How Long Will My Laptop Last?

[BFritz21]

I've had my laptop for about 8 years and I only use it for my presentations.

The only time I've been on the internet on it was when I checking my email because I emailed myself videos to put into my presentation.

Being that I'm not on the internet, so nothing can be downloaded onto it to mess it up and that I only use it when I present, which is only weekly or monthly (few times weekly at some points in the year), how long will it last?

I don't want to be at a school, especially during a busy time of the year where it would be hard to get everything onto another laptop, and have it just die, so does anyone know how long it should last?

Will it last forever since I don't use the internet and don't even use it that often?

[kdgjr]

I had my last one for 12 years...did what I needed it to do...till i bought my daughters new ones and took their old ones for me.

They were bitching about how slow they were...to me, their old ones were state of the art (only like 3 years old)

[Millhouse]

Its like a car. It will run until the first component craps out on you. And at this point, that can be tomorrow or next year or next few years. No way of knowing though or guessing.

Luckily though you can get a replacement laptop for that purpose really cheap, smaller, and more powerful.

[XenoMorph]

(09-08-2017, 04:42 PM)BFritz21 Wrote: I've had my laptop for about 8 years and I only use it for my presentations.

The only time I've been on the internet on it was when I checking my email because I emailed myself videos to put into my presentation.

Being that I'm not on the internet, so nothing can be downloaded onto it to mess it up and that I only use it when I present, which is only weekly or monthly (few times weekly at some points in the year), how long will it last?

I don't want to be at a school, especially during a busy time of the year where it would be hard to get everything onto another laptop, and have it just die, so does anyone know how long it should last?

Will it last forever since I don't use the internet and don't even use it that often?

It will last as long as the hardware holds up.

CPUs can have as many problems as cars lol 


Now if you got some new software for creating your presentation your PC is probly obsolete in terms of efficiently running a newer program that's resource intensive.


But if its doing what you need now  it should continue to do so until your needs change.   Your Operating system gets corrupted.  Or you psychically damage it ( drop it into a pool or tub for instance lol) 

[Benton]

Probably the laptop will last longer than the software you run on it.

I have a 11 or so year old Gateway that still works, but the battery won't hold a charge and it has some issues with running new programs. Old video cards and such. Any more, I tell people to go to Walmart or find a Lenovo online for under $275. It will last (most likely) longer than the version of Windows on it and the drivers that are supported. About the same with a Mac. The hardware will get you a decade, but Apple updates its products into extinction after 4-5 years. I've got a 2008ish MacBook (think it is, the metal one) from work that I gave my daughter. It's basically a giant DVD player/calculator as it can't even get online any more.

[BFritz21]

(09-08-2017, 05:12 PM)kdgjr Wrote: I had my last one for 12 years...did what I needed it to do...till i bought my daughters new ones and took their old ones for me.

They were bitching about how slow they were...to me, their old ones were state of the art (only like 3 years old)

I just need it to play my presentation and it has shown no signs of anything yet, and I don't have a problem with it being slow or anything, so that does give me a bit of reassurance.

(09-08-2017, 05:16 PM)Millhouse Wrote: Its like a car. It will run until the first component craps out on you. And at this point, that can be tomorrow or next year or next few years. No way of knowing though or guessing.

Luckily though you can get a replacement laptop for that purpose really cheap, smaller, and more powerful.

That's what I'm scared of because I've been making small edits to my presentation and I like it the way it is, and not to mention that I have different versions for different events that people have requested, so I'm just scared to lose them.

(09-08-2017, 05:21 PM)XenoMorph Wrote: It will last as long as the hardware holds up.

CPUs can have as many problems as cars lol 


Now if you got some new software for creating your presentation your PC is probly obsolete in terms of efficiently running a newer program that's resource intensive.


But if its doing what you need now  it should continue to do so until your needs change.   Your Operating system gets corrupted.  Or you psychically damage it ( drop it into a pool or tub for instance lol) 

It's definitely doing what I need it to and I see no reason that I'll ever need to change it, but the dropping it might be a problem because crippled people can't have nice shit lol.

(09-08-2017, 05:47 PM)Benton Wrote: Probably the laptop will last longer than the software you run on it.

I have a 11 or so year old Gateway that still works, but the battery won't hold a charge and it has some issues with running new programs. Old video cards and such. Any more, I tell people to go to Walmart or find a Lenovo online for under $275. It will last (most likely) longer than the version of Windows on it and the drivers that are supported. About the same with a Mac. The hardware will get you a decade, but Apple updates its products into extinction after 4-5 years. I've got a 2008ish MacBook (think it is, the metal one) from work that I gave my daughter. It's basically a giant DVD player/calculator as it can't even get online any more.

I group texted my family and I think that I'm going to get a spare for a few hundred just in case anything were to ever go wrong, but the software's no problem because it runs my presentation and everything perfectly fine.  

Although sometimes my laptop won't connect to a projector at a school (it runs through other things sometimes) and I have to email a smaller version of my presentation and it's not always compatible because they'll have a newer version of PowerPoint.

THANKS EVERYONE!

[grampahol]

Looking into my fully functional crystal ball I see I don't have a crystal ball so just imagine that I have one and it works. You'd see that I didn't wash my hands and you can't see a damned thing . Life sucks then you die and get reincarnated into a broken laptop computer.. 
This is why having a ridiculous imagination is so much funner than not having one. 

[BMK]

Just my 2 cents. If you are even the least bit concerned about it, and at 8 years old you probably should be, then I would go out and get a new one, slowly learn all the new bells and whistles, get really familiar with it as you transfer copies of your files over, then ween yourself off the old one and keep it as a back up. Your present one may last another couple years, it may last another couple weeks. The bottom line is you use yours for a living (?), and can't have downtime or an extended learning curve for new software.

Getting a new computer is like finding a new job......The very best time to get a new one is when you don't absolutely have to.

[Au165]

Your issue will end up being lack of drivers needed to connect or incompatibility in connection type with projectors and it'll become more frequent as the years pass. I'd just carry a library of all the presentations on a flash drive as a back up so you can easily move it onto a different computer if needed.

[BengalHawk62]

My guess is......


March 16, 2019

[JustWinBaby]

Time to join the 21st century - just run your presentations off a tablet.  Do kids at school laugh at you when you walk in with a computer older than them?



Otherwise, no way of knowing how long your laptop will last.  Being on the internet really has nothing to do with it - when the CPU, fans, hard drive or display go it's toast.  In most cases, those things will last a very long time with light use.  Smart money would be on your hard drive or power supply clonking out at some point.