• ConfusedPossum@kbin.social
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    9 months ago

    The only time I replace electronics anymore is when something breaks or when I’m gifted someone else’s hand-me-downs

    • The_v@lemmy.world
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      9 months ago

      I have everything on a upgrade list depending on how much we use it and how fast the technology is changing.

      Phones: 3 years. Thinking of moving this to 4 or 5 years with the industry’s stagnation. Starting to see some companies offering updates for longer times.

      Laptops/desktops: 5-6 years.

      Wifi/modem/router: 10 years.

      • Sprokes@jlai.lu
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        9 months ago

        3 years for a phone is very low. Maybe change battery and you can keep it for 3 years more. Though you need to buy phones with custom rom support.

        • nossaquesapao@lemmy.eco.br
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          9 months ago

          I’m still trying to understand what people do in their phones that they need to run the very latest model with the specs of a laptop. Mine is from 2018 and is doing the job nicely. What am I missing out there?

          • The_v@lemmy.world
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            9 months ago

            Most people never use all the specs. If all you are doing is browsing the Internet, watching videos, or playing some simple games, you don’t need much.

            I have purchased unlocked mid-range phones for for a while now. Expensive enough to have decent specs but not so cheap that the build quality suffers. When the teenager is dropping the phone 3-4 times per day, a good case and a good build quality is required. 3 years with that type of abuse is about all you’ll get out of it.

            I run two phones. For work I get one of the flagship phones. I only pull out my laptop in my office. Most of the time I am using the phone in all weather conditions. I use those specs for thousands of hi-res pictures, data entry etc… all day long. At the end of 3 years it’s toast.

      • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
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        9 months ago

        My notebook is 9 years old. My desktop is 6 years old. I haven’t found a reasonable argument to replace them until they stop working. Why 5-6 years?

        • The_v@lemmy.world
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          9 months ago

          Why 5-6 years, that’s about when I start seeing the cascade of little things. Weird transitory bugs when rebooting. Speed issues and compatibility issues with bloated new software etc. After that amount of time, I start to spend way too much time maintaining them.

          I could tinker with them and keep them going. Its what I used to do when my kids were small. Install a Linux distro on an old computer, load a bunch of educational games and set the browser homepage to PBSkids.

          However I have 5 computers to maintain now and my teenagers need compatible fast systems for college and school. My wife works from home at times and needs something that reliably works.