How often do you upgrade to a new laptop?

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Kortiz DZ

Limp Gawd
Joined
Jun 2, 2004
Messages
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Do you upgrade your Desktops as often or more often?

Do you even have a desktop?

Since 03, I've gone exclusively with a laptop starting out with a Dell 600m. Two years later, I upgraded to a 700m. Two years after that, now I've jumped ship and own an Apple Macbook.

The going rate for me is about 2 years. Thus far, every time I've gone with a warranty of at least 2 years with some sort of accidental coverage.

I game on my laptop with very light games (Solitaire and pinball) and then I game on a xbox 360 for any graphically extensive enjoyment. I also have an HDTV for that 360.

So, what about you guys?
 
3 years per desktop and laptop for me, though I think the laptop will not go through that cycle again.

1997 - first desktop
2000 - second desktop
2001 - first notebook
2003 - third desktop
2004 - current notebook
2007 - current desktop

I am eying a Thinkpad T61p since I could get it for 40% off or so, but honestly, I don't think I will get it for a while. I am pretty happy with my setup now, since I only use my machines for work and I don't play many PC games lately. From this point on I will probably go longer without building a completely new comp, but will upgrade in case I need to (next stop, quad cores and 8 GB RAM 2 years off. :p )
 
BillLeeLee said:
3 years per desktop and laptop for me, though I think the laptop will not go through that cycle again.

1997 - first desktop
2000 - second desktop
2001 - first notebook
2003 - third desktop
2004 - current notebook
2007 - current desktop

I am eying a Thinkpad T61p since I could get it for 40% off or so, but honestly, I don't think I will get it for a while. I am pretty happy with my setup now, since I only use my machines for work and I don't play many PC games lately. From this point on I will probably go longer without building a completely new comp, but will upgrade in case I need to (next stop, quad cores and 8 GB RAM 2 years off. :p )
Click to expand...

8gigs of ram....crazy shit!
 
Kortiz DZ said:
8gigs of ram....crazy shit!
Click to expand...

What can I say, VMWare + multiple VM instances + application server testing can really suck up RAM and CPU.

Right now I am using just a dual core and 4 GB RAM, but some of the software I use are huge resource hogs.

Hell, at work, I eavesdropped on a discussion to buy some servers that would have dual quad-core CPUs with 16 - 32 GB RAM for virtualization and testing. I need my company to get me some of that, all I have at work are 2 quad cores with 4 GB RAM, and my workstation is dual core with 6 GB. :D

If only I joined my company a week later - I got a single core notebook with 2 GB RAM, but my friend started a week later and got a Core Duo. Needless to say, VMWare runs much better on his machine with the work we are doing.
 
Interesting, I've got pictures of the 2 laptops I've had posted in the Stickied laptop pic thread at the top of this subforum...

Amazing...

600m (Picture so big, it stays linked...)
http://home.mchsi.com/~j.sitton/pictures/DSC00221.JPG

700m
14f4b1bedbe65aad6b74c083f083301e.jpg


and soon to be
Apple Macbook.jpg
 
I made the step to just using laptops back in the all of 2004. Since then i've had way to many laptops, I usually sell off my current laptop to get the newer ones.

Fall 2004 - Compal CL-56 Stolen fall 2005
Fall 2005 - Asus W5A
Summer 2006 - Asus W3J
Jan 2007 - Asus W5Fm
Aug 2007 Asus J84Jp <- Current Laptop

And yes i do have a thing for Asus notebooks:cool:, but more realistically, about once per year for myself if i wasn't so picky.
 
I am not really a laptop person, but I do own 3 of them. They are really old too, P2 366, P3 533, AMD K something. They are 2 Compaqs and 1 Toshiba.
 
I have upgraded a laptop once every 18 months, I originated with

2001: thinkpad 600e
2003: Dell i8200
2005: Emachines 6811
2006: Thinkpad T42
2007: Thinkpad T61p


give or take about 18 months, throw in a few work laptops as well, but this has been the norm for me. I love my current t61p that I just got, definetly worth it. Gaming on it is pretty good as well, but make sure you get the 256mb of video ram.
 
Two years is typical in the corporate world. I think more companies lease than buy these days because it's more manageable.
 
Currently we are moving most of our purchases to leasing, so we cycle every 3 years.

At work its eaither 3 years for the lease or when the warranty runs out, they replace them.
 
Oh Christ, this will be fun.

Primary laptops:
July 1999: Toshiba Satellite 125CDS (I think)
August 2001: Toshiba Satellite 3000-S353
October 2003: IBM Thinkpad X30
Jan 2004: Emachines M6805 (sold X30)
March 2004: IBM Thinkpad X31 (sold M6805)
May 2004: IBM Thinkpad T41P
May 2004: IBM Thinkpad T42P (returned T41P within my 30 days)
June 2005: Acer Ferrari 4005 (sold T42P)
Nov 2005: IBM Thinkpad T43 (sold my Acer Ferrari- still regret that)
July 2006: Dell E1705 (did not replace any systems, but served as multimedia setup for college)
Feb 2007: IBM Thinkpad T60 (sold my T43)

Secondary laptops:
Sept 2003: IBM Thinkpad 600e (bought for brother, wasn't fast enough)
Oct 2003: IBM Thinkpad T22 (gave to brother in trade for the 600e)
July 2004: IBM Thinkpad T41 (for Linux)
Dec 2004: IBM Thinkpad X30 (ironically enough, the same one I sold in earlier that year)
2005: IBM Thinkpad A30 (project system for GPS, sold off after 1 month), Toshiba Tecra A4 (gaming on the weekends at a friend's)
2006: IBM Thinkpad T40, T42, Dell 600m (all sold off, purchased for linux or other projects that fell through)
2007: IBM Thinkpad R60, Toshiba Portege R100 (each sold off, R100 wasn't fast enough, R60 was redundant)

Plus a few more that I know I'll remember later on...mostly X30s and T22s. might have missed a T4x.
 
What can I say? They hold up. After working at State Farm and seeing an X30 fall down some stairs and survive, I figured that's what I needed to buy. After seeing a T41 in one of their tech fairs, I decided that I would, in fact, like a bit more portable power than the X31 gave me.

Every time I go with another laptop brand, it may excel in one or two areas, but overall usability isn't as good as the Thinkpad's. That keyboard is pretty hard to beat.

Also!

I forgot the dumpster diving laptops:
IBM Thinkpad 486 (don't remember the model)
Compaq Pentium 1
IBM Thinkpad i1300 (this actually fell off someone's car, found it in the street)
2x Toshiba Pentium 1
 
Let's see.

1994: Apple Powerbook 520c. Used that until....
1998: home-built PC
1999-2003: added to and upgraded home-built machines regularly
2004: Emachines 5312
2005: Apple Powerbook 12"
2006: Dell XPS 1710
2007 (May): Apple Macbook CD <-- bought for wife
2007 (Oct): Apple Macbook Pro C2D <-- bought for me

So, I plan to buy a new laptop roughly every 12 months, but I do not allow myself to buy more than one in any given calendar year, unless I'm buying one for a relative.
 
Amazing how many laptops some of you guys go through. That's insane.

I'd be interested to see what kind of money you have all spent. Whether you went top of the line every time or just based on necessity rather than whatever you could throw into the laptop to make it the fastest ever.

I'd also like to know what you guys sold your used laptops for. Some of you wasted no time in getting rid of them.
 
Acquired a few in the past year:



IBM Thinkpad A21m: Still have it, collecting dust in a drawer. It'll probably go up on the FS/T block soon.

Dell Inspiron 8200: FS right now, http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1237266 :)

Acer Aspire 3690-2790: Got it from CompUSSR yesterday for $299. Very pleased with it so far, though it's rather lethargic in Vista with only 512MB of RAM. :p
 
Kortiz DZ said:
Amazing how many laptops some of you guys go through. That's insane.

I'd be interested to see what kind of money you have all spent. Whether you went top of the line every time or just based on necessity rather than whatever you could throw into the laptop to make it the fastest ever.

I'd also like to know what you guys sold your used laptops for. Some of you wasted no time in getting rid of them.
Click to expand...

The Powerbook 520c was $2800. Had a 50mhz processor. After upgrading the processor and the memory, I sold it and a lot of parts and accessories for something like $150.

The eMachine 5312 was $1200 and that included a 3-year service plan from Best Buy. I upgraded the hard drive and memory so I guess that cost another $200 or so. I gave it to my sister in June.

The Powerbook 12" was something like $1700 and that included a 3-year Applecare plan. I bought a 1gb stick of memory for it for about $200. I still use it.

The Dell XPS 1710 was $1800 and I did not buy an extended warranty for it. I bought a memory and hard drive upgrade for it that cost about $300. I still use it.

The Macbook was about $1200 after I added memory and a larger hard drive to it. No extended warranty, but I'm thinking of buying one now.

The Macbook Pro was about $1750 after tax and did not include an extended warranty. No upgrades planned.
 
one to three times a year...this year, T43 in january, T60 in april, T61 in december, since 2001
 
OP, where did you get accidental damage coverage on a Macbook? That's the primary thing holding me back from seriously considering a Mac for my next notebook.
 
workingnonstop said:
OP, where did you get accidental damage coverage on a Macbook? That's the primary thing holding me back from seriously considering a Mac for my next notebook.
Click to expand...


I didn't on the macbook....just the 3 year warranty. I should have specified that. Sorry.
 
Back in my gaming laptop days, I'd upgrade every 4-6 months. I wised up and switched to an upgradeable desktop for gaming, graphics, video work, etc. My last laptop (Latitude D620) was a work loaner that lasted my entire 6-month contract. I just bought the T42 in my sig for $600 from an IBM outlet. It's brand new so I plan on keeping it at least a year.
 
I've only had one notebook so far. It's about 2 years old but it's still more than enough for what I use it for. I have no plans to upgrade right now unless I see a nice laptop for an amazing price.
 
Myself.....

Jan 2005 - Bought Dell 600m, low-end model for $600 or so refurbished. (IMHO) it was a piece of crap but I couldn't upgrade because I was a high school student with no job and no more $.

Feb 2007 - Bought Compaq V6000t ($600) then sold my POS 600m on eBay. It cost me $150-200 or so to upgrade to this after eBaying the 600m; it was much nicer and had a lot of stuff that my 600m didn't have.

June 2007 - Bought Asus A8Js ($1300) then sold the Compaq on eBay. Since buying the Compaq I had changed my mind about what I wanted in a laptop. I was about to go off to college so I decided that I wanted a laptop that could handle my gaming so I wouldn't have to bring my desktop....but I ended up bringing my desktop anyway. And after getting a Xbox 360 and Wii recently, I hardly do any PC gaming at all now!

I'm hoping I can make the Asus last at least 2 years...but if I have any more build quality issues (already had to send it in for the lid cracking) I will probably sell this and buy a MacBook. Either way I might end up buying an Eee.
 
Laptop 1 - September of 05 Dell Inspiron 9300
Laptop 2 - June of 06 Dell Inspiron e1705

9 months? This one has will last me for a while. I'll be upgrading its CPU to a T7x00 and get a new 7K200 drive.
 
I can't remember the exact dates in the early days.

back in the day (1994/95?) - 486 DX2 66mhz Desktop

1997/98 - PII 300mhz Desktop

Fall 2000 - AMD Thunderbird 1ghz Desktop

Spring 2003 - IBM Thinkpad R32

2004 - Dell 400SC (P4 2.3GHZ northwood) Desktop

May 2005 - 2x1.6ghz Xeons Desktop (current)

Nov 2007 - Lenovo Thinkpad X61T TabletPC (current, purchased because R32 was heavy and old, plus battery died which gave me the push to get a tablet)

It seems in the early days i was every 2-3 years for desktops...

And for laptops i am every 4 years.

With my current situation I do not plan to replace my desktop or laptop. I might add more HDs for the desktop and replace my PSU but thats about it.
 
Aug. 1998 Compaq Armada 1500c - Used for a year then got a desktop
Sept. 2003 IBM R40
Sept. 2005 IBM R51
Sept. 2006 Dell D620

I guess it works out to every 2 years on average.
 
I'm still using the HP zx5000 I bought in 2004, though I am ready for an upgrade. I mostly only use the laptop for school, so performance isn't a huge issue, and when i'm at home I just use my desktop.
 
Let's see...
1998 or 1999 -- Toshiba Satellite Pro 440CDX (replaced it with a desktop in fall 2001). Slow as crap (133MHz Pentium MMX), but then again I was in high school at the time.
June 2004 --- Dell Inspiron 600m. I needed a new laptop for college.
July 2006 --- my dad passed down his Dell Inspiron 700m (bought in Oct. 2004) to me after he purchased a 17" Macbook Pro. The 600m went to my mom.
Nov. 2007 --- got a Acer Aspire 5315-2153 (aka the Wal-Mart lappy) as a birthday gift from my parents. :cool: In the process of giving back the 700m to my dad.

As you can see, I've upgraded my laptop every 2-3 years. Hopefully this Acer can serve me for a couple of years. Just so you know, I use my laptop mostly for web surfing and viewing media.
 
Right now I have an HP dv6244us that I bought in Feb. for $1150. I plan on selling that this summer and getting a Sony TZ. We shall see.
 
I just thought I'd mention, that of the 3 laptops I've owned now....the MacBook has surpassed it in all areas.

This thing is fucking awesome.
 
I upgrade as often as I can convince my boss I need a new laptop :)

So far I'm at D600->D610->D620 in 2 years. One of these days I'll convince him to spring for something really fancy for me :)
 
Well, I try to make mine last two years minimum, I use them practically as my primary computer, so two years isn't bad considering how much I use them. My "toy" laptops dont' count for the every two years, those come and go a lot. Here's a little timeline


Early 2003: HP Pavilion 600mhz P3
Early 2005: Dell Inspiron 1000
Early 2006: Compaq M2401XT (Broke three days ago)

Now, you may notice that I've had more than what I said about every two years. This is because my parents were buying them, and I had no control over what they bought. Now, since I buy my own, I'm generally happy with what I have for a long time. The Dell admittedly was sold because I just couldn't stand having it sent in for warranty service every month, so one month before the warranty expired, when I had gotten it back again repaired, I advertised it and sold it. The Compaq I had no intention of ever getting rid of, definitely the best computer I've ever owned, but it decided to quit on me, so I'm on the hunt for something else.

Sorry it was so long
 
Well, my dad worked at a company that sold laptops so I changed frequently for years on that front.

My desktop is always a WIP and getting different things upgraded, etc. Just did a complete rebuild a year ago or so though and just got a new T61 this last summer (first laptop I have ever purchased).

Probably have gone through about 10 laptops in the last 5 years and 4 complete new desktops, but lots of changes on the desktops throughout their life (new video cards, processors, etc.).

I changed a lot since my dad worked for a computer company, but now have slowed down as I do not get as many parts for super cheap.
 
I just had a desktop until I graduated high school in '02. Parents got me a loaded Dell Inspiron 8100 to take to school. Very nice machine back then.

I used it until last Christmas when they got me a new HP DV9009US.

I used that until today when my new MacBook Pro I got for myself finally came :)

My desktops I update pretty regularly and sell off the old parts so I hardly ever get a "new" one they are just in a perpetual upgrade process heh.
 
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