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psipsyRecently, I had to do a couple updates and repairs to my main laptop. For starters, the keyboard I got a year ago lasted exactly that long. Fortunately, I was still able to find replacements. For the $15, I may as well buy spares.
The other issue I was running into was the built-in wifi wasn't as fast as what the router is capable of. I found a mini-PCIe card that clicked right in, so I went from 802.11n to 802.11ac and wireless transfers are now 4x faster than before. When I need to move files from one computer to another, it's now faster to just copy them to the server, where they usually end up anyway.
Also, I swapped out the hard drive, going from a 250GB SSD to a 1TB SSD. The only reason I did this was because the 250 was running out of space. To compare: In 2001, when I was using my G3 PowerBook as a primary computer, I upgraded the hard drive in that from a 4.5GB to a 20GB, and that 20GB laptop drive cost $140. The Samsung 1TB SSD ended up being about as much. That might not be the last hard drive it sees, either. Someday the 1TB may fill up and I'll have to go even bigger. There are 4TB SSDs out in the wild now but they're a bit on the pricey end, even for me.
The RAM was upgraded years ago and is already as high as it can go, 16GB. Sometimes I would hit the top of that, but only when older versions of Firefox would go haywire and develop memory holes. That seems to have been cleared up.
Most notably, is that the hard drive, memory, and wifi card can all be accessed by removing a panel held on by a bunch of screws. The keyboard is held in by clips and can be popped out from the top.
It's still going with Windows 7. Could I put W10 on it? Yes, but I'd rather not unless I absolutely have to.
When I was originally shopping around for a laptop, I did a lot of research ahead of time, and in retrospect, it was worth it. I've always been picky and persnickety about this sort of thing. I picked one with a quad-core processor, a Blu-ray drive, expandable RAM. At the time, watching anime files did require some amount of video horsepower, and this has a discrete video chip too. Not much by today's standards but it's enough to watch video with. This also came with a display that used LED backlighting instead of CCFL, another conscious choice. At the time, I was seeing CCFL-backlit monitors at work starting to drop like flies in a freezer, and fixing those had a lower success rate than I would have liked, and I knew I didn't want that.
It's not perfect. It doesn't have USB3 and probably never will. The battery is questionable, and it might last an hour if I'm careful. At least that's replaceable without needing any tools. The i7 is kind of overkill for a laptop and quickly gets hot enough that it throttles itself slower. I have one of those laptop coolers which is a big USB-powered fan, which helps to take the edge off. It also keeps the laptop directly off my legs. (Didja know that one time, I fell asleep with my G4 on my lap while I was wearing shorts and it was running hot enough to give me blisters on my legs?)
But, it's something I've been using since I got it in 2010, and I'll likely keep using, until I simply can't for whatever reason. Someday maybe a part will fail and I won't be able to replace it, or software will get updated beyond what this can handle. Hopefully I'll get just as much use out of this in the future as I have already.
The other issue I was running into was the built-in wifi wasn't as fast as what the router is capable of. I found a mini-PCIe card that clicked right in, so I went from 802.11n to 802.11ac and wireless transfers are now 4x faster than before. When I need to move files from one computer to another, it's now faster to just copy them to the server, where they usually end up anyway.
Also, I swapped out the hard drive, going from a 250GB SSD to a 1TB SSD. The only reason I did this was because the 250 was running out of space. To compare: In 2001, when I was using my G3 PowerBook as a primary computer, I upgraded the hard drive in that from a 4.5GB to a 20GB, and that 20GB laptop drive cost $140. The Samsung 1TB SSD ended up being about as much. That might not be the last hard drive it sees, either. Someday the 1TB may fill up and I'll have to go even bigger. There are 4TB SSDs out in the wild now but they're a bit on the pricey end, even for me.
The RAM was upgraded years ago and is already as high as it can go, 16GB. Sometimes I would hit the top of that, but only when older versions of Firefox would go haywire and develop memory holes. That seems to have been cleared up.
Most notably, is that the hard drive, memory, and wifi card can all be accessed by removing a panel held on by a bunch of screws. The keyboard is held in by clips and can be popped out from the top.
It's still going with Windows 7. Could I put W10 on it? Yes, but I'd rather not unless I absolutely have to.
When I was originally shopping around for a laptop, I did a lot of research ahead of time, and in retrospect, it was worth it. I've always been picky and persnickety about this sort of thing. I picked one with a quad-core processor, a Blu-ray drive, expandable RAM. At the time, watching anime files did require some amount of video horsepower, and this has a discrete video chip too. Not much by today's standards but it's enough to watch video with. This also came with a display that used LED backlighting instead of CCFL, another conscious choice. At the time, I was seeing CCFL-backlit monitors at work starting to drop like flies in a freezer, and fixing those had a lower success rate than I would have liked, and I knew I didn't want that.
It's not perfect. It doesn't have USB3 and probably never will. The battery is questionable, and it might last an hour if I'm careful. At least that's replaceable without needing any tools. The i7 is kind of overkill for a laptop and quickly gets hot enough that it throttles itself slower. I have one of those laptop coolers which is a big USB-powered fan, which helps to take the edge off. It also keeps the laptop directly off my legs. (Didja know that one time, I fell asleep with my G4 on my lap while I was wearing shorts and it was running hot enough to give me blisters on my legs?)
But, it's something I've been using since I got it in 2010, and I'll likely keep using, until I simply can't for whatever reason. Someday maybe a part will fail and I won't be able to replace it, or software will get updated beyond what this can handle. Hopefully I'll get just as much use out of this in the future as I have already.
no subject
Date: 2020-02-14 10:02 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-02-16 07:20 am (UTC)