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How long you guys keep your laptops?

I still have my Powerbook G4 that I got around 2001. It still works fine. but its inability to stream videos from netflix forced me to get a MacBook Pro 5,1 in 2009.

I will probably replace the G4 with a MacBook Air when the G4 dies but who knows when that will be?

I don't want to buy an expensive computer that sits around unused.
 
Zackmd1 said:
Same here! Except I actually bought my macbook air (got a job).
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I wanted to pay for half of it, I really did. She wouldn't let me, if that makes sense. She said the 6k that I have been saving since I was 5 is for college or something...Yeah, cause $6,000 is really gonna make a dent :rolleyes:.

I hate it when people spend money on me, it makes me feel so guilty.
 
I don't have any current need for anything more portable than my ol' powerbook because the most distance it goes is from room to room in my apartment. Sure I have wants and I drool over various things, but that doesn't change the fact that anything else would be superfluous as my imac does all my necessary heavy lifting. I'm in school, but its so low tech that we're still using tape decks(!!) and there's no wifi available.


However, I will be buying *something* portable come july 2011 because I'm moving to Australia for a year. Since both my husband's and my laptops are on their last legs we have to get two portable devices, whether that be some combo of ipad,ip4, mba, mbp, asus, etc...I won't know until new revs come out.

I don't need anything right now, so I can afford to wait and see.

My mindset on buying computers is to buy something with the best specs possible and use it for many years.
 
Corndog5595 said:
I wanted to pay for half of it, I really did. She wouldn't let me, if that makes sense. She said the 6k that I have been saving since I was 5 is for college or something...Yeah, cause $6,000 is really gonna make a dent :rolleyes:.

I hate it when people spend money on me, it makes me feel so guilty.
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Know the feeling. Thats why I got the job so I could pay for these things without them saying its being saved for something else!:D
Answering the question: got 13 MBP(mid 2009) last june and macbook air on release date so Im avg about a year so far.
 
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Since my laptops see a lot of traveling, they get bashed around a lot. My two Vaios (one was the cute TZ) lasted about 1.5 years. I got a Fujitsu Lifebook P7120 after that (Pentium M, beautiful bright and sharp 10in display, great keyboard, no fan, lots of battery, robust casing) and wrote lots of presentations and a couple of books on it. Meanwhile, I also got a semi-portable MBP and would refresh it at every second revision or so. They lost about a third of their value, so the upgrade is really only third of the price. I also got the developer connection discounts, which help a little.

Meanwhile, I kept the Fujitsu as my portable alternative, because Apple did not produce anything satisfactory. In fact, nobody did. I did not want a 13in again. I ditched the MBA Rev A soon, because it sucked. I wanted to have something robust, silent and reasonably fast. Since I have the 11in MBA, my trusty old Fujitsu stays in the drawer. I expect to upgrade the MBA as soon as possible (i.e., perhaps in March or in July, when Apple switches to a core-ix solution).

I do not consider myself rich, but I use my computers as a tool to earn money. It is a simple calculation. Waiting time and frustration time (and sometimes time where I left my laptop at home because I could not be bothered to lug the weight) are times where I do not make progress on my projects. This quickly adds up to a few hundred Euros. With everyone that earns money using computers, I believe. If you do the math, it is cheaper to upgrade regularly.
 
I had a PC around 2002 then I got a MacBook in 2008, and now the MBA.

But I reckon 2 to 4 years or whether I got money.

I sold my MacBook to a friend for £400 and got my MBA for £1,014 (4GB) with 14% HE Discount, so overall paid about £600. It's a good deal. :)
 
hcho3 said:
Simple question..
However, I would like to hear from people who own late 2010 MBA laptops. How long do you all plan on keep your MBA?

I will start..

I usually update my laptop every 4-5 years. What about you guys?
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About every 10-12 months.
 
I use my 15" MBP for 3D design & other resource intensive work, therefore I upgrade it very frequently. The others such as my new MBA, are purely because I like choices & do 95% of my personal business digitally. I hardly use paper for anything. A laptop & smartphone go with me everywhere.
 
acron1 said:
I do my laptops about once a year... you will be surprised at what the resale on Apple laptops is... it's not nearly as expensive as you think.
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Do you reckon that loose about 40% of its original value within a year?

so if I bought for 1000 I can sell for 600? more? less?
 
I just ordered an ultimate 13" MBA to replace my 12" BP G4 from 2004, which replaced my PowerBook 2400c from 1998 so I seem to be on a 6 year replacement cycle - yikes!
 
I've got a spring 2002 TiBook, my first and only laptop. I've contemplated a new purchase occasionally but ultimately decide against it as my TiBook continues in these upper years as adequate.
 
funkboy said:
I'll probably pick up an 11.6" MBA to replace my netbook as soon as there's a fix for the display tearing issues.
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I had a 11.6" MBA for 2 weeks and never experienced any display issues. Looks like its just some machines. The 11.6" is a great little machine.
 
Re: original question...

It depends. I have a 4 1/2 year old original white Macbook. Still runs great. I'm using it to post this.

On the other hand I have a 2009 MBP which I'm planning to sell now that I have a MBA. The MBA gives me significant advantages over the MBP. The quick update is worth it to me. I'm using my 2006 Macbook as a media PC. Works great for what I want. Don't need anything more powerful.
 
My typical plan is every two years (I never buy Applecare and purchasing with my AmEx card doubles the one year warranty). However, I am often persuaded by the shiny new releases and only get 1-1.5 years out of my laptops most of the time.

Just purchased a maxed out 11.6" MBA. Not sure how long it will be around. I hope a while. :)
 
well Im buying the 11" just as a place holder for about a year, until the USB 3 all SSD imacs comes out, etc...
 
I've had 5 laptops in the last two years. Got my first Dell a little over two years ago, saved my money for 6 months or so and bought a 15" MBP Unibody, then bought a netbook 6 months later, then 6 months after that sold both of them and bought my Alienware, then 3 months after that my new Air. Crazy, I know, data migration has been a real pain in the ass, especially considering I've had multiple hard drives in each of those computers. LOL :eek:

And you think my obsession with laptops is bad, don't even ask how many phones I've bought in the same amount of time...
 
Also around every 18 months.
I'm not "rich" but not poor either. The resale is what makes it affordable.
Just sold my €1099,- iMac 21,5" for €900,- and I sold my late 2008(bought februari 2009) €1349,- alu MacBook 13" high end for €890,- and both were sold fast.
 
12" G4 Powerbook for six years now. Getting a new 13" maxed out MBA next week and plan to keep it just as long or until something comes along where I must have it.
 
14" iBook 2004-2006 (my first Mac)

12" PowerBook 2006 - 2008

15" MBP 2008 - present

I have also had an iMac G5 and Mac Mini at various times in the last 5 years. I loved the Mac Mini - would buy one as a media server in a heartbeat (money no object).

What is more likely, is that I will retire my MBP to media server next year, and upgrade my laptop, though I have no idea what I would get... yet.
 
2 to 3 years seems typical for me.

I sold my 2.53Ghz MBP and used that money to build a core i7 hackintosh. I'm not saying that to gloat but rather, point out that I expect to hold on to my desktop for a lot longer then 2 years. I see little reason to replace that in the near future. Its a quad core, i7-930 and its plenty powerful for me now and in the future.

I will be in the market for a laptop, I suspect. I have a dell mini 10v that I purchased used earlier this year but the 10" screen has hampered me with some tasks that I generally run which is why I'll be seeing what apple has to offer in the first qtr of 2011.
 
I've still got my 15" MacBook Pro.

Bought it in summer 2007. Thing is, a 2.4GHz dual core + 4GB RAM + 500GB 7200RPM HDD isn't too bad by these days standards!

I know people buying generic laptops today that are lower specified than that, and it's three years old.


I intend to use my MacBook Air for 3 years. After that I don't expect it to fall apart or anything, but I imagine it will be pretty weedy specifications wise. I'll keep it as I never sell on computers, but it won't be my primary laptop anymore.
 
ghostwriter said:
Every 2 yrs. I sell the old one at 50% of original price.
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That's generally why I sell my after the second year. Every time I buy a new laptop, I say I'll want to keep it longer but then #$%& apple blows me away with a great new laptop :D
 
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