HP dv3t and the future of my laptop experience

Okay, so here's my long-story short for you all. I own an HP dv3t (specs are in my sig). I've owned it since late June 2009, and it's been quite a roller coaster ride using it. Good times, bad times. To summarize, I have had it serviced 3 times (overheating causing instant powering-off twice and ethernet failure), and its warranty honored to last until February 20, 2012. So far, so good. These problems cease to exist because of upgraded parts put into this thing. This notebook is serving me well through my studies, and it looks to stay that way for the last 2 years here at school.

So here's my thoughts about this computer and the future of owning notebooks. I am not particularly fond of HP because of the hardware failures I experienced with this notebook and the 8 painstaking months dodging many many calls to get my warranty honored. I am thinking of moving away from HP, but whatever I decide, I want to make the best financial decisions. My warranty is up Feb 20 next year, and anytime until then I can get this thing fixed. After the 20th, I am SOL. I am thinking of selling it after this date so I can get some money toward a newer computer (since computers like these decrease in value year by year). Is this a smart move typically? Or should I try to maximize the use out of this notebook before it just craps out and I can't get any money for it?

 

I find that computers are generally like cars; they depreciate pretty much immediately. I guess it really depends how much you realistically think you can get back in the sale of a 3 year old laptop. 3 years is a long time in computers (particularly on the Windows side)...

Considering how ridiculously cheap entry level laptops have become (which is really what your laptop would stack up against come next winter, if not already), I really don't personally see much market unless it's a real fire sale of a price, or it was something niche/very high end. I just run them into the ground (as far as my usage is concerned at least) and hand them off to a parent who is far less demanding on a computer.

 

True... with that in mind, I think I would end up spending more money selling old/buying new notebooks on a more regular basis. Then again, it might not be by much, considering most people replace notebooks within 3-5 years?

I'll take a look at eBay and Craigslist with those selling similar models to get an idea of how much my notebook is currently worth.