I kind-of feel like my dad here, in that he never ever felt like it was time to upgrade. We had a 1ghz athlon machine designed for Windows ME running as our main house PC until just a few months ago, along with a 333mhz pentium II beast.
So I was very happy the summer of 06 when I bought my own computer, a macbook 1.8ghz core duo, added 2 gb. The macbook did pretty well for the first year and a half or so, before it started having problems. Bluetooth no longer works, which for some reason means that the laptop won’t ever sleep, even if the lid is down, so it’s pretty much always on. (no point if I have to shut it off and then restart it every time I want to use it). I sent it into Apple for repairs, (I bought a 3 year AppleCare), and they sent it back claiming it had water damage. I called and bitched but they didn’t budge. They did, however, refund me the prorated AppleCare. (What was left on it). I got the laptop back and the battery they shipped me was dead, so they sent me another one free, which was nice, but the laptop still can’t ever sleep or use bluetooth. For some reason after they shipped it back, the bluetooth worked great and I was able to sleep and everything for a few weeks, and then it came back. That was weird, but that’s not the point of the thread.
I love this thing, and I want to keep using it, but it’s not really as mobile anymore. I hardly ever take it to classes because I have to boot it up and then wait for it to shut down at the end. The problem is I feel like its only been a little over two years since I bought it, and its too soon to upgrade. I’m also doing this off of a coop salary, which really isn’t that bad as a student (I make enough for the entry model macbook in 3 weeks), but it would still be a decent chunk of change for me.
Took me a long time to say it, but the point of the thread is what would you say is the best amount of time to keep a laptop before upgrading?
I really don’t understand this type of question, specially when the answer can be so readily found in the question itself.
When is it time to upgrade? When you can afford it, and when your current setup is lacking in some fashion so as to prevent you from using it as you want to use it.
For you, that time appears to be now. If you find yourself unable to use the laptop for things it was meant to do and things that you need it to do, and you can afford the upgrade, then upgrade!
It’s like you’re looking for some sort of expiration date or something. It’s not canned soup. It’s a computer. If it still does what you want it to do in a manner that you are happy with, don’t upgrade. When it doesn’t, upgrade.
With the bluetooth, I’d suggest that you try to find a guide to disassembling and reassembling that bad boy–many laptops have bluetooth add-on cards that are internal, and they’re notorious for slipping off of the little catch that holds their connector on in the older iBooks.
Beyond that, I’d say that the best time to get a new laptop is when your laptop doesn’t do what you want it to anymore.
The New 15" MacBook Pros are sleek… take a look if you want a new one.
To put your MacBook to sleep, from the Apple Menu, select “Sleep.” Does that option work? How about pressing the power button, and selecting “Sleep” from the dialog box?
Haha, I wish. No, this is a common problem, there’s threads about it all over the place. The bluetooth goes unavailable and then you just can’t sleep. Any method of putting it to sleep (even closing the lid) just causes it to reawaken in about 5 seconds.
Though this doesn’t seem to apply to the OP, I think the question often means “My system works fine, but I’m a bit tired of it - can someone help me rationalize a purchase that isn’t really needed?”