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I stopped buying new laptops (2020)

solar.lowtechmagazine.com

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Re: I stopped buying new laptops (2020)

#301

Post by therealdrag0 »

wyldfire wrote: post #14

I often buy a ~one generation old phone for this same reason. It's just so much better value to buy someone else's phone. The folks who keep buying the newest generation tech often seem to take really good care of their gear - perhaps because they plan to resell it later. I haven't done this as much with laptops because I do tend to keep those for such a long time that I can reasonably amortize a bigger investment ov…

Right, which is why replacing a laptop after 3 years isn’t that bad, so long as the old one finds a home. Unfortunately it seems like windows machine are much less resealable/reusable after they’re no longer wanted..

Re: I stopped buying new laptops (2020)

#302

Post by prmph »

rpcope1 wrote: post #12

> Most of the 160-200 million laptops sold each year are replacement purchases. The average laptop is replaced every 3 years (in business) to five years (elsewhere). 3 My 5.7 years per laptop experience is not exceptional. This is one of the many aspects I don't like about how laptops are designed today. Even with OEM desktops like my Dell Precision T1700, it's still serviceable and fixable today without a whole lot…

I swore off those Chinese manufacturers (Lenovo, Asus, Acer, etc) many years ago for similar reasons and haven't looked back. I just don't buy any products from them, laptops included. Surprised people are still having to learn the hard way that their products are crap.

Re: I stopped buying new laptops (2020)

#304

Post by dang »

Related:

How and why I stopped buying new laptops - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32674830 - Sept 2022 (111 comments)

How and why I stopped buying new laptops - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26188282 - Feb 2021 (100 comments)

How and why I stopped buying new laptops - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25486191 - Dec 2020 (279 comments)

Re: I stopped buying new laptops (2020)

#306

Post by eBombzor »

> Laptops don’t change

> New laptops may be more energy-efficient per computational power, but these gains are offset by more computational power

Guess this was written before the M1 :)

I also felt the Zen 2 Laptop chips marked a huge step forward on the Win/Linux side at that time: generationally more power efficient than the best laptop chips from Intel, same core/thread count as the desktop equivalents, and cheap enough to be in a lot of budget laptops.

Re: I stopped buying new laptops (2020)

#308

Post by Dalewyn »

eBombzor wrote: post #306

> Laptops don’t change > New laptops may be more energy-efficient per computational power, but these gains are offset by more computational power Guess this was written before the M1 :) I also felt the Zen 2 Laptop chips marked a huge step forward on the Win/Linux side at that time: generationally more power efficient than the best laptop chips from Intel, same core/thread count as the desktop equivalents, and cheap…

I'll also point out that quoted argument doesn't even make any sense.

The vast majority of people are not going to run their computers at full tilt all day every day all year long. Most of the time is spent in idle cycles or very low usage, so efficiency gains matter a lot.

If you are the few people who run their computers full tilt, it still doesn't make sense because you will finish your task sooner meaning you will spend less energy and time overall completing the same task as before.

Re: I stopped buying new laptops (2020)

#309

Post by scq »

prmph wrote: post #302
rpcope1 wrote: post #12

> Most of the 160-200 million laptops sold each year are replacement purchases. The average laptop is replaced every 3 years (in business) to five years (elsewhere). 3 My 5.7 years per laptop experience is not exceptional. This is one of the many aspects I don't like about how laptops are designed today. Even with OEM desktops like my Dell Precision T1700, it's still serviceable and fixable today without a whole lot…

I swore off those Chinese manufacturers (Lenovo, Asus, Acer, etc) many years ago for similar reasons and haven't looked back. I just don't buy any products from them, laptops included. Surprised people are still having to learn the hard way that their products are crap.

Asus and Acer are Taiwanese, not Chinese, and none of them actually manufacture their own laptops in house, that is outsourced to manufacturing partners.

Nearly all laptops on the market, regardless of brand, are manufactured by 6 Taiwanese companies: Quanta, Compal, Wistron, Inventec, Pegatron, and Foxconn.

And yes, that includes Framework, who use Compal as their manufacturing partner.

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