James, On Sunday 01 August 2004 09:14, James Knott wrote:
Randall R Schulz wrote:
John,
On Sunday 01 August 2004 02:19, John Andersen wrote:
On Saturday 31 July 2004 10:12 am, Hylton Conacher (ZR1HPC) wrote:
Perhaps you should check the above first, as 5 years down the line you do not want to have to buy another laptop because your chip is not manufactured any longer.
Huh? Why would that make a difference? Its not like CPUs burn out and have to be replaced periodically like oil filters on a car.
Yes and no. It's true if they're never subjected to overvoltage, overclocking or overheating (by being denied sufficient ventilation, usually). But processors don't always operate in benign circumstances.
I just lost a two-year-old P4 CPU in my desktop system because I neglected to clean out what turned out to be an huge amount of dust _between the CPU heatsink fins_! I'll never make that mistake again.
Unless you're capable of replacing the CPU yourself, you'll have to send it in for repair. In that case the repair will likely mean replacement of the system board, which will likely cost close to the cost of a new computer, assuming it's even available. That sort of problem exists, even with desktop systems. Try to find parts for a 5 year old motherboard. Even memory may be scarce for older systems.
It's not magic, brain surgery or rocket science. I've built, repaired and modified systems for years. A few basic precautions and knowledge are sufficient. Everything one needs to know is available on the 'net (along with lots of bad advice, of course!). It's also true that very few components in modern systems are socketed, but the ones most likely to fail (CPU and RAM) are, so the potential to repair the most common failures is still there. As to finding replacement parts, that can be a challenge, especially if you insist on new parts, but there are tons of systems getting retired every year filled with perfectly functional components that are ripe for reuse. Isn't that what Ebay is for? (I wouldn't really know, never having used it, but...) Randal Schulz