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[LowTechMagazine] - How and Why I Stopped Buying New Laptops (solar.lowtechmagazine.com)
submitted 1 year ago by unix_joe to c/sustainabletech
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A classic article from the infamous solar powered LowTechMagazine; the author describes their journey and how they ended up on a laptop from 2006.

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[-] tangled_cable 6 points 1 year ago

I enjoyed this article a lot, it was eye opening. I hadnt thought in terms of cost per annum. I've been using a second-hand thinkpad T420 as my daily driver since January 2018. I bought it because i love its kind of keyboard. It works beautifully. It came with an i5 processor. I ugraded its RAM to 16GB , got two SSD and a slighter better screen. However this is its weak point, the resolution is only 1600x9000 and my eyes feel it. I run debian stable and fedora on it. It is very sturdy, it has survived falls, several coffees, three cats... It is a beast.

[-] unix_joe 3 points 1 year ago

cost per annum.

I once bought a $5k MacBook Pro. It was very nice. But I like to get $1/day at a minimum from my devices. So I did the math, and it would have been sometime in the mid 2030's before that device met my goals. I couldn't imagine the keyboard lasting that long. Nor could I imagine the T2 chip being unlocked and everything working for Linux by then. And of course, absolutely nothing was upgradable. Fortunately, Apple has a very nice return policy, and so that is what I did. The X280 that replaced it for a fraction of the cost, has been used, abused, upgraded, and is still in use by my kids for school.

[-] lackthought 3 points 1 year ago

I don't upgrade devices until my cost/month comes down to a target I've set at ~$20/month

So if I spend $960 on a used macbook then I must utilize it for at least 48 months before I am 'eligible' to upgrade again

In reality I can get even more usage with some light maintenance

my secondary machine is a 2012 Macbook Air which is the device I drag around the house and it still works great for web browsing, video watching, and light programming tasks! Of course I have needed to replace the battery multiple times, and even the hard drive once

[-] tangled_cable 3 points 1 year ago

I like to get $1/day at a minimum from my devices. I like your mindset, I tend to do this unintentionally, because I run linux and tinker with all my computers and it's more sensible to buy second-hand. But you gave me a specific goal to aim to. Hate the gated garden but Apple does make pretty things. IIRC, there is a 1920x1080 panel swap from … nitrocaster(?) --> thanks for the tip! another thing to try.

[-] unix_joe 2 points 1 year ago

IIRC, there is a 1920x1080 panel swap from ... nitrocaster(?) ... that allows pushing an IPS display in a T420.

this post was submitted on 05 Jul 2023
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