that can be taken wrongly.
Haha that's not what I meant, but you never know.........
that can be taken wrongly.
I think about every 4 years is a good time to get a new computer. Giving consideration to when apple will release their next big MacBook/Pro revision.
You're pretty lucky with your Dells. I bought a Dell XPS laptop. After 12 months of nothing but catastrophic failures Dell replaced it with a new 17 XPS laptop. The replacement (a refurb) was even less reliable with 15 catastrophic failures in as many months (memory, video boards, LCS panels, fans, CPUs, etc). Dell replaced that with a (brand new since I refused a refurb) Precision M90 laptop. By that time I had given up and purchased a MBP 17" to replace it (my first Mac in about 10 years). I still have the M90, but only use it for Outlook and IM connected to a corporate VPN. If I try to do anything else the fans go wild. I have no doubt if I used it daily it would fail. My colleague has the same machine. He gets a new video board about every month.Let's see...
My last computer went as follows:
1. Toshiba laptop (266 Mhz Pentium II), lasted from Dec 1998 to Feb 2004. That's slightly more than 5 years
2. Dell Latitude D600 lasted from Feb 2004 to March 2007. Now it's my 6 years old son game PC, after a motherboard replacement. About 3 years of loyal use.
3. Dell XPS 1210 is my current laptop (though I want to buy a MBA), in charge from march 2007 to present. 2.5 years.
My imac is my current main computer since May 2008, previously I had a Dell Optiplex from 2004 to 2007 (3 years).
So I'd say my computers normally work OK for 3 years. After that, however, I normally turn them to my kids, some student or so.
As much as I'd love to say that I'd upgrade every 2 years, it's not practical. Unless you're a gamer, every 4-5 years should bring enough of a significant update to warrant an upgrade. However, I'm also of the opinion that older computers can easily be repurposed and used for other things until they finally die.
Right now, my laptop is clunking along, but it's still going. I've had to tape the battery in place as the latch broke. I've replaced a key on the keyboard. The protective shroud for the wireless card has been torn off, so there's an exposed piece of PCB sticking out of the side, and the laptop has to be permanently docked, as the insulator ring of the power port on the laptop has broken off. Yeah, it's not much to look at, but it will run iTunes, Firefox and Picasa.
I don't think you can made such a broad generalization. I'm not a gamer, but I do update every 2 1/2 years, and it is practical for me to do so. It would be painful for me right now to use 4-5 year old equipment. I just did one of my 2.5 yr. upgrades and it has been beneficial.As much as I'd love to say that I'd upgrade every 2 years, it's not practical. Unless you're a gamer, every 4-5 years should bring enough of a significant update to warrant an upgrade....
Same here. I used my iBook for about 4 years before upgrading to a MBP a little over 2 years ago. Main reason i upgraded was because the ibook was its hard drive was full and i didn't feel like replacing it.
while i would like to upgrade to the unibody MBP now that they offer matte screens again, it would purely be to have something new, as my current machine works perfectly and i expected to use it for at least 4-5 years.
now if the next update came with blu-ray or something major like that....
Same here. I try to get 4+ years out of my Apple laptops, but after year 4 they start to seem reeeeeeeaaaaaally slow.
I really don't understand why people upgrade for no reason other than having the latest and greatest thing.