Looking for a new laptop. How reliable are modern laptops compared to good ~2010 products?

[lafrente]

 

My first laptop that I bought in 2010 is still working & still used daily with total usage hours of over 60.000 so far. It hasn't gone to any kind of shop for repair for once.

 

Zero issues in the hinges despite me holding it from the top of the screen, the fan is still original without temp issues. To clean it, I don't need to take the whole thing apart. I just unscrew 3 screws in the back and can then remove the small panel and have access to the cooling assembly. Overall I am extremely happy with how reliable it has been, and since it has a first gen i5, it still does the job.

 

But I'd like to "retire" it before it actually dies on me. It got me through college and work and flown overseas and back and it has come to have a bit more meaning than just a laptop.

 

So in summary I am looking for a modern laptop, low or mid tier (assuming today's low tier is better performing than the i5-430m) and something that's durable & easy to get inside and clean. 

 

Are there any modern laptops built with this approach or brands that take this approach? Or do all of them have just a thin panel in the back, dies in 3 years, heats up like crazy, and have to taken apart completely to be cleaned?

[Jon-Slow]

Good and bad like everything else. You can't really grantee anything or make general statements, your best bet is to just watch some reviews and go for it but also to make sure you're getting the right tool for the job. Expecting a laptop to last over 10 years is a really big stretch tho and you got lucky with your previous unit so keep that in mind.

[powertoys]

13 hours ago, Jon-Slow said:

Expecting a laptop to last over 10 years is a really big stretch tho

Performance-wise, I find it hard to believe that the modern web and software will grow as fast as CPU speeds did on the last years.

 

A CPU from the year 2000, even a high-end one, would be absolutely unusable today, but a 2010 midrange CPU like his i5-430M is still very much usable in 2023 for the basic stuff, that's 13 years already, in most cases the bottleneck wasn't even the CPU itself, it was the HDD the computer came with, a SSD solved that issue.

 

IMO, a good 2020 CPU will, undoubtedly, last until 2035 without performance issues. An i5-430M scores ~1100 on Passmark, in contrast, a common CPU found in ~$400 laptops, the 12th gen i5, has a score of about ~13k. It's almost 13 times faster.

 

The question is: what about the rest of the laptop? Even though $300 laptops are lightyears ahead of what they used to be 13 years ago (where Windows manufacturers engaged in a race to the bottom to lower prices even further - that race has been currently delegated to Chromebooks), durability is still far from being their strong suit. OP's laptop was likely one of the good, expensive ones or he took very good care of it - or both.

 

OP, for durability, I'd strongly recommend a business-oriented laptop, like a T or X-series ThinkPad (Lenovo). There is a reason why these things have a "cult" following. That's your best shot for a long-lasting laptop. Now keep in mind you WILL be paying a premium for such a laptop.

[LloydLynx]

This may help

https://www.ifixit.com/repairability/laptop-scores

 

If you're fine with experimental design, look at https://frame.work/

 

If you want more run-of-the-mill, go Dell Latitude. Most Latitudes from the past couple decades can be described as; a brick, repairable, great keyboard, mediocre screen, ok battery life. It shows consistency imo, which gives confidence that new ones are gonna be made well like older ones.

 

Some HP Elitebooks and Thinkpads are also good options. Always go with proper enterprise grade hardware if you want something to last and be repairable. Almost all consumer and some prosumer devices are cheaply made crap.

 

Novelty features and dedicated graphics are common failure points on laptops and should be avoided if possible for living a long life.

[Jon-Slow]

4 hours ago, powertoys said:

Performance-wise, I find it hard to believe that the modern web and software will grow as fast as CPU speeds did on the last years.

 

A CPU from the year 2000, even a high-end one, would be absolutely unusable today, but a 2010 midrange CPU like his i5-430M is still very much usable in 2023 for the basic stuff, that's 13 years already, in most cases the bottleneck wasn't even the CPU itself, it was the HDD the computer came with, a SSD solved that issue.

 

IMO, a good 2020 CPU will, undoubtedly, last until 2035 without performance issues. An i5-430M scores ~1100 on Passmark, in contrast, a common CPU found in ~$400 laptops, the 12th gen i5, has a score of about ~13k. It's almost 13 times faster.

 

The question is: what about the rest of the laptop? Even though $300 laptops are lightyears ahead of what they used to be 13 years ago (where Windows manufacturers engaged in a race to the bottom to lower prices even further - that race has been currently delegated to Chromebooks), durability is still far from being their strong suit. OP's laptop was likely one of the good, expensive ones or he took very good care of it - or both.

 

OP, for durability, I'd strongly recommend a business-oriented laptop, like a T or X-series ThinkPad (Lenovo). There is a reason why these things have a "cult" following. That's your best shot for a long-lasting laptop. Now keep in mind you WILL be paying a premium for such a laptop.

 Of course I meant more in terms of general longevity. Something is going to break down in there in 10 years of daily use and if it doesn't then you're very lucky. But idk, I haven't seen stats