When do you replace your laptop?

Looking for some thoughts here on how long most people wring out of a laptop. I'm writing this post from a base model 2008 MacBook. I threw in 4GB of RAM and upgraded it to Snow Leopard, but that is about it. I'm using it as my work computer and therefore my main tool for feeding my family. The battery in it is DOA, so it has to stay plugged in. It is getting a little cranky on waking from sleep sometimes. I'm a geek so I keep it clean, no stupid stuff running in the background or other junk. I've got it pretty well tweaked to run as good as it can.

But.

I'm afraid I'll come down to my office one day and it won't boot. It has already given me a scare twice. No "sad Mac" sound, but enough for me to be nervous. I'm thinking it has served me well as a family computer, but it may be time relegate it to backup computer status. My thought was to buy a new laptop and write off half the cost as a business expense.

My previous computer lasted me about eight years, but it was a home-built Frankenstein desktop that I built for serious gaming. Given that this laptop has made it six years makes me feel like I got my money out of it at least.

I replace mine when the wife finally figures out where I hid all the REALLY good porn links. New computer, new rules. This is coming from a circa 2009? 2010? Asus G73 that's been smashed multiple times and BSOD's on me so often and has had to suffer through at least two complete resets because of malware.

I replace mine when they get stolen. Try an SSD swap with the one you have.

pres589 wrote: I replace mine when they get stolen. Try an SSD swap with the one you have.

That was my plan at one point. I will definitely be doing that on my first gen Mac Mini (home theater computer). My wife's suggestion is that if I'm going to be taken seriously as a pricey consultant, I can't show up to a client meeting toting a prehistoric laptop. Touche'...

In reply to slefain:

Yeah but all the Mac stuff looks the same! I wouldn't fault you for replacing the one you have, though. Sounds like you could at least expense it against your business for tax purposes.

Replace the hard disk before it fails (or back it up). Replace computer when there is a ram error (if expensive), mobo error, or processor error.

For a laptop, the above would extend to built in video cards and screen/keyboard/case/etc.

In reply to ProDarwin:

Keyboards for those Mac's are pretty common and pretty cheap. Otherwise I agree with everything you wrote.

My sister had a 10+ year old laptop that she was going to toss (gateway sa1 I think), and I put a an extra ssd in it and installed Linux mint and it works great. Much better than the $1200 Asus laptop that I bought a couple years ago that got bricked by the windows 8.1 update.

you aware of the video chipset problems on the 08 Mac book, right? Hopefully you have had the MB replaced with the upgraded set or you might start getting concerned about the chipset overheating and a no boot situation.

If you are still happy with it, keep it. Get some sort of back up system going in case the HD drive eats itself and replace it when it dies.

Man I've got Rubbermaid containers full of parts from old laptops and PCs, I've still got PII & PIII junk, for no reason. RDRAM, never going to be useful again, yet I've got some squirreled away, along with a lot of other stuff I'm hoarding for apparently no reason.

I typically get used tech that's already a 2 or 3 years out of date and limp it along for another 3 or 4+ years.

I had a Dell Latitude something-or-another I "stole" on eBay, description of not working, but with enough details I was 90% sure what the problem & solution was, so I took a gamble, won the auction for peanuts, fixed and made due for a few years, before I killed it. Then I limped an '04 or '05 model hand me down HP/Compaq along from ~'07 to '11. I had done just about every upgrade possible, and some I shouldn't have before it quit for the last time. Instead of fixing it again, I bought a "new" laptop from Dell's outlet.

I've had a Vostro 3550 i5 with dedicated Radeon graphics card, upgraded to 8 Gb of RAM for 3+ years now. It still does most things I ask of it, and other than the hard drive being near full, power cable falling out of the jack anytime you even think about moving, and the battery only lasting about 10-15 minutes now, it's as capable as I need it to be. I don't see me needing to upgrade/replace it any time soon, and it's now 4 or 5 year old tech.

What I intend to do is dismantle my old "gaming" PC and build a CAD workstation, laptop is just for fun stuff, surfing the web, a few games, etc. If I'm going to get any work done, I need to be able to be away from everything in our office, not on the couch in front of the TV.

Long way to say, I don't speak Apple, but 6+ years would seam reasonable for an upgrade regime to me.

Supercoupe wrote: you aware of the video chipset problems on the 08 Mac book, right? Hopefully you have had the MB replaced with the upgraded set or you might start getting concerned about the chipset overheating and a no boot situation.

I am not aware of this problem. Not good.

(edit)

Looks like that was a problem with the Pro models, I have a lowly MacBook so I'm in the clear. The keyboard and touchpad got finicky last year though.

pres589 wrote: In reply to ProDarwin: Keyboards for those Mac's are pretty common and pretty cheap. Otherwise I agree with everything you wrote.

Yeah, I have no idea... just meant if its expensive/invasive. My sister had an older Mac laptop that required a hugely invasive procedure to replace the keyboard.

ProDarwin wrote:

pres589 wrote: In reply to ProDarwin: Keyboards for those Mac's are pretty common and pretty cheap. Otherwise I agree with everything you wrote.

Yeah, I have no idea... just meant if its expensive/invasive. My sister had an older Mac laptop that required a hugely invasive procedure to replace the keyboard.

Right now I've got a USB keyboard & mouse hooked up to it just to make it more like a desktop machine. I used to be like bigdaddylee82 with boxes of outdated tech sitting around, which I would Frankenstein into working machines. I don't have that kind of time anymore so I tossed most of it.

slefain wrote: My thought was to buy a new laptop and write off half the cost as a business expense.

Write off 100% as a business expense. You will have an old Mac for "personal use" and the new one will be expressly for "business use."

You probably heard the kerfuffle over Windows XP's end of life early this year. This is in part because Microsoft publish a policy and schedule for support lifecycles.

Apple doesn't. If your MacBook can't run the current or immediately previous version of OS X, you're probably out of support, and should consider a replacement. That's typically Apple's support pattern.

Is your MacBook able to run Mavericks or Yosemite?

Mike wrote: You probably heard the kerfuffle over Windows XP's end of life early this year. This is in part because Microsoft publish a policy and schedule for support lifecycles. Apple doesn't. If your MacBook can't run the current or immediately previous version of OS X, you're probably out of support, and should consider a replacement. That's typically Apple's support pattern. Is your MacBook able to run Mavericks or Yosemite?

My Macbook won't run Mavericks or Yosemite, which is fine with me. I rarely upgrade the operating systems on any of my computers. I only upgraded my Macbook and my 1G Mini to Snow Leopard within the last year. My 3G Mini is running Mavericks, but it doesn't mean much to me.

Hell, if I had my way I'd be running XP on a desktop equipped with a Voodoo3 card playing Half-Life deathmatch all day

The problem isn't the inability to upgrade the laptop to a newer version of Mac OS, the problem is that Apple historically hasn't been very forthcoming with information about security issues and you're now in a position where you can't get security updates for a three year old OS. I'm in the same situation, we have an early 2008 MacBook that has the same problem that we use for the majority of our online banking.

If you're using it for a business, especially business banking, I would strongly recommend you get a newer machine.

Heck, as much as like late 2000s Apple hardware I'm at this point seriously considering to buy a half decent Windows laptop from Costco for the same purpose. It'll cost me the same as a 5-6 year old MacBook Pro and is likely to do away with that kind of support issue for a decade or so.

I buy a new laptop every 3 or 4 years. When I purchase I buy as much as I can for the cash I have to spend. Usually works out pretty well. I then give the older stuff to my family to use. I don't buy Apple though. Overpriced imo. My last laptop I purchased from Costco.

Xceler8x wrote: I buy a new laptop every 3 or 4 years. When I purchase I buy as much as I can for the cash I have to spend. Usually works out pretty well. I then give the older stuff to my family to use. I don't buy Apple though. Overpriced imo. My last laptop I purchased from Costco.

This right here.

I have a similar vintage MacBook Pro. I upgraded the HD to an SSD and replaced the battery earlier this year. It seems faster than ever, tbh. However, it can run the latest OS (for now). I have no current plans to upgrade.

BoxheadTim wrote: The problem isn't the inability to upgrade the laptop to a newer version of Mac OS, the problem is that Apple historically hasn't been very forthcoming with information about security issues and you're now in a position where you can't get security updates for a three year old OS. I'm in the same situation, we have an early 2008 MacBook that has the same problem that we use for the majority of our online banking. If you're using it for a business, especially business banking, I would strongly recommend you get a newer machine. Heck, as much as like late 2000s Apple hardware I'm at this point seriously considering to buy a half decent Windows laptop from Costco for the same purpose. It'll cost me the same as a 5-6 year old MacBook Pro and is likely to do away with that kind of support issue for a decade or so.

This right here.

I wouldn't use an XP machine or a Snow Leopard machine for banking, shopping, social media, or in any role where security matters. I wouldn't use it for any internet-connected general purpose computing role unless I had significant mitigations in place.

Hey, there are several Linux distros that would run quite well on that laptop, and that are fully supported.

Every two years, I buy the best MacBook Pro they make. Seems to be about right for my workload.

Mike wrote:

BoxheadTim wrote: The problem isn't the inability to upgrade the laptop to a newer version of Mac OS, the problem is that Apple historically hasn't been very forthcoming with information about security issues and you're now in a position where you can't get security updates for a three year old OS. I'm in the same situation, we have an early 2008 MacBook that has the same problem that we use for the majority of our online banking. If you're using it for a business, especially business banking, I would strongly recommend you get a newer machine. Heck, as much as like late 2000s Apple hardware I'm at this point seriously considering to buy a half decent Windows laptop from Costco for the same purpose. It'll cost me the same as a 5-6 year old MacBook Pro and is likely to do away with that kind of support issue for a decade or so.

This right here. I wouldn't use an XP machine or a Snow Leopard machine for banking, shopping, social media, or in any role where security matters. I wouldn't use it for any internet-connected general purpose computing role unless I had significant mitigations in place. Hey, there are several Linux distros that would run quite well on that laptop, and that are fully supported.

If I had more time on my hands I'd go back to Linux, but those days are long gone for me.

I don't want this to devolve into a Mac vs PC vs Linux thread though, we've done those to death here. From what most people are saying it sounds like I have gotten my money out of this laptop.

As to when I upgrade my laptop, well, whenever I see fit ;)

When do I see fit? When major technological advances are made.

I literally saw zero performance difference between my athlon 64 x2 5200+ with 8gb of ram with a nvidia 8600gts and my new monster gaming rig with an i7 2.6 turbo gigaschnnitzel quadrillion core processor, 16gb of 5 billion mhz ram, and a (admittingly lackluster due to its age, but dirt cheap) nvidia 9800gtx.

The biggest performance upgrade for my computing experience has been an ssd, bar none. There are no other upgrades that will change your computing experience like that.

So in short, my 6 year old intel duo core laptop is getting trashed this spring when my personal spending account kicks in.

I care about nothing else besides gpu specs and ssd, because there isnt much besides CAD work that takes massive cpu cycles and RAM (and I guess professional video editing).