Obsolescence

Dartz

Hmm.

When do people here consider a Laptop obsolete. I've heard a few different schools of thought on this. Some people say that a 5 year old laptop is always obsolete, other say ten years.

By what measure?

The availability of spare parts/software?

I have a 10 year old IBM x20, with a 600Mhz Pentium 3 and 192Mb of RAM. It's still quite capable of handling a modern Linux Distro (Xubuntu 8.04), and multitasking, with little or no finagling. Despite have an XPS, I still use it daily where I need something that small to just stash somewhere with information on the screen.

In work, there was a 15 year old Toshiba satellite... it was so old it had a built in Floppy disk, and didnt have a proper touchpad, or even a left and right click. But it still booted, and could still do work on Nt4. Hell, it booted to NT faster than my new XPS booted Vista. But good luck finding new software/parts for it... except for maybe Puppy Linux. But it still has uses.

At the same time, I have a Friend who insists that a platform is out of date the moment the Intel clock tic-tocks over. So basically, he replaces his laptop every year, whether it is working or not, selling the old one on.

When do you think your computer is obsolete?

I expect my Laptop to last 4 years, personally, which is around 350 per year, but nearly every computer I have, even a ten year old desktop in the house, is still working quite happily. I do replace my laptop on average of 4 years though, I suppose because that's about the point where parts are no longer being manufactured, or are beginning to go up in price.

But, it'll still be working...

Alanstrainor

I'd expect another few years out of my 3 year old Dell 6400. I have it running as a desktop now, connected to an external monitor and and a proper keyboard and mouse. Hell i even removed it's whole display to help with cooling the damned thing as it had been sitting running with the screen closed. I'm not a gamer and most of my use is web based, unless i need more power i'll be keeping it. And when i do upgrade, it's not going to be thrown away, i'll probably throw some linux distro on it just for messing around.

Amalgam

I agree with your post, but for me, the watermark of obsolete is the PCMCIA slot, in laptops. Once you ramp up the difficulty of getting decent amounts of data on or off the laptop, I tend to consign it to the 'don't bother too much' category. I have persevered with some finds, shunting data using SCSI or a serial port [shudder], but at that point it really is a fetishistic excercise.

If there's a PCMCIA slot, you're guaranteed to have access to a card that will allow fairly modern and fast methods of data transfer or HD back up.

T20's are great, I love the build. As a former pickaroonie I found these occasionally. Boggles the mind that they're considered obsolete.

Getting harder to find PATA laptop HD's over the counter in Dublin.

Amalgam

I forgot to say, my involvement on this forum is through using an AMD Barton 2500, I don't have any plans to upgrade..

AlmightyCushion

Dartz wrote: »

At the same time, I have a Friend who insists that a platform is out of date the moment the Intel clock tic-tocks over. So basically, he replaces his laptop every year, whether it is working or not, selling the old one on.

That's a ridiculous attitude. I would consider a piece of technology obsolete once it is no longer sufficient for the tasks I need it for. Depending on the tasks depends on how quickly it becomes obsolete. A laptop for just pissing about on the internet I would probably consider obsolete once it craps out and isn't worth replacing. My gaming pc I would consider it obsolete once the newest games don't play at the settings I'd like them to. Even then I'd probably just upgrade a few key components and move those into another pc I can use for something else.

Dartz

PCMCIA is starting to go away. Expresscards are being fitted more and more. I know my laptop doesnt have a PCMCIA slot, it has an expresscard slot. I've never actually used the PCMCIA slot on anything but the X20 though, and that's for the Wireless card. There's still more PCMCIA stuff out there than expresscard though....

PATA HDD's though, didnt the first model Macbook Air use them?

JohnK

Dartz wrote: »

When do you think your computer is obsolete?

When its no longer capable of doing what I need it to do and either I cant upgraded it any further or its not financially viable to upgrade it then that's when I'll call it obsolete.

Fanny Cradock

Dartz wrote: »

At the same time, I have a Friend who insists that a platform is out of date the moment the Intel clock tic-tocks over. So basically, he replaces his laptop every year, whether it is working or not, selling the old one on.

In light of how things have changed with regards to the economy, do you think he will doing this in the future?

Like others, I take the attitude that it only becomes obsolete when it is no longer fit for purpose. Even then you can usually cannibalise parts for a new rig. Obviously this applies more so to desktops. Incidentally, I'm typing this on a 3700+ AMD with 1 GB RAM and I plan on keeping it for a while yet.

Soundman

AlmightyCushion wrote: »

That's a ridiculous attitude. I would consider a piece of technology obsolete once it is no longer sufficient for the tasks I need it for. Depending on the tasks depends on how quickly it becomes obsolete. A laptop for just pissing about on the internet I would probably consider obsolete once it craps out and isn't worth replacing. My gaming pc I would consider it obsolete once the newest games don't play at the settings I'd like them to. Even then I'd probably just upgrade a few key components and move those into another pc I can use for something else.

Phrased better than I could have put it, but yes, basically once it is unable to perform the functions it was purchased for or is expected to run and is not upgradeable, then it becomes obsolete.

Dartz

Fanny Cradock wrote: »

In light of how things have changed with regards to the economy, do you think he will doing this in the future?

Like others, I take the attitude that it only becomes obsolete when it is no longer fit for purpose. Even then you can usually cannibalise parts for a new rig. Obviously this applies more so to desktops. Incidentally, I'm typing this on a 3700+ AMD with 1 GB RAM and I plan on keeping it for a while yet.

Probably... he's kept it up for the last 4 years. I mean, he just picked up an XPS16 there in January. Some people just like the keep abreast of the latest technology, even if it kills them in the pocket...

Run_to_da_hills

Depends on the purpose intended with the machine.

I know a guy that was using a Wang 486 DX2 /VGA on a vacuum forming machine right up until last year. I had a PPX DELL P3 600 I had been using as a personal jutebox until I left it out in the rain overnight last year. :mad:

I would tend to go for a popular make / model so at least when the time comes I can get spares on Ebay without being fleeced by the manufacturer.

Fanny Cradock

Dartz wrote: »

Probably... he's kept it up for the last 4 years. I mean, he just picked up an XPS16 there in January. Some people just like the keep abreast of the latest technology, even if it kills them in the pocket...

And he will keep that for a year? Mad!