I don't believe you could reasonably expect a laptop in that price range to last 3-4 years. 

Those are not 'light' usage scenarios. 

Just confirming are you are talking new or second-hand?

Why wouldn't any reasonable quality laptop last 3-4 years? Do bits wear out, fall off or something?

Laptops in that price range are flimsy with 8Gb RAM and even worse a Celeron processor. You can find an ex-lease rugged laptop ( Thinkpad, Dell) with 16Gb and an i7 CPU well within that budgets.

johno1234:

 

Why wouldn't any reasonable quality laptop last 3-4 years? Do bits wear out, fall off or something?

 

 

 

As someone who has worked in IT for 30 years, I can tell you, that whilst it's possible for a machine to last 3-4 years in that price range, the type of specification produced in that price range would be very unlikely to cope with that workload for 3-4.

Quality laptops don't start in the $600 price range. 

Price, features, quality, pick any two. 

marpada:

 

Laptops in that price range are flimsy with 8Gb RAM and even worse a Celeron processor. You can find an ex-lease rugged laptop ( Thinkpad, Dell) with 16Gb and an i7 CPU well within that budgets.

 

It would likely last longer too. 

You might be able to pickup a 3-4 year old HP Elitebook or Z-Book for that money.

In my 2.5 decades of experience with them most (not all for sure) will give 10 years sometimes more of at least going. While they may slow due to software advances they at least won't fall apart.

dimsim:

 

You might be able to pickup a 3-4 year old HP Elitebook or Z-Book for that money.

 

In my 2.5 decades of experience with them most (not all for sure) will give 10 years sometimes more of at least going. While they may slow due to software advances they at least won't fall apart.

 

A Zbook could handle video editing and possibly some light gaming depending on spec, but Elitebooks doesn't (usually) have a dedicated graphics card, and I imagine while it's possible to do video editing, it would be painfully slow. 

Assuming you're a windows user, it needs at least an 8th Gen processor for Windows 11, Windows 10 going end of life October next year. 

geekbhaji: Thanks for your responses....... usage is not daily.. last time i turned on my old laptop was 3 weeks ago.. so you can guess.. i meant to say it should be capable to handle those kind of tasks.. looking at some refurbished a grade elitebooks on pbtech. . But thought will check here too..

Capable is a loaded term. Could you edit small videos slowly on a $600 machine, probably. It all depends on expectations. 

geekbhaji:

 

Looking for a laptop, that will last for around good 3-4 years.

 

Location Wellington

 

Budget around $600

 

Usage: Home use, light gaming, some coding, and video editing.

 

Gaming and video editing are notoriously resource heavy. This is going to be a bit of a struggle.

Your best bet is to get a nicer used machine.

Three routes to go with this:

• A high end ex-corporate office laptop. These have good build quality and materials, are likely to have been mainly used docked with external mouse & keyboard, and you should be able to find something like the below (HP Zbook g6. 17-9750h @ 2.6Ghz, 512GB SSD, integrated graphics) 

https://www.trademe.co.nz/a/marketplace/computers/laptops/laptops/hp/listing/4714000992

• A used gaming laptop, like the below (Starting $500, Buy now $850). i7-9750H @2.6Ghz, 16GB ram, RTX2060 with 8GB vram). This will have a cheaper build quality and cost more than the above, but you get that sweet gaming focused graphics card.

https://www.trademe.co.nz/a/marketplace/computers/laptops/laptops/hp/listing/4714000992

• A used mobile workstation. These are aimed at engineers / CAD operators, and are very expensive new, generally build quality reflects that. But they are fairly cheap in the used market as the people who value the professional graphics cars don't generally buy used. Professional graphic cards (certified for AutoCAD etc) are way better than integrated graphics, but worse than higher end graphics cards targeted at gaming. For example the below Dell Precision 5540, i7-9850H, 32GB ram, 512GB SSD, Quadro T2000 4GB graphics.

https://www.trademe.co.nz/a/marketplace/computers/laptops/laptops/dell/listing/4707249470

Personally I would take the last one, for the slightly faster processer, but it does cost more than the first option, and would be worse at gaming than the second option

All these are 2020 era laptops, so already ~4 years old. Not that to get this to last to 8 years old you will need as some point to:

• Replace the battery (or accept zero battery life)
• Take it apart and clean the fluff out of the cooling system, and re-paste the CPU & GPU

My personal laptop is a dell Precision M4700 mobile workstation, I am not sure how old mine is, but I think the series was released in 2012. I brought it used in late 2013, to give you some idea about getting a long life out of a laptop.

It's still still going strong, more than a decade after I purchased it. That said:

• I have upgraded to a SSD (with the mechanical drive moved to the optical bay)
• The graphics card died (meaning I was stuck with integrated graphics for a bit), but I swapped it out with one from ebay.
• I replaced the fans (one was getting a little noisey) - I do leave it on 24/7
• Every couple of years I pull it apart and vacuum the dust from the heat sinks
• I added a Bluetooth module.
• The screen on it really sucks (dull) - But i mostly use an external 1440p screen anyway.
• It is build very heavy and strong.
• Have gone through many batteries.
• I hardly use it for anything serious anymore. (I have a expensive work issued mobile workstation)

An Elitebook or a well treated probook should last that long. A new probook was $1500 give or take a couple of hundred dollars new.

Ex corporate elitebooks are probably a good buy. I have a new elitebook for work, it sits in one place and is rarely ever moved. When it moves it's in a padded backpack. I don't use the screen or the keyboard. It's just about pristine.

johno1234:

 

Why wouldn't any reasonable quality laptop last 3-4 years? Do bits wear out, fall off or something?

 

On lower end laptops:

• Hinges fail
• Keyboads can wear out / break
• Palm rests can wear though
• Power port can get loose

On all laptops:

• Thermal paste will dry up
• cooling system will get clogged with fluf
• Batteries will fail (Many modern laptops have a setting to keep them from charging about 80% so they last a decent time, buy many older ones will sit at 100% when docked, which will kill the battery in a couple of years)
• Some types of screens dull over time (and some backlight bulbs fail).

There is also the obsolescence question. If your computer can no longer do what you (or most other users) need, then might was well have failed... Suggest laptops with 4GB soldered ram are in that category already, and 8gb units will be soon.

And durability - My 12 year old dell precision with full metal casing is sure a heap more durable than economy focused dell it replaced.
- Of course the used case does somewhat determine how much this matters. Somebody who is constantly on the road (or lugging their laptop around school / uni) is going to put a heap more stress on their laptop than somebody who leaves it docked except for trips to a family household in a padded bag 3x times a year.

- Also somebody who uses an external keyboard / mouse / monitor at home is going to see way less wear on their laptop than somebody who doesn't.