Comments on: Study: Nearly one-third of laptops fail within first 3 years

By: Nathan0507

Nathan0507 — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 20:59:22 +0000

Your OS has nothing to do with it. Only 12% of computer users own a Mac. Mac’s are more user friendly, but PCs are more easily manipulated because their is more resources out their for a PC. Of course you’re going to see more PCs fail when they rule %88 of the market.

They’re referring to HARDWARE in this article, not SOFTWARE. I still see HDD’s fail in Macs. And macs have plenty of issues as well. Take the Kernel Panic error for instance…almost always means a restore.

I digress, another interesting fact to point out about this issue: %8 of HDDs fail within the first 3 months.

Laptops are more compact, and receive little ventilation compared to desktops. Processors on average run at over 100 degrees F, and HDDs run at an average of 7200 RPM. So it’s not suprising to see this issue.

By: joe

joe — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 01:23:34 +0000

agree…my toshiba sat unit is now over 12 months and has been flawless..top modle at the time again quality pays off.
joe

By: Doug

Doug — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 20:34:36 +0000

My Dell 600M is over five years old, never had a problem. The drivers for the wireless card are crappy, but that’t Intel’s fault, not Dell’s.

By: John Wayne

John Wayne — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 16:16:41 +0000

I think the report is biased in that they don’t take proper care of the laptops. Of course laptops will fail if you don’t clean out the dust from the fan. The CPU/Chipsets will overheat and burn themselves out. I’ve had an Acer laptop that’s been running beautifully for 3 years. It’s still in great condition (only problem is the battery life since I really don’t pop the battery out on AC). It’s very obvious that a laptop is failing if you hear the fan all the time. Best thing to do is clean it out. I remember there was an article on this a few weeks ago on Sympatico-Sync, you should check it out.

By: Carole

Carole — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 01:27:54 +0000

As I said before, Sony VIAO going on 8 years and still kicking! Just love it and I’m considering the newest model to purchase after Christmas. But, the cheap DELL is tempting.
My hubby’s Toshiba is 4 years and still going strong … we must have good laptop karma.

By: JayGee

JayGee — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 00:10:48 +0000

I have a Toshiba Satellite M30 which as near as I can figure was made in early ’03, I got it as a work laptop which had already been through two prvious workers (both fired!) and have used it steadily since late ’05.
I have updated the BIOS and a few other things through Toshiba’s site and the power cord wore out and split apart so I broke open the brick and managed to pull out enough of the cord to twist the two wires together to each other tape them up, and duct tape the brick back together and “Voila” it has been working fine ever since for the last 10 months!

An ugly fix but it is now only used for personal stuff, and it just shows you can’t beat Toshiba!!

By: Jay

Jay — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 20:36:30 +0000

I havent read the full PDF report… but I can already see its a “infomercial” media hype kinda thing that the company is trying to create here.

I bought a Toshiba Satellite Intel Centrino 1.73GHz Laptop (M70-DL3)back in Sep 2005 (just google up the specs if neone wants)…
Bought it right before I started college. The amount of torture its been through… I am surprised it last as long as it did (4.1 years).
Now the battery is completely dead. I think the HDD & power adapter both might be dead too because whenever I start it up… soon as Win XP load screen comes… it just shuts down, no auto restart either :(

My point being that some comps are just built better… they can last really long if given proper care. Basically all i need is a new a battery & a new HDD to test whether its the HDD thats dead or the power adapter. (gonna cost me around $250 to 350…) Might as well go get another dual core with a little more money :D

By: jack lees

jack lees — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 18:10:16 +0000

my very first computer was a Toshiba Satellite laptop, bought in 1997. Never had one problem with this machine which my 97 year old mother uses to play card games. Now have a desktop and new (2 year old) Toshiba Satellite laptop. So far no problems.

By: Adam Purkiss

Adam Purkiss — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 13:15:15 +0000

I can agree with the findings, my HP had the HD replaced, power issues and the monitor redone with the first year. I am now around the 2 year mark and the monitor is going again, the keyboard has seen better days and the whole build quality is poor. I am also on my thrid power cord.

On the other hand my toshiba worked great, I smashed it, it had bits falling off but it lasted heading for 3 years which considering the abuse it got I think it would still be going if I had been more careful with it.

By: P Brown

P Brown — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 02:40:54 +0000

Study is food for thought, for sure – would someone help me with:-
1. why is a writer suggesting”get a Mac” – are Macs not in the study or never fail??
2. Is there a sort of “Consumer Report” on laptops with longevity info per brand??
Thanks