I Ordered a New Laptop

[Tall Timbers]

A little over two years ago I transitioned from using desktop computers to laptop computers. Because of my computing needs I had to pay a hefty price for the laptop I bought back then. Because of the price and because of personal knowledge about how long newer laptops tend to last, I bought a 4 year repair/insurance policy too.

I had to send it in for repair about a week ago. The battery had stopped charging. I heard today that they've declared it to be non-reparable so I get a complete refund of my purchase price minus shipping and the cost of the insurance policy. I would have preferred to have continued to use that laptop for at least a couple more years but I ordered a new one today with a similar storage capacity (4 TB) and it'll only cost me about $1500 after I get my check from Asurion. Before I bought that pricey laptop a couple of years ago about the most I'd ever paid for a laptop was about a thousand.

On the positive side, I used to purchase a new desktop every year and then give the old one to one of the kids. That way nobody ever had a desktop older than about 5 years. In this case I'll get a laptop with a lot more computing power. The CPU is an Intel Core i9-13950HX vPro. It'll come with128 GB of DDR-5 memory. Storage will be in the form of 4 TB SSD M.2 2280 PCIe Gen4. It'll have a fancy graphics card and high end display but I don't really care so much about those things. Storage capacity is the big thing for me. Even with 4 TB I can't store everything I have on it. For that I have an 8 TB NAS which stores everything and then a couple of 5 TB USB drives that can store the most important stuff so I have some redundancy.

I guess you can say that I got my money's worth out of the extended warranty/insurance policy.

 

[Ghoti Ichthus]

A little over two years ago I transitioned from using desktop computers to laptop computers. Because of my computing needs I had to pay a hefty price for the laptop I bought back then. Because of the price and because of personal knowledge about how long newer laptops tend to last, I bought a 4 year repair/insurance policy too.

I had to send it in for repair about a week ago. The battery had stopped charging. I heard today that they've declared it to be non-reparable so I get a complete refund of my purchase price minus shipping and the cost of the insurance policy. I would have preferred to have continued to use that laptop for at least a couple more years but I ordered a new one today with a similar storage capacity (4 TB) and it'll only cost me about $1500 after I get my check from Asurion. Before I bought that pricey laptop a couple of years ago about the most I'd ever paid for a laptop was about a thousand.

On the positive side, I used to purchase a new desktop every year and then give the old one to one of the kids. That way nobody ever had a desktop older than about 5 years. In this case I'll get a laptop with a lot more computing power. The CPU is an Intel Core i9-13950HX vPro. It'll come with128 GB of DDR-5 memory. Storage will be in the form of 4 TB SSD M.2 2280 PCIe Gen4. It'll have a fancy graphics card and high end display but I don't really care so much about those things. Storage capacity is the big thing for me. Even with 4 TB I can't store everything I have on it. For that I have an 8 TB NAS which stores everything and then a couple of 5 TB USB drives that can store the most important stuff so I have some redundancy.

I guess you can say that I got my money's worth out of the extended warranty/insurance policy.

Besides on-site back-up, I have Carbonite for off-site in case fire, flood, theft, etc. Unlimited storage, real-time back-up, and easy restoration of data to the same or a different computer. Plus access-from-anywhere I have internet, with no limit to how many times I access.

 

[Tall Timbers]

I don't trust my data to the cloud. I know that most people don't give it 2nd thought. At least that way you're less likely to lose your data, but in my opinion it is much less secure.

 

[Ronnie]

My iPad wouldn’t backup anymore so I decided to delete all my backups then I began to get apprehensive , but then I backed it up, now all is well. I am very happy to be able to backup.

 

[bigMoose]

Interesting topic... I tend to buy one or two generations old laptops off of eBay. My experience when I worked and then when I had the company, was that the Dell laptops were the most reliable. Least reliable Asus, problems with HP and IBM. I've ditched the desktop like you too.

I run a Synology NAS for bulk storage and streaming video and audio. I backup my files daily to the NAS with 4TB storage. The NAS backs up at 2am to an attached USB hard drive. I typically use 3 laptops, one my routine one, one small one for travel, and one in the lab that runs machines. My data is mirrored to each. So my data have 4 back up copies at my site. The really, really valuable data is move encrypted to the cloud.

I learned this backup strategy the hard way when working, when a contractor backhoe cut the power to my building, and my work desktop was in the process of writing to the hard drive ... I lost it all.

 

[Ronnie]

My experience when I worked and then when I had the company, was that the Dell laptops were the most reliable. Least reliable Asus, problems with HP and IBM.

Really, IBM? You left off Green Machine!

 

[Tall Timbers]

was that the Dell laptops were the most reliable

I'm mostly familiar with Dell Desktops of which I configured many hundreds for the Air Force. The ones available via govmint contract to us always had a minimum of one piece of old technology in the otherwise favorable system. That turned me off to Dell for the most part. Dell was always good about sending out a component for me that had gone bad. The desktops proved pretty reliable too.

I keep two laptops. I've got a travel laptop for when I'm flying. Don't want to bang around the expensive one. While the primary is a 16" screen the backup is a little HP with a 13 inch screen and only 1 TB of storage. In this case it's an i7 11th gen. My experience with HP laptops has been good... a perfect record so far... thrown away or given away due to old age. Lenovos, now Chinese, have a poor survival record in our case but in the case of my current primary computer is what I can get with the guts that I want, which is pretty much state of the art. I want the fastest system I can get and with a lot of storage.

I really liked the Toshiba laptops before they quit making them. Mostly because they were the most bang for the buck. Would buy them at OfficeMax when there were on sale.

No matter which brand I bought the kids, during their college years I had to provide 2 or 3 to each of them. They'd get crammed into backpacks and would otherwise be treated pretty roughly. More often than not the screen or the connections to the screen would get damaged at some point.

 

[Ghoti Ichthus]

I liked the old Trogon open architecture laptops
Very user-friendly to customize and upgrade.
Sadly, no longer made

These days, I have a very small Lenovo with 1T solid state HD I got it used from a local shop a generation or two behind because I don't need the latest and greatest hardware, although the backlit keys are very helpful in a dark/dim room or vehicle. Speed and enough capacity to back up DVDs, CDs, documents, marked sheet music, and pix. I still have my Office 2007 disks, and the software works just fine on Windows 11. My Office 97 Developer is in storage, and when I get my own place again and actually finish moving, I'm going to see if it'll work on whatever OS is on my computer because I can do a lot more with it, including doing a simple password protect (access and/or changes) on my Office documents. The security function in 2007 is a pain in the neck and I suspect gives Microsoft and other unauthorized the ability to open those documents

 

[Tall Timbers]

I still have my Office 2007 disks

I've got a couple copies of Office 10 Pro that I install but I use the Word Perfect Office Suite day to day. Except for MS Publisher, I actually use that on a regular basis.

 

[Ghoti Ichthus]

Didn't realize Lenovo is now Chinese. Wonder if mine is old enough that it isn't . . .
(turns computer over to look at markings)

The case, at least, is not Chinese. Guess I'll go look at the mommyboard, etc. one of these days . . .

 

[Tall Timbers]

IBM sold their PC business to Lenovo in 2005.

 

[BU119]

Don't you have problems with activating office 2010, I do.
Even when the activation is done, it happens that I have to reactivate within some weeks, and then the trouble starts. I have the impression that Microsoft doesn't want me/us to activate old O2010 versions.

 

[Tall Timbers]

Don't you have problems with activating office 2010, I do.
Even when the activation is done, it happens that I have to reactivate within some weeks, and then the trouble starts. I have the impression that Microsoft doesn't want me/us to activate old O2010 versions.

I haven't had issues with that yet. I have the pro version, don't know if that makes a difference or not. I did have difficulty with a few other programs. Had to buy a USB DVD player for the installation of some.

 

[Ronnie]

I regret getting iPad’s instead of lap tops.

 

[Ghoti Ichthus]

Don't you have problems with activating office 2010, I do.
Even when the activation is done, it happens that I have to reactivate within some weeks, and then the trouble starts. I have the impression that Microsoft doesn't want me/us to activate old O2010 versions.

It's likely some of the updates. I've had some issues with some and eliminated most of the problems by turning off auto update. Try turning auto update off and do the updates after turning off the computer and then restarting. Look at what you're updating, as well. Try to do the OS separately from everything else, to include turning the computer off after the update is finished. If you're using MS Office, do the same as with Windows OS.

 

[Kaatje]

I regret getting iPad’s instead of lap tops.

Noooooo, I love my EriPad.

 

[Ghoti Ichthus]

I haven't had issues with that yet. I have the pro version, don't know if that makes a difference or not. I did have difficulty with a few other programs. Had to buy a USB DVD player for the installation of some.

Yes, Pro vs Home does make a big difference.

 

[Tall Timbers]

I regret getting iPad’s instead of lap tops.

I'm a tech consultant for a lot of people. I recommend to older folks that they stick with whatever platform they're used to since they're familiar with it already. It's common for children to encourage their older parents to switch to the child's platform of choice.

 

[Hol]

I'm debating about if I need a new laptop. Currently I have a 2017 Macbook Pro with MS Office installed (not the cloud version).

It's running fine, but I've had laptops crash unexpectedly so I want to try to avoid that.

Any ideas?

 

[Ghoti Ichthus]

I'm a tech consultant for a lot of people. I recommend to older folks that they stick with whatever platform they're used to since they're familiar with it already. It's common for children to encourage their older parents to switch to the child's platform of choice.

When the old person's familiar platform is Atari or Amiga, it's probably time to upgrade
2MB memory- we'll never need more than that