When Should You Say Goodbye to Your Old Laptop

Laptops, like everything in this world, age and become old. With constant use, even with regular maintenance, laptops can’t escape wear and tear. They will gradually become bogged down, clunkier, more inefficient at their tasks.

There will come a time when you have to let go of your beloved companion. Whether you’re a gamer or just a regular laptop user, it’s an inevitable reality, regardless of the quality of your hardware. Here are some warning signs that it may be time to bid farewell to your laptop.

When it’s taking forever to start up

An old laptop, if not maintained properly, can be bogged down with auto-executing applications during startup. Learn to weed out these applications to get some extra mileage on your aging laptop.

If your system is still having startup hiccups after that, then it might be time to completely reformat it. If after a clean reformat and reinstallation of basic drivers, your laptop is still glacial during the startup phase, then it’s probably a hardware issue now. It’s time to replace that laptop then.

When the battery is discharging often

The built-in batteries are typically the first to give way in a laptop. If you find your Macbook batteries are going on the fritz often with wildly varying charge levels, it’s time to get a new battery pack for your Mac . If you’re unable to buy one, you’ll have to stick near outlets when using your laptop. That, or you can just get a new Macbook or Windows laptop.

When it’s becoming too hot to handle

An aging laptop usually has heat issues, due to poorly maintained internal fans and an already-malfunctioning cooling system. If your laptop has a discrete graphics card, it probably also has a fan. That can also bog down due to use. If after you’ve sent it for cleaning and maintenance, the laptop is still a hot mess, it’s time to get a new one.

When the monitor is malfunctioning

There’s manageable malfunctioning, like a couple of blurry or burned-in spots on the monitor , or maybe a white line or two across the screen. Then, there’s totally unusable malfunctioning, like the monitor blinking, completely blurry, or vertically and horizontally panning. Rather than spend a hefty sum to repair your laptop’s panel, you’re better off purchasing a new unit instead.

When the USB ports are unresponsive

This is an annoying problem that’s common on aging systems. There’s really nothing you can do about this, as it’s a hardware issue most of the time. You’ll most likely end up with fewer and fewer usable USB ports as time goes by, especially on a budget tier laptop.

When spare parts are unavailable

It’s high time to replace your laptop when it’s glacially slow, constantly breaking down, and there are no more spare parts to maintain and improve your system. If you’re a gamer hobbyist, a great time to get a new laptop is when your old one can’t play the current generation games at the lowest, most bearable settings.