I prefer PCs over Macs, but every time I buy a PC... it breaks down within a year or two. It's exhausting!
Meanwhile, an old Mac that we bought before the kids were born is still going strong. I use it every day, even though it's coming up on 7 years of age!
I'd love to buy a really well-made PC... do those exist anymore?
hostess / wonderful persimmon / 25556 posts
I can usually keep a laptop running for 5+ years and not have hardware issues with it (unless I do something stupid like dump a coke on it). We have had to replace a few parts on our main desktop computer but otherwise had pretty good luck!
squash / 13208 posts
We went thru 2 Dell's within 5 years - this time we bought a Samsung - we'll see how it holds up!
admin / wonderful grape / 20724 posts
@mediagirl: A laptop for 5+ years?! Wow!! Are you using it every day? And what is the brand name?
admin / wonderful grape / 20724 posts
@Mamaof2: Yah I used to buy exclusively from Dell, but both their quality and customer service has gone way downhill.
pineapple / 12526 posts
I honestly have never had a PC break down on me beyond just general aging and becoming obsolete. We custom build our computers though, so that might be part of it.
hostess / wonderful persimmon / 25556 posts
@mrbee: HP. I used to use it every day and then it turned into my "as needed" laptop. I did wipe it once already, though.
Dell is awful, I will never buy through them again.
coffee bean / 26 posts
I also keep my laptops for around 5 years!
I currently have a 3 year old Acer that is running strong, but I've also had good luck with Toshiba and sometimes Dell (but Dell have been hit and miss).
Usually, though, I only have to replace things like hard drives and batteries. The rest of the hardware has always been pretty solid.
ETA: I use this Acer 8 hours a day, 5 days a week for development and it has been awesome. I love it!
blogger / watermelon / 14218 posts
I've never had a PC break down in less than 5 years!
My macbook had its first issue (superdrive broke, would have cost $300 to replace, so we never did) right after the 12 month mark. Since then it has been dying a slow, agonizing death. Right now it's just our print server. I will NEVER buy apple again. I use a macbook owned by work and it's also dying. SO frustrating.
My lenovo thinkpad has been going strong for almost 8 years! The only issue was an overheating battery which was recalled so we just received our free new battery and it's good as new!! When our macbook died we put in a lot of research and saved up to purchase a lenovo!
pomegranate / 3244 posts
The gateway laptop I bought to go to college in 2002 is still running 
We really just use it as a stereo (it has all our music on it & we connect it to a speaker system). I'm convinced that if I just cleaned it up (it has major viruses) it would still work decently well.
I got a Toshiba laptop in 2010 that lasted until August--the screen died, but I can still use it if I connect it to an external monitor. I bought an HP laptop about a month ago, and hopefully it will have a similar lifespan! But honestly, if it only lasts 2 years or so I'd be ok with it--it was dirt cheap!
coconut / 8430 posts
I think we've had only a few issues (knock on wood!) over the past 10 years with our many machines (desktop + laptop). I've probably replaced 2 power supplies and 2-3 hard drives. We've had at least 5 Dells during that time and 1 HP that I can think of.
Are you buying the top end Dell or the low end Dell? I find that the Inspiron and XPS lines have worked well for us. I agree that the build quality has gone down though. The desktop case for my desktop is better quality than the one they used for DH's desktop which we bought a year later.
admin / wonderful grape / 20724 posts
@sunny: I usually buy the top end gear, in the hopes that it will last longer! It hasn't helped though...
blogger / coconut / 8306 posts
@mrbee: we always build because that's what DH swears by. two years ago, my computer broke. before that, the one he built be had lasted a good five years.
it was the week before xmas, and it was my busy time at work! we ordered an entire new system & upgraded, and the hard drive we received was bad! we had to wait to get a new one, which thankfully has been great the last two years... but i'm starting to get slow again!
cherry / 141 posts
Sometimes parts just randomly break, it happened to us a lot. Laptops you have to be especially careful about overheating, but I've also had the cooling system on a video card just fail, a power supply fail.
Mr. Frog likes to say I broke them by "letting the smoke out". You're alsways supposed to keep that smoke in there- you let it out, the computer is officially dead 
That said, he built his current machine with the best he could afford, and other than a video card upgrade he did, it's working fine.
My Lenovo went on sale at Office Depot, but it was a good model if I recall- it got the hand-me-down video card which upgraded it for WoW.
Both machines are still going strong with lots of use and gaming.
The buttons on my Lenovo mouse stopped working. The center scroll button on my Logitech cordless mouse is on its way to death as well.
honeydew / 7230 posts
@loveisstrange: My DH builds his own as well and I think this makes a big difference. He usually gets a new laptop every 2-3 years, though, because he likes having a new toy to play with!
grapefruit / 4089 posts
My dell is almost 5 years old and I've had no issues with it at all. Still going strong, and it gets used a lot!
persimmon / 1313 posts
I can usually get 3-4 years out of my PC laptops. I've had Dell, HP, & Toshiba and nothing really made a difference. I use my laptops about 15+ hours a day, usually running Illustrator, Photoshop, and my dev environment during that time.
DH has a Macbook and it's going on 2 years but it's hard some issues with the hard drive. Once he upgraded the hard drive and memory, it's been smooth sailing.
I do think this will be my last PC as most of our home setup is now Mac-based but I just think it's luck! Sorry you're having so many issues. My mom ALWAYS has issues with PCs, no matter if they're desktops or laptops so I just think it depends.
wonderful pomelo / 30692 posts
My Lenovo laptop is 3 years old and I haven't had any issues with it.
My husband has a desktop PC from DogHouse Systems. It's 5 years old and going strong! He's never had an issue with it.
cantaloupe / 6692 posts
We've had 3 PC laptops in 4 years and they don't last long. We mainly use the iPad and only use the laptop sparingly. We're saving up for a MacBook. I'm so over PC. I'm not a fan of the new windows either.
honeydew / 7917 posts
I've had luck with high quality ThinkPads. Occasionally we will need to update the hardware inside to make it up to date, but it runs really well. DH is experimenting with Chromebooks and testing them out with his parents. They tend to visit websites that cause viruses and such, and DH hopes that the Chromebook will solve that issue.
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