Apple Longevity.

xj6jaguar1985 · Nov 1, 2008

I got a little reminiscent when I found my father's old Dell Inspiron 1100 series laptop today. He was wondering if I could fix it up so he could give it to his fiancee's friend. I figured "What the hey, I'll give it the ol' looksie...".
After about 20 minutes of failing to connect to the internet because Wind'hoz said the internet connection "Should already be configured" even though it wasn't and it wouldn't let me and after the keyboard decided to go haywire and stop functioning and after the blue screen of death popped up...I couldn't help but chuckle.

My dad bought this laptop brand new in May of 2003 for $900. Man I still remember when he got it, I was so envious of him because it looked real nice. I was "fortunate" and "lucky" that he bought me one for $500 for my birthday...
...Too bad mine only lasted 13 months before it konked the bed.
Anyways, back to his laptop...

He kept this laptop in pristine condition, but for the past 2 years it had been rendered practically unusable because it took FORTY FIVE minutes for it to fully boot and would continually crash. Yet my father stuck with it for another 2 years, struggling to perform even the most basic of internet functions like going on his bank's website to balance his checkbook. Mind you this man tried to keep his Dell in great condition - he always defragmented and did disk cleanup..But the D'ohz bugs were always a million steps ahead of him.

So now this Dell laptop is sitting on my floor....Big, bulky and utterly useless...It can't even do something simple like connect to the internet...And yes I tried every option available to connect to the internet...I look at it and just smile...Why?

This powerbook is from 2003 as well and is in the same condition as my dad's Dell. Only the insides of my powerbook are just as good as the outside.
It took me all of 15 seconds to connect to the internet on this powerbook.
I can actually pick this powerbook up with one hand and not strain myself unlike my dad's Dell.
Hey and um...it actually WORKS.

What is the point of all of this? I always see kids on campus walking around with Dell laptops and I ask them why they decided to get a Dell. They always say the same thing : "They're cheap." And I say "Why didn't you just spend a little extra and get an Apple?" And it's always the same classic reply: "Apples are too expensive."

...Really? You think so?
I'm going to give you some basic math that I have been a part of with living in a Wind'hoz family for so long:
-My dad purchased a desktop in 1999 for $950
-Purchased another desktop in 2002 for $700
-Purchased Dell laptop in 2003 for $900
-Purchased HP laptop in 2008 for $800

Yeah obviously the desktop made in 1999 is iBook clamshell slow nowadays...But let's take the fact he bought one in '99 and had to get another one in '02 because the first one was so slow and useless because of D'hoz programs and D'hoz D'ohs!
He's spent $2,400 in the past 6 years on computers which translates into spending $400 every year.
Really? Are Apples REALLY that much more expensive????!!!

...Whatever, I'll just chill on my old Tibook and be happy.

rsmithgi · Nov 1, 2008

xj6jaguar1985 said:
I got a little reminiscent when I found my father's old Dell Inspiron 1100 series laptop today. He was wondering if I could fix it up so he could give it to his fiancee's friend. I figured "What the hey, I'll give it the ol' looksie...".
After about 20 minutes of failing to connect to the internet because Wind'hoz said the internet connection "Should already be configured" even though it wasn't and it wouldn't let me and after the keyboard decided to go haywire and stop functioning and after the blue screen of death popped up...I couldn't help but chuckle.

My dad bought this laptop brand new in May of 2003 for $900. Man I still remember when he got it, I was so envious of him because it looked real nice. I was "fortunate" and "lucky" that he bought me one for $500 for my birthday...
...Too bad mine only lasted 13 months before it konked the bed.
Anyways, back to his laptop...

He kept this laptop in pristine condition, but for the past 2 years it had been rendered practically unusable because it took FORTY FIVE minutes for it to fully boot and would continually crash. Yet my father stuck with it for another 2 years, struggling to perform even the most basic of internet functions like going on his bank's website to balance his checkbook. Mind you this man tried to keep his Dell in great condition - he always defragmented and did disk cleanup..But the D'ohz bugs were always a million steps ahead of him.

So now this Dell laptop is sitting on my floor....Big, bulky and utterly useless...It can't even do something simple like connect to the internet...And yes I tried every option available to connect to the internet...I look at it and just smile...Why?

This powerbook is from 2003 as well and is in the same condition as my dad's Dell. Only the insides of my powerbook are just as good as the outside.
It took me all of 15 seconds to connect to the internet on this powerbook.
I can actually pick this powerbook up with one hand and not strain myself unlike my dad's Dell.
Hey and um...it actually WORKS.

What is the point of all of this? I always see kids on campus walking around with Dell laptops and I ask them why they decided to get a Dell. They always say the same thing : "They're cheap." And I say "Why didn't you just spend a little extra and get an Apple?" And it's always the same classic reply: "Apples are too expensive."

...Really? You think so?
I'm going to give you some basic math that I have been a part of with living in a Wind'hoz family for so long:
-My dad purchased a desktop in 1999 for $950
-Purchased another desktop in 2002 for $700
-Purchased Dell laptop in 2003 for $900
-Purchased HP laptop in 2008 for $800

Yeah obviously the desktop made in 1999 is iBook clamshell slow nowadays...But let's take the fact he bought one in '99 and had to get another one in '02 because the first one was so slow and useless because of D'hoz programs and D'hoz D'ohs!
He's spent $2,400 in the past 6 years on computers which translates into spending $400 every year.
Really? Are Apples REALLY that much more expensive????!!!

...Whatever, I'll just chill on my old Tibook and be happy.

Two suggestions:

1. Reinstall Windows. The laptop is almost certainly infected with viruses, spyware, malware, etc. The problems you described cannot be directly attributed to Windows. I have an HP Desktop from 2000 and a Dell laptop from 2003 that are still functioning. I also have two IBM Thinkpads that run quite well.

2. Install Linux on it. It should run Linux very well. For Internet access, e-mail, word processing, etc. Linux is a great choice. I have setup several older computers for family members that have only basic needs. The big bonus is NO VIRUSES. It should also run faster.

BTW, my full time computer is a MacBook. I switched 2 1/2 years ago and will never go back to Windows full time.

skierbri10 · Nov 1, 2008

Good point, my Doz laptop from 2005 compared to my 2005 iBook is just so slow I never use it. Haven't fired it up in a year or so. The Doz laptop was top of the line and has a Duo in it and a half gig video card with 2 gb of ram. Yet my 1.2 ghz PPC iBook out performs it in all but the most demanding graphic intensive programs.

cwa107 · Nov 1, 2008

Kept clean, a Windows based PC can last just as long as a Mac. It's the Spyware/Adware/Malware crap that rots a Windows installation.

My parents have a P3 866 Dell Dimension with 256MB of RAM and a 20GB hard drive. Every couple of years, I reimage it with a clean install of XP, with all their drivers and software that they use. When it starts to rot, I just wipe it and reimage. That machine was originally bought in early 2001 and does just fine for what they use it for (although I've been trying to convince them to buy an iMac).

chscag · Nov 1, 2008

I agree with cwa. I have a Toshiba notebook purchased in 2003 which still runs well and can do pretty much everything that I would expect from a Windows XP machine. Only maintenance done to it by me was replace a hard drive that went south. Sure, the quality of the machine is nowhere near that of my MacBook, but it's OK. BTW, I paid $900.00 for it in 2003 - on sale at a local Costco store.

Regards.

safarisurfer · Nov 1, 2008

Ive only had 1 windows pc go kaplunk on me. It was an old toshiba laptop. I had an extended life battery for it that weighed more then the laptop. anyway I picked up the laptop and the battery fell out while the laptop was on. Never in my life could I ever even fathom that such a trivial thing would do so much damage. THe entire laptop was totally bjorked after that. it basically "bricked" the laptop somehow.

regardless I always end up back on my mackbook.

eliehass · Nov 1, 2008

Both of the laptops I had before I got my MBP died of hardware failures after about a year. I did not abuse them, I treated them both as well as I treat my MBP. The first laptop cost me $1,300 and the second was $400. My MBP is around 15 months old and still working fine (granted the HD in my MBP is only around a week old, and the logic-board is only around 4 or 5 months old, plus the cd-drive is only 6 months old, but everything besides for the HD were replaced for free under the warranty)

fungry · Nov 1, 2008

cwa107 said:
Kept clean, a Windows based PC can last just as long as a Mac. It's the Spyware/Adware/Malware crap that rots a Windows installation.

My parents have a P3 866 Dell Dimension with 256MB of RAM and a 20GB hard drive. Every couple of years, I reimage it with a clean install of XP, with all their drivers and software that they use. When it starts to rot, I just wipe it and reimage. That machine was originally bought in early 2001 and does just fine for what they use it for (although I've been trying to convince them to buy an iMac).

This comment is so true. The main fault is the user's ignorance. Know how to use it and you will be fine.

jvetter18 · Nov 3, 2008

I bought a Toshiba laptop in 2002, hard drive burnt out in 2007, replaced it. Bought it for $1500, still runs now.

Still, switched to the Macbook. You have to factor in all the spyware/virus software expenses that go along w/ the Windows machines. it's a headache. And they crash. Time is money too.

I turn on my Macbook, and i'm up and running w/ 5 programs in less than 30 seconds. A sleeping computer wakes up immediately, that's priceless.

Macs are amazing.

martyp · Nov 3, 2008

As others have suggested, backup the stuff on the laptop and then format it and reinstall XP.

Remember, its been used for 5 years so it will be crippled with crap, old software, temp files, bad registry keys etc. A clean install will breathe new life into it. I personally would have done that before buying a new one!?

bad.heron · Nov 3, 2008

Ubuntu.

tkim · Nov 4, 2008

cwa107 said:
Kept clean, a Windows based PC can last just as long as a Mac. It's the Spyware/Adware/Malware crap that rots a Windows installation.

My parents have a P3 866 Dell Dimension with 256MB of RAM and a 20GB hard drive. Every couple of years, I reimage it with a clean install of XP, with all their drivers and software that they use. When it starts to rot, I just wipe it and reimage. That machine was originally bought in early 2001 and does just fine for what they use it for (although I've been trying to convince them to buy an iMac).

That's why people in tech support, me included, have a job. Because people are not tech savvy enough to do this. For people who are familiar with this, it's not big deal, we spend a couple of hours and reinstall XP. Heck, I did it once a month on my gaming PC with a custom streamlined install of XP with all the drivers I needed. Just pop the CD and come back an hour or two later.

I can't count how many times I looked at a friends computer and ran ad-aware and they had over 1,000 pieces of spy/grayware.

Personally, I don't miss that at all. I haven't had to defrag my hard drive, run spybot/adaware etc etc. I got tired of the routine maintenance just to keep it running decently. But I agree though, with the proper care a windoze box can last just as long as a Mac.

calenerd · Nov 6, 2008

My PC can run for years and years and years. Only issues are the occasional crashes which happens like once a year which is a major headache and a serious waste of money. But other than that, its really lasting, considering its a DIY com.

macdreamer08 · Nov 7, 2008

martyp said:
As others have suggested, backup the stuff on the laptop and then format it and reinstall XP.

Remember, its been used for 5 years so it will be crippled with crap, old software, temp files, bad registry keys etc. A clean install will breathe new life into it. I personally would have done that before buying a new one!?

Not trying to sound rude at all. But why use an OS that you have to reinstall constantly? It wastes so much time. And time, to me, is as valuable as money
I used to use an hp pavilion with windows xp. Took it to a computer repair shop after it basically stopped working on me. The guy told me it had more viruses then he's ever seen on a computer. Since then, the same thing has happened at least three more times until I finally decided to put ubuntu on it. I lost so many important files because of those almost monthly crashes. Never heard of external hard drives back then.
Now I use a five year old imac g4 that i acquired from somebody and it performs better than some of the 2ghz and up pcs i've used. It's never had a problem. Never had a virus. And the OS has never been reinstalled (just updated). Let me correct myself. It has had a couple mouse related problems but I later found out that it was because the cord to the mouse had a short in it. Since then I bought a wireless mouse.

Anyways, isn't it better to spend a little more on a computer that will work until it finally dies of old age than buying a cheap computer that constantly needs to be fixed?
I know I really didn't have to spend much on this imac but I WILL be buying a new macbook soon and I wouldn't settle for anything less.

Apple Longevity.

xj6jaguar1985

rsmithgi

skierbri10

cwa107

chscag

Well-known member

safarisurfer

eliehass

fungry

jvetter18

martyp

bad.heron

tkim

calenerd

macdreamer08

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