Laptop Life Expectancy

How long do laptops usually last? My Samsung laptop is now 3 years old and I use it mostly for school, gaming and watching movies. For these reasons, most especially gaming, it is plugged in most of the time. How much longer do you think my laptop will last before I get a new one?

I have a laptop that still works after 20 years and a laptop that died in less than 2 years

I guess one is a think pad and the other was a toshiba.

Your laptop probably came with Windows 8 or 8.1 and most likely has serviceable parts and hardware, so you can make it last long if you maintain it properly - every 6~12 months you should disassemble it and clean the fans, inlets and any other dusty parts. Applying new thermal paste is also a good idea every now and then.

Batteries are hit-or-miss. My 2008 Toshiba's battery still lasts about 45mins to an hour after all these years - I've used it mainly plugged to AC, sometimes leaving it overnight downloading stuff. On the other hand, my brother's laptop from 2011 barely holds 10 mins after being unplugged and he's used it mostly just like I do.

In my laptop's case I have replaced the hard disk in 3 years with a bigger one (original disk still works fine), while RAM is still stock.
Recently I bought a similar model with mainboard issues (mine uses intel, the broken one AMD) on Ebay to use as a repair parts source. Used it to replace the whole upper part (the screen assembly) because my original one had trouble with the stock video cable and the LCD inverter was failing. The original screen assembly can still be repaired by replacing these, but in the broken laptop I also got a replacement touchpad, keyboard, ribbon cables, speakers, and a lot of other parts - and it cost me just about the same as buying a new inverter and video cable would've.
I've cleaned the heatsink and replaced thermal paste a few times, too. Still running strong.

I honestly prefer older laptops because 1) they're not like today's Apple wannabes with their 'thinness' bullshit and un-replaceable parts 2) they lack the ultra spying processors of today 3) as long as I don't care about gaming, performance is good.

See if you can get your laptop's service manual. HP has them available to the public for all of their systems which is handy but other manufacturers like Toshiba do not.

There's a 16 year old ThinkPad T22 under my bed, it has the common VRM issue but when it boots, it works fine. Even the original HDD works fine too.

I own a Toshiba that has seen daily use since 2008.

Battery is dead, other than that still works great.

High end laptops are usually built to a better standard of quality than cheap ones. It's often best to own a used, quality, laptop than a new low-spec one .

So it's from the same time as mine? What kind? I got a Satellite M305 here.

You can probably find replacement batteries for your model online - as for mine I'll wait until it dies completely before replacing it.

I've had inconsistent lifespans with laptops. The worst have been around 2 years, mainly ones with heat issues. I bought into the gaymen laptop meme once and I learned my lesson. Even with a gigantic external fan the thing could hardly run any games and never cooled off at all. It could never last on charge at any point, two hours tops. The hard drive failed in about a year and the whole thing crapped out in two.

The best are still living after 5+ years, although the batteries usually fail after a couple. Those are typically netbooks and smaller laptops with very modest specs, even the really cheap ones. I don't think I can ever go back to full size laptops after using them.

Well, since CPU performance is hitting diminishing returns, and since there are no plans to start development on DDR5 anytime soon, and since Intel is stating Kaby Lake is only marginally better at certain things than Skylake while AMD is saying Zen will remain on the market for at least another 4 years. I would say, that if you were to buy a new Intel Skylake i7 based laptop right now, that it would easily last you well over 5 years and possibly well beyond. I would even say it would last you a decade easily if you don't cheap out and buy one with shitty build quality. Remember, there are a lot of laptops from 2010 still around and that was 7 years ago

I had an HP laptop from 2011 that still had a good 5-6 hour battery life. Damn thing was indestructible, only thing that killed it was a car accident. It got ran over I think.

3 years max at daily use.
5-6 if you do normie shit.

mmmmmm kkkk

go back to the board you came from, or lurk more.

Yeah I am pretty n00b with everything - not going to lie.
I know ThinkPads and MSI's expensive shells can be easily dissembled, and some even allow CPU changes, but why would you ever need thermal paste on a tiny laptop CPU.

Because it's needed for it, dumbass. A laptop CPU is no different than a desktop CPU.

That's just wrong, the RAM, Hard drive and CPU are all quite different :) :)

Fuck off, retard. Go back to the board you came from.

But you're wrong amigo

Laptop CPUs are just binned CPUs for a particular heat output profile and configured a certain way, it's the same shit. SO-DIMM is the same shit, and 2.5" isn't really different, very rare but you might find improved vibration/shock resistance on laptop HDs.
>>>Holla Forums
Fuck off, moron. Stop trying to pretend you're an ebin troll, no one fucking cares that you're desperate for attention to stave off suicide.

i have this lil nigga, still working.. installed windows 95 and i play starcraft on it, and getting to internet via pcmcia card on lynx/links

I've never had a chance to know my hardware for longer than three years. My first laptop got sold because my family needed money, I had used it for around 2 years. My second laptop got stolen in a burglary, it lasted me around 3 years. My third laptop got smashed when my mother decided it would be a fun childrens toy for her visitors children. And now I'm on a macbook pro (since mid 2015) and living in my own place. I really hope this one lasts.

Speaking of which, is ~75 an alright load temperature for a laptop? I'm tweaking my fan control script and I want the load temps to be at a high, but still reasonable number under load.

What said. Goddamn, go get a hardware spec sheet or something - your ignorance is showing at full force.

Thermal paste is needed just like with normal desktop CPUs because, you know... they heat up! Seriously... Unless you're using one of these crappy tablet-tier processors like Apple does with their basic 1-usb-C port macbooks, of course.

Your desperate attempts at cheap trolling don't help discussion, but here you go:
You already failed with hard drives, considering a 2.5'' drive can be easily installed on a desktop chassis and it will work directly.
RAM SO-DIMMs are simply a smaller profile. The way they work is the same.
And CPUs are still the same thing, normally with a lower number of pins and a thinner profile because they lack the heat spreader on top.


75ºC is okay for under load. I have tropical climate year-round here and my laptop used to reach 85ºC on heavy loads and 60ºC idle in the hottest days. The t-junction in most CPUs is 100ºC. Reach that and it'll critically shut down. I had that almost happen once in the first year or so of my laptop. Was doing heavy work in a warehouse with no ventilation in a really hot day. Reached 95ºC but didn't go over that thankfully
After a much needed cleanup and thermal paste change, my laptop's numbers switched to 72~75ºC loaded and 48~50ºC idle.

Starcraft on a nub mouse?

fellow poorfag, macs are not the answer.

I'm on a 5 yo HP Pavilion with firm Win 8 and Debian dualbooted.
CONS: I had to replace the battery after a year and the thing comes with a hair-dyer always-on.
I've replaced the paste once or twice. I've literally snapped the left hinge (lefties open the computer wrong) and it's affected nothing.
Spec-wise this baby has been with me the entire time and isn't failing yet. It went through my gaymer phase, my 3D design phase, my coding phase without a hitch.
Got it on black friday for like 400$

CPUs and RAM are very often mobile versions with very poor real world performance compared to desktops but much better power efficiency and made to run on batteries. Low power RAM is different from normal RAM sticks. Its not the same. You are just made and telling people "go away Im not wrong."

To the user they are the same but then all computers are the same in that sense aslong as they load botnetbook.

It's how I first played it back in 1998.

I can afford it now that I have a proper job and income. I'm still frugal on everything else, I just like to have thing I use most to look and feel nice.

Then prove your retarded theory by opening up your laptop, removing the thermal paste and putting it all back together.

You shouldn't have any problems right? Mobile CPUs don't create heat like desktop CPUs, they're totally different after all.

The mobile versions are the same shit, they're binned versions that are good at a particular power and heat profile.
The fuck? There's nothing special about that.
No, it's really not, the form factor is the big difference.
Fuck off, retard. Just like "gaming" GPUs are binned versions of workstation GPUs, it's the same shit, just binned and configured differently. If you actually think they have some intricate and different process because it's super special, you're sadly mistaken.

It's a different format, but it's still a RAM stick. You can't say a lightbulb with an E27 socket and another with an E11 socket are 'not the same'. They are the same, with a different socket. The way RAM works is the same for both, but SO-DIMMS are still the same thing, they work as system RAM and use similar power ratings and the same bus speeds as desktop RAM sticks.

And the point is that both types of CPUs, such as a desktop intel i series and its mobile equivalent, both will require some sort of heat management in the form of a heatsink, fan and paste.
The only processors that don't use these are very low power ARM types such as the ones in chinese Android tablets, and these CPUs are soldered to the board - now these are quite different. Even the architecture is (x86/64 vs. ARM).

Just because the mechanisms are the same dousn't mean they are the same. You learn this in kindergarden. Did public schooling fuck you up this badly?

Keep trying to spin things out of logical bounds. Of course they can't be the exact same thing, there are variances in sizing or number of pins and whatnot, but you seem to be forgetting that the spark for this particular discussion was whether a laptop CPU needs thermal paste... which it does.
They are not the same exact types of CPUs of course, mobile types lack a top heatspreader and use a different number of pins, but they are the same when it comes to their function and the fact that they use thermal paste.

That's the same we're talking about.

Pls stop trolling, even if you believe the original subject of the thread is not worth good discussion, there are still some people that are trying to have a reasonable conversation without people like you derailing the thread with (fairly realistic) shitposting.

Thanks for putting an effort into your posts but please, next time you reply, direct that effort towards positive conversation, thanks!

No idea how long yours will last. I'm using a chinkpad from late 2011. I probably average about 4-5 hours a day on it; only replaced the keyboard with a refurb this past year.

Oh yes, they are to a extent. To get >>>/o/ into this:

You can't compare a Subaru Justy 4WD to a Impreza WRX STi, even though they both have piston combustion engines and four/all-wheel drive.

One is a 4WD econobox, and the other a almost track-ready sport compact.

Besides and getting back on topic, you can't compare a i7 2600 with a 2720QM, the 2600 is faster than the laptop version.

I've had this shitty Sandy Bridge Dell laptop for about 5 years. All that I've ever had to do was swap out the hard drive for a bigger one and replace the hinges when the old ones broke. The battery life is probably shit, but I usually leave it plugged in.

my daily driver laptop is my only machine, 10 years old, still adequate. battery life is shitty and hardware virtualization was disabled by sony with no option to re-enable. those 2 reasons, plus i'd like >=usb 3.0 are the only reasons i'd upgrade. but i'd only upgrade to something like the thinkpad retro (with 16:10 / 3:2 / 4:3 screen hopefully) if it ever comes out.

My laptop is a Sandy bridge Core i3 from 2011. I went ahead and installed an SSD, an 8GB stick of memory and a new battery. Should last me a few more years.

Putting an SSD into an old computer is like getting a whole new one.
My only computer is a Samsung R580 from 2010 and the only things I've done is put an SSD in it and change the fan once.
I think we've kind of plateaued tech wise. I remember the 90's where after 3 years your computer was essentially a museum object.

Planned obsolescence is a thing. I have a vista that still works, but most computers I get don't last more than 3 years now (I guess that's when most warranties are up)

Well, performance wise definitely.

Ever since AMD bombed with Bulldozer, Intel has concentrated mainly on muh power consumption. On the GPU side AMD and Nvidia have been stuck on 28nm for 4 years.

It all depends on build quality.
Could be less than a year, could be 20.