How long should it last?

On the strength of recommendations here, I bought two Lenovo ThinkPad laptops. In 2008, I bought a refurbished R61i and in 2009 I bought my wife a refurbished SL500.

The SL500 hardly ever got used. Occasionally we used the DVD reader to watch a movie and my wife liked using spreadsheets once every few weeks. Even with light use, it had a hardware issue just 13 months after I bought it. I had it repaired, but then it died outright just a few weeks ago.

The R61i lived a much harder life. From the outset I was on the thing for 8-16 hours a day (grad school). A month ago it started acting strange, sometimes not booting on the first try. Then this morning it died abruptly.

Overall we liked these machines, but 2-3 years seems like an awfully short life span, even if they're being used all the time. (Right now I'm using my slow, clunky old HP Pavillion that I've had for about 9 years. It was my everyday workhorse for about 6 years until I bought the R61i.)

Is this typical for laptops? Have people over-stated Lenovo quality? Have they over-stated the quality of refurbished machines? I'm a bit disappointed.

 

Perhaps just bad luck? Did you extend the warranty on the Thinkpads?

 

No, I didn't extend the warranty on either one. I've used different computers at work for ~25-odd years and never had one die (though in retrospect that may not be a fair sample since businesses get new computers for employees every so often). Still, in my experience it seemed like a small risk since I don't do any "heavy lifting" like video games. Mostly I use it to log into the computers at school.

I've only owned 4 computers of my own -- two desktop, two laptop. Only these two laptops have ever died.

I'd consider it just bad luck if one of them crapped out. But both of them seemed a little unlikely. And both of them within 2 weeks really got my attention!

 

Product failure rates tend to follow the bathtub curve. I dont tend to buy extended warrenties, hopefully failure prone components will fail within default coverage period. It also kinda gives me a reason down the line to get a better tech too if it fails in the comming years.

In some ways I agree. One of my old T series thinkpad is still rocking after a long time (>8yrs and counting including the harddrive), yet I am getting random problems left and right with my current thinkpad from time to time. On that note however I also had an older R series that failed pretty quickly (<2 years) prior to my T series because of the HDD. In general reliability is a toss of the coin sometimes. But since most mechanical and electronic components follow the bathtub curve, you can pretty much guess that if your product has been doing well since its early life span, then it may be one of the good products that can last a long time.

 

Laptops are one of those things that could last 10+ years or die within a year even if you take great care of it. Laptops are the only product I buy extended warranties (esp considering repair costs) and I take the mentality that once the warranty is over it's 'OK' for it to die.

 

Alright -- thanks folks. I guess I'll reset my expectations.

If extended warranties don't cost an arm and a leg, I'll give them serious thought. Otherwise I'll think of laptops as extremely useful tools that cost ~$20-40/month. Hey, it's only about $1/day, right?

 

My T61 is going on over 3 years old now (bought it brand new through Lenovo.com), and still looks / works like new (knock on wood lol). It's a great machine, and it does it's job very well. Now, I don't abuse the heck out of it, but it doesn't just sit on my desk all the time either. It's been on MANY family road trips, vacations, etc. and with all that, still looks almost like the day I got it.

I agree with another member that said basically, if there's a problem with your new laptop, you'll know it within the first year or less of ownership.

It's the luck of the draw I guess.

 

before we dump your R61, lets try this:

1. take out the ram, and start the laptop without the ram. Does it beep?
2. try to disconnect the keyboard and reconnect it, and then restart the laptop.
3. press the on/off buttons ten times with 30 s succession.

 

it would be a good idea to give the specifications of the laptops. At the time there has been an issue with nVidia chips failing, so dont know if any of those would use it.

HDDs fail from time to time, depending on the use of the laptop.

other components should be fine, unless you get overheating issues.

The T61 that I use right now is pushing 3.5 years with overclocked GPU, but I take good care of the laptop and I expect it to last quite some time. I also had HP Pavilion that I gave to my mom when I bought this T61 and she's still using it. For a 7+ year old laptop it still runs autocad decently .. hehe

my personal advice - never, ever, buy warranty for electronic products.

 

You may wish to consider a rider on you homeowners or renters insurance. In addition to the normal stuff, it will cover accidents and theft, which warranties from the manufacturer will not cover. Plus you can start or stop coverage at any time. As always, consult with agent.

 

Interesting exercise getting that palm rest off, but no beep.

Also interesting (especially for a lefty getting that connector undone) but no joy.

Alas, nobody home after this exercise either. I think she's dead.

Thanks for the suggestions, though.

 

can explain the behaviour of the LED indicators when you:

1. Connect the AC adapter?
2. When you connect the AC adapter without battery?
3. When you press the on button?

 

Yes, but there are limits to what ZAZ says. You'll never see an insurance policy coverage more than some dollar figure which decreases rapidly. Be sure to get "replacwment value insurance". If you don't, you are lable to wind up with some that does satisfy you.
Renee

 

Sure:

1. Battery and AC power (plug) indicators both on.
2. Battery and AC power both come on for about 1/2 second, then just the AC.
3. AC, power on, caps lock and num lock all come on for about 1 sec, then just the power on and AC pooer LEDs.