[goodkarma]

How many years can one expect an IBM laptop to go if you use it 99% for emails and forums?

[PDLM]

I've never had one wear out on me. My previous one was still going strong after about 6 years (although some of the key labelling had pretty much worn off). My current one is still good after 3 years.

The battery life may tend to go down, but you can always get a new battery if that is important to you.

[sunniefaith]

With thinkpads becoming Lenovo these days, can I expect the same kind of expectancy?

[PDLM]

In the short term at least, yes - they bought the whole operation, so they are still designed by the same people, built in the same factories, etc.

[sunniefaith]

Originally Posted by PDLM

In the short term at least, yes - they bought the whole operation, so they are still designed by the same people, built in the same factories, etc.

Good to hear that...thinking between a Thinkpad or a Vaio for the next laptop.

[hk.com]

On the Thinkpads, the DeskStar (IBM or Hitachi) drives are the thing to go, typically within 3 years of heavy use. The good thing about the way the fail is that they give you plenty of notice. The start clicking, getting slower etc. We get a lot of people in with these issues and we mirror their data to a new drive. If the drive is very near death the drives become very slow and they could take about 24 hours to even copy a 20GB drive.

Anyway stick you ear to your laptop and listen for click click resetting noises.

[phooey]

3 years seems to be a good figure for the hard drives in my experience. After 5 years you see problems with screens and other stuff.

[timklip]

i've got a 15 year old Thinkpad..still works great (tho only used for wp...CD-ROM is cooked (won't stay closed) but the odd time i've surfed with it it's fine...no probs with hard drive

[zerocred]

I sold my first Thinkpad T30 (circa 2002) to a friend and its still going.

I haven't had a laptop disks fail yet - but always good to make a backup... Just in case it does crash or get's stolen!

I have 2 disks in my T42 ... plus 3 other mirrors... belts and braces.

I guess I am a 'prepared pessimist'.

[hk.com]

Originally Posted by timklip

i've got a 15 year old Thinkpad..still works great (tho only used for wp...CD-ROM is cooked (won't stay closed) but the odd time i've surfed with it it's fine...no probs with hard drive

I think we have about 6 of this type of chopping board in stock... Pentium 75Mhz and 120Mhz etc... they are good for consoles to configure routers and sun boxes etc...

Barters will be considered if anyone wants one. cans of beer, bottle Tequila, USB sticks SODIM SDRAM, SDRAM etc.. and another commodity will be considered.