What's your reason to replace your still-good laptop with newer one?

I have Dell Latitude E6400 Core2 Duo 2Ghz 4GB RAM Intel 160GB SSD. Pretty much use it for browsing, word, excel, outlook, email, and no games. This laptop is fast enough to handle my jobs.

Except that now, I fall in love with T420S and try to find a valid/good reason to replace my fast-enough Dell Latitude.

I usually keep a system for years, but I've seen some people here with still good laptop and constantly changing (Latitude > T400 > T410 then upgrade to T420S). What's your reasons? Do you just have so much money to burn? Is it like too much hassle to move data from one system to another?

So please share your story here.

 

i have an excellent precision M4400, same generation as your latitude, it still works perfectly, but i bought a second hand x201 as i wanted something to leave in my bag and forget about (light!)

this is because i'm doing an MBA and i seem to have to carry my laptop around a lot these days, and i wanted something lighter. before this it was just home to office and my trips to asia.

the M4400 is still my "desktop", the X201 is more of a "netbook" for me

i usually use my laptops till they die on me. which usually takes 4-5 years

if you have an E6400, the only reason i can see wanting to switch to the T420s is the fact its lighter, thinnner, cooler. so i'm assuming you need/desire the portability..

oh, and for keeping data synced on both the systems, i use this free tool from microsoft called synctoy

Download details: SyncToy 2.1

 

I'm looking for something lighter than my E6410 while still having a reasonable amount of on-screen real estate and decent performance. The T420s seems to be about the only option. It remains to be seen how my eyes will cope with the smaller pixels of 14" 1600 x 900.

John

 

What I recommend;

Buy what you need with what you have.

Whenever I ever need a faster work laptop, I will go out and buy it though it seems with the latest reincarnation of the Latitudes I will be jumping ship to Lenovo..

 

i had a t400 c2d 2.2ghz, 4gb ram, intel g2 80gb (basically similar to you bigbulus). it was basically running fine, but when the t420s had a price mistake on the family and friends website and i got it for 1000 flat with the upgraded screen, webcam, 3x3 wifi, bt3.0, i had to pull the trigger (well, i would've done it anyways even if there wasn't the price mistake hehe).

but basically it came down to one thing: i just wanted it so badly that i needed it. it's ok to spoil ourselves once every few years right? just eat at home and pre-drink a couple times before going out and you'll make up the difference

but since you're interested in the t420s, let me just give you a few opinions that i've gathered from 3 days of use.
very light and small--much more so than my t400 with 9cell battery. of course the screen is smaller with the 16:9 ratio and i get less battery life, but now i get the wow factor of picking my laptop up with ease.

some improvements of the t420s over the t400 are: quieter and more solid keyboard, nice redesigned buttons everywhere, the aforementioned size and weight reductions makes it really feel like a x301, WEBCAM and MIC huuuuge improvements (people can see me in the pitch dark now), speakers improved, runs cooler (but that is related to a con), option for msata intel drive, displayport and usb 3.0, and my happiness

some issues i have with the t420s: the screen does disappoint, and i'm not a screen enthusiast or whatever you call it at all. even though the resolution is higher and colors are slightly better, the viewing angles are narrower, the pixels are spaced out (see one of the reviewer's pictures) which makes the screen look grainy. the fan is wayyy louder than older thinpads and it spins faster at lower temps. but i've alleviated this problem by using tpfancontrol and i'm still running at around 15 degrees C lower than my t400 at same fan speeds and cpu load, which may be partially due to my t400's age. and battery life is a lot less, but we all knew that going into it.

oops, ended up writing more than i had planned. i hope it helps.

 

I can vouch for keeping data sync'd using the Microsoft SyncToy. It is excellent and fast. I also use SyncToy for backing up My Documents to an external drive.

Good post, OP!

PS - I too have a fairly good laptop and am considering upgrading to the W520 series. I have reinstalled my OP SYS several times and have disabled the majority of my Startup items, but my lappy is just running slower and slower - or maybe I am just getting faster and faster. Not sure which it is. But getting a new lappy with the Core i7 and with a SSD sure looks inviting!

 

The W520 will be my first real laptop (have a netbook, it's annoying at least half the time due to its slowness). I think I will be replacing it in about 4 years when the hardware gets outdated by 2 generations. My current desktop is about 2 years old, and my computer before that was 3 and a half years old when I replaced it (the computer still works fine, just didn't meet my needs). This desktop is Wolfdale based, which is 2 generations before Sandy Bridge, and the computer before that was K8 based, which is also about 2 generations before Wolfdale. So I guess my reason for replacing a functional computer is because the hardware gets outdated by 2 generations.

 

I guess for me it is the feeling of getting something new and the fact newer hardware are faster and typically give you a better user experience. Desktop specifically it is alot more logical to replace the whole system since motherboard socket changes and ram limitation decreases.

 

For me I usually keep my notebook for a year.
I get bored and want to try out new models.

I need 3 laptops at all time, I know it sounds silly but , they have different uses.

One is for Work - I get reimbursed for it every 2 years. This one has to stay clean and I cant be downloading and installing anything, always need approval of our IT dept. Work only.
\
2nd one is my everything notebook. This is the one I replace frequently.
3rd is my home computer; acts like a desktop.

 

Good question!

Do I have too much money? Absolutely not! Would I like to? Well...yeah...with some reservations.

Is it a hassle to transfer data? Yes, but then it is a good way to learn about your new machine and to fiddle around.

Did I need the X201 which I bought recently. Not exactly. My R400 was good enough and while it is true that I am will be traveling a lot for the foreseeable future, the R400 would have sufficed. But a couple of factors came into play. I love the idea of mobile computing (personally, I think it comes with what I do for fun and living). So, an ultra light but capable machine was very attractive - at least as an idea. The second was the availability of funds, which also fortuitously fell into place.

Was it expensive? In my particular context, yes. But then again, I was lucky that this time it was a present - well, it was paid for and as long as I was within a budget, I could get whatever I wanted.

 

Newer laptops are mostly energy efficient than older laptops, so probably the battery will last longer.

 

My justifications for getting a new laptop is mainly for the speed. My current system will be 3years old this October and so far, it has kept up with all of my demands. I will likely hold onto this until for another 2 years because by then I don't think I will be able to play many newer games. In terms of build quality (important factor for me), this unit is superb. The only thing that would give way its age is maybe some keyboard shine due to COD4 and some minor light scratches on the rubberized plastic lid.
Looking at it, you would not know its 3years old. My advice is to get a unit you're 100% happy with and throw upgrades at it as you go on.
The list of my upgrades chronologically are:
2gb to 4gb
80gb HD to 500gb SSD hybrid
p8600 to T9900

I've pretty much maxed out everything (aside from going with a true SSD) so it looks like the next upgrade will be to replace the unit. The battery still holds 60% of its original charge which is adequate for me.

 

At our design firm, we all use notebooks. Even computers that always sit on desks are notebooks or mobile workstations. These are upgrade regularly because our projects -- the complexity of the projects and/or the software involved in such projects -- demand better performance, both in doing our jobs and in the delivered results.

We either donate the "old" notebooks to local schools or sell them cheaply to local students.

Computing components are increasingly faster or have higher capacities while getting more energy-efficient and less expensive. Usually people upgrade their notebooks for these valid reasons -- in addition to... er... lust.

Having a lot of money? Personally, no. I invest in the best eyeglasses because I use my eyes all the time. Ditto with computers. (I just cannot part with some of the old laptops, hence the collection!)

Moving data is not a hassle if you always follow your backup routine, together with a logical organization of folders and a methodical naming convention.

 

Honestly, my biggest reason for a T420 was probably technolust. It isn't an absolute essential, and my ThinkPad T400 still did a reasonable job processor-wise (T9600) and had almost all of the toys.

Having said that, I had a chance to sell my T400 to a family member for their job, at fair market value. Since laptops depreciate so rapidly, it's hard to even get that these days (her employer is footing the bill), given that many users don't know the difference in quality between a business and a consumer laptop, and everyone is looking for a deal. Also, I do some freelance computer work in addition to my regular IT day-job, and that lets me pay for some of my hobbies, of which this is one. My family benefits from my IT background --they get some pretty good equipment, even if it isn't cutting edge. My SO has my 15" T61, which I had for a year, and then decided I wanted a bit smaller system and a WXGA+ display. It's perfect for her teaching job, and she loves it. If I see a new system, I keep an eye out for a family member or friend who could benefit from having my old one, and it usually works itself out.

The most tangible benefits I've gotten on the new system are a greatly-improved screen, 2-3x performance in working with files from my Bitlocker partition (the AES-NI instructions on the Core i5 are incredible), improved speakers, a more solid palmrest, better graphics performance, and a huge boost in startup and application load time due to the 80GB mSATA SSD. I'll admit that some of those were parts of my decision, but I could have used my T400 for awhile to come. I just got excited by new technology, and was able to come up with discretionary spending that didn't bump up against my mortgage payment.

P.S. That doesn't mean I didn't make sure to use coupon codes and the Contractor's program. I don't spend more than I have to.

 

I liked my tablet quiet a bit, but I wasn't really using the tablet part much. I still mainly mess around with my Wacom when I feel the urge. Because my tablet was in great shape and had an excellent warranty, I was able to sell it for a pretty good price. I was able to pick up my X220i and the mSATA drive, and it didn't cost me anything.

I like the dual drive set up. I had the Intel SSD for my X220t, but didn't like that I had to keep all my stuff on my external. Now I should have some space for extras. Lastly, I wanted a small laptop with a good screen that I can run the FF and Vista sidebars at the same time. The 1280 on my X200t just wasn't quite wide enough, but I think 1366 is going to be good.

Oh yeah, I had my tablet for a year and I was bored with it.

 

My reason is...

Spoiler

I want to outdo Lead_Org's ThinkPad Collection.

On a serious note I love using my 2007 ThinkPad T61, there isn't much wrong with it and is still perfectly usable to this day. Though considering how rapid technology had developed over the years I was curious to see how much better (or worse) the newer models are compared to my existing notebook. And I thought it be nice to treat myself!

So I bought my T420 and lately I have been tinkering quite a lot with it, lets just say the hard drive cover hasn't been on my machine for a while as i'm constantly swapping hard drives testing numerous combinations! It's certainly interesting to see differences between the two machines, sometimes for the better (brighter LED screens, lighter, more powerful) and sometimes for the worse (16:9 to 16:10, fiddly upgrades etc). I'm just waiting for my 2nd drive caddy to arrive before I can use the machine as intended which means no more testing and screwdrivers!

You could say you also learn something new along the way with a new model and in turn you can share your experiences and knowledge to help other people such as this forum which is nice.

 

On the personal side, I usually get a new machine each year because it is handed down. I use it for a year. My wife uses it for a year. Then it goes to another family member.

So we are getting 3-5 years out of each machine somewhere in the family. Since I pay for them, I get then new one each year. It's only fair.

 

did it for the weight and battery life. lots of custom desktops for 15 years, then w500 plus docking station from 11/2008, then got an ipad but it was only good for consumption and games but got used to the portability and IPS screen 4/2010, and now decided I needed the x220 with IPS 5/2011.

 

I'm in the same position as Hearst. I've had my T61 since Feb. 2008 and have yet to see a real reason to replace it (it serves as my primary desktop replacement computer, my X301 is my travel companion).

It would be interesting to see a T520 / W520 in action next to my (now ancient lol) T61. But, my motto is, if it ain't broke, don't fix it

Now, I definitely see the need for others to constantly (once a year) replace thier machines with the newer technology, but I just can't see the benefit of it for MY personal use. My T61 is doing just as good as the day it was unboxed (hell, it still looks brand new too ). So, when Lenovo comes out with a W / T series laptop (15"+ screen) with an IPS display, that to me, would be reason alone to upgrade to a newer machine. For now though, the technology to me, hasn't come all to far for me to reasonably replace my T61.

 

Two reasons:

1) JEE dev.

2) Kernel hacking.

The former eats RAM*, CPU, and disk IO for breakfast. The latter is mostly memory and disk-bound.

* I can and do hit swap even on a box with 8GB of RAM. It's even worse when doing profiling runs.

 

Pretty much if you've got the cash and nothing to do with it, buy a new one. If you've got an SSD and a dual core system and all you're doing is word processing, surfing and emailing you really don't need a new laptop.

 

I've spent the last four years 3d modelling/rendering with rhino+vray and putting together wall sized presentation panels in illustrator/photoshop for plotting and believe you me, you want every last ounce of speed you can get, especially when you are on crazy deadlines.

It's really such a shame that so much of the adobe suite isn't multi-core optimized or even 64bit by now.

Right now i'm alot like afhstingray in that i'm using my w7x64 W510 alongside an ubuntu asus 1008ha (2gb + 64gb ssd) because the w510 is just too much to lug around when I just want a coffeeshop machine. Keep data synced with dropbox, but i'd much rather just have one smaller system (ala a w420 or any other of the reasonably sized 14 inch workstation machines ibm used to make).

 

the X201 is the first ultraportable i've owned, and i'm liking it. its made me think about my next upgrade cycle. i dont think i'll be buying 15" anymore, i'll either go with an ultraportable+17/18" desktop replacement combo or a powerful ultraportable docked.

 

For me there are basically two cases when I do upgrades:

1) The hardware dies (never happened)
2) The performance is lacking and my needs grow + need for smaller size/weight/more mobility (that's why I replaced my T42 with X220)

I often have the desire to try something new, but I dislike spending money on things I do not really need. So while T400s, and then T410s was really whispering into my ears that I want them badly, I never pulled the trigger.

For home use I have a desktop workstation and can't imagine using a laptop for that purpose. Upgrade schedule with my desktop is a bit different matter though.

 

1) and 2) actually happened to me on the inspiron 8600 i had before i bought the precision lol.it was 4 going on 5 years and its 1.4ghz pentium M and 512ram, and radeon 9600 were starting to feel a bit out of breath in a world of dual cores,and even dvd-ripped movies would lag if i had lots going on in firefox, and i was getting BSOD's from the graphics card once in a while.

the final blow came when i accidentally knocked a pint of beer over it. RIP.

 

I change when my mother comes to see me, i.e. every ~3 to 4 years (from another country). This is when she starts moaning about how slow the old computer has become ... and I end up giving her my current laptop (thus about 3 years old).

speaking of which, she's about to come. And she uses my old HP Pavilion with 2.66Ghz P4 in it, 7 years old so far, for skype and internet mostly. But I'm gonna try to hold on to this T61 as much as I can, since it's the last model with 4:3. Or I can just buy her another T61 ... we'll see.

 

Mee too...except that I would prefer a 13" model (since that is not coming from the ThinkPad stable anytime soon). But I don't think I could use a heavier laptop having used the X201. The dock and the external monitor are a given.

 

i'd have preferred an even smaller even lighter 11". i was originally gonna get the X120e, but after seeing the X201 going for the same price i couldnt justify buying the less powerful but newer X120e just for a marginal reduction in weight and size.

if it was my only laptop, i agree, a 13" 1440x900 computer with decent switchable graphics would be able to replace both my X201 and M4400, but probably at a compromise of not having the option to go powerful on the road, or light and casual..so maybe i'd still stick with 2 so i dont have to compromise so much

 

Understandable. My computing needs do not demand even a fraction of the spcs that either of my current machines have - to be very honest about it.

What I have found over the years and at some expense is that if I try to address my computing needs at the lower end of the market, eventually, either I end up paying for repairs (after the 1-yr warranty) or I end up buying a new one. Btw, this is only my personal experience and yes, you can call me unlucky in these matters.

This is the reason, I turned to ThinkPads in the first place. On the question of reasons to replace machines - they are either driven by need (in my case it was mobility and not necessarily computing power) or by impulse.

It is also worth noting that ever since I have started earning my own money, the instances of the latter are becoming increasingly rare.

 

I collect old laptops. My newest one, a 2010 MBP, is a year old and still rocks a Core 2 Duo. The rest of the fleet are C2Ds and one Core 2 Quad.

I don't think I'll be upgrading to a new machine anytime. My MBP and ThinkPad meet all of my needs, and my desktop just got a GPU upgrade to a GTX 460, so I'm good to go for the next few years.

Plus, I don't have too much money to spend on a new machine. I prefer getting older ones for cheap.

 

I wouldn't hold your breath on it either. Adobe products do great things, but their current development in so many areas is just a bloody mess. Just reading their forums, you'll find tons of people with good, legitimate questions, and no helpful answers.

I really wish Adobe would pledge a year's worth of time to not release new products, and just re-engineer themselves. A unified product updater that supports all of their software. Better installers and patch management (patching Adobe Reader alone in an enterprise environment is maddening, let alone Shockwave and Flash). Ditching cruft from old programs they don't support well any more, and finally, a new emphasis on securing their apps from vulnerabilities.

I found 15" to be a little large too; as a result, 14" has become the sweet spot for me. I think I could do 12-13" if we brought back the old 4:3 aspect ratio, but it would be a must.

Even in the 14" range, it's amazing how much lighter my T420 is than the T400 I had.

 

After the shift from 16:10 to 16:9, current 14" laptops are like the 15" of the previous gen. While current 15" laptops are like the 17" of the previous gen.
I'm all for a 12"-13" 16:9 quality machine, HD+ or higher. Perfect in terms of size, keyboard comfort, and weight.

 

I'd respectfully disagree. Going to 16:9 was going backwards for me; I want more top-to-bottom viewing area than side-to-side. Judging by comments made across the forums, I believe most business users (and at least some if not most enthusiasts) would also pick 16:10 if they were truly given the choice.

Fortunately, my new screen is brighter, so it makes up for squashing the display down, but I'd love to have the brightness I have now coupled with a 16:10 display. That's not going to happen though, so I've accepted it and am moving on.

 

That's why I still love the 14" 4:3 SXGA+ display, it's like having 13.3 wide screen laptop but able to see a lot more.

14" wide screen = too big of a laptop for me. I could take the x220 though, but dropping 300 vertical pixels would be a pain.

 

For me I do video editing for a living. Newer NB with faster HDD, CPU and RAM means faster editing and rendering time which translate to more time saved for other stuffs and less electrical bill. Few years ago, rendering a wedding video took 12 hours and now it is down to 1-2 hours. The time and electrical $$ saved is huge.

 

For me its simple. I feel there is always a curve in when hardware is to advanced for software and then other times when software is too advanced for hardware. I always buy a laptop when hardware is too advanced for software which I feel is right now. The core processor are stupid fast, giant HD's, massive amounts of ram, and the possibilities of SSD. I just bought a t420 and I figure it will be fast for at least 2 years in which when it slows down a little I will put in an SSD(which will be way cheaper then) and bring it back up to bar for another couple years. Ive been making sure I buy when HW is ahead of SW and it has always allowed me to keep laptops for 3+ years which makes a 600-1000 dollars investment not too bad.

Thats my logic.

 

Don't have a laptop currently!
I'm going to college, and I'm on a 5 year old desktop that I put together back in 2006. It was fast in 2006. Now, not so much... Since it does have a Core 2 Duo, which is "only" 2 generations old, I figure it can sell for slightly more than nothing, so it's a good time to switch.

I'm going to buy an X220 soon, and I figure it should be good for the rest of college as I don't do much CPU intensive work. After that if the computing scene hasn't changed dramatically, I'll put together a desktop and use the laptop lightly and on trips and stuff, since it's much cheaper to spec out a desktop.

 

Eventually, I'd like to get a T420s or something like that, but I'd like it to be such a significant upgrade to what I have now. I'm talking, quad-core processors, discrete graphics, high-density screen, day-long battery life, and thin and light.

Or if they figure out how to get a new ThinkPad body dual-booting Windows & Mac OS X flawlessly, I'd be happy with that.

 

Personally, I think I have plateaued with my recently acquired X201. There are only two more things that I think could be upgraded - (1) the better integrated graphics option (like in the X220) and (2) the screen (again like in the X220).

Funnily, my use of the X201 is like using my brain (or any brain). Apparently, we use not more than 25% of our brain. This is like me: I don't use or need to use more than 25% of the capabilities of the X201!

 

My last upgrade was to a T410s this past January. Really didn't have any need for it, but I figured it would be the last 16:10 T-series I'd be able to buy. Now I intend to keep it running forever so I'll never have to buy a 16:9 notebook!

 

I have a T61P, and for the CAD, I'm doing, I'd like a faster processor.
Window 7 takes more RAM to run --especially W7-64.

 

I don't think it needs more RAM (Windows 7 is better than Vista in this respect and will run on netbooks with only 1GB RAM) but will run better with more RAM.

I wouldn't recommend using the 64 bit version of Windows unless you have more than 4GB of RAM. 32 bit Windows can address about 3.5GB and doesn't have backwards compatibility issues.

John

 

I replace every year. Has nothing to do with speed but they just get nasty, cracked etc, and I like nice/mint things.

 

Thinking about this I find that in my case going forward, it won't so much be a case of replacing a machine but of augmenting with another device. I have been reading on the Apple Forum here and elsewhere how a lot of folks are beginning to pair their iPads and/ or iPhones with their MBPs and MBAs. I think that makes sense - though I would like to do it in the Windows environment.

How to do this now is something that I am considering.

 

I thought about this a lot too, and finally bit the bullet. Upgrading from a 2.4Ghz Core2Duo Studio XPS 1340 to a Thinkpad x220.

My main reasons for upgrading is build quality, and most importantly, battery life. My XPS has absolutely terrible build quality. Sure, it feels sturdy and the metal bottom plate is a nice touch, but every day it continues to fall apart. My rubber stoppers on the wrist rest can't seem to stay on (even with superglue), the screen panel is filled with scuffs (made of crappy acrylic), and the acrylic screen cover is coming apart from the screen itself. The laptop also had unusable wifi until I swapped out the antennas myself, and crashes everytime it sleeps. It also only lasts less than 3 hours on a charge.

 

When my system stops getting it's job done.

I've got 3 yr old R61 and I'm not planning to change it for next 2 or even 3 years.
All I need is rugged 15" with ability to play 1080p movies and ~3h battery.
My "work" machine is hexa-core, 8gb RAM and GTX460 - I'm 18 years old student doing animations, movies, graphics etc. (not related with school, my major subject @ school is history, just nice hobby, apart form messing with computers, that brings even more money ).