How long before my laptop become outdated?

[laxmanb]

The specs are:
* C2D 1.66 Ghz
* 1 GB DDR2 RAM
that's all that matters I think

How long do you think it'll be before I need to upgrade (from both Linux & Windows point of views)??

[karellen]

it depends of what you want to to with it

[Koori23]

From the Windows Vista Point of view, I'd say you're running the minimum requirements now...

Linux gets a little trickier.. You have a multitude of options that affect performance. KDE/GNOME vs. XFCE/FLUXBOX and so on. With 1GB of Ram and a 1.66 Processor you're maybe looking at a year or so before an upgrade in RAM at least would be recommended. But the factors listed above would change that dramatically.


I myself am running Xubuntu Feisty on a 2.4GHz Celeron with 1Gb of Ram and it flies. I'm not worried about upgrading hardware anytime this year. My laptop is a Toshiba and it only has 512MB Ram and 2.2GHz processor. It runs Ubuntu 6.06 and it's still pretty snappy too. Even with a lot running.

Basically, with Linux and the many things that can be installed/removed/changed it's rather relative and you don't have one great answer.

[aysiu]

For Linux, you'll never have to upgrade, probably.

You may have to replace your laptop battery at some point, though.

For Windows, once support ends for Windows XP, your laptop will probably be outdated.

[prizrak]

It's outdated already. Here is a simple way of telling if your system is outdated. Have the internal components been out for a month? If yes then your system is outdated.

[qamelian]

It's outdated already. Here is a simple way of telling if your system is outdated. Have the internal components been out for a month? If yes then your system is outdated.

Actually, I think the question is "Have you taken it out of the box yet?". If you have, then it's already obsolete! :)

[laxmanb]

I used (and still use) a Pentium III 933 Mhz. with 256 MB RAM before my laptop...

I mean even that runs XP(without Norton)/Ubuntu well enough. The laptop came with Vista. Had it been XP, i wouldn't have worried.

But yeah, technology changes in a flash. AMD & Intel have new CPUs planned for next year...

[aysiu]

Here's the difference:

You can keep running XP only until Microsoft stops supporting it with security updates. Well, I guess technically you could keep running it after it stops receiving security updates, but that's probably not a good idea. After that happens, upgrading to Vista or the next version of Windows (I forget what that's called), you will have to upgrade your hardware in order to get a functional system.

On the other hand, you can keep running Edgy Eft until Ubuntu stops supporting it with security updates. At that point, you can install the latest version of Ubuntu (Hungry Hippos or whatever) and it'll run just fine.

The newest version of Ubuntu does not have higher system requirements and, in fact, usually runs faster than previous versions. The newest version of Windows (with the exception of XP from 2000) always has higher system requirements than the previous versions.

[laxmanb]

I do have Vista. btw, Support for XP ends 2014. That's a long time away!!

[Brunellus]

I still use a Pentium III laptop with 320 MB RAM and 10 GB hard drive. The real question is how long it will be before the software you intend to run on the platform no longer meets your needs.

I can't run processor-intensive stuff on my laptop fast enough to make me happy--no GIMP, never mind Beryl--but for writing text files and light web browsing, it's easily enough.

[aysiu]

The real question is how long it will be before the software you intend to run on the platform no longer meets your needs. That's a good point. I remember that one of my frustrations with running Windows ME when I did (of course, with ME there were many frustrations) was a lot of new software requiring Windows 2000 or XP--iTunes, for example.

Probably at some point, I'm guessing, a lot of Windows software will be designed for Vista+1 only. So in addition to upgrading to Vista+1, you'd have to upgrade your hardware as well.

[koshatnik]

I think in general that so much technology is overspecced. When you see dual core laptops for sale with 1g of RAM, for like £500 and all that most people do on it is send a few emails, look at a video of cat falling off a bed on youtube and rip a cd or two, its just ridiculous.

My laptop is 1.6g celery, with 512m of RAM, bought it a few weeks ago for £300. I use it for all my work stuff; report writing, web dev, graphics work, statistical analysis etc - its like really overspecced for that. I dont think i'll need to upgrade my lappy for years and years.

Linux is great.

[Nils Olav]

3-4 months

[Brunellus]

I think in general that so much technology is overspecced. When you see dual core laptops for sale with 1g of RAM, for like £500 and all that most people do on it is send a few emails, look at a video of cat falling off a bed on youtube and rip a cd or two, its just ridiculous.

My laptop is 1.6g celery, with 512m of RAM, bought it a few weeks ago for £300. I use it for all my work stuff; report writing, web dev, graphics work, statistical analysis etc - its like really overspecced for that. I dont think i'll need to upgrade my lappy for years and years.

Linux is great.
I'll do you one better. While I have an old laptop at home, it's mainly used as a terminal emulator. My actual note-taking on the go is handled by a Palm IIIxe handheld + a GoType keyboard.

Since I don't need much--just something to take lecture notes and maybe read a Project Gutenberg e-text or two-- I'm happy with my setup. It's ten years out of date, it has no fancy features, but I can type as quickly as I need to on it and I get two weeks out of a single battery charge.

Output? I transfer the files to my (admittedly much more powerful) desktop, convert them to regular text files, and mark them up. LaTeX > DVI > PDF. My end output is nicer than the guys using the laptops.

[Cloudy]

I have a laptop roughly 5 years out of date so to speak that runs Edgy just fine and Feisty even better, but it struggles with Windows XP. >.>

[Ubunted]

Laptops never go out of date. They just need new hard drives and more RAM.

[aysiu]

Laptops never go out of date. They just need new hard drives and more RAM.
Or new batteries?

[Onyros]

That's one of the things I love about my Thinkpads (I own a six year old T23 and a four year old X31): even though one can find really cheap batteries nowadays, their durability is incredible (when used right).

My T23 still can hold for about 2 hours before it collapses, even though it stays at 0% a long time before it does. The X31 has less battery life, but it was used much more extensively on the go, still it does a respectable 1h30.

I kept these two babies as a sign of respect: I believe IBM made the best laptops that ever existed, and these were two fine examples. I have a one year old Toshiba, which was top of the line when it came out, and I still find myself using the Thinkpads regularly.

I am even thinking I may not need the Toshiba after all, and would just switch HDD's and get rid of the Toshiba (100GB on the Toshiba and 40GB on the X31)... if one wasn't SATA and the other a regular old IDE.

The only thing that can make a laptop outdated pretty quickly is if you use them for gaming (and by that I mean Windows gaming). Then again, by nature, laptops aren't really meant for gaming.

So, with a 1.66GHz C2D with 1GB of RAM, with an easy upgrade to a couple of GB (or more if the motherboard supports it), you'll probably have a laptop to be as usable in six years as my Thinkpad T23 still is six years after I bought it.

[Compucore]

My older thinkpad from IBM still does a nice job even though its only a celery 550MZ , 20 gig hard drive, and 192 megs of ram for Ubuntu. No complaints here. Even with he free laptop that I got at work. Cleared the hard drive and installed unbuntu on that one and its working fine as its P4 1.82, 20 gigs of hard drive space, and 256 megs of ram on that baby too. With wireless connection, cat 5 wired. And the regular stuff on it. Can't complain on the speed either on that one. I guess its a personal preference as well if you think tha you really ned an updated laptop to work in vista as ubtun. Go for it. Otherwise sick with what you have. I usually do with my systems over here. They might be slow to some extent. But they get you there.

Compucore

[SunnyRabbiera]

with linux there is really no such thing as being obsolete, as linux has the ability to run top grade stuff in low end tech.

[SorenK]

An experience I had a couple days ago:

A friend of mine got an apple laptop and needed the wireless set up in both OSX and Linux running Xfce (can't remember which distro). She brought it over and we got it all working and everything was snappy and great.

Given how responsive and "new" it felt, I figured it was one of the last G4 12" iBooks that were made.

Nope. It was a G3 500 Mhz with 640 MB of Ram and a 30 gig HD. And it did everything she needed it to do. Office Programs, surfing, desktop publishing, and so on. And the battery was still good for 4 hours.

Not bad for a 6 year old laptop.

Incidentally, I've started shopping for a laptop to run (X/K/U)buntu and I'm thinking that a Centrino 1.5 ghz and 512 of RAM with on board Intel video will last me for a number of years (battery replacements aside).

[gus sett]

I agree that you have a robust platform, can take a deep breath, and
focus on upgrading your accessories instead. C2D is cut from 64-bit
cloth, and I can assure you that 32-bit celery--as it is affectionately
referred to above in this thread--at 1.86 Ghz with 512MB memory
is ample for Vista Home Basic. You could watch the papers and the
Internet for several years for your next major upgrade because
MS should be in overdrive for the next couple years to optimize Vista.
Since XP is still viewed as the benchmark to beat for games performance,
that means there's pressure for new releases to be less of a drag than the
one available for their maiden voyage. You can pick out stuff
at your leisure that works with what you have now that is also
expected to be compatible with your next major purchase.
Not everyone will agree with this, but if the major distros do their parts as
they have to date, since MS has its hands full with bookends the shelf space
can actually grow rather than shrink for the next half dozen years. :arrow:

For Linux, you'll never have to upgrade, probably.

You may have to replace your laptop battery at some point, though.

For Windows, once support ends for Windows XP, your laptop will probably be outdated.

[richbarna]

I have still got my old trusty Toshiba Satellite 650Mhz 64MB RAM running Debian Etch with Xfce desktop and it just keeps on going. For desktops I have also got an old 350Mhz 64MB RAM still plodding on with Ubuntu Breezy LAMP as a little home server. I think there will always be a Linux distro available for most PC's/Laptops.

My main advice to anybody looking to run Linux is that you buy the Computer for Linux, not buy a computer and hope Linux works.

As for laptops, I would also recommend that you ask the dealer if the RAM is upgradable, this was the problem I had with my little Satellite, embedded RAM and no extra slots, but I didn't find out until much later that it wasn't upgradable.

Here is a great link just in case you want to check out the hardware compatibility before you buy:- Linux Compatible Database (http://www.linuxcompatible.org/compatibility.html)

[hardyn]

if you are asking if your notebook it outdated... it is.

[Compucore]

Usually what iI do over here personally. And I did some research over here for local recycling centers for computers. Some of them are okay on prices on both laptops and desktops. If you know what your looking for. I was lucky enough to get this thinkpad from work that they were going to toss out the door over here. I asked them after I wiped it if I could take it instead and do what I want with it. THank god it is still expandable for memory, hard drive and pcmcia ports. Check the recycling centers for used laptops and all that you will be surprised on what you get for your money there.

Compucore

[kremser]

I was gonna say how quickly can you type? Chances are if you are an average typist, then by time you were finished typing your question you were too old to get everything out of windows. Though as popular opinion shows, linux can work forever.

[J Snyder]

I'm currently operating off of a 7 year old IBM Thinkpad 570E (P3/500, 64MB RAM)- with those basic specs I KNOW it's already outdated, but I've worked with relatively ancient hardware for so long it's a practically new machine.

I replaced the HD with a blank 20GB and installed 6.10 and WOW it's been a rough ride so far- I've never had so many headaches out of an OS in my life. I can only hope that Feisty does away with a lot of the drudgery in getting Ubuntu to do basic tasks like, say, playing an mp3 or mpeg file...or connecting to a public wireless network (my personal pet peeve).

(Just as an aside, though- I dropped the princely sum of $26- that's *26* DOLLARS- on an 8 year old Apple iMac G3/350 Blueberry < yay eBay! > and installed Mac OSX 10.2...I've never had a BIT of trouble out of it. My Mac OS does what Ubuntu CLAIMS to do: IT JUST WORKS.)

So, if you're concerned about how old your hardware is, just ask yourself if it does what you want it to. Can you write a document- can you play your music and movie files, and can you connect to the internet? If you can do those three things, I'd say stick with what you've got until it drops.

(A second aside: so far, in head-to-head comparison, my old Mac OS is running circles around Ubuntu 6.10 as far as user-friendliness and all around utility. Something to think about.)