this post was submitted on 25 Apr 2026
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10 years old laptop - is it time to retire? (sh.itjust.works)
submitted 1 month ago by someacnt@sh.itjust.works to c/hardware@lemmy.world
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My dad has a laptop I used to use, which has been working well so far. Recently, he got frequent out-of-memory (RAM) issues - the computer freezes, forcing to restart. It is hard to diagnose, but it might be that 8GB RAM might be too small even for light workload these days.

So, I just checked when it is produced - 2015-10. So it is now 10 years old. While I am wary of producing e-wastes, maybe that was long enough life we got out of it. Perhaps it costs more in electricity than buying a replacement laptop? So, I want to ask - is it time to retire this laptop?

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[–] Renorc@lemmy.world 18 points 1 month ago (1 children)

There are lots of variables in computers that can determine whether to continue using it, but if it was a quality computer and not just the cheapest laptop available it could be worth saving. I’m using a 20 year old Dell XPS and for web browsing and email it’s fine. Try reloading the operating system with a fresh install. First save any files you need to keep to an external drive or cloud system. Assuming windows, use the latest OS you can, prob Win 10. Or try Linux mint.

[–] someacnt@sh.itjust.works 7 points 1 month ago (3 children)

I desire to install Linux on the laptop, but one stock market app my dad frequent only runs on winblows :<

[–] Azzu@lemmy.dbzer0.com 8 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Wine doesn't run it?

[–] someacnt@sh.itjust.works 2 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Yeah, sadly. It is a stock trading app which requires credentials checking, I guess.

[–] artyom@piefed.social 2 points 1 month ago

What's the app?

[–] OwOarchist@pawb.social 8 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Keep this one as your personal laptop and put Linux on it.

Tell your dad to buy a new Windows laptop with his stock money to run his Windows-only stock market app on.

[–] RadicalRebel@sh.itjust.works 6 points 1 month ago

Maybe run a good windows debloater on the device? I was impressed by how much smoother my Win10 VM ran afterwards! Here's a link: https://github.com/raphire/win11debloat

PS: Works for Win10 & 11