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How and why I stopped buying new laptops

lowtechmagazine.com

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Re: How and why I stopped buying new laptops

#11

Post by swiley »

Google234 wrote: post #8
ncmncm wrote: post #5

This is a super-great article. I still have a bunch of old P60s and P61s I got for $100 each, a decade back, and (mostly) replaced the screen-backlight ballast. They did get unreliable after a while, freezing up at random times. There is a place where you can get a completely new motherboard for a certain old Thinkpad model, that I think I will try. My only problem with ancient laptops is that nowadays I need 32GB of…

Just because you can technically run something on a device doesn’t mean it will be usable. A 12 year old Intel proc (even with 32 GB of ram) will feel extremely slow.

It really depends on what you run though.

Re: How and why I stopped buying new laptops

#13

Post by killjoywashere »

jaimex2 wrote: post #12

It's usually just Apple people cycling their macbooks every "new shiny" release. Most people on PCs run them into the ground over 6-8 years.

Haven't bought a new MacBook since the original rMBP (or any other new laptop), which I ordered before the keynote was finished.

Re: How and why I stopped buying new laptops

#14

Post by deathanatos »

> I grumpily ordered a replacement key for 15 euros. In the months after that, replacement keys became a recurring cost. After spending more than 100 euros on plastic keys, which would soon break again, I calculated that my keyboard had 90 keys and that replacing them all just once would cost me 1,350 euros.

Am I missing something, or can an entire replacement keyboard not be had for ~32 EUR? https://www.amazon.com/Replacement-Keyboard-Lenovo-Thinkpad-...

Also… I have a T460p, bought in 2016. Perhaps I've gotten lucky, but it's well out of warranty at this point and we've only cracked the S key. (But the key functions, so I've not bothered to replace it.) The TrackPoint™ nub needs replacing, though, the original power supply failed and was replaced, and my battery is pretty close to dead after ~4.5 years (I think I get ~an hour of life?)

Re: How and why I stopped buying new laptops

#15

Post by gruez »

awinter-py wrote: post #9

this is bazonkers 'use low energy software' isn't that simple me just being a person in the zoom era uses a combination of a windows gaming rig, an old mac for video conferencing, a new mac for xcode, and a linux laptop so I don't hate myself the best tools don't work at all on old hardware . your time isn't free we would need to legislate open APIs for every commercial service before it would be reasonable for tech…

>the best tools don't work at all on old hardware. your time isn't free

What types of tools are you talking about? You're probably not going to be able to compile the linux kernel in 1 minute flat using an old laptop, but your average webdev workload will work just fine

>also 'replace old HDDs with SSDs' -- this tech only gets developed + exists because of the volume of laptops being produced. you can't benefit from a corrupt system and pretend to be outside it

Strange, I distinctly remember SSDs being common as an aftermarket upgrade way before it became a standard option on consumer laptops.

Re: How and why I stopped buying new laptops

#16

Post by tptacek »

jaimex2 wrote: post #12

It's usually just Apple people cycling their macbooks every "new shiny" release. Most people on PCs run them into the ground over 6-8 years.

That's a good thing. People who want to spend money on shiny machines (I'll probably get the next M1 iteration) pay a premium they're happy to pay, while a secondary market for previous iterations grows to satisfy price-conscious users.

Re: How and why I stopped buying new laptops

#17

Post by voltagex_ »

awinter-py wrote: post #9

this is bazonkers 'use low energy software' isn't that simple me just being a person in the zoom era uses a combination of a windows gaming rig, an old mac for video conferencing, a new mac for xcode, and a linux laptop so I don't hate myself the best tools don't work at all on old hardware . your time isn't free we would need to legislate open APIs for every commercial service before it would be reasonable for tech…

also assumes you can physically lift a 2+kg laptop and have the dexterity+skill to do your own repairs.

Re: How and why I stopped buying new laptops

#19

Post by awinter-py »

gruez wrote: post #15
awinter-py wrote: post #9

this is bazonkers 'use low energy software' isn't that simple me just being a person in the zoom era uses a combination of a windows gaming rig, an old mac for video conferencing, a new mac for xcode, and a linux laptop so I don't hate myself the best tools don't work at all on old hardware . your time isn't free we would need to legislate open APIs for every commercial service before it would be reasonable for tech…

>the best tools don't work at all on old hardware. your time isn't free What types of tools are you talking about? You're probably not going to be able to compile the linux kernel in 1 minute flat using an old laptop, but your average webdev workload will work just fine >also 'replace old HDDs with SSDs' -- this tech only gets developed + exists because of the volume of laptops being produced. you can't benefit from…

I'm talking about every new commercial software offering. Anything for editing videos. Probably blender. Anything that uses a GPU will have limited legacy support. Every game. Anything for architecture or engineering (OSS here is not so good, possible exception of electronics CAD).

I used 2 copies of the same phone for 4 years with open + closed source android -- the open source worked perfectly but had no commercial apps, the google android degraded on an upgrade cadence but had commercial offerings

I say this as someone who uses linux as my primary desktop, hates every moment on a commercial OS, and interacts with OSS for ethical reasons -- the economy is not building for it. Many hands make light work, and there are more hands in commercial software.

Re: How and why I stopped buying new laptops

#20

Post by esotericn »

deathanatos wrote: post #14

> I grumpily ordered a replacement key for 15 euros. In the months after that, replacement keys became a recurring cost. After spending more than 100 euros on plastic keys, which would soon break again, I calculated that my keyboard had 90 keys and that replacing them all just once would cost me 1,350 euros. Am I missing something, or can an entire replacement keyboard not be had for ~32 EUR? https://www.amazon.com/R…

Potentially - but I think that part of the author's point is that this shouldn't be necessary. Binning an entire keyboard for the sake of a few keys breaking?
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