Laptop Life (5 years+)

[Percy1983]

I have a laptop with an AMD A10 9600p APU, 12GB ram, 256gb SSD boot and 1th HD storage (in the DVD drive slot). Its a lenovo ideapad 310, so it started with 8gb ram and the boot drive was the 1tb HD.

Its coming up to 5 years old, its still currently doing everything I want from it and is quick enough generally, I have re pasted the APU a recently too).

I am a photographer and its a business asset, it does light editing fine (I think the GPU acceleration is keeping it going here) but its not my main editing PC as I use a more powerful desktop for most work. With this its not used a lot, I occasionally use it home, is its probably switched on for less than 10 hours a month.

So the problem is when I am using it on location its an essential part as I may be shooting tethered and printing so a failure would be catastrophic, battery seems fine still but I do run on the ac adapter (mostly for speed so battery life isn't a concern).

Is laptops lasting 5 years a myth? I understand obsolescence could be a factor but in this case its still doing the same thing and I am happy it will keep doing the same thing. It more worrying it will just go pop. I always start up before a take it on a job and do have a matx desktop pc I can take if needed if desperate.

So its essentially a budget laptop (which apparently don't last as long) and if I did replace it I would be getting another budget laptop (probably ryzen 3) to which pretty much anything would be faster but the longer a run it the better new budget laptops get with time.

[Saracen999]

My experience with laptops is mixed. I currently have 4, one of which is brand new, but the others are quite old.

The oldest runs, IIRC, an Athlon XP1600 (or 1700), which ages it. The battery, for all intents and purposes, is dead and the captions have worn off a few keys but otherwise, it works like it did brand new. I boot from mains only, when I need it.

The second is a Dell, about 7 or 8 years old. It still works fine, and has a 17" screen which is sometimes useful but, compared to the new one, is very slow (un-surprisingly).

The third is a sort-of laptop, an MS Surface Pro (4, I think). That died a few months ago. A common fault, a "smear" appeared down the left side of the screen, and a few weeks later a "pop" and it's stone dead. The screen, which is bonded to te case, had started to lift off.

While it was very convenient to use, being a sorta hybrid laptop / tablet, with pen, touch screen etc, the downside is what I'm convinced is a design flaw.... it got VERY hot, and the screen unbonding and the eventualy pop, are both symptoms of that over-heating.

So .... laptop longevity? I class the Surface Pro as an outrider. It isn't really a laptop, though it has a detachabe KB, mouse, etc and can be used like one. The real function, for me, was a very good screen on an ultra-light tablet running Windows. But that ultra-light bit is, IMHO, what fored the compromised and is why iy over-heated. It's a trade-off.

Other than that, my experience with laptops is that they last very very, provided they are treated well, protected in carrying, not banged and bumped. That old Athlon machine did countless long-haul trips all over the place with me, and spent a lot of it's time in planes and airports, so wasn't exactly molly-coddled.

Laptop batteries, on the other hand, different story. Well, like any battery I guess, they only charge/discharge a limited number of times and how many that is depends on how you treat them. IMHO, don't leave them plugged in all the time, and don't (seriously, don't) leave them unattended for months and months, to sit totally discharged. That, alone, can end a battery.

As for yours .... even getting a new machine, especially a very low end one, is no guarantee of not getting let down, on-site. If it's really business-critical (and it could well be), there;s really no option but to carry two. The second could be an ultra-light for convenience, designed realy for emergency use only. The question, to my mind, is just how much of a disaster would getting to site to find your sole laptop dead, or having it dies mid-session, be? Can you get away with some kind of exernal data store? Do you have to edit on-site? If you can get away with something else, by all means do so. If you can't, and a failure is a real disaster, welcome to two-laptop travelling.

Is your travel local-ish? Do you go by car? If so, keep the backup laptop in the (boot of, obviously) car while on-site. Just make sure to use it periodically. After all, a backup is naff-all use if, when you need to rely o it, you find it dead.

An alternative strategy might be to say, look, it's a business asset, right? I consider it to have a useful business life of, say, 4 years so write it off over that 4 years. Then, buy a new one ald either sell (tax write-back, of course) or, better yet, you have a new backup laptop for site visits.

You, obviously, know your circumstances and I don't, but my attitude was that doing things like that was, while expensive, just a business necessity. Evaluate the risk if a machine dies. How big a problem? In my case, the bulk of my "not in office" time was also not in country. I couldn't afford to be stuck abroad, tech-less .... though I was always somewhere I could get to a shop and buy one, not in Antartica or the Sahara. I couldn't carry a secnd laptop everywhere, but I did have external storage with all the necessary software images to be able to re-install what I had to have, on a brand new laptop if I had to buy one. I never did, though.

But the older your laptop gets, the bigger the risk of it, one day, just dying. Especially, either the battery (most machines will still run on mains), or that secondary HD. But even the SSD is a maybe, unless you periodically replace it.

It all comes down to how much risk you can afford to take?

What percentage of your shoots do you shoot tethered and edit/print?

If it failed in such a shoot, just how big a disaster would it be? I mean, if it's a few portrait shots of a local person, could you print at base later, and drop the shots off? Or go back in a few days?

If the shoot is of the Prime Minister, or you flew to Hollywood to shoot a movie or pop superstar, you almost certainly aren't getting a do-over if your laptop fails. If it's a live event, you're stuffed if your gear fails. I had more than a few of those - though interviews, not really photo shoots, but often at live events. Like Bill Gates at Comdex. But try getting back in to see a tech billionaire or major CEO, 'cos your laptop died? See what I mean? Doris, in Acacia Avenue, though ....?

[Percy1983]

That makes a lot of sense, I suppose I wouldn't lose photos as they remain on the camera. I did have that same thought as there is no guarantee a new laptop will last longer in many respects mine is proven fine and well past the early failure window which I new one would still need to go through the early failure window.

I think business wise I can justify it and have this as a hot spare but money is down across the industry at the minute and its though as more money into camera bodies and lenses is generally more important as a photographer.

I do have access to a slower laptop so I may test that as a 'get to the end of a job spare' much like the third camera body in the bag its not the best but it could work.

Your athlonXP gives me hope does give me hope that if I keep looking after this laptop it will give me a good bit more time, I thinking risks wise I am not doing anything high profile/important enough ad in all situations it wouldn't stop me taking photos which is the primary reason I am there.

Thank you.

[Jonj1611]

I have an AMD A8 I think it is, still going strong and amazingly runs World of Warcraft(at low settings). Its old, the hinges are broken(can't be bothered to replace yet) but it still works.

Hard drive is an SSD and its running Windows 11. I had to work around the secure boot thing but all going well

[DanceswithUnix]

In terms of breakage I think it depends on how rough a life a laptop gets. Specially if people let the vents get all clogged with dust and they overheat, and then ofc laptops used to have hard disks in them and they were often what failed. I've got lots of old laptops around here. The oldest is probably the 11 year old HP dm1 with a dual core E450 Jaguar chip in it. It still works just fine, with upgraded ram and a SATA ssd replacing the hdd it came with. Really slow though by modern standards

The performance of the latest laptops is way ahead of your old A8 which might be enough reason to upgrade. I wouldn't expect much difference between your 3700X desktop and a modern Ryzen laptop.

[Percy1983]

This is true on performance just about any new laptop will perform better but I would by looking around £350 which would be a bit short of a 3700x but definitely a huge upgrade on the A10 9600p.

With that I am keeping an eye on 5900x/5950x prices as a final slot in for my board.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Make sure you look at one of the business orientated ones which tend to be semi-ruggedised.

My current laptop is a secondhand Dell E5470 which was three years old when I bought and I have had it for nearly three years.

So,if you have a well built laptop,and its looked after 5 years is doable.

[Saracen999]

... and its though as more money into camera bodies and lenses is generally more important as a photographer.

...

Yup, I get you.

It's what economists call the "opporunity cost" ... i.e. you have a limited resource (money, in this case) and it only spends once, so the opportunity cost of usung it on Project A is not being able to use it on Project B. The same logic applies to your time, which is also a finite resource, seeing as we cant fit 48 hours ino one day .... though goodness knows, I sometimes had to try. If you do Job A on a given day/time, the opportunity cost is not doing Job B.

It's rarely an easy call.

[Percy1983]

This looks very tempting.

https://www.laptopsdirect.co.uk/leno...uk/version.asp

Very happy with my current lenovo and this seems a very good price for the R5 5500U.

Instant upgrade to 16GB and potential to additional HD/SSD storage.

Basic specs wise 200% performance of A10-9600p and 70% performance of my 3700x

edit:
https://www.laptopsdirect.co.uk/leno...uk/version.asp

£10 more with 512gb drive.

[Jonatron]

Watch out for TN panel! Personally I wouldn't get a TN panel on a laptop, I don't want to have to worry about viewing angles.

[Percy1983]

I generally accept budget laptops won't have the best screens, my my case I will always be looking straight on.

As a photography I will calibrate it and in the process also learn how short it comes which isn't usually an issue (I use a better display on my desktop which I can double check a job if concerned), with that I can swap the panel out if needed but haven't had an issue with my current laptop which is about 58% sRGB.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

This looks very tempting.

https://www.laptopsdirect.co.uk/leno...uk/version.asp

Very happy with my current lenovo and this seems a very good price for the R5 5500U.

Instant upgrade to 16GB and potential to additional HD/SSD storage.

Basic specs wise 200% performance of A10-9600p and 70% performance of my 3700x

edit:
https://www.laptopsdirect.co.uk/leno...uk/version.asp

£10 more with 512gb drive.

Notebookcheck does reviews which include screen quality tests.

I would also try and go for one of the Zen3 laptops,because the Zen3 APUs doubled L3 cache which will help with Photoshop,etc. That would be the 5600 series in this case.

[Percy1983]

I am aware it is Zen 2 rather than Zen 3 and already looked up the the chain and it appears the 5600u is a little better but not worth spending another £150 for.

So in reality its a slightly updated 4600u, in short I haven't fallen for the slightly dodgy naming but I am looking at the best bang per buck rather than the name on the sticker.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

I am aware it is Zen 2 rather than Zen 3 and already looked up the the chain and it appears the 5600u is a little better but not worth spending another £150 for.

So in reality its a slightly updated 4600u, in short I haven't fallen for the slightly dodgy naming but I am looking at the best bang per buck rather than the name on the sticker.

As Black Friday edges nearer,there might be deals on the Zen3 based laptops. I remember a few months ago Laptopsdirect had one of the refurbished Lenovo Zen3 5600H laptops with 16GB of DDR4 and a 512GB SSD for close to £450. I think it was a Lenovo Yoga Slim 7 Pro. Had a qHD display too.

I tend to run stuff such as DxO and a bit of Photoshop and Lightroom where applicable.The difference between Zen2 and Zen3 isn't as huge as you would expect in a lot of software,but some image editing software seems to be sensitive to L3 cache sizes(and the laptop ones have different cache sizes unlike the desktop).Lightroom is one of them.

[Percy1983]

As Black Friday edges nearer,there might be deals on the Zen3 based laptops. I remember a few months ago Laptopsdirect had one of the refurbished Lenovo Zen3 5600H laptops with 16GB of DDR4 and a 512GB SSD for close to £450. I think it was a Lenovo Yoga Slim 7 Pro. Had a qHD display too.

I tend to run stuff such as DxO and a bit of Photoshop and Lightroom where applicable.The difference between Zen2 and Zen3 isn't as huge as you would expect in a lot of software,but some image editing software seems to be sensitive to L3 cache sizes(and the laptop ones have different cache sizes unlike the desktop).Lightroom is one of them.

Certainly worth keeping an eye on, budget wise its already a push from my £360, but it seems a push to the 5500u is worth it (in this case due to a price reduction, making it £50 more than a 3500u), the push to a 5600 isn't worth the jump at current prices but of course prices can drop.

Also considering I am happy with an A10 9600p either would blow it out of the water, lets see what happens.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Certainly worth keeping an eye on, budget wise its already a push from my £360, but it seems a push to the 5500u is worth it (in this case due to a price reduction, making it £50 more than a 3500u), the push to a 5600 isn't worth the jump at current prices but of course prices can drop.

Also considering I am happy with an A10 9600p either would blow it out of the water, lets see what happens.

The 5600H laptop also had a GTX1650 dGPU too.

Anyway,I just saw this pop up for £360:
https://www.hotukdeals.com/deals/len...opebay-4024601

Dual channel RAM and an NVME SSD too:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TsEBV1ci0i8