what are the consequences of buying a old laptop like generation 1 2 3

[anaturelover]

hi seems like laptop to run win11 are too expensive so i ll run win10 until the day it is no longer updated 2025 maybe more.
I look at refurbised laptops and see some models dating back to 2011 2014 etc with processor of like second generation.

what kind of problem could i run into by buying a old laptop?
will some app not work? what does it imply in 2024 to run a old laptop ?

Also what minimal release year or generation should i be choosing to avoid those problems that i m not aware of not being very tech so that it runs well in general till 2025.

i aim at at least 8gb ram and a ssd of 250gb

 

[USAFRet]

Consequences?
Its already old.
If inexpensive, it is underpowered.
Also, battery. An older laptop may need a new battery, which is not necessarily 'cheap'.

Something from 2011? If under $100, maybe.

For future Win 11 compatibility?
A laptop bought today...how long do you plan to keep it or expect it to work?

3-4 years from now, buy a new one that already comes with Win 11.



Bottom line....what will this be used for?

 

[NightHawkRMX]

Most newer apps will open just fine on an early 2010s CPU. I don't think being able to open apps in a few years will be an issue, but nobody can predict the future. Windows 11 will certainly NOT work on laptops this old without workarounds.

While something like a 2nd generation i5 is still sufficient for most basic tasks such as web browsing and office applications, the performance of processors this old is nowhere close to modern ones. More demanding apps will not run very well.

There are other things to consider with a laptop this age. The battery may not have much life left in it, or it may be completely dead. The storage drive may not have a lot of life left in it. The inside might need some good dusting and fresh thermal paste to keep it running cool. There might be overall exterior wear. Things like that.

Be careful when selecting one to get one in good condition.

The laptop I use is a hand-me-down 2013 Toshiba Satellite L55 with an i5 3337u with 8gb ram. I upgraded it to an inexpensive Gigabyte 240gb SSD with a fresh installation of Windows 10. Several years ago I had to replace the original battery, and more recently the replacement 3rd party battery was bulging and had failed as well. I opted to just remove the battery and I run it plugged in, since I cannot justify spending nearly $50 for a "cheap"3rd party replacement, and can't find an OEM battery. The plastics have wear and the keyboard lettering is gone from about half the keyboard as well, but that's not a very big issue to me.

The performance is sufficient for all I need a laptop for, although it can slow down if something happens in the background, like a Windows update.

 

[TheObeseGiraffe]

hi seems like laptop to run win11 are too expensive so i ll run win10 until the day it is no longer updated 2025 maybe more.
I look at refurbised laptops and see some models dating back to 2011 2014 etc with processor of like second generation.

what kind of problem could i run into by buying a old laptop?
will some app not work? what does it imply in 2024 to run a old laptop ?

Also what minimal release year or generation should i be choosing to avoid those problems that i m not aware of not being very tech so that it runs well in general till 2025.

i aim at at least 8gb ram and a ssd of 250gb

Pretty much agree with what USAFRet above me said. The newer you can get the better, because chances are itll have official support for things like drivers and updates later on in its lifetime because its newer. It kinda depends on what you want to do with this laptop. If you are trying to game for example, then I strongly recommend getting something slightly newer. Just for work however might be fine.

 

[anaturelover]

Pretty much agree with what USAFRet above me said. The newer you can get the better, because chances are itll have official support for things like drivers and updates later on in its lifetime because its newer. It kinda depends on what you want to do with this laptop. If you are trying to game for example, then I strongly recommend getting something slightly newer. Just for work however might be fine.

use is mostly web browsing .
i never thought about the ssd life spam.
i aggre to forget win11.
i d like to spend around 200 usd plus or less 50 dollar.
iguess 8gb ? no hhd just ssd
could you guys try to find options in refurbised pc? im lost when it comes to knowing wich is recent or not...

 

[USAFRet]

Where are you buying from? What store/retailer is applicable to you?

 

[anaturelover]

Where are you buying from? What store/retailer is applicable to you?

Im in canada. so all amazon ebay new egg bestbuy are options .
refurbished preferably

 

[TheObeseGiraffe]

200 dollars is gonna be tough, However with a quick little search on Ebay i found this one for sale in America, I dont know if they will ship to canada, but something like this would be roughly what you can get with that money: Ebay laptop 200$ USD

 

[NightHawkRMX]

That listing is overpriced imo.

However, I like the idea of an old business laptop. A HP ProBook, Lenovo Thinkpad, etc. They are generally easier to repair and also much more solidly built to take years of use.

 

[anaturelover]

That listing is overpriced imo.

However, I like the idea of an old business laptop. A HP ProBook, Lenovo Thinkpad, etc. They are generally easier to repair and also much more solidly built to take years of use.

could you name me that are the other names that describe business laptop apart from hp probook and lenovo thinkpad i could be a good start to search.

i search for a laptop with ssd, hdd it too slow.
ideally ssd new and 8gb ram and lots of usb ports.

 

[USAFRet]

could you name me that are the other names that describe business laptop apart from hp probook and lenovo thinkpad i could be a good start to search.

i search for a laptop with ssd, hdd it too slow.
ideally ssd new and 8gb ram and lots of usb ports.

HP, Lenovo, Dell.

Go to Dell.com, find the Dell Outlet section. Look around in there.
Inventory changes daily.

 

[anaturelover]

HP, Lenovo, Dell.

Go to Dell.com, find the Dell Outlet section. Look around in there.
Inventory changes daily.

hi hp lenovo and dell also sell non business laptop if im correct. my question was maybe not specific enough: what models are business models apart from probook thinkpad

 

[anaturelover]

also to help me evaluate how important it is to have a used alot ssd vs new,

WHat happen when a ssd gets old. is it a all or nothing thing like you wake up and nothing works or it is more a gratual thing like getting blue screen more oftenly than before
tx

 

[NightHawkRMX]

Ssds were extremely uncommon at the time these laptops were produced, so most will have the original hard drive, not an SSD. If you buy one with an SSD, you are probably paying a fair bit extra for the refurbisher to install the SSD.

Because of that, I would not limit yourself to buying with an SSD and consider buying one with a mechanical drive. You can then easily upgrade it to an SSD for not a lot of money or effort. I paid $27 for the Gigabyte 240gb SSD that I put in the Toshiba and installation took sub 5 minutes, although installing Windows is more time consuming.

It's a budget drive, but it's plenty fast for my needs.

 

[anaturelover]

usefull tx
still im curious about that W
Hat happen when a ssd gets old. is it a all or nothing thing like you wake up and nothing works or it is more a gratual thing like getting blue screen more oftenly than before

 

[USAFRet]

Whatever drive is in it...you NEED a good backup routine.
Physical drive death is not the only pathway to data loss.

 

[NightHawkRMX]

SSDs failure modes depend.

In general, SSDs have a limited number of times they have be written to. Most SSDs have an endurance rating measured in "TBW, or terabytes written". The drive should withstand at least that many writes, however, it could fail before then.

When an SSD fails from excess writes, they generally become read only. They cannot be written to, but only read from.

Of course, that is not the only way a drive can fail. Unexpected failures can happen even on brand new drives. I had an SSD which had a controller fail under normal use for less than a year, erasing all data. It was a fluke and warranty covered it. Always have a backup!

As for whether you should worry about this? Probably not. Unless the drive has been abused and misused, it should not be anywhere close to it's tbw rating.

I have 2 Samsung SSDs that are a decade old. Bought them used and they don't have that much wear. Still both running strong.

 

[USAFRet]

My one and only SSD death was instant.
Power off, come back 10 minutes later, power up.
Hey...where's the G drive?

Dead dead dead. No idea why.
But mostly, do not care.
Backup routine recovered 100% of the data, exactly as it was at 4AM that morning.
Sandisk gave me a new drive, even though it was 33 days past the 3 year warranty. I knew it, they knew it...they gave me a new one anyway.

 

[NightHawkRMX]

Its not uncommon for drives to have a 3 or 5 year warranty. I'm not sure how much warranty was left on the drive I had.

The failure mode of my drive was a little more complex.

One day I tried to boot and got a bsod every time I tried to boot.

Took the drive out and plugged it into another pc. It was able to read it. Copied over some data but iirc it was acting oddly.

Plugged it back into my computer and installed a fresh copy of Windows. Was downloading drivers when it froze, gave a bsod, and then rebooted to "no bootable device found"

And that was it. The drive showed up under "SATAfirm" in bios as blank. Tech support gave a pretty complex answer I don't remember as to what that meant, but basically the controller had failed.

 

[anaturelover]

Ssds were extremely uncommon at the time these laptops were produced, so most will have the original hard drive, not an SSD. If you buy one with an SSD, you are probably paying a fair bit extra for the refurbisher to install the SSD.

Because of that, I would not limit yourself to buying with an SSD and consider buying one with a mechanical drive. You can then easily upgrade it to an SSD for not a lot of money or effort. I paid $27 for the Gigabyte 240gb SSD that I put in the Toshiba and installation took sub 5 minutes, although installing Windows is more time consuming.

It's a budget drive, but it's plenty fast for my needs.

i like this way of thinking if you find some that are good and cheap because of hhd in i could add ssd to it

 

[USAFRet]

Its not uncommon for drives to have a 3 or 5 year warranty.

And your data gone to ransomware is but a click away. 0.25 sec.

backup backup backup.

 

[USAFRet]

i like this way of thinking if you find some that are good and cheap because of hhd in i could add ssd to it

So....

Forget the Win 11 requirement.
Forget the SSD requirement. swap in one later for $50.

A sub $250 laptop?
Which ones have you come across that look good?

Dell Outlet, BestBuy refurb, etc, etc...