Life expectancy of a laptop?

[CurlieQCarrie]

Okay so I have a laptop, a Toshiba, and have had it for about 2.5 years. I have used it a lot, I mean a lot, for browsing, research, school, all that stuff. Lately it seems that it just isn't running right. The fan is out (yea, it overheats! Grr), and the little touchpad won't move the cursor if I try to move it in the middle, only around the sides. I was just wondering if maybe it's telling me "Go away kid. I'm old!"
Any thoughts/suggections?
Thanks in advance.

[Broknwing]

Get a Mac. ;)
:P

[Lewis]

IBM Thinkpad 5 years. Reformated the hard drive once.

[garvey]

I have a Toshiba Statellite 205CD (?) - bought it in 1998 - it still runs well enough to be my unit of last resort - even has a functioning wireless card.
The lcd has been problematic for years.
I keep it around - but I would not invest one cent in it at this point!
That's the problem - new units are so cheap - there's no real point in keeping the old guys going unless the fixes are minimal in cost.
I now use a Thinkpad T42 as my workhorse - highly recommend Thinkpads!

[Kristi]

My refurbished Gateway lasted about 2.5 years until I downloaded the new Service Pack for XP about a year ago. After that my laptop started to make clicking noises and eventually froze up. Tried reinstalling XP a couple of times, got a few things back, but it eventually died. In E-Business I did an assignment on the new Service Pack and found out that it was causing problems in computers of some of the people that downloaded it. (Wish that warning was on the site before I chose to download it.) I ended up using my school's laptop and then when I had to give that one up I went out and bought and Avertec, 4 lb laptop for 800.00 bucks and LOVE it!! Dad took the Gateway into get fixed and it cost just over a 100 bucks to get a new Hard Drive and update some things on it. We haven't turned it on since we got it back, but now we have a backup.

Your laptop overheating might be causing some of it's problems. "Go away kid. I'm old." LMAO Carrie! He may be old, but he just might need a tuneup.

[CurlieQCarrie]

Come on Kristi....I'm trying to get my dad to buy a me a new one! Help a girl out. :) LoL.

[Broknwing]

Come on Kristi....I'm trying to get my dad to buy a me a new one! Help a girl out. :) LoL.

C'mon Carrie, I'm tryin' to help 'ya out.... I told 'ya how to fix your problem...and how to fix it for good. ;) ;) If 'ya would just listen to your elders you'd be all set....lol Sooooo....tell your dad that the older wiser ones on the site told you that your laptop is on it's last legs and that you should invest your money in a MAC laptop to get the most out of your investment. ;) ;) The iBooks are fairly inexpensive compared to the powerbook that I purchased(Yes, I bought the MACdaddy of laptops...lol). Soooo, tell your dad that you need a new laptop and that you've been advised that you should go with a Mac this time.... ;) ;)

[Scott Pruett]

C'mon Carrie, I'm tryin' to help 'ya out.... I told 'ya how to fix your problem...and how to fix it for good. ;) ;) If 'ya would just listen to your elders you'd be all set....lol Sooooo....tell your dad that the older wiser ones on the site told you that your laptop is on it's last legs and that you should invest your money in a MAC laptop to get the most out of your investment. ;) ;) The iBooks are fairly inexpensive compared to the powerbook that I purchased(Yes, I bought the MACdaddy of laptops...lol). Soooo, tell your dad that you need a new laptop and that you've been advised that you should go with a Mac this time.... ;) ;)
x2 on an Apple. I have a Powerbook that has been running strong for > 3yrs.

[mingo]

Overheating is death to any machine, so you've got that going for you. You could try plugging in a PS2 mouse and bypass the touchpad. If it works better with a mouse I could only suggest checking for updated drivers for the touchpad. But no, it doesn't sound good.

You can kill a mac too... my friend knows how.

[teyrn]

The parts you mentioned going out can be replaced but the laptop you are replacing them in is going to turn into a money pit of sorts. Two and a half years of heavy use for a laptop that was probably not meant for heavy duty use is pretty good in my opinion. Desktops tend to wear longer but you are not taking them every where you go. Once you replace the touchpad, if you can find the replacement part, and the fan, if you can find the replacement part, you are going to have to look next at replacing a hard drive, the LCD display starting to fade out, or a host of other issues related to heavy use. I agree with the other suggestions that you invest in a Powerbook or Ibook from Apple. They are a robust machine and will last you more then 2.5 years the Toshiba has given you. You could probably go a cheaper rout and get an IBM, maybe, or a Dell, but I think you would be much happier with Apple.
The Toshiba is telling you it is on its last legs and to put any money into it to "fix" it up would be a waste and then some.

[CurlieQCarrie]

I am looking at the Macs. They look nice. Anybody have opinions on Sony Vaio's? HP's?

[Jadis]

I had a sony vaio - lasted for 8 long months of frustration. I had a desktop mac, but needed a windoze machine. I didn't need one that bad-chucked it and got a powerbook and never looked back.

[dgrotz]

My Sony laptop has been running strong for four years now, I have had to reformat it a couple times because of ad ware, spy ware, and hacker problems :devdude:, but adding a firewall solved that.

I now primarily use my PowerBook which is a year old and still runs the same as the day I bought it. From what I understand it will last me many more years. I like everything about my PowerBook much more than Windows. :thumbsup:

[Kristi]

Come on Kristi....I'm trying to get my dad to buy a me a new one! Help a girl out. :) LoL.

That SO was NOT mentioned in your FIRST post. More details would have been beneficial to help a girl out. Geesh!

Ummm...throw it up against the wall a few times so it doesn't work at all so he has to buy you a new one.

I've got nuffin. :p

[lynnifer]

Do what I did - do your nails and spill nail polish into the keyboard. Then throw it in a fit of anger.

lol

I bought a cheap screen off of Ebay and bought a new keyboard for it - all fixed up now.

[JGNI]

Get a Mac, I have a Powerbook that never failed me, and no virus, spyware to be concerned with for now.

[Broknwing]

Looks like I started a trend in your thread here.....Listen to the wise ones here...go Mac....If you need help shopping for one, I can help 'ya with that. :D I had fun shopping for mine, if you have an Apple store near you, they're a blast to go play in and aquaint yourself with the machines as well. :D Have fun getting your dad to buy you a new computer. ;)

[Jadis]

Carrie, if you are a college student, you can get a discount.

also check club mac -- usually get pretty good price breaks there.

I got mine through macwarehouse.com at the time it came with free mem upgrades, etc, etc, etc.

at the time I wasn't a college student, hence no discount.

[KTM236]

Ditto on the powerbook - I have one and I also have an iMac G5. Best thing I ever did was switch to a mac!

[Scott Pruett]

I bought my Powerbook w/ an academic discount when I was in school... saved a little, but not a lot... maybe $50. The deep discounts are in software.

But... since we're swaying you away from the dark side, check out Apple's refurb store (http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APPLE/WebObjects/AppleStore.woa/71308/wo/pC7maWAdjt3Y3ENcNNi12bwi459/0.0.15.1.0.6.63.0.0.0.0.0.0.3.1.1.0?82,49) if $$ is even a small issue. You can find some great deals there every so often. I bought a Dual G5 from the refurb department early this year & got a killer deal... no problems whatsoever. It's my work computer.

[CurlieQCarrie]

I'm kinda dumb about computer stuff. I mean, I can do basic stuff easily & know a little...so explain to me what is the biggest differences b/w Macs and others? why are Macs so much better?
Thanks guys!

[Scott Pruett]

They just work better, have a cleaner interface, & are much less prone to problems. Everything is well-thought-out with them. As for software, nowadays you can pretty much do all the same stuff on OS X that you can on Windows. I look at computers as tools & honestly I just think Apple has a better product.

Does it really matter what brand of stove I use to cook breakfast? Not really, but some ranges are just easier & nicer to use.

[CurlieQCarrie]

Good point Scott. I need all the help I can get with this stuff! I've never had a Mac before, only worked on one in school like 5 years ago (Geesh, seems like forever). Looking harder at them now. :) Thanks.

[jsd]

how about ALIENWARE

they rock
http://www.alienware.com/

[Broknwing]

Good point Scott. I need all the help I can get with this stuff! I've never had a Mac before, only worked on one in school like 5 years ago (Geesh, seems like forever). Looking harder at them now. :) Thanks.

If you think 5 years ago was forever....My first computer class was in 8th grade and that was in '88/'89 .....And that was on a MAC, it was WAY back then that i was convinced that I wanted a MAC....it took me until this year to actually be able to purchase one....Talk about patience...lol

[Wise Young]

Carrie,

The choice of a laptop (indeed all computers) should be based on the software that you have and are used to. I have used Macs since 1984 and have a substantial investment both in terms of experience and software in Macs. Therefore, for me, there is no choice. I would not even know how to use a Windows computer even if I wanted to. Software now can easily cost more than the computer. For example, I use Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, Powerpoint), Adobe programs (such as Photoshop, InDesign, GoLive, Acrobat, etc.), database programs (Filemaker, Endnote), and various utilities (Disk Warrior, Protech, Toast, backup programs). The cost of buying Windows versions of all this software can easily exceed the cost of a $2000 laptop.

If you are not committed to the Windows software, however, you will find that Mac OSX operating system comes standard with a huge suite of software and there are many (probably as many or more than Windows) inexpensive shareware or freeware programs to do almost anything you can imagine. You can get Apple iWorks for about $79 which has Keynote (a presentation program that produces, in my opinion, better presentations than powerpoint) and Page (a page-processor) and Appleworks which has a word processor, spreadsheet, and paint/draw programs for $79. Or you can get Office 2004 for Mac (Student/Teacher) for $150. Note that OSX gives you ability to read and write pdf files from most programs. OSX comes standard with the best fonts, text editor, picture viewers, itunes, iphoto, ical (calendar), safari and explorer browsers, ichat, DVD video, Mail, and many other free programs that I consider to be as good or better than any commercial program made by third parties.

In the late 1990's, the Mac powerbooks were superior to other laptops because they came standard with every state-of-the-art communication and storage option: wireless (Airport), read/write CD/DVD drive, and other (Firewire, bluetooth, USB 2, Gigahertz ethernet, stereo audio in and out, modem), and S-video (in the 17" powerbook). Now, however, some laptops provide similar arrays of communication options. The 17-inch powerbook was, for a few month, the biggest screen laptop but of course everybody else introduced a big-screen laptops. I have used my powerbook all over the world and have never had any problems with communicating with any printer, wireless system, or video projector (except one time in China when a video projector would not recognize my powerbook and I think that it was probably a connector problem).

The speed of processors is often used by people to justify one laptop over another. I personally don't find the speed of the processor to be that important. For example, before I got my current laptop which is a powerbook 17" G4 with a 1.67 GHz processor with 1 GB RAM, 75 GB hard drive, and all the other things mentioned above, I had a 15" G4 with a 700 MHz processor and 1 GB of RAM. I don't think that doubling the speed of the processor halved the time required to do things on the computer. For most of the tasks that I use a computer for (and I use a computer probably more intensively than anybody else I know), there is no real difference in speed or responsiveness of the computer.

Apple computer is planning to switch processors from Motorola/IBM PowerPC to Intel. This is in part because Intel is now offering mobile processors than are 2.5 GHz or greater and Motorola/IBM is no longer able to keep up in terms of processor speed. I expect that powerbook prices will fall somewhat over the coming 6 months as Apple clears out their inventory before introducing the new powerbooks with Intel processors. After the Christmas season, I expect the prices of powerbooks to tumble. At the present, the cost of the 15" powerbook is about $2300 fully loaded. If you don't mind a small screen, you can get a 12" powerbook for $1700 or a 14" ibook for $1300. Note that the 12" screen has 1024x768 resolution (the same as the 14" screen ibook), compared to 1280x854 for the 15" and 1440x900 for the 17".

If you do get an Apple, I strongly recommend that you get the one with the Superdrive (RW DVD/CD) and the biggest hard disk drive available because you will soon fill it up and you need to be able to back up to DVD. The 512 Mb RAM that comes with all powerbooks should be adequate. My wife bought the 12" powerbook and my son and daughter both have the 14" ibook. The 12" powerbook is the lightest (4.6 lb) of full-featured Apple laptops. The 15" and the 17" powerbooks are 5.6 and 6.9 lbs respectively. The 12" ibook is 4.9 lb and does not have the super DVD/CD option. I chose the 17" screen because my eyesight is not what it use to be and I spend as much as 18 hours a day staring at the screen. On the other hand, I have to deal with lugging around the extra 2.3 lb in my backpack wherever I go.

Regarding use of powerbooks by people with disability, OSX provide many options for disabled people who must type with one hand or stick, auditory or visual handicaps. Unfortunately, Dragon voice-activation software does not run on the Mac. However, there is a program called iListen (http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APPLE/WebObjects/AppleStore.woa/70802/wo/fmDy6IvDmlVq2ur9WYC1j16x8Vd/2.0.15.1.0.6.25.7.11.0.3) which comes with a USB microphone. According to a review by Charles Moore (http://www.applelinks.com/mooresviews/il101.shtml), iListen is better and more reliable than IBM ViaVoice. The iListen with OSX support came out in 2002 (Source (http://www.applelinks.com/mooresviews/il16.shtml)) and is apparently very good at translating voice recordings without training. Although the first version was slow, later updates were much better and faster. It is cheap at $149 with a microphone ($99 without).

I should add one note of caution. Powerbooks tend to run warm and the fan only turns on when it gets really warm. The bottom surface of the metal powerbooks can get hot, not too hot to touch but it probably is not good against bareskin for long periods. People with impaired sensations on their laps should put a blanket or something between the powerbook and their legs. The metal powerbook surface is smooth and may be hard for somebody with weak hands to pick up. The latch for the screen is a small push-button and does not require too much pressure but a person with weak fingers may need a stick to push the button.

Powerbooks are generally very reliable. I usually get AppleCare (which gives you free repair) but have used it only 2-3 times in the past 6 years and I figure that the costs of Applecare have added up to about the same as my paying for the repair directly (no surprise, since Apple probably estimates the cost of Applecare based on cost of repair). Despite running hot, powerbooks seldom break down. I probably use the powerbooks as hard as anybody can, having them on and using them 18 hours a day and taking them all over the world. In the past 7 years, only three parts of my powerbooks have broken down: the hard disk, the CD/DVD drive, and the keyboard. In four powerbooks that I have owned since they first came out, I have had the hard disk go once and the CD/DVD drive refuse to eject disk once. Perhaps because I type a lot, the keyboard wears out. I simply buy replacement keys over internet or scavenge from previous powerbooks.

Here is a thoughtful review of the ibook 12" from a UC Berkeley student who switched over from PC to OSX Tiger for the first time. http://www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsID=2513

Wise.


Okay so I have a laptop, a Toshiba, and have had it for about 2.5 years. I have used it a lot, I mean a lot, for browsing, research, school, all that stuff. Lately it seems that it just isn't running right. The fan is out (yea, it overheats! Grr), and the little touchpad won't move the cursor if I try to move it in the middle, only around the sides. I was just wondering if maybe it's telling me "Go away kid. I'm old!"
Any thoughts/suggections?
Thanks in advance.