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Today, even older 10 years old laptops are quite good at doing usual things like checking emails, browsing the web, watching a video or doing things like that on the go. Even coding is generally doable (unless your project is extremely massive). It gets the job done, even if it's not as fast as recent laptop (which is in turn not as fast as a recent desktop). Also, buying these things can make a lot of sense for some people. For example, in my case, I'm a big fan of cheap laptop (usually secondhand thinkpad) + decent desktop. On one hand a decent desktop is much faster than almost any laptops available (and the few laptops that are faster have issues like heat, low battery life and being heavy). On the other, a small Thinkpad (ex: x250) is a good enough compromise when on the go.
Also, as it's quite cheap (if secondhand), so it's not dramatic if it gets damaged which is always more likely for mobile objects.
A few years back, I slipped on a patch of ice, felt on my old x61, and completely broke the screen, I just bought another x61 and swapped the disk and it only set me back 130 euros which not as bad as breaking a brand new macbook pro in the same manner for example. So, yes, in the end, it's worthwhile to maintain them and do things like changing the battery or replacing faulty components. And the after market for this things is quite developed, you can pretty much find any components on ebay or other web sites (I just did it last week with a broken DC jack replacement on an x230). Combine with the fact these are some of the easiest laptops to disassemble, it makes them remarkably serviceable. |