Tech
Your old laptop could last longer if you give these tips a try
Pro tip: If people refuse to touch your laptop without PPE, that’s probably a sign it needs to be cleaned. When you need to touch someone else’s grody laptop and don’t want to waste disposable protective gloves, you might try putting a sheet of cling wrap between your fingers and the keyboard.
Lori Grunin/CNET
Before you splurge on a shiny, new laptop, you may want to consider giving your current system some TLC. There’s a lot you can do to take better care of that old laptop and stretch its lifespan as long as possible.
Brett Pearce/CNET
The longevity horizon of a laptop is analogous to the longevity of a human: It partly comes down to responsible behavior, partly genetics and partly just dumb luck. There’s no guarantee that anything you do can save it from dying young or failing to keep up with increasingly demanding tasks. And there’s no guarantee that if you treat it like crap it won’t last far longer than expected — in 10 years you might find yourself cursing it. “Fail already you slow POS so I can justify buying a replacement!” That’s the argument I have daily with my 7-year-old iPad.
It baffles me, for instance, that my friend’s 7-plus-year-old Lenovo Yoga 2 13 still functions, and actually functions well. It’s filthy, it’s been knocked off precarious perches by flying cats, it sits baking in hot sunlight, endures summers with 90% humidity indoors, and its operating system hasn’t been updated in… I don’t think ever. She still hasn’t filled up the 128GB drive. Recently she asked if she should upgrade to Windows 11 (from Windows 8.1). After picking my…
