5 years on and still going strong!

[enjoy_rock]

Hi,

been a follower of this forum for some time but only just registered. Great site, has helped me out many a time! I thank you.

So I've had my T40 for 5 years and used it as my main computer for that time. It got me through an engineering degree and still soldiers on. Although its getting a bit slow now I've been pleased as punch with it since new, I'm going to start upgrading so this site will be invaluable. The only thing I've replaced so far is the piddly 25GB hard drive, the wireless broke long ago but I've been using an external adaptor. Apart from that all is well!

Just out of pure geek interest is it possible to find out how many hours my laptop has been running since I had it from new? Is this information stored anywhere?

Also I read a lot of recent threads that talk about replacement parts (memory, processors etc.) that always seem cheaper than I can find after googling. Just wondered where you guys get these prices from? Maybe components are just cheaper in the US compared to the UK?

Thanks!

[craigmontHunter]

The only thing I can come up with is using the power on hours for the hard drive - if you still have the old one, throw it in, and add the sum of the old and new drives, that will be the number of hours the system was on, provided that you bought a new drive and have only used those two. I don't think there are any other counters, but I may be wrong.

You can find out the count using HDtune or a simmilar program.

[LeonardT]

That would be great if there was some type of internal clock or 'mileage' for a laptop. It would make it easier when buying used laptops and computers to see the 'mileage' on the graphics card, cpu and laptop battery. I've always had good luck with Lenovos as well as Apples. I know my last desktop was an Apple G4 Quicksilver that lasted over ten years. I finally replaced it because the CPU was showing it's age in that it was slow.

[ozzymud]

I have searched in the past for such an odometer software, never had any luck. Seems like it would be a really simple application (the uptime command already shows this info for current sessions).

There used to be one that came with mice drivers to show milage on a mouse, why not one for cumulative uptime

Way back in the day I modded a case with a 12v hour meter, is was an electo-mechanical gauge similar to odometers on older cars, it kept a running total of how long the power was on in the machine reguardless of OS or even if the machine didn't boot (just if it was on or not).

This post has put me on the hunt again for such software, but it would be REALLY nice for this to be a part of the BIOS like it is now a standard in drives (see S.M.A.R.T). Although it could easily be fooled if it didn't update constantly(power off physically instead of ACPI shutdown), and could prolly be rolled back(erased) easily too

linux@tv: 13:13:12 up 65 days, 17:22, 3 users, load average: 0.58, 0.53, 0.49
xp@desktop: \\BEDROOM has been up for: 65 day(s), 17 hour(s), 23 minute(s), 53 second(s)
(last time we had a power outage the UPS's didn't handle )

[AMATX]

I've found ebay to be a good, cheap, generic source for vanilla replacement parts. While it can be possible to find slightly lower prices on egghead(for example), I prefer shopping on ebay. When you end up on ebay, egghead, etc., there's not a big diff in pricing, as the market is pretty competitive on things like hard drives, SSD and memory.

Being in the UK, if you know anyone in the U.S(or Japan, among others)., you might try to line them up to forward purchases to you, in case UK pricing is on the high side.

[ozzymud]

wow, egghead, aint heard that in a while... weren't they scooped up by Amazon way back in 2001?

I use several sources depending on their price mainly and what part it is...

Newegg.com <--- usually my #1 choice, and generally cheapest, has the best speed shipping, and returns/customer service is truly painless (unfotunately, there is no real UK equivalent, Microdirect, Ebuyer, Scan and Morgan Electronics, Novatech come close)

Amazon.com: If i can't get it cheaper or cannot find on newegg, I 1st turn to Amazon.

eBay.com: I use these for new parts on occasion, eBay is mostly for me, for used parts.

dealextreme.com/focalprice.com <--- straight from Hong Kong.. LONG time shipping, quality is a crap shoot, but for some items they are priceless (almost literally), I get my CF to IDE adaptors I use in OLD hardware for like $2, similar items elsewhere run around $10 (I don't know if I would gamble on parts from dealextreme/focalprice that cost over $20, maybe, but it IS a gamble)

WalMart.com: (Asda in UK??) yea, I know, HIGH TECH place here, but I was able to get a Samsung external CD writer for cheaper then anywhere else just recently

Maybe components are just cheaper in the US compared to the UK?

That pretty much seems to sum it up though, and Honk Kong is cheaper then the US (thus places like dealextreme.com )


EDIT: example of recent motherboard purchase:

Buy.com: $96.24 (£58.94)
Newegg: $98.99 (£60.62) (here i would pay the extra $2, never really liked buy.com)
Amazon: $99.99 (£61.23)

then the UK sellers.. GEESE! yall guys get RIPPED!
Novatech: $145.28 (£88.98)
eBuyer: $142.31 (£87.16)
microdirect: not found

Would definately be valuable to have a buddy in the US to privately send stuff to ya