The life expectenacy of a laptop

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K4IHS

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The cause for many of these failures is overheating. Keep the vents including the one on the bottom... clean and unobstructed.
 

K4IHS

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On a service call the customer says... "This thing gets so hot it burns my legs". She operated the notebook sitting on her lap. The underside fan vents were blocked by her clothes equaling no air flow... one very hot notebook. Now that I think about it... she was pretty hot too! :)
 

poltergeisty

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1 in 3 laptops die in first three years : Christopher Null : Yahoo! Tech

Thoughts?

I've had 2 HP laptops (older models) and neither of them had any harware issues.

This ALL comes down to how you treat your laptop.

No problems with any of the old notebooks here. I have an old Micron that's got to be at least fourteen years old and runs quit warm no less. Its on all the time with PDW and some other stuff. Got an old HP Omni book that monitors the router, it too is at least fourteen years old.

Must be operator error then...
 

K4IHS

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Those older laptops were heavy. I have a 10 year old Dell still going. It's because it has a very large heat sink to disipate heat. Now the trend is to make them smaller... thinner... lighter... less metal equals less heat sink... and do more cooling using fans. I mention the heat issue to urge folks to keep the vents clean and unobstucted. You should see all the pet hair I clean out of the heat sinks and fans. :)
 

kc2rgw

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I use a large hard cover book that I got at a yard sale for a nickel as my laptop base while in my lap. It makes a huge difference in cooling. They even make bases for them to use in your lap..some have fans.

My luck has been that they keep running and running ....or they are a problem frequently the whole time I own them. You get a good one, or you don't. That's why I generally just use the ones my job gets me and I use desktop systems at home.

I just turned in a Dell 820 that was used full time, docked and undocked daily. I didn't have a single problem the whole time I lugged it around, it just started to burn up after 2.5yrs or so. Hopefully the new one is just as reliable. The Latitude E6400 I just got runs a LOT cooler than the old 820 so that is a good thing.
 
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iMONITOR

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Laptops will last for years if properly taken care of. I think one of the biggest issues is physical shock from dropping, or banging them around. I cringe when I see how some people treat their laptop...like it was a tool box.
 

lgentle

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I think one of the biggest issues is physical shock from dropping, or banging them around. I cringe when I see how some people treat their laptop...like it was a tool box.

Yup! That is why component/manufacturers had to make idiot-proof components.

HDD's with accelerometers and shock sensors in case of a fall
Laptops that have "spill holes" in case something is spilled on the keyboard

People want laptops to be inexpensive, but, rugged at the same time. If you want to treat your laptop like a "tool box", go get a Panasonic Toughbook.
 

datainmotion

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Of course - who better to give us laptop failure rates than a company selling extended warranties for laptops? :roll:

Also, how many of the reported failures are used by business rather than consumer users? I agree with the other posters - longevity is most often directly related to proper care and use.

FWIW - Virtually all laptops (Panasonic is one clear exception) including Apple (sorry - that's the truth Apple users) are manufactured by a handful of companies in Taiwan or mainland China.
 
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b7spectra

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I love my 10+ year old Compaq LTE's that are running DOS on them! With the exception of replacing the batteries, I think the only thing else I've done to them is just wipe 'em down and keep them clean!
 

lgentle

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I've got an old plastic 4 fan job that I picked up at a computer show years ago at Timonium. 40CFM airflow keeps my old HP laptop cool. I also use it if I'm hooking an external IDE HDD to one of my computers via my IDE-->USB adapter. Keeps the HDD nice and cool!
 

smason

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I support a company with 100 laptops. We replace them every 3 years, and sell the old ones to employees, friends etc. We have very few problems, and many last 5-6 years. I have a few at home that are 5 years old. The batteries rarely last 3 years however.
 

radioaustralia

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The cause for many of these failures is overheating. Keep the vents including the one on the bottom... clean and unobstructed.

I lost my first laptop to overheating; the advice posted by K4IHS is something everyone should take on board. :)
 
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