laptop life-expectancy

[BananaBandit]

I remember someone once telling me that all digital machines have a max life expectancy of about 10 years.  However, this can't be entirely accurate:  My handheld digi camera still generates decent images after more than 13 years. 

 

Of even more value to me is my Lenovo laptop. Bought brand new in mid 2012. We been through so much together (and i have her customized just the way I want). After 8-plus years, some of her USB orifices don't work optimally, but I still wouldn't trade her for any other machine on this planet. 

 

How much longer can I expect her to function (for the record, she has never incurred much physical trauma or viral infection) ?

 

Recently, my Windows Task Manager panel says that the CPU Usage is 100% ...even if I'm not really doing much.  This seems problematic.  What should I do?   Would using a can of compressed air on her dusty orifices help things?   I wonder if some of the dust is blocking the vents, and I recall someone else once saying that "heat is the nemesis of lifespan."

[Hamus Yaigh]

8 minutes ago, BananaBandit said:

 My handheld digi camera still generates decent images after more than 13 years. 

 

Could be your eyesight is deteriorating inversely proportionally over the same period? Camera tech has vastly improved since 13 years ago.

 

10 minutes ago, BananaBandit said:

Recently, my Windows Task Manager panel says that the CPU Usage is 100% ...even if I'm not really doing much.  This seems problematic.  What should I do?   Would using a can of compressed air on her dusty orifices help things?   I wonder if some of the dust is blocking the vents, and I recall someone else once saying that "heat is the nemesis of lifespan."

 

Heat and dust will make the CPU hot, but not necessarily run 100% which will be from running obsolete operating systems. Install the latest Linux Mint instead should get better results on old PC.

[Pravda]

My Atari 1040STFM from 1987 still works great including the floppy disk. 

 

I have Commodore 64 that still works great. 

 

 

[OneMoreFarang]

Some devices work for a long time. I.e. ThinkPad business notebooks are sturdy and drivers are still available for a long time.

I have one of those which is now about 10 years old. The following problems happen at some stage - even if in theory all still works.

- The RAM is non enough anymore and it is not possible to upgrade anymore

- The BIOS and functionality is limited. I.e. it's possible to change the HDD to a SSD but the new SSD is not as fast as it would be in a new computer.

- Heat, CPU: Clean it with compressed air or a vacuum cleaner  and make sure the fan still works.

- CPU at 100%: Let it run and update for a few hours and look again. If a notebook with Windows 10 is not used for a week or a month often lots of updates want to be installed and that takes a long time. Just let it run and if necessary reboot if necessary.

- Battery and other parts: At some stage it's impossible or very expensive to get spare parts like a battery.

 

About how much longer depends a lot on what you do. I.e. if you want to install the newest browser to look at the newest websites then one day you won't have enough RAM anymore. It depends how much you use it for "new" technology like websites which don't work on "old" technology anymore.

[Eindhoven]

25 minutes ago, BananaBandit said:

I remember someone once telling me that all digital machines have a max life expectancy of about 10 years.  However, this can't be entirely accurate:  My handheld digi camera still generates decent images after more than 13 years. 

 

Of even more value to me is my Lenovo laptop. Bought brand new in mid 2012. We been through so much together (and i have her customized just the way I want). After 8-plus years, some of her USB orifices don't work optimally, but I still wouldn't trade her for any other machine on this planet. 

 

How much longer can I expect her to function (for the record, she has never incurred much physical trauma or viral infection) ?

 

Recently, my Windows Task Manager panel says that the CPU Usage is 100% ...even if I'm not really doing much.  This seems problematic.  What should I do?   Would using a can of compressed air on her dusty orifices help things?   I wonder if some of the dust is blocking the vents, and I recall someone else once saying that "heat is the nemesis of lifespan."

 

Full model number and current specification of the laptop?

That way we can have an idea of where the bottleneck may originate.

 

My laptop is from 2007; everything works. 

But someone else's laptop might only last a couple of years. There is no way to tell.

 

 

 

 

[Oldie]

Look in the task manager to find out what is causing this high CPU usage. 

[OneMoreFarang]

9 minutes ago, Pravda said:

My Atari 1040STFM from 1987 still works great including the floppy disk. 

 

I have Commodore 64 that still works great. 

 

 

Do the FDDs from 1987 still work?

I read somewhere that the magnetic field is so low after 10 years or so that old FDDs can't be written anymore.

New should still work - or old copied to new with "new and strong" magnetic field.

[Eindhoven]

Just now, OneMoreFarang said:

Some devices work for a long time. I.e. ThinkPad business notebooks are sturdy and drivers are still available for a long time.

I have one of those which is now about 10 years old. The following problems happen at some stage - even if in theory all still works.

- The RAM is non enough anymore and it is not possible to upgrade anymore

- The BIOS and functionality is limited. I.e. it's possible to change the HDD to a SSD but the new SSD is not as fast as it would be in a new computer.

- Heat, CPU: Clean it with compressed air or a vacuum cleaner  and make sure the fan still works.

- CPU at 100%: Let it run and update for a few hours and look again. If a notebook with Windows 10 is not used for a week or a month often lots of updates want to be installed and that takes a long time. Just let it run and if necessary reboot if necessary.

- Battery and other parts: At some stage it's impossible or very expensive to get spare parts like a battery.

 

About how much longer depends a lot on what you do. I.e. if you want to install the newest browser to look at the newest websites then one day you won't have enough RAM anymore. It depends how much you use it for "new" technology like websites which don't work on "old" technology anymore.

 

BIOS has nothing to do with it.

RAM also unlikely to be an issue.

SSD wouldn't send the CPU to 100%, so also not a factor. Even if SATA 1, it would still be a huge improvement over HDD.

 

[OneMoreFarang]

2 minutes ago, Eindhoven said:

 

Full model number and current specification of the laptop?

That way we can have an idea of where the bottleneck may originate.

 

My laptop is from 2007; everything works. 

But someone else's laptop might only last a couple of years. There is no way to tell.

 

No, we don't need a full model number to answer this question.

[Eindhoven]

1 minute ago, OneMoreFarang said:

No, we don't need a full model number to answer this question.

 

Really? You are so smart that you don't even need to know the layout of the laptop(for possible fan cleaning etc), what CPU is running(to check if it is adequate to the task) or the myriad of other helpful information knowing the exact model can provide.

 

Ridiculous. Better to not try to tangle with me for spurious reasons. Keep it for genuine discussions.

[teacherclaire]

MY DELL Inspiron 1440 is now 10, or 11 years old and works well with an SSD.

 

The only problem I see is that it doesn't have an HDMI connection. 

 

    

[Lacessit]

I have an ASUS laptop I was give as a gift 8 years ago. Secondhand at that stage.

I ascribe its longevity to the fact it has only had Linux OS of various versions installed on it, not Windows fatware.

[Henryford]

My Lenovo laptop died in under 2 years. Chinese <deleted>.

[Eindhoven]

1 minute ago, Lacessit said:

I have an ASUS laptop I was give as a gift 8 years ago. Secondhand at that stage.

I ascribe its longevity to the fact it has only had Linux OS of various versions installed on it, not Windows fatware.

 

Nonsense of course.

My ACER laptop from 2007 was sold with Linpus Linux. I installed Windows XP, then Windows 7 and now Windows 10. Five years older than yours and still running perfectly.

[Eindhoven]

3 minutes ago, Henryford said:

My Lenovo laptop died in under 2 years. Chinese <deleted>.

 

You really have to be careful what you choose. Many people just look at the spec and ignore the cr@p quality of the build.

[Eindhoven]

21 minutes ago, teacherclaire said:

MY DELL Inspiron 1440 is now 10, or 11 years old and works well with an SSD.

 

The only problem I see is that it doesn't have an HDMI connection. 

 

    

 

 

They didn't become common until around 2009.

 

I have S-Video and VGA on mine. Haven't bothered with casting since I have other methods to view media on TV. The fact that the laptop struggles with high quality media(high bitrate 720p) is another issue against casting.

[BigStar]

1 hour ago, BananaBandit said:

How much longer can I expect her to function (for the record, she has never incurred much physical trauma or viral infection) ?

No way to answer that question. It will last until it can't do what you think you must have it do. You may be able to postpone that day via repairs, additions, accessories, and software/firmware changes and upgrades. Most will discard their old laptop when the cost of repairs greatly exceeds the cost of buying a new one. You may feel so sentimental about her that you're willing to pay the costs, however. I understand. I've held an old netbook together with duct tape. 

 

BTW, you can plug short extensions into your USB ports and use those to avoid further wear and tear.

 

1 hour ago, BananaBandit said:

Recently, my Windows Task Manager panel says that the CPU Usage is 100% ...even if I'm not really doing much.  This seems problematic.  What should I do?   Would using a can of compressed air on her dusty orifices help things?   I wonder if some of the dust is blocking the vents, and I recall someone else once saying that "heat is the nemesis of lifespan."

Well, as @Oldie said, first thing to do, esp as you're looking in the Task Manager anyway for some reason, is to see what processes seem to be using lots of CPU. Then you figure out why that may be. Could be some process you don't need, starting up when it shouldn't, working too hard, or as @OneMoreFarang said, could be something to do with an update.

 

Soon you'll be required by our experts to install an SSD to solve all your problems. Now you actually don't need to install an SSD and freshly install Windows merely to check your CPU and HDD temperature--another first thing to do. Just install some program now like HWiNFO or CPU-Z and take a look at the sensors to see whether you're running hot.

 

Avoiding and cleaning out dust is always a good thing anyway. Yeah, get the compressed air and use it.

Edited November 14, 2020 by BigStar

[Eindhoven]

10 minutes ago, BigStar said:

No way to answer that question. It will last until it can't do what you think you must have it do. You may be able to postpone that day via repairs, additions, accessories, and software/firmware changes and upgrades. Most will discard their old laptop when the cost of repairs greatly exceeds the cost of buying a new one. You may feel so sentimental about her that you're willing to pay the costs, however. I understand. I've held an old netbook together with duct tape. 

 

BTW, you can plug short extensions into your USB ports and use those to avoid further wear and tear.

 

Well, as @Oldie said, first thing to do, esp as you're looking in the Task Manager anyway for some reason, is to see what processes seem to be using lots of CPU. Then you figure out why that may be. Could be some process you don't need, starting up when it shouldn't, working too hard, or as @OneMoreFarang said, could be something to do with an update.

 

Soon you'll be required by our experts to install an SSD to solve all your problems. Now you actually don't need to install an SSD and freshly install Windows merely to check your CPU and HDD temperature--another first thing to do. Just install some program now like HWiNFO or CPU-Z and take a look at the sensors to see whether you're running hot.

 

Avoiding and cleaning out dust is always a good thing anyway. Yeah, get the compressed air and use it.

 

 

Always a good idea to look at the whole picture before wasting time attacking the problem piecemeal and then deciding that an SSD and a clean install is best anyway.

 

I prefer to have all of the information in front of me in the first place; then to make a decision of the best way forward.

 

Sad that you feel the need to write the same nonsense in almost every post.

 

Nothing wrong with updating old laptops with solid state drives. You make it sound as if it is something that people should avoid, in an attempt to try to score a cheap point. Not intelligent.

 

So I look at the whole picture, that means the device and specification. Then we can more accurately direct the OP. 

 

If the OP is happy to do a clean install to an SSD, that will save time messing trying to fix software problems.

In addition, if the drive has never been changed, why stick with a nine year old HDD?

 

If they already have an SSD fitted, we can look at the other possibilities. Either way, always best to have as much information as possible, before deciding on the best way forward.

 

So full model number and current spec. 

 

 

 

 

[BigStar]

2 minutes ago, Eindhoven said:

Always a good idea to look at the whole picture before wasting time attacking the problem piecemeal and then deciding that an SSD and a clean install is best anyway.

Well, it's just always a foregone conclusion that an SSD and clean install will be necessary, no? While having no idea what's actually causing the problem. Then look in Task Manager and see if the CPU is still 100% and the temps too high, and, if they are, address those problems specifically.????

 

OP,  might only take 10 min solve your little problem and be happy. Suggest you try that first before spending time and money unnecessarily. Your money, of course.  

[OneMoreFarang]

3 hours ago, Henryford said:

My Lenovo laptop died in under 2 years. Chinese <deleted>.

There is Lenovo, and there is Lenovo ThinkPad.

Maybe next time buy a ThinkPad.

[tingtongfarang]

I have 3 thinkpads... 2 from IBM and one i still use from lenovo, just take a look in the laptop repair places and you will notice they all use thinkpads,

They are intended to be taken apart and upgraded - and repared for as long as possible.

Edited November 14, 2020 by tingtongfarang

[cucme]

Just be carefull blowing compressed air into the fans. That can easily ruin them.

Better you use a vacuum cleaner if you've got one.

You can also open the back of your laptop and see what's going on, maybe clean with a brush.

To speed up your pc try privazer. Run it and see. That might help a lot.

Since it is a lenovo, your battery should be still OK, if you run lenovo's energy management.

It is mostly a matter of good luck or bad luck, but it might run another 10 years, just keep microsoft out.

Edited November 15, 2020 by cucme
typo

[toolpush]

Once you go Mac, you never go back.....

[vandeventer]

I think laptops are like I phones, technology outdates  them and makes them very slow in this fast world we live in.

[Pilotman]

My HP laptop appears to be on its last legs.  It is 4 years old and a top end gaming machine, but the heat and humidity here has played havoc with it.  It may last as a way to stream moves, but for not much else. What I have learnt from all this;  in 4 years,  2 dead Kindles, I dead iPad, 2 dead phones and and this computer, is that backing up is all important and having a deep replacement fund available.  

[BananaBandit]

My specs:

Lenovo B570   
Windows 7 Home Premium 
4 GB RAM
My Hard Drive says it has about 20 GB free of 254 GB capacity

I tried deleting Processes on Task Manager, but, for whatever reason(s), that wouldn't suffice to lower the CPU Usage. 

 

Then I remembered about "System Restore"  So I restored my system to a point about two weeks ago. After the System Restore, my Google Chrome wasn't working, so I went into Internet Explorer and downloaded the latest Chrome version.  Things now appear to be working well, and my CPU at last check was at 12 percent.   

 

Someone pointed out that compressed air can ruin your fans... That's concerning to me.   If my CPU Usage reverts to some astronomically high level, I think I will just blow on the vents with my mouth instead. Hopefully it's better than nothing. 

[BigStar]

19 hours ago, tingtongfarang said:

I have 3 thinkpads... 2 from IBM and one i still use from lenovo, just take a look in the laptop repair places and you will notice they all use thinkpads,

They are intended to be taken apart and upgraded - and repared for as long as possible.

Thinkpads are real tanks, built to last.

[BigStar]

38 minutes ago, vandeventer said:

I think laptops are like I phones, technology outdates  them and makes them very slow in this fast world we live in.

That's true to an extent. Some laptops are fairly easy to update and upgrade, however. More often it's that the user has managed to clog up his laptop's OS with a lot of useless apps running the background. Having two commercial antivirs fighting for total control is a classic, for example. Such is paranoia. Nowadays (assuming Windows) all you need is Windows Defender, maybe run free Malwarebytes once a week manually or scheduled.

 

Sometimes the browser is slow so the user thinks his entire computer is slow. Might be an easy fix with a cleanup. Or could be a temporary slowdown because some cr.a.ppy webpage's javascript is in a loop. (That can cause a big CPU spike as well, BTW.)

 

Could be perception after using a much higher spec computer, yet the old computer is still good 'nuff and can perhaps be optimized.

 

If users are too lazy or insufficiently knowledgeable to apply what may be a relatively quick fix to the software, they'll go to all the trouble of reinstalling everything from scratch (????), perhaps after being persuaded that they need an SSD.???? Or buying an entirely new computer. Recently a user was advised here to buy some old used proprietary Dell, when all he really needed was a CPU upgrade--which he got. But if the problem was the software, that'll help for a while at least. Kinda like refusing to do any physical therapy to stop your knee pain but instead wisely opting for a full knee replacement.

 

Or could be imagination. We had one user here not long ago insisting his laptop was running hot. He'd never checked the temps and compared them with the safe operating ranges, however. Somebody suggested he do so, but, perhaps owing to a delicate aversion to touching any software, what he really wanted to hear was an easily understood LEGO solution, one he'd already thought of. And so he got a laptop cooler after confirmations he needed one. Well, why not? Felt all better after that. Wasn't too expensive anyway. 

 

 

[BigStar]

1 hour ago, BananaBandit said:

My specs:

Lenovo B570   
Windows 7 Home Premium 
4 GB RAM
My Hard Drive says it has about 20 GB free of 254 GB capacity

I tried deleting Processes on Task Manager, but, for whatever reason(s), that wouldn't suffice to lower the CPU Usage. 

 

Then I remembered about "System Restore"  So I restored my system to a point about two weeks ago. After the System Restore, my Google Chrome wasn't working, so I went into Internet Explorer and downloaded the latest Chrome version.  Things now appear to be working well, and my CPU at last check was at 12 percent.   

 

Someone pointed out that compressed air can ruin your fans... That's concerning to me.   If my CPU Usage reverts to some astronomically high level, I think I will just blow on the vents with my mouth instead. Hopefully it's better than nothing. 

Be nice to know what processes were taking up the CPU and which you killed off.

 

Maybe it was just Chrome all along.????

 

Compressed air's fine. Air compressor, no. Here:

 

https://www.wikihow.com/Clean-a-Laptop-with-Compressed-Air

 

You can get a lot of mileage outta that can.

 

Probably no need to say this, but be sure to do regular backups on that old machine (not clear how old the HDD is). Good to create a baseline image or even a clone and update for significant changes as well.

 

Now that you've acquiesced and given the specs, then, given where we are, you're probably going to be pressured to update and upgrade. Up to you, though, as we say in Pattaya.

Edited November 15, 2020 by BigStar

[kiteman9]

The laptop needs to be opened and cleaned.