Monitor Abuse and Comp Life General ?

hello all......so to continue my barage of questions that no one cares about......

1)laptop screen --- i usually view it @ 90 - 100 degrees......but i see some people who have no problem going 180 degrees with it to do things.....i never do this because i feel like the screen hinges/supports/whatever....weren't made for this? what is the real deal?

2) if you bought a new notebook, never used it for 2 years, and then started using it, would it be "like new" - of course, despite the battery being older....and perhaps weaker.....

i am asking these questions, because i have recently been overwhelmed with a sense of fear and trauma regarding the inevitable death of my notebook....why must they die!

so.......i try to only use my notebook for 4-8 hrs a day, dust it out frequently, treat it like it is glass and i am walking on ice....because i am determined to show the world that a notebook can last 4+ years with ease.....

fill me in on how well/not so well, your notebooks have survived/died....

 

They've been made to be able to do a full 180 degrees, but of course, there is usually no reason to do so. I notice you have the W2, which is the same hinges as the V6(The one I own), as well as the MacBooks, so putting it at 180 degrees won't happen. Unless you want to snap it right off!

Batteries that are not in use will gradually weaken and decay but if its stored in a cool dry place, it should retain a majority of its life, but age does and will decay it.

Unfortunately, notebooks are tools, like cars, MP3s, etc. As much as we can baby it, it will have scuffs, scratches, and the wrath of <insert name here>. I use my notebook for about 16 hours a day, and have it on 24/7 for almost 4 months now(Hibernate when I need to move around with it). General cleaning methods such as compressed air, removal of dust from the bottom, getting a notebook cooler, etc. will increase the lifespan. By how much, theres no answer, but it'll last for quite a while.

 

Yes.. and i would like to add that; the li-ion battery actually do best when u use it. frequent charging and discharging (but not too much; say... 2-3 times a week) will actually prolong its life because this would prevent the battery from oxidation.

if you were to store your notebooks for 2 years and suddenly use it; then it would becomes outdated, because technology move so fast and you can only do so much to keep your current computer.

it is still make sense to treat ur notebook like a fine bone china (because it is somewhat fragile; unless of course u own one of those ruggedized notebook, even then it can only withstand so much) but using less than 4-8 hours a day is just absurd. use it when you wanna use it, as long as you wanna use it. as long as you dont keep your system running at 100% non-stop, you should be fine.

 

oh btw, it is absolutely no problem to push your monitor till the edge. u can push it until it reach a dead stop. if it made to go 180, then you can extend the monitor to 180. go it

 

There's no sense on spending so much money on a tool and not using it...
So use it more than 4-8 hours a day if you want to... That's what it's there for.
I'm sure the notebook could last more than four years if you take good care of it. I plan to keep mine for more than 3 years. But it's going to be outdated by then and probably due for a change anyway...
So you can either use it a few hours a day and then get a new laptop in a few years when it becomes outdated... Or use it a lot and get a new laptop in a few years when it's outdated... Difference is that it'll be put to good use.

So there are limits to everything... Some people don't take care of their things and treat them like garbage... And some people are too scared to use their things so that they last longer.
I treat my computer well but I still use it a lot.

 

Hinges occasionally do break, but they're replacable and not terribly expensive (my toshiba's were $50 for the pair). In several years of working in a laptop repair shop, I only encountered 2 laptops with broken hinges, one of which was my own machine which I have never "abused".

 

Note the OP has a W2, so the hinges are very different, they look like this:





So making it 180 will snap the LCD right off heh. But traditional 'hinges' are fine.

 

I think you're getting confused with Tablet PCs. They are the only PCs I know that have a screen rotating 180 degrees.

I bought my laptop in January 2000, and it still works perfectly well. Just try not to bang it against nayhting or drop it, and don't wprry about your laptop.

 

He means pushing it back so that the notebook is flat, and when putting it from that form to the closed form, it makes a 180 degree movement.

 

I have a Dell Inspiron 2650 that is over four years old. Still works fine, battery has survived pretty well, can still get an hour and a half out of it with light usage. Case is cracked a little by one of the hinges. Other than that, it works like new. It is just pretty outdated (Pentium 4 1.7GHz, 30Gb HD, 256MB ram, 16MB Geforce 2 Go) and was replaced around Thanksgiving with a new system that I hope to get the same life out of.

 

Oh Oh

I wouldnt do it regularly....hhhee

 

P4 isn't bad though.
If you upgraded that with more ram (only 256 more...) you'd most likely get another year out of it, and still be able to enjoy it.

As for me, I just got my laptop, and its fine. I hope to have mine 3-4 years as well.
I plan on putting more ram in it in a few years though, maybe a bigger harddrive too. Harddrive isn't needed, and I doubt ram will either.
I only ever run my laptop at 800Mhz, and it does more then I want to on that speed, and 512MB ram is fine for me as well, and I use my laptop for everything! I could continue on, but I think I'll stop here.

 

I got a new system because the motherboard in my desktop went out and I needed something to take to school that would last more than a few hours. So I just got a new laptop to replace both (portability and light gaming ability). My mom has my old laptop, it's pretty much been demoted to portable dvd player as she has a fairly decent desktop for any computer work she has.

 

hmmm.... that is one nice looking notebook