I used to have a job what solely consisted of taking skid-loads of broken laptops and figuring out what was wrong with them and what could be salvaged.
From that and other experiences with laptops, I usually find that PC laptops break in one of three timeframes:
<6 months: Unfortunately this is more common than many people would like to think. Usually these laptops die due to overheating or other poor construction factors (such as ****ty barrel-plug power connectors). 90% of the time, people are under warranty and end up just getting their laptop replaced, but in most of these cases, the replacement laptop will have the exact same issues and will likely fail again.
~2 years: Laptops who die after 2 years usually die due to general mechanical breakdown, CD-ROM drives, Hard Drives, LCD’s (including dead pixels and inverter failure), Chargers, Hinges, Batteries. There is no real way to prevent the failure of most of these components, and if you are still under warranty (most often you aren’t though), then replacing a faulty component usually means that it will be quite a while before that particular component fails again.
>5 years: This really isn’t so much a failure point, as it is a point of obsolescence. Most of the >5 year old laptops I saw were discarded simply because they were either too old, or because they were showing symptoms of extreme old age. If you laptop lasts you 5 years before you have to buy a replacement, consider yourself lucky.
That is certainly not to say that most laptops are guaranteed to fail in two years due to mechanical breakdown, but 2 years is the average I have personally observed.
I should also note that all laptop manufactures tend to make both “good laptops” that will last a while, and “bad laptops” that will almost certainly die after 6 months. Worse, there is almost no way to tell which model of laptop is “good” and which ones are “bad”. Sometime even the top of the line laptop model can be a major lemon, while the dirt-cheap economy model will last for years.
My general advice for buying a new laptop (which also applies to buying used laptops, just subtract the amount of time the original owner has had the laptop) is this:
Never buy a top of the line laptop, always make sure whatever model you are interested in has been around for at least a couple of months. Then check to see if there are any reports of major component failures (overheats, hinges, and power connectors are usually the big ones). Then, tell yourself that the laptop you are going to buy will only last 2 years, if you still feel like it’s a deal, go ahead. If it end’s up lasting more than 2 years, great, consider yourself lucky. If not, you at least had a realistic expectation on the lifespan of your laptop.
Overall I just get sick and tired of people buying laptops like they do PC’s. Laptops are a completely different animal.
PC’s last longer, cost less, have upgradeable components, and in the case of a single component failure it can usually be addressed without replacing the entire PC.
None of these things are true for laptops.
Just make sure you know what you are doing before you buy a laptop. And if your’ only going to use it for web/school, the decision is a bit easier, but not much (do you really want the prospect of your laptop failing the week before a big paper is due?)
Anyway, I’m done with my lecture, and I apologize. Over the course of the summer I have had 4 people asking me to help them buy a laptop.
In your specific case, I still recommend buying a cheap new laptop. For $50 more you can have a guaranteed warranty, plus fewer doubts about any potential failures.
"Well, if I am not drunk, I am mad, but I trust I can behave like a gentleman in either
condition."... G. K. Chesterton
“questions are a burden to others; answers a prison for oneself”