How and Why I Stopped Buying New Laptops
solar.lowtechmagazine.com
As a freelance journalist – or an office worker if you wish – I have always believed that I should regularly buy a new laptop. But older machines offer more quality for much less money.

A classic article from the infamous solar powered LowTechMagazine; the author describes their journey and how they ended up on a laptop from 2006.

  • @tangled_cableEnglish
    6•1 year ago

    I enjoyed this article a lot, it was eye opening. I hadnt thought in terms of cost per annum. I’ve been using a second-hand thinkpad T420 as my daily driver since January 2018. I bought it because i love its kind of keyboard. It works beautifully. It came with an i5 processor. I ugraded its RAM to 16GB , got two SSD and a slighter better screen. However this is its weak point, the resolution is only 1600x9000 and my eyes feel it. I run debian stable and fedora on it. It is very sturdy, it has survived falls, several coffees, three cats… It is a beast.

    • @unix_joeOPMEnglish
      3•1 year ago

      cost per annum.

      I once bought a $5k MacBook Pro. It was very nice. But I like to get $1/day at a minimum from my devices. So I did the math, and it would have been sometime in the mid 2030’s before that device met my goals. I couldn’t imagine the keyboard lasting that long. Nor could I imagine the T2 chip being unlocked and everything working for Linux by then. And of course, absolutely nothing was upgradable. Fortunately, Apple has a very nice return policy, and so that is what I did. The X280 that replaced it for a fraction of the cost, has been used, abused, upgraded, and is still in use by my kids for school.

      • @lackthoughtEnglish
        3•1 year ago

        I don’t upgrade devices until my cost/month comes down to a target I’ve set at ~$20/month

        So if I spend $960 on a used macbook then I must utilize it for at least 48 months before I am ‘eligible’ to upgrade again

        In reality I can get even more usage with some light maintenance

        my secondary machine is a 2012 Macbook Air which is the device I drag around the house and it still works great for web browsing, video watching, and light programming tasks! Of course I have needed to replace the battery multiple times, and even the hard drive once

      • @tangled_cableEnglish
        3•1 year ago

        I like to get $1/day at a minimum from my devices. I like your mindset, I tend to do this unintentionally, because I run linux and tinker with all my computers and it’s more sensible to buy second-hand. But you gave me a specific goal to aim to. Hate the gated garden but Apple does make pretty things. IIRC, there is a 1920x1080 panel swap from … nitrocaster(?) --> thanks for the tip! another thing to try.

    • @unix_joeOPMEnglish
      2•1 year ago

      IIRC, there is a 1920x1080 panel swap from … nitrocaster(?) … that allows pushing an IPS display in a T420.