Essentially after 4 1/2 years of loyal service my laptop is dying. The battery life has reduced to 5 minutes, the fan hardly works meaning it gets red hot and the charging cable has started only working intermittently. I may be quieter online as a result over the next 4 weeks or so. However, with Black Friday being next month I thought about getting a replacement
Here's a list of the main tasks I use my laptop for;
- Boardgaming (Boardgame Arena, Yucata... etc) - tend not to have high graphics requirements
- Social Media (Facebook, OK Cupid... etc)
- Forums (Here, Boardgamegeek... etc)
- Skype (rarely)
- Netflix, iPlayer, ITV Player, 4OD, Spotify...
- DVDs
- Online Shopping...
- Other Internet...
- CV Writing/Job Applications (very likely I'll have to go through that process again next year)
- Letter writing
- Excel/Power BI fun (Power Query, Power Pivot, Power View, Power Maps) - sometimes I just like to learn new stuff for work
- Storing and organising music
- Storing and organising photos
- Sometimes downloading Torrents (obviously only if I can't source a specific bit of media through any of the more desirable channels)
- I'd like it to be fast (from a technical point of view fast enough to comfortably run Microsoft Power BI products)
- I'd like it to last. I've had 2 Toshibas and they've lasted me 5 years and 4 1/2 years respectively, whereas I've had an Acer last 18 months and a Packard Bell last just 12. If we can aim for minimum 3 years life expectancy then that would be good
- Preference for a laptop with a keyboard over say a tablet due to the keyboard and fact that I use it primarily for typing
- Preference for a good battery life