Okay, here was my original question: I have heard from a lot of places that one of the strengths of Linux is that you do not have to reboot it all the time. I am under the impression that this is easier on your hardware and I am wondering if that is true. I have a Dell Inspiron laptop, and in general I leave it on, trying only to do warm reboots when necessary. I do not use suspend because it tends to mess some things up (Like Kinternet) that only recover after a cold reboot. As I understand it, this is less stressful for the hard drive, as the spinning up and down is what wears it out. Can anybody tell me if what I am doing will make my computer last longer? And if not, what is the best way to use your computer to make it last the longest? Thank You Neal McDermott And here was a response: tOn Monday 03 June 2002 08:49, Alex Daniloff wrote:
Well, The same rules and physical laws that apply to general hardware are also true for your laptop. Spinning disks up and down decreases their lifespan.
Great, thanks, I was wondering if I had it right.
All hard drives have MTBF (Mean Time Between Failure) more or less than 50,000 hours and will fail at some point no matter how you care about them. Powering system up and down produces current and voltage spikes which impose excessive wear on all electrical components. Big temperature variations and vibrations are also decreasing lifespan of all electronic devices.
More detail, thank you, I appreciate it. Thank you for answering. All Best, Neal.
An average laptop lifespan is about 3-5 years depending on the component and assembly quality. But why do you need more? I hope you won't list your laptop in your will as an asset for your kids and grandchildren. Won't you?
Oh, sorry, I thought it was a good question. Why make things last as long as possible? Why take care of your possessions? After all, we have endless supplies of everything, right? Computers don't pollute, just toss them as soon as you can. Otherwise, you are trying to make them eternal, which we all know is ridiculous. What is this? Longevity Panic?
Since hardware is so cheap why bother about its longevity? Is five year an average laptop lifespan not enough for you? After that it's gonna be technically and morally obsolete device.
Man, you are right, I'm sounding all third world here, trying to use old technology, and I didn't even know it. Did you mean 'technically" or "technologically?" that was confusing. And as for "morally," how does something become "morally obsolete?" Do you mean like the death penalty? Or the Spanish Inquisition? Am I somehow oppressing Steven Dell by not upgrading?
Although, you still can use it as a typewriter. A have 486DX laptop which is already about 15 years old and it's still working. But what can you do with it?
You are right. All you can do with it is write. What a waste. What's up with those writers, anyway? All that editing and stuff, when you can shoot from the hip in a second. Priorities.
It's very heavy and painfully slow and it has only BW display. I hope to recycle it someday. Are you shooting for the oldest working laptop record in the Guinness Book? Get a life man Alex
Wow, i didn't know that a computer built in 1999 was the oldest one on record. Now you have given me a purpose. Something to shoot for. Kudos brother! Gracias Vato! C'est formidable! I will do it! I will own the oldest laptop on God's green earth. You have given me a life! The rejoicing of the manservants is drowned out only by the ululating of the concubines. Sincerely, Neal McDermott.
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