Notebooks named as increasing PC shipments, but notebooks have a shorter life? Why?

I think it's because Laptops have more sensitive parts.

Laptops have their components jammed together = more heat.

More heat= lower life expectancy.

Not only that but as Laptops are portable they are more prone to damage with people carrying them around all the time. Plus they are a lot harder to upgrade.

Exactly, it is tough to get to the CPU, and most Graphic Cards aren't upgradeable. If they are then it is usually one generation (ie 9700 to 9800 as we saw in the XPS). Ram is limited to 2 GBs. I am already maxed out on Ram!

The lack of upgradeability is probably the prime killer. It's too difficult to access components, replacements are rare and expensive, and so forth.

The next reason for a shorter lifespan is probably that laptops need to do a lot of the same things as desktops, but they're often a generation behind in terms of technology. Outdated from the start, and they only get worse as time goes by.

Sorry to pull up an month old discussion, but just saw this and wanted to throw in my 2cents.

If lasting longer refers to reliability/failure, I think it goes back toa laptop being more prone to failure due to the portability. If you have a laptop, you most likely got it in order to be able to take it someplace (friends house, buisness/pleasure trip, school, office whatever). Carrying it around means vibrations (e.g. sitting on the backseat of the car while driving to work, in the bag while climing a flight of stairs or walking onto wherever you are going) and bumps (even slgiht ones as you walk as you over the shoulder bag bounces off you hip or car hits a pothole or speedbump) that desktops just never experience after being installed.

If they mean lasting longer in terms of becoming outated, can see the argument for upgradability being important for performance users, like the majority of the regulars in NBF, but still I don't think upgradability (adding a better CPU, GPU or whatever) matters that much at all since most "regular" computer users buy a machine and don't ever change anything (maybe some of them will get a new version of windows) until they decide to get a new PC anyways. I do see replacing parts being important in the in the aspect of lasting longer since when something goes bad on a lpatop, the compactness usually means replacing the whole motherboard, which usually is almost as expensive as buying a new laptop.

Anyways, just my thoughts.

And I'm waking this thread up this time, but just to give a humorous anecdote. I recently was walking through the office at work, and I saw the head of our HR dept walking out to her car to leave for the day, and she had her purse and a small stack of papers, and a laptop in her arms. I wouldn't have normally noticed this (though I do take interest in all notebook PCs around me, to find out what everyone has), but the thing that caught my attention was that she didn't have the notebook in a case! She was just taking it home in her arms with a stack of paperwork and her mini-purse!

I stopped to ask why she didn't use a case, and she told me that she never does. I mentioned that she might want to start, as her notebook will last much longer without so much jostling. LOL.

I think we have a pretty high turnover of notebooks here at work (we use Dell), and this is partly the problem. Do you know how many we've had to replace due to people cracking the screens by shutting them while stuff is set on the keyboard? Way too many. You would never get that with a desktop pc. (though picturing it happen is quite humorous)

-Ransom

well if you buy a dell notebook then life expectancy is lower.

-notebooks are more personal, like cloths.
-sales will always push to sell new units
-most people buy notebooks with cheap parts. i don't need to mention any examples.

Notebooks have an "it" factor

Desktops are bland, anonymous and generally never seen by anyone else. Notebooks are public elements of a persons presence. Notebook features can come in and out of fashion requiring new hardware. For example, ultra lites or 17" DTRs. Call this the cell phone phenomenon.

Also, notebooks are functionally non-upgradeable. For the vast majority of users, getting new technology means buying an entirely new laptop. Vendors have yet to deliver truly upgradable graphics which is the most desirable feature to be able to upgrade.

I suspect that the other reason that notebooks 'wear' out more quickly than desktops may be that they are simply used more.

For example, rather than only play Civilization at home in the office, I can now play it at lunch, while I'm visiting my mother-in-law and while driving down the freeway in my Miata (don't worry, I only do it when I'm not playing peekaboo with the baby and I've put my cellphone on hands-free - I love cruise control).

As well as simple more use, thus wearing out the keyboard, for example, this also usually means more on/off cycles since no-one leaves their laptop switched on 24/7 if it isn't plugged into the mains !

Yeah, my current desktop is actually like the 3rd configuration I've had... I can upgrade and replace parts at will. Can't do that with a laptop very easily or without spending a ton of money. Laptops greatest asset is its small form factor but this is also the greatest hinderance to being able to upgrade and repair it easily as someone in this thread has explained.

I really will need a laptop in the next year or so and I'm struggling with which notebook to get. There's so many factors that aren't really issues with desktop systems. The price to performance ratio is sickening when you compare laptops to desktops systems.

I think that one of the companies should build a laptop inside of a briefcase but using desktop parts instead... Of course using the lightest materials known to man would help greatly, noone wants to carry around a 20 lb laptop, lol.

You can actually open a 9300 in a Miata ?

The steering wheel makes a good display rest...

I drive a Dodge pickup,so plenty of room . The glare can be a pain sometimes though.

Not many of you work in Corporations that use Many PC's do you?

The reason Laptops have a shorter life expectancy is not heat. PC's are not kept long enough to make heat an issue. its the Peripherals. Companies that use docking stations for there Laptops in the workplace get longer life out of the units because of less damage on the keyboards, and touch pads.

a desktop repair of a keyboard is 20 dollars to replace, no lost work time as replacements can be stocked with little overhead costs.
A Notebook repair is far greater. Stocking back up notebooks would be costly. so if damage comes to a Notebook it costs more to repair, there is more to damage since it is an all in one unit, if the hing on the screen breaks, again repair is costly and lost work time. it is most often easier to replace broken units instead of repairing them, both with budgeting, and time.

I don't think heat is really the problem in notebooks anyway. You're mostly correct in that you can't just pull out/unplug the broken part on a notebook, you've got to replace it in most cases.

The main reason that notebooks average life is lower is that they're carried around all day by most people. I know I take mine everywhere. It just takes one drop to crack the screen and/or shorten the life severely. I once saw the head of H/R at my company leaving for the day with her notebook in her arms and a bunch of files stacked on top of it. There was no case. I asked her why she wasn't using a protective case, and she said she didn't know that she needed to, and that she always just took the laptop home without one. I was shocked, but a lot of people probably do that.

Once again, those wear and tear issues, caused by vibrations are what kill most notebooks over time.

Just my opinion,
Ransom

Laptops are just as durable and perform just as well if you can take care of it. Of course, if you spill something on it, drop it accidentally, or have it stolen, its not going to last as long. These are inherent qualities in items that you take on the fly. Just compare a laptop to a cell phone. Cell phones usually need to be replaced after 2 years because you flip them open constantly, have it jostling around in your pants, and because thats what phones are for. Mobility saves you time, yet eats the life of your equipment.

Oh yea, and for your next computer, purchase an Alienware. Gr8 systems...