 2Ghz single processor, hi performance HDD, hires screen, mag. alloy casing 3yr onsite £750
Upgraded to 2GB RAM 2009 £40.
Probably replace 2013/4

Spend more on a good one and concentrate on the important things in life not PC website window shopping?

[SuperZ]

I think if you buy a good one each time (good spec and good manufacturer), I think 3 years is a good time regarding performance improvements from having a new system, software compatibility and gettings your £££ worth out of the purchase.

Had one or maybe two laptops that I kept for only a year - both shi* (one was an eMachines). My last DellI kept for 3 years, my new Dell is already 15months old but performs beautifully with 4GB memory and a 2.5 dual core processor which even today is a good spec for a laptop. I may even get Win7 for it also, and it will accept an SSD if prices come down.

If you buy a PC world £250 special then you're looking at replacing every year probably as it'll soon irratate the hell out of ya

[Bright Spark]

I buy one every two years and put it through the company, mostly they
are lenovo thinkpad which have great keyboard and good performance and
keep their value.

what I worked out is that it costs me very little compared to buying
it privately ie, buy lenovo for £1k get tax deduction offset say 25% also
i get addtional 10% discount from lenovo as a corporate + reclaim vat, then resell after two yrs on ebay for £400-450.

Other benefit is they covered under warranty one model developed some
dead pixels after a year and I managed to get the screen replaced for free.

[The Wikir Man]

If something like the screen packs up after the 1 year warranty expires, you are quids in.

If something like the screen packs up after a year, then you'd have a very good case for a free repair under the Sale of Goods Act anyway.

[Sysman]

You've just given me my justification for buying Mac as opposed to a PC laptop.

(I've never quite managed to hit the 'confirm' purchase button up until now...)

Ta NF!

Do consider purchasing AppleCare. You don't have to buy it at the same time as you buy a system:

The AppleCare Protection Plan can be purchased only while your Mac or Apple display is still covered under the standard one-year limited warranty.

If something like the screen packs up after the 1 year warranty expires, you are quids in.

[Sysman]

spilling beer and fag ash on it
FTFY

This is one reason that I use an external keyboard and mouse when using my laptop at home. I can shove the laptop to the back of the desk and out of harm's way.

Those old Apple white plastic keyboards were a magnet for cups of tea. I was getting through two or three keyboards a year until I invested in the aluminium variety.

[expat]

I tend to ruin laptops normally due to water and dust ingress

spilling beer and fag ash on it
FTFY

[cojak]

My MacBook will be four years old this summer. I'm planning to replace the current 250/5400 HDD with a 500/7200 at some point, mainly because I've only got about 60Gig left, but other than that it's just fine running Mail, multiple browsers, Eclipse, Apache/PHP/MySQL, XCode/Interface Builder, iPhone Simulator, Pages, Numbers, Keynote, Preview with multiple large PDF documents open, iTunes, Transmit, iPhoto, iDVD, iMovie... and usually a few other things, all at the same time under Snow Leopard. Oh, and a Windows VM under Parallels when I need one to test stuff on IE or do some debugging in Visual Studio.

I doubt I'll see any need to upgrade until it's at least five years old. In fact, when I get an iPad for general web browsing, email, video, and so forth, there's a good chance the MacBook will serve mainly as a development machine for longer than that.

You've just given me my justification for buying Mac as opposed to a PC laptop.

(I've never quite managed to hit the 'confirm' purchase button up until now...)

Ta NF!

[portseven]

[QUOTE=wxman;1123922]I tend to ruin laptops normally due to water and dust ingress
[QUOTE]

Tried a toughbook?

[FarmerPalmer]

I tend to ruin laptops normally due to water and dust ingress

Thats why mine travels in a Peli case these days

So for me is is about one every 12 months - I tend to buy one of "yesterdays models - i.e. a current model six months ago but not one of todays current flagship powerhouse.

I always go for a branded make - often a Dell but the last two have been Lenovo (I love the keysboards)

Lenovo for me too - Dual Core, Upgraded the RAM after 18 months from 1g to 2g to run a few XP embedded virtual machines, and probably replace at 3 years ... so that'll be in the next 6 months then

[Spacecadet]

I always go for a branded make - often a Dell but the last two have been Lenovo (I love the keysboards)

do they help your typing?

[wxman]

I tend to ruin laptops normally due to water and dust ingress



So for me is is about one every 12 months - I tend to buy one of "yesterdays models - i.e. a current model six months ago but not one of todays current flagship powerhouse.

I always go for a branded make - often a Dell but the last two have been Lenovo (I love the keysboards)

[The Wikir Man]

I buy one when I can justify it.

In the past 4 years, I've bought 4.

Acer Travelmate 3000 - now in use by my wife.
Zoostorm something or other - rarely used, but at the time of buying was one of the few laptops with a big enough hard drive to install and run 11i comfortably.
eeePC - used for travelling,and when I don't need to do anything major
Toshiba Portege M800 - current main one. Replaced the HDD with a 600GB one this year, so it has enough disk space to run my R12.1.1 virtual machine.

Can't see me buying another one for a while - until this one dies. It does everything I need it to do and then some, and I can't really see my demands growing much.