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I'm probably different from most laptop users but my policy is to buy as good a machine as I can afford and then keep it for years. Maybe I will do minor upgrad

I'm probably different from most laptop users but my policy is to buy as good a machine as I can afford and then keep it for years. Maybe I will do minor upgrades but that's about it. My purchasing policy is generally along the lines of the old adage "Buy twice as good, and buy half as many." Normally I use a good Desktop, and the laptop is for travelling and other 'out of the office' use. My current laptop is a ThinkPad T410S which I bought at 'high cost for the time' (= $2500) back in late 2010, just before I went to France for 8 months. So it's now about 10 years old, but still very usable, and has roughly cost me only $250 bucks a year. (pretty much - a bit more, actually, because I decided to upgrade the hard drive.) It had a good screen resolution for back then (1440 x 900) which is still very usable for my developing, though it's now starting to feel a bit cramped. The CPU was 'upmarket for the era' and is an i5, 2 core. My only upgrade has been to increase my hdd from 500 megabytes to 2000 megabytes. Compile times for my work are still good. But, mind you, I can still remember compile times of 30-40 minutes for the Linux kernel way back in the past, so everything is relative.

ktpsns 7y ago
Thinkpads are amazing. I also currently run a T420 from 2011, and it just works rock solid. Thanks to it's great connectivity, I use it right now with two monitors (under Linux) where my much newer 2019 Thinkpad X1 yoga is powered off somewhere in the shelf. I bought it only to have a more lightweight and mobile notebook.
kmfrick_ 7y ago
I understand, that is my policy as well but I was wondering if I should instead start saving more money in order to be able to keep up with newer tech in laptops or money saved is better spent in other ways. Thank you for sharing your opinion!
- simonblack 7y ago
  "Newer Tech" is not progressing rapidly. Sure there is improvement, but it's not at an exceptional rate. Which is why a 'good' laptop holds its usability for quite a few years. If you have an urgent need for a new laptop now, then go out and buy the best one you can afford and 'get your feet on the ladder', so to speak. Then keep that machine for as long as possible while building up a cash balance that will get you a machine in the future that is 5-10 times as good. Don't buy a replacement just because it is just a little bit newer and better, and you can afford it, but only buy a replacement machine that is a whole lot better. It may be that it takes you 10 years or more for a replacement machine to reach that level. Hence my reasons for keeping my 10-year old ThinkPad T410s. I keep looking for a replacement these days (Lenovo keeps emailing me teaser ads), but I haven't yet found one that is leaps and bounds better than that old T410S. EDIT. Did I mention the great connectivity of the T410S? It has all these connectors built-in (4x USBs, RJ-45 Ethernet, Express card, Firewire, eSATA, SD Card, DisplayPort, RJ-11 Phone/Modem) with a removable battery pack and a DVD writer as icing on the cake. All the newer machines don't have those. They expect you to plug in a whole bunch of USB adapters, instead. ... Now do you understand why I'm having so much trouble finding a replacement that's better?

ktpsns 7y ago

Thinkpads are amazing. I also currently run a T420 from 2011, and it just works rock solid. Thanks to it's great connectivity, I use it right now with two monitors (under Linux) where my much newer 2019 Thinkpad X1 yoga is powered off somewhere in the shelf. I bought it only to have a more lightweight and mobile notebook.

kmfrick_ 7y ago

I understand, that is my policy as well but I was wondering if I should instead start saving more money in order to be able to keep up with newer tech in laptops or money saved is better spent in other ways. Thank you for sharing your opinion!

simonblack 7y ago
"Newer Tech" is not progressing rapidly. Sure there is improvement, but it's not at an exceptional rate. Which is why a 'good' laptop holds its usability for quite a few years. If you have an urgent need for a new laptop now, then go out and buy the best one you can afford and 'get your feet on the ladder', so to speak. Then keep that machine for as long as possible while building up a cash balance that will get you a machine in the future that is 5-10 times as good. Don't buy a replacement just because it is just a little bit newer and better, and you can afford it, but only buy a replacement machine that is a whole lot better. It may be that it takes you 10 years or more for a replacement machine to reach that level. Hence my reasons for keeping my 10-year old ThinkPad T410s. I keep looking for a replacement these days (Lenovo keeps emailing me teaser ads), but I haven't yet found one that is leaps and bounds better than that old T410S. EDIT. Did I mention the great connectivity of the T410S? It has all these connectors built-in (4x USBs, RJ-45 Ethernet, Express card, Firewire, eSATA, SD Card, DisplayPort, RJ-11 Phone/Modem) with a removable battery pack and a DVD writer as icing on the cake. All the newer machines don't have those. They expect you to plug in a whole bunch of USB adapters, instead. ... Now do you understand why I'm having so much trouble finding a replacement that's better?