How badly do I need to buy another new...

[recycled sixtie]

laptop? I am currently typing this on my daughter's discarded laptop. It has a broken hinge and a remote keyboard(she spilled coffee on it within a month of my buying it for her). It is my backup to my regular HP Pavilion 15 inch which won't boot up. The latter is 2.5 years old.

Many of you are fixit guys. Do you keep fixing the old laptop? Or do you stack the old ones like cord wood and buy a new one?

Any comments would be helpful. Any favorite makes and models? Apple is too much $$ for me although I think their return policy is favorable.

Another question. Do you go online like Dell(had one of those - it lasted about three years)?
Costco seems to have a good return policy but virtually no customer service when the initial sale takes place. Have been going to BestBuy quite a bit. I like their customer service. What about Staples?

As always your opinions are always welcome.

[wildthing]

2.5 years? Must see a lot of use. Do you move it around a lot? I have a 9 year old white Apple that still works other than the battery going dead.

What do you use it for? I mean for basic web-surfing, maybe a bit of word processing and spreadsheet, a deal can be had for less than 300.

[id10t]

Unlike the rest of my family, I don't abuse my hardware. Currently using a laptop from work, 8 years old, looks like new. Not a scratch on my case-less iPhone 4.

Also don't let the kids touch my hardware ....

For the kids, I buy $100 laptops at a pawn shop, make sure they run Linux fine, and plan on replacing once a year. Seems to work well enough...

If I were to buy new, or recommend something new, then I like Dell hardware from the "business/home office" line - 3 year next day on site parts replacement warranty, can be expanded to include abuse/destruction/liquids for another $100...

[LakeCleElum]

Fav make and model if you don't need all the very latest: Acer 5517 like this one on ebay:

Acer Aspire 5517-5535 15.6" (250GB, AMD Athlon 64, 1.6GHz, 3GB) Notebook -... 99802430641 | eBay

Bought mine for $399 at a black Friday sale in 2008.....Use it all day; everyday.....I thought my 1st was goning bad a few yrs ago, so I bought a 2nd off Ebay for $105 that is like brand new...Well, they are both still going strong. I wore all the markings off the keyboard on the 1st one and put a new keyboard in, so yes, I work on them a bit.

A big plus to buying one of these is they come with Win 7. Just my experience.

[Scott R]

May MAC's I fix, my Windows machines I can replace for a few hundred dollars.

[Alan A]

If you can't afford a Mac and aren't using it for work then a $299 HP or Dell laptop is fine. Bought an HP Windows laptop for my kid two years ago and and it still does everything he needs.

I OTOH use mine at least 8 hours a day. It's a 4 year old MacBook Pro and was a bit more costly. I carry it everywhere and it's outlasted every other computer I ever owned. The Dells I'd use when I ran Windows would go maybe 15 months before dying on me. This is still fine - it won't get replaced until one ships with 32GB of ram.

[unclebilly]

Costco... go buy a chrome book or similar.

[SpyderMike]

for browsing and email - chromebook. I am on a 3+ year old one now and it is working great. Oh, and cheap too. This is a HP version that was less than $200.

[LWJ]

Bought a used Lenovo on eBay. Killer. And if it dies, it was cheap!