Is My 5 Y.O. Laptop Too Old?

[Wrong Turn]

My laptop is 5 years old. It's an Acer 5670.

All I do is surf the web, and occasionally down load a document or torrent.

Lateyly it's been freezing up with youtube.

I've tried to defrag but the system says defragging is not necessary now.

I've always wanted to keep my Acer 5670 (that is now 5 years old) until it just wasn't workable, but my question is:

Is it too old, now?

Thanx in advance.

[Spoonman]

Nope not too old if it is still performing as required, maybe give it a birthday by having the fans cleaned, CPU re-seated (with new heatsink paste) and a nice fresh install of the operating system.

Edited June 17, 2011 by Spoonman

[Phil Conners]

I have the same generation, a 5050, and it works just fine. I find a reinstall of the OS every once in a while can really clear things up.

[RKASA]

I have a 7 year old laptop works fine. Runs XP home at times 10% maybe, but mostly it is just email and surfing the web which I run only on linux - really outside of high level games there is nothing that it can't do on the internet. I won't part with it any time soon even the original battery is still good.

Compaq Persario 2200 1 core 1.4gig cpu - 1gig ram - 80 gig 4200rpm drive Runs the latest fully updated KDE4.6 xorg desktop with 2.6.33.8 kernel - fast, sweet, stable and free.

Don't dump a good laptop - dump the bad OS and give it new life - cost is ZERO really don't have to dump it just add on the linux.

What browser are you using - a freeze on youtube is more likely the browser not being updated or corrupted. Run FireFox 4.0.1 with ad block linux or windows FF has both.

[Wrong Turn]

Thanks for the replies everyone.

To get the fans cleaned I suppose I can just take it to a trusted computer shops. I know a fella.

As for adding a new OS, I am on Windows XP, and keep hearing that Windows 7 is bad.

I have one problem I cannot figure out: youtube videos freeze up at about 30 seconds, and I often cannot continue to watch the video after it freezed/stops.

The red line stops, and youtube cannot be viewed.

Anyone know why this is happening, and what can be done to overcome it?

Thanks.

[RKASA]

Thanks for the replies everyone.

To get the fans cleaned I suppose I can just take it to a trusted computer shops. I know a fella.

As for adding a new OS, I am on Windows XP, and keep hearing that Windows 7 is bad.

I have one problem I cannot figure out: youtube videos freeze up at about 30 seconds, and I often cannot continue to watch the video after it freezed/stops.

The red line stops, and youtube cannot be viewed.

Anyone know why this is happening, and what can be done to overcome it?

Thanks.

What browser are you using and version - use the browsers help tab and see something like about<browser> which ever it is. You just might need to update it. A lot of changes out lately (flash) etc

Edited June 17, 2011 by RKASA

[Phil Conners]

Don't believe everything you hear. I've been running Win7 on my old Acer 5050 for 6 months now. Everything works fine and Win7 is a lot better product than Windows XP, just like that was a lot better product than Windows 95/98/NT. Don't mention Vista or ME!

If price is an issue you might want to consider Linux, it's actually quite easy to install these days. The problem is if you need to use anything but absolute mainstream software the choice may be limited and often not ready for prime time. A friend of mine decided to try out Linux about a year ago and got stuck trying to find (among other things) a fully functioning bittorrent client that could be installed without a rocket science degree. He eventually gave up and returned to Windows.

Having said that, I run several dedicated internet web servers with Linux, but a completely different mix of software required than what you would need on a desktop. For a server I would never look at anything but Linux for stability, security and performance reasons.

[T_Dog]

My MacBook has been running about 18 hours a day for six years. It's my phone, music, photo, and video server so it's on if anyone is awake and at home. No problems except for a swelled battery a few months ago but I do feel like I am living on borrowed time with the hard drive. I make a bootable back-up every month.

Regarding YouTube, it has its bugs. Try pausing it, then move the place cursor back about 20 seconds or so. Hit play and it should re-start. I see the problem you mention with YouTube and FireFox often.

[nikster]

My MacBook has been running about 18 hours a day for six years. It's my phone, music, photo, and video server so it's on if anyone is awake and at home. No problems except for a swelled battery a few months ago but I do feel like I am living on borrowed time with the hard drive. I make a bootable back-up every month.

Regarding YouTube, it has its bugs. Try pausing it, then move the place cursor back about 20 seconds or so. Hit play and it should re-start. I see the problem you mention with YouTube and FireFox often.

Agree YouTube is buggy. I see the pause issue quite often too. What reboots it for me is to move the little slider a second back or forward - then it starts working again. But these are bugs in YouTube / Flash and have nothing to do with the age of your laptop.

With a 5 YO HD, better make daily and hourly backups - T_Dog I hope you're using TimeMachine. You can be lucky but at some point, the HD will bite the dust.

Anyway, if you have the money, get a new Laptop, preferably something decent this time, like a MacBook Pro If you plan to keep it for 5 years the advantages out the box would be: You never have to re-install the OS to keep it fast, and the added cost spreads over 5 years.

Likely that's the issue with your Windows machine - my own Windows installs usually only last 18 months before they slow to a crawl and no amount of defragging or registry cleaning or whatever can save it. It's just Windows that decays over time. Admittedly I am a power user and prone to installing and un-installing a lot of software. The Mac? Never slows down. It's just fine. Never defragged it, never "cleaned the registry" etc - it's just a stable system that doesn't collect crap.

[Cloggie]

Use a HP Pavilion zt3000 - bought in 2003 - replaced recently WindowsXP with Linux Mint and still use it every day

See if you can open your old laptop, clean the fan(s), remove dust etc etc

If it works, why replace it with a new one??

Cheers,

Cloggie

[T_Dog]

My MacBook has been running about 18 hours a day for six years. It's my phone, music, photo, and video server so it's on if anyone is awake and at home. No problems except for a swelled battery a few months ago but I do feel like I am living on borrowed time with the hard drive. I make a bootable back-up every month.

Regarding YouTube, it has its bugs. Try pausing it, then move the place cursor back about 20 seconds or so. Hit play and it should re-start. I see the problem you mention with YouTube and FireFox often.

Agree YouTube is buggy. I see the pause issue quite often too. What reboots it for me is to move the little slider a second back or forward - then it starts working again. But these are bugs in YouTube / Flash and have nothing to do with the age of your laptop.

With a 5 YO HD, better make daily and hourly backups - T_Dog I hope you're using TimeMachine. You can be lucky but at some point, the HD will bite the dust.

Anyway, if you have the money, get a new Laptop, preferably something decent this time, like a MacBook Pro If you plan to keep it for 5 years the advantages out the box would be: You never have to re-install the OS to keep it fast, and the added cost spreads over 5 years.

Likely that's the issue with your Windows machine - my own Windows installs usually only last 18 months before they slow to a crawl and no amount of defragging or registry cleaning or whatever can save it. It's just Windows that decays over time. Admittedly I am a power user and prone to installing and un-installing a lot of software. The Mac? Never slows down. It's just fine. Never defragged it, never "cleaned the registry" etc - it's just a stable system that doesn't collect crap.

Nikster is right. In 6 years, have never had to reload the OS or to use the start up disk in any way. Total cumulative time to debug SW/Computer problems amounts to maybe 45 minutes total over six years. I spend that much time every week helping Windows friends! I hope my next Mac proves to be that reliable.

And Nikster, I use SuperDuper for back ups as it makes a bootable copy. I've taken my external drive to another Apple, booted from my external firewire drive by holding down the apple key, and end up using "my own" computer and desk top. Monthly back ups are fine for me based on the type of stuff I am saving.

[astral]

I am also running a 5 year old laptop, with XP, (HP)

It does freeeze up occasionally with heating problems, despite a fan replacement,

but otherwise in good nick.

I did treat it to a new battery about a year ago.

Also I do make regular backup's just in case.............

[Wrong Turn]

Thanks again for all of the replies. I read every post.

I'll try to update or check the youtube and browser. My browser in Firefox Mozilla.

A MacbookPro? I am willing to try. What are the prices on a new MacbookPro? I'll check.

I'll work on the youtube issue, but moving the cirlce/red line and/or re-starting youtube does not work for me.

[Phil Conners]

Let's not turn this thread into yet another Mac vs. Windows thread. Just like cats vs. dogs there are some very strong feelings on both side of the table.

[Wrong Turn]

^ Phil, I'm not trying to do that. No, that's not what I want.

Cheers. I'm looking forward to more discussion.

[Jiu-Jitsu]

When was the last time you ran a Factory Restore?

[muratremix]

If you have spare 20k baht, stop torturing yourself and buy a new laptop with sandybridge cpu (23xxx or 25xx series cpu). You can use it for another 5 years.

[astral]

When was the last time you ran a Factory Restore?

I do agree.

A total waste of time, except perhaps in the first month of use.

After that there will be all the updates to add.........

A good imaging tool like Acronis is what is needed,

and the discipline to run it regularly.

[Mrjlh]

One thing might also be helpful on some occasions is to do a forced "defrag". But a do a system cleanup first. Otherwise you only move unused files around. Empty all your temp and trash files but not your "cookies". Unless it's OK with you that every web site you re-visit you might need to re-enter your password. That ones up to you.

After you do the clean up go to "my computer", go to C: drive, go to properties, go to tools. In tools click on "defrag", hit "defrag now" and then hit defrag again.

This just organizes (theoretically) all your files on the disc making it faster for your programs to operate.

When that done do one more thing. go to property tab and the tools tab again, hit "error checking" and check both boxes, hit enter. Shut down your computer (not restart, you want to clear memory) and then restart your computer. The system does a self diagnosis and makes 5 separate checks of your system. The best part is it will correct any corrupt file that may not be causing a noticeable problem. Depending on how big your hard drive is, it might take awhile. But I find after a few years this really helps keep the system up and running smoothly.

[Wrong Turn]

Thanks more.

I read all of the replies.

Yes, I can buy a new PC, but don't want to, yet. It's my nature.

"sandybridge CPU?" I'll check it out.

Forced defrag after a cleanup: I clean my c drive every 2 days, but how do I do a "forced defrag" when the computer says, "no" I don't need to defrag?

Thanks.

[Mrjlh]

<br />Thanks more.<br /><br />I read all of the replies.<br /><br />Yes, I can buy a new PC, but don't want to, yet.  It's my nature. <br /><br />&quot;sandybridge CPU?&quot; I'll check it out.<br /><br />Forced defrag after a cleanup: I clean my c drive every 2 days, but how do I do a &quot;forced defrag&quot; when the computer says, &quot;no&quot; I don't need to defrag?<br /><br />Thanks.<br />

<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />

When you see the "defrag chart" showing your system, it'll say at the bottom "analyze" or 'defrag". Pick defrag.  It will automatically re-analyzes it and then defrags it.  It what I call forcing defrag.<br /><br />Under "tools" you'll see the other command too. Error fixing may or not find anything but at least you've done almost everything you can to optimize your computer without going out and buying additional hardware that does the same thing. Admittedly some of the other software might do a better job but who knows. Some company's just want tto make money.

Edited June 19, 2011 by Mrjlh

[Mrjlh]

Notice the crap I'm dealing with? All the formatting crap that shows up. This all started for no reason yet to be found. And there more you don't even see. I'm working with the experts to fix it.

[Jiu-Jitsu]

No, your laptop is not too old. We need to look at the whole picture.

To begin; how much space is left on the C:\ Drive, how much RAM is installed, the Commit Charge figures from Task Manager and perhaps a Hijack This log so that we can see what's running.

Task Manager

Hijack This

[Wrong Turn]

^ I have a lot of space left on my hard drive as I had my computer cleaned up about 2 years ago, and rarely download anything.

^^^ I'll check out the forced defrab now, also. Cheers.

[Spoonman]

With the youtube freezing thing, many mates back in OZ are complaining about the same, its nothing to do with the machine but moreso with the ISP.

[Jiu-Jitsu]

If you want to test your laptop, you can download and play HD content from the High Def Forum. Just scroll past the Microsoft WMV HD Content Showcase and download and play from the other content. You can use the Microsoft content if you wish.

Your machine should play 720p content. It might struggle with 1080p. YouTube HD content will be jerky because of 'bottlenecks'.

[Wrong Turn]

^ I'll try that. Thanks.

[Jiu-Jitsu]

Media Player Classic Home Cinema is very good for playing HD content on older machines. Download the ZIP option and extract the contents.

Create a short-cut of the 321 application icon to your Desktop. Double click on that to open the player and navigate to your downloaded HD content via the 'File' menu.

Use this to play your downloaded 720p content if it doesn't play smoothly in any other player.

[Wrong Turn]

Nope not too old if it is still performing as required, maybe give it a birthday by having the fans cleaned, CPU re-seated (with new heatsink paste) and a nice fresh install of the operating system.

Thank you, Spoonman.

So, I can take this to a good computer store? To someone who knows what they are doing?

How much will this cost, if I may ask?

[Spoonman]

Nope not too old if it is still performing as required, maybe give it a birthday by having the fans cleaned, CPU re-seated (with new heatsink paste) and a nice fresh install of the operating system.

Thank you, Spoonman.

So, I can take this to a good computer store? To someone who knows what they are doing?

How much will this cost, if I may ask?

To be honest I don't know but everything except the fresh OS install should not cost more than a few hundred baht, the OS depends on whether you want a dodgy or original installed, do you have your disc and serial number ?