08-24-2007, 10:13 PM

Its a sad day

Well first let me tell u the background on this computer. Its an HP pavilion dv4165cl. Ive now had it for 3 years. And i have used it, as in really used it. At any given time i can have photoshop, firefox, msn messenger, aim, AVG, Roboform, iTunes, Windows media player (Yes, i do have them open at the same time, i prefer to play music using WMP, and i just use itunes for my ipods ), Outlook, Azureus, And the occasional Limewire downloads. This machine has been great until now. 87 Gb out of 90 are used up, sadly.

It needs a new mobo b/c the powerjack is broke (well not completely, it needs a little wiggling to charge, but any other slight wiggle will stop charging).

Its starting to randomly fail CD burns.

The screen is starting to become a whole lot dimmer than it used to be.

The mousepad (dunno what its called on a Laptop) is becoming very VERY jerky, which annoys the **** outta me

The speakers have died. All u can hear from them is khshshhshss (lol)

I love this thing. Its taken me through thick and thin.

Now i just haveto convince my dad that i need a new comp

PS. Is three years too short or is it average? My dads dell died 3 months after it was bought (LOL), and so did my brothers.

08-24-2007, 11:24 PM

my 17" pavillion melted itself within a year by playing sim games. it's now a 1000 dollar brick in my closet.

often the HP laptops at work cook motherboards and other parts. it just seems really hit and miss. some run forever, some have a host of problems - pretty much like anything else though...

08-24-2007, 11:27 PM

Sounds like time to go shopping.......

With the old HP, is it going to be a burial or cremation??

08-24-2007, 11:56 PM

Dennis plays Taps on his guitar while the HP goes to that Computer Graveyard in the ground!

...Dennis

08-25-2007, 12:36 PM

3 Years is pretty good for a laptop in my book. Apple won't warranty their computer past years, nor to any other computer makers, so that should tell you something about their life expectancy.

08-25-2007, 12:40 PM

3 Years? I don't think so. If I hadn't rebuilt my parents PC, it'd still be running smooth today. It was an old 400MHz HP Pavilion desktop. It was probably purchased 6 years ago. It was just too dated which is why I had to update it not because anything was broken.
I just bought a PowerMac that was released in 2003 and it still runs perfectly.
Bryan

08-25-2007, 01:14 PM

Originally Posted by bryphotoguy

3 Years? I don't think so. If I hadn't rebuilt my parents PC, it'd still be running smooth today. It was an old 400MHz HP Pavilion desktop. It was probably purchased 6 years ago. It was just too dated which is why I had to update it not because anything was broken.
I just bought a PowerMac that was released in 2003 and it still runs perfectly.
Bryan

On the other hand, I had an HP Pavilion a282n computer that's motherboard failed when it was 3 years old. Had it replaced, motherboard died in 2 months. That's when I said screw it and bought my mini.

On the other other hand, my parents have an HP Pavilion they bought in 1995, 166 MHz, 1 GB HD, 32 MB of RAM running Windows 95. They used it for thier business until 2003 when they purchased a Dell with XP. They never had a problem with the HP, and the Dell has been sent in 3 times. (Hard drive failure, motherboard failure, and one more hard drive failure) We still have that old HP, and when you fire it up, it boots right to Windows 95, just like it did 12 years ago.

So with HP's it's pretty hit and miss.


But I do feel sorry for your loss, losing a computer that has worked well for you is hard.

08-25-2007, 01:19 PM

My 2 year old mac mini just died. Well the hd crashed.

2 years seems a little to early, but maybe I'm just unlucky.

08-25-2007, 01:38 PM

I still have my first 286. Home built machine and the first PC I had ever worked with. Original Motherboard, CPU and RAM. Still works as good as the day I bought it all. Only the Hard Drive, Case and Video Card are stock. Amazes me every time I run into it that is still all works.

08-25-2007, 02:12 PM

With the old HP, is it going to be a burial or cremation??

Both those methods are harmful to the environment....not recomended.

08-25-2007, 02:34 PM

Originally Posted by goobimama

Both those methods are harmful to the environment....not recomended.

perhaps it should be encased in a lead lined concrete cask and shipped off to new mexico?

08-25-2007, 03:21 PM

About the 3 years, I was speaking more of on average. Obviously you'll see longer and shorter times.

My point is that insurance companies and business put a lot of work into understanding just how long things (and people) will last and and then figure out how long they can cover and still turn a profit after it's all said and done.

So, judging by the fact that most companies will warranty for 3 years at the most, I'd say that's a pretty good indicator of what you can expect out of your investment. Actually you're probably even better off since most warranties only cover 1 year (meaning things start becoming hit and miss after only a year) And the only brand I know that covers 3 years without an extended warranty cost is the Lenovo Thinkpad.

Originally Posted by PinkLemonade

We still have that old HP, and when you fire it up, it boots right to Windows 95, just like it did 12 years ago.

Yes, but how many times do you "fire it up" these days? I could buy a brand new MBP and chuck it in the closet, then pull it out 20 years from now and claim my 20 year old MBP runs like brand new.

Granted, 8 years is impressive (any hardware changes?) but you kind of have to stop counting when you don't use it often.

08-25-2007, 04:55 PM

Originally Posted by MaDDoG

Sounds like time to go shopping.......

With the old HP, is it going to be a burial or cremation??

I think a burial, i cremation is too harsh for this baby

08-25-2007, 04:57 PM

Originally Posted by fleurya

3 Years is pretty good for a laptop in my book. Apple won't warranty their computer past years, nor to any other computer makers, so that should tell you something about their life expectancy.

Yeah, i had actually expected it to last at the most 2 years Its just sad that im going to part with this thing pretty soon

08-25-2007, 04:59 PM

Originally Posted by milessthomas

My 2 year old mac mini just died. Well the hd crashed.

2 years seems a little to early, but maybe I'm just unlucky.

I would expect a desktop to last a lot longer than 2 or 3 years, mainly because it doesnt suffer the abuse that laptops do when theyre on the move.