How long do you feel an iPad lasts?

[kyphysics]

I have seen people say that PCs should be replaced every four or so years. This is because they become vulnerable over time to malware more easily and also they naturally start to break down. ...At least, that's what I've been told here.

How about iPADs? Are they as vulnerable and/or break down naturally every four or five years?

 

[Wrichik Basu]

I have seen people say that PCs should be replaced every four or so years.

Don't want to derail the thread, but you are talking about replacing software (specifically upgrading the OS) rather than hardware, right? Our desktop is >15 years old and it's working fine.

 

[Vanadium 50]

This is because they become vulnerable over time to malware more easily a

That's nonsense.

At least, that's what I've been told here.

Where? I mean, you've made that claim, but I don't see where someone else has.

 

[anorlunda]

I see no difference between iPad and other computers. Many people keep them for many years. My iPad2 is 9 years old. It is no longer supported by Apple so I can't update any of the apps. But it still works very well. I see no reason to replace it.

IMO, the main thing that motivates people to replace old computers is that upgraded software needs more resources, digital cameras produce higher resolution pictures, and web pages require more data than they used to. In the case of laptops and tablets, newer models have less weight, better displays, and less power consumption. Smart phones also compete with old tablets.

 

[DavidSnider]

It's not that they become *more* vulnerable to malware, it's that companies no longer support it after a while and won't even bother patching it. 4 years is usually fine though.

 

[Vanadium 50]

That's a function of software, not hardware. Windows 7 has just moved to end-of-life, Windows 8.1 has three years left, and Windows 10 runs on most ten-year old hardware. That says that ~13 years is the sort of window we are talking about, and that's why I asked @kyphysics to point us to what he thinks he heard.

 

[DavidSnider]

Hardware and software go together. All the hardware in your machine has drivers and probably a fair share of vendor created bloatware as well. The longer something is out there the longer attackers have had to find weaknesses in it and less likely that the vendor will bother patching it.

 

[profbuxton]

How long do they last?. Well, for my desktop, its a Dell I inherited from work. Built date 1994. Running windows XP and used daily for at least 8 hours..
We started with windows3.1in the 80s and then switched to windows 95 which I used for long time till i was finally "forced" to switch to windows XP.
My desk top has had memory upgrade and that's about all. Still runs reliably although there are some programs which can't be used due to no support. I certainly won't be changing soon until its on its last legs and nothing works any more.
Bought a laptop running windows 10 last year and I have to say it is the greatest abomination of an operating system I have ever come across. A lot of tasks and features are hard to locate and it is not easy to use. And I still have continual trouble with socalled "features" and "upgrades" not installing.
I just wish Microsoft would have left windows XP alone and just improved it as problems arose. I really like the user interface and generall operability of XP. It is far more intuative than WIN10.

 

[profbuxton]

Getting to thr question of iPads, don't have one , don't want one. I have a dislike of touch screens. My partner has a Surface tablet and it is, to me, so frustrating to use, a few times I was tempted to throw it out the window, preferably from a fast moving vehicle.

 

[Mark44]

How long do they last?. Well, for my desktop, its a Dell I inherited from work. Built date 1994. Running windows XP and used daily for at least 8 hours.

That computer is very long in the tooth. If you access the internet using that machine, I sincerely hope you keep your antivirus software up-to-date.

We started with windows3.1in the 80s and then switched to windows 95 which I used for long time till i was finally "forced" to switch to windows XP.

Which could be very vulnerable to attackers. Both Win XP and the newer version, Win 7, are no longer supported by MSFT, as you might know.

My desk top has had memory upgrade and that's about all. Still runs reliably although there are some programs which can't be used due to no support. I certainly won't be changing soon until its on its last legs and nothing works any more.

Hard drive might be one of the first things to go.

Bought a laptop running windows 10 last year and I have to say it is the greatest abomination of an operating system I have ever come across. A lot of tasks and features are hard to locate and it is not easy to use. And I still have continual trouble with socalled "features" and "upgrades" not installing.

I disliked Win 8 when it came out, and didn't upgrade to it. The most irritating feature IMO was its attempt to mimic the screen on a cell phone. Win 8.1 was slightly better, but Win 10 still has that same appearance.
However, ninite.com has a large collection of free software, one item of which is Classic Shell. Someone told me about it, and I downloaded it, and am very happy with it. Once it's installed, you can easily configure the desktop to look like Win XP or Win 7, both with the Start button that doesn't appear in Win 8, 8.1, or 10.

I have a dislike of touch screens.

Me, too. I don't want to be looking at a screen through layers of fingerprints and oily residue from fingers.

 

[pbuk]

Well, for my desktop, its a Dell I inherited from work. Built date 1994. Running windows XP and used daily for at least 8 hours.

The other day I bought a second hand Dell with an i5 processor, 8GB of memory, Dual HD display capability and Windows 10 Pro for GBP130 on Amazon. Treat yourself - you might find that you get that 8 hours work done in 6!

 

[Mark44]

Well, for my desktop, its a Dell I inherited from work. Built date 1994.

If it has an Intel processor, it's very likely an 80486 or maybe the first generation Pentium, which was the one that had the floating point FDIV error. Recalling the faulty processors set Intel back almost a half Billion dollars.

The other day I bought a second hand Dell with an i5 processor, 8GB of memory, Dual HD display capability and Windows 10 Pro for GBP130 on Amazon.

Seems like a pretty good deal -- about US$165 or so. I bought a new Dell laptop a few months ago, with tenth gen i7 processor, 8GB of RAM, 256GB SSD, Win 10 Pro -- about $750. Cars have gone up and up in price, but computers are pretty cheap, considering what you get.

 

[Svein]

Sigh. I recently had to exchange the printer attached to my server, and it started a long chain of events:

1. Getting a printer driver for the new printer seemed more or less impossible, and I had to do some fancy software juggling to finding an acceptable driver and forcing it to install.
2. Along the way I discovered that the server OS (Windows Foundation Server 2008r2) had gone the way of Windows 7 - not supported anymore.
3. So - do I install a new server OS or what? When starting to analyze that problem, I was reminded the hard way that the server hardware (a Dell T110) was from 2011. It was by far the oldest PC-type hardware in the house. Do I really want to put a new server OS on that?
4. So I started looking for some new server hardware (and a server OS on top of that). I found several examples of server hardware to reasonable prices, but nobody was willing to tell me what server OS would run on that hardware - or what the OS would cost!
5. So I gave up on that and built a server PC from readily available components. I also found a good deal on a server OS and installed it. Apart from from a couple of hours spent on making the server OS accept the LAN driver, it was more or less straight driving. Moving al data from the old server to the new was just a case of a large USB3 disk and walking from one server to another.
6. Then it was time to transfer all the server roles from the old to the new hardware. That turned out to be a real headache, since the old server refused to die. Even when every role was transferred and I had turned the old server off, it stubbornly turned itself on again. I had to physically pull the plug on it!
7. So - the new server is running as it should (with a lot less noise and a lot less power), I tried to install some other OS on the old server. A Linux server? Linux gave up before even trying to install. Windows 10 could not find an applicable driver (it did not specify what kind of driver). So - now there is an old server in my cellar waiting for its eventual doom and disposition.

 

[anorlunda]

Can't you print with a generic driver? It may miss special features such as double-sided, but it could do the basics.

I would expect the same problem regardless of the OS. You might find a printer from the 50s or 60s, and the only drivers for that were written for computers and OSes that no longer exist.

 

[Vanadium 50]

Amazingly, Windows 10 still supports Epson FX-80 printers from the min-1980's!

 

[jackwhirl]

How about iPADs? Are they as vulnerable and/or break down naturally every four or five years?

I see no difference between iPad and other computers. Many people keep them for many years. My iPad2 is 9 years old. It is no longer supported by Apple so I can't update any of the apps. But it still works very well. I see no reason to replace it.

The lithium ion batteries in modern electronics do degrade over time, losing capacity. The iPad2 is documented to last 10 hours on a charge. @anorlunda, what kind of battery life does your iPad have now?

 

[anorlunda]

The lithium ion batteries in modern electronics do degrade over time, losing capacity. The iPad2 is documented to last 10 hours on a charge. @anorlunda, what kind of battery life does your iPad have now?

I haven't done the test explicitly. All I can say is that I have not noticed any degradation.

I read once that the life of a Lithium battery is proportional to how long it spends below 80% charge. I follow that. I try to remember to end charging at 75%, and I never leave it plugged in overnight. Since I started doing the same with my phones and laptops, I've had very good luck with their batteries also.

 

[gmax137]

I bought an iPad when they first came out, and it cost quite a bit (like $800). After 4 years (if I recall correctly) they no longer would upgrade the operating system and pretty soon things stopped working (can't view youtube videos, etc.) I will never buy another Apple product.

 

[sysprog]

How long do they last?. Well, for my desktop, its a Dell I inherited from work. Built date 1994. Running windows XP and used daily for at least 8 hours..
We started with windows3.1in the 80s and then switched to windows 95 which I used for long time till i was finally "forced" to switch to windows XP.
My desk top has had memory upgrade and that's about all. Still runs reliably although there are some programs which can't be used due to no support. I certainly won't be changing soon until its on its last legs and nothing works any more.
Bought a laptop running windows 10 last year and I have to say it is the greatest abomination of an operating system I have ever come across. A lot of tasks and features are hard to locate and it is not easy to use. And I still have continual trouble with socalled "features" and "upgrades" not installing.
I just wish Microsoft would have left windows XP alone and just improved it as problems arose. I really like the user interface and generall operability of XP. It is far more intuative than WIN10.

I sympathize regarding your preference for XP over its successors. You can to a worthy extent alleviate the problem of finding settings by using a special folder name that presents most system options in a single folder:

Make sure your system account has administrative privileges.
Right-click on the desktop and choose New > Folder.
Name the folder: whatever_name_you_want.{ED7BA470-8E54-465E-825C-99712043E01C}.​

You can also go into the search box and type compmgmt.msc, and when the search finds it and puts it at the top of the results bar, right-click on it, and select 'Run as administrator'. When it comes up, go into Services, stop Windows Update, and change its startup status from Automatic to Disabled. That will stop Windows from looking for updates or trying to auto-install them. If you later decide you need an update you can re-enable it, but if you do that, it will try to install all the updates you missed while updating was disabled.

You might want to do a search on 'windows 10 annoyances' -- you'll find some good tips on making it run with fewer gadflies.

This is something that I use on all of my post-XP PCs:
http://www.classicshell.net/downloads/

The version there works very well and allows an XP=style taskbar and menu tree, with a menu option to go to the Windows 10 screen and back whenever you wish.

The originators have stopped developing it, but some volunteers have adopted it and you can get their latest as Open Shell on github:
https://github.com/Open-Shell/Open-Shell-Menu

I think you'll like Classic Shell. I have yet to try the more recent Open Shell. I have no reason to do so at present.

 

[DrClaude]

I read once that the life of a Lithium battery is proportional to how long it spends below 80% charge.

Do you have a source for that? I'm curious.

 

[anorlunda]

Do you have a source for that? I'm curious.

It is common advice for everything from Android Phones to Tesla cars. Battery University is my favorite source for all battery questions.

https://batteryuniversity.com/index.php/learn/article/how_to_prolong_lithium_based_batteries

Edit: Another source
https://electrek.co/2018/05/04/are-you-killing-your-lithium-batteries/