It was an Acer laptop, and I picked one that was "most popular" assuming that would say something about its longevity. Obviously, I was wrong. I even did some research so it wasn't an impulsive or casual purchase.
I've thought about getting a Macbook Air, but I really only use it to update my resume, and I prefer Microsoft Word so the format would stay intact. Is there another brand that can be trusted?
Laptop died after 2 years. What should I buy next?
byu/Several-Membership91 inFrugal
Posted by Several-Membership91
31 Comments
How much are you willing to spend? The new Macbook Neo seems to be getting good reviews for light/medium use
Honestly it really does matter what died on the laptop, and if you’re carrying it around or storing items on it or whatever. That WILL kill a laptop. Even the dust build up when you’re not using it can do it.
A little HP laptop or even a Chromebook if you’re comfortable doing your resume as a Google doc and have internet access would be fine.
Alternatively I greatly enjoy my Lenovo Thinkpad.
All of those are largely available second hand just about anywhere.
I would first try to find out why it died. Had that in the past 1) changed charging cable, got two more years 2) then changed battery, got another two more years
Macs can run Microsoft Word!
“Died” is very vague, what component failed? The battery? The screen? The keyboard?
Um. Word works just fine on Macs. If you like Macs, look at the new Neo. Much cheaper than an Air, but for your purposes, should be great.
what do you mean by died? try to fix it yourself
I took my laptop to a UBIF and they said it was beyond repair and wouldn’t last much longer. Took it home, made a couple adjustments and it works even better than before, 7 year old laptop that I think will last me another 2-3 years
if your laptop is a cheap 200 dollar one then maybe time to get a new one, but I would still try to see if you can fix it. It’s not as hard as you think
reddit is a good tool
Framework. Completely repairable. I can’t work on computers for crap but I was able to replace my screen when my niece fully stepped on my laptop, myself, through their website instructions.
A Mac will last you at least 10 years
There’s Office for Mac. There’s also Office Online that’s free. I’ve made a good living in IT mostly from supporting Microsoft products but my personal laptops have been Macs for the last dozen years. They just last longer.
Laptops usually don’t just die after 2 years. Hell, I have a laptop I bought in 2012 that technically still works. What, exactly, isn’t working on it?
Look at getting last years MacBook air with m4. That will be the best value IMO. They last a really really long time and have high quality hardware parts
Amortized over the life span of the machine, I’ve found Macs to be the most cost-effective laptop brand by far.
My wife and I both bought our MacBooks over 12 years ago, and they are still serving us just fine. I bought the one before that in 2003. In both cases I got one of their lower-end models.
/u/several-membership91 – you can use Microsoft Word on a Mac. The Macbook Neo’s probably your best bet if all you need is browsing and word processing.
MacBook or nothing
MacBook neo. Or m4 MacBook Air.
I’m not sure if this advice holds true anymore, but back in the day my recommendation used to always be shop based on resources, not brand. That being said, I’ve only really used Thinkpads for the last 10 years and have been happy.
Get the Mac. It’ll last so much longer and be so much better. You can easily transfer your resume to Google Docs or Pages.
If it’s truly dead, I recommend getting a used, business class system. You can find off lease systems on eBay easy.
Ebay has affordable refurbished laptops for under $300. All brands. I’d check them out
Get a used/refurbished MacBook Pro. My mid 2012 MacBook Pro is my main computer. It’s amazing.
Honestly, if the only thing you’re really doing with this laptop is updating your resume, I’d suggest using your local public library instead, if that’s an option.
ThinkPads you can buy a used one for 2-500 dollars and they will last forever.
MacBook Neo. Seriously. Get the version with the touchID fingerprint reader. Best investment you’ll ever make if you treat it well.
I will never spend more than $200 for a laptop (nor ever buy an apple). It’s all most people need.
I strongly recommend Dell Latitude or Inspiron from 2-3 years ago. Before the Dell rebranding.
They are solid, no nonsense, all variants (13, 14, 15, 16″, 2in1, etc…).
I used my first latitude 6 years, I got another one just because I wanted a 2in1 16″ screen. I tried other brands, everything has something bad.
I find them in ebay usually between 350-450 USD
I have a Surface Laptop 13″ with the snapdragon chip. Battery life is amazing. Super fast. Could NOT be happier with it. On sale at Costco for $899
Buy a raspberry pi and build your own laptop with it
Can you post the specs? What did you use the laptop for? For example… heavy gaming? It must be more than updating your resume because how often would you need to do that? Heat death is likely in a cheap laptop, especially if it came with budget paste. Did you ever repaste? What’s the condition of the fans and did you ever clean them? Heat is a common culprit for laptops that are not maintained well to manage that heat.
How did it die? Did it just shut down one day without booting up again? Or was it something else?
Fix your laptop or get a quote on fixing it. Non-Apple laptops are quite repairable and YouTube is an incredible resource. I’m a MacBook person now, but I learned really basic repair and upgrades on Windows base laptops when I was younger and it got more life out of my laptops and desktops.
I have a Dell laptop that’s still kicking after almost 10 years. That battery degraded to like 5%. I replaced it with a $10 battery from Amazon and it’s as good as new.