Hello,
Anyone have a general sense of life expectancy for Dell Latitude E6520? I use the laptop for business - I do not travel often so the laptop is usually docked. I purchased the laptop in December 2011 - it is now 4 years and 3 months old.
Thanks in advance for your help!
Are you on it daily? Do you use it constantly? I don't think there's an exact rule of thumb, but I don't keep computers for more than 4 years. I always replace them after 4 years. But that's just me, I know some people keep them 6 or 7 years with no issues. I just like new tech. If it works for what you do, then keep it. If it no longer does what you need, or if it's slowed down a bit, maybe time to upgrade it(add and SSD and possibly memory if you can), or get rid of it.
I use it daily for business - probably 50 hours per week on average. It is working fine, but if given a choice I would rather replace proactively than reactively -- i.e. if it stops working I do not want to have downtime from work (I am self-employed). Thanks for your help!
Laptops aren't as easily repaired as desktops. A halfway talented guy can repair or replace nearly anything on a desktop (mostly replace), whereas that's harder to do on a laptop and often requires professional help--taking it to a shop.
And they are generally less durable due to heat issues and the design compromises made in the name of smaller size and less weight. They are inferior to PCs in all respects save one: portability.
I'd say you should drive it till it drops rather than proactively replace stuff that is working OK at the moment--you have no way of knowing whether the part you just replaced would have lasted another 5 minutes or another 5 years. Likewise, you can only speculate about the longevity of any new parts you put into it.
I might give you a different answer if you said you were a talented laptop repairman or that money is no object.
It's a fairly old laptop---the cost of doing any significant repair is likely to outweigh it's present market value.
I assume you could buy a replacement within a few hours or a few days at most if it drops dead.
If money is of little or no concern, you could always buy a cheap (possibly used) laptop or desktop and just put it in the closet for now. Break it out when the current machine fails if you just can't stand a few hours or few days of downtime.
You should certainly have any critical data on this laptop backed up in multiple ways since you use it in your business.
Any business should have a "disaster plan" of some type---which presumably would include a fall-back PC to the extent that is a critical item and downtime is unacceptable.
I would think that around 4 to 5 years for a laptop would be expected, as long as it's treated well and not abused.
The thing that you have to worry about is the hard drive getting old, especially in a mobile computer where it is subject to knocks and bumps. Make sure to back up regularly. The hard drive can be replaced with an SSD that won't have so much of a problem with knocks and bumps, but the cost for a large enough SSD, at least in Canada at my prices, would be worth a good chunk of a new laptop, so that may not be a good upgrade for you on a 4 year old computer.
But, as was mentioned, if it's running OK and still serves your needs, then why upgrade?
Hi,
Yep at that age budget usually needs to be started for a newer
If you never travel get a desktop way better cooling and a lot easier usually to upgrade
Win-7 machines are getting interesting to find but all that means is going to the business sections of manufactures websites to find them.
You should be thinking in terms of "It will last FOREVER" with the huge qualification that you should be BACKING UP EVERY DAY!
Then if the thing breaks, which it might do in 5 years but also maybe in 5 minutes, well you buy what you need when you need it, and restore all your precious business programs/data from the many backups you have.
We have lots of Dell E6520, E6530 and E6540 laptops where I work. They are holding up okay for most users. Extremely heavy users (like myself) that use it docked/undocked/travel and have it on 20+ hours each day - have had to replace keyboards (back light failed) and displays (dead pixels). I've gone thru 3 displays on an E6530 due to dead pixels. All 3 were replaced under Dell's 3yr warranty for business purchases.
The E6540 that I'm using now, does not keep the keyboard back light turned on like the E6530 can. I find that to be very annoying. That probably does not matter to you since you keep it docked - presumably in an office with the lights turned on.
If I were you, I would buy a new laptop now - to avoid down time. Buy a model that can use your same docking station. Get the new laptop setup the way that you like it and use it for day to day work. Keep your old laptop as a backup. Keep the old laptop plugged into the charger. The chips/software that oversee the charging of the battery pack will let it discharge by about 10% before recharging it. That should keep the battery pack in fair shape for years to come.
ignatzatsonic mentioned heat. Maybe I have just been lucky, but I have not had a problem with heat related failures in a Dell laptop. I run stuff that keeps the CPU above 80C for hours at a time. I've even seen is 96C for several hours. The CPU in this E6540 laptop is rated for 100C... so that is pushing the limit. It will definitely heat up a small room
Thanks for the advice everyone -- it is very much appreciated!
WRT backups -- currently using Windows Backup and Restore -- think it is time for a change.
Anyone use Macrium or similar backup program?
Thanks again!
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