If you accidentally drop your laptop while carrying it to the table or spill some hot coffee on the keyboard, you may blame your bad luck. However, some issues simply happen as a laptop ages. Sometimes, they can be fixed, but the repair costs can burn a hole in your pocket and the solution is not long-term. In these cases, it’s wise to sell your old laptop at the best possible price and use the cash to finance an advanced laptop.
How to know when your laptop has come of age? Here are 5 telltale signs.
1. The Laptop Hangs a Lot
Older laptops usually come with hard disk drives which perform slowly as compared to solid state drives. If your device takes minutes to boot up or slows down when you run more than 2 programs on it, it’s a major red flag. Slow performance is also caused by overloaded hard drives or insufficient RAM.
The performance of an old laptop that still runs on a traditional HDD is expected to deteriorate over time. if the device is too slow, it can affect your productivity considerably. This is a good time to sell your old laptop.
2. The Laptop Chassis Turns into a Furnace
Laptops have an inbuilt ventilation system to cool them down. Over time, the fans usually collect debris and dust or may wear out. Then it can be more difficult for your laptop to remain cool. Overheating can damage other parts and the device itself or lead to stability issues, causing the system to crash randomly.
If your laptop gets overheated, get the cooling fans cleaned or replaced. But if it’s over 3 years old and faces overheating problems, better sell your old laptop before it fails.
3. The Battery Turns Flat
Every time a battery is charged, its maximum capacity goes down. Over time, the battery would last for fewer and yet fewer hours. After a point, you may need to keep your laptop constantly plugged in to run it.
Sometimes, you can solve the issue by replacing the battery. However, this can be hard since certain batteries aren’t easily available. Considering usual repair costs, it may be smarter to simply sell your old laptop than increase your power bills every day.
4. The Software Goes Outdated
Old versions of operating systems such as macOS and Windows finally stop getting security updates. This makes your laptop more vulnerable to cyber threats like malware. The escalation of the WannaCry ransomware, for instance, was partly supported by millions sticking to Windows XP. As of July 2022, 11.99% of computers were still running Windows 7 although it lost support in 2020. These computers become increasingly prone to cyberattacks over time since security patches are no longer produced for them.
Likewise, as software developers deploy updates, older software versions will cease to get support. If you run an outdated version of a program that doesn’t get regular security patches anymore, cyber criminals can easily attack the system. Then it’s better to sell your old laptop than attempt to upgrade the current system.
5. The Hardware is Malfunctioning
This can again hint at your device getting really old. For instance, the display may have cracks, fail to produce the right colours, or show pixel damage. The keyboard or touchpad may become faulty and lower your productivity. If you use an external keyboard or display, the portability of the laptop would reduce. Fixing these issues can be costly. If the device is beyond repair, it’s best to sell your old laptop.
North Ladder is a leading online platform to sell secondhand laptops at the best price for instant cash. Over 200 partner Emirati dealers compete for the devices in an auction to ensure that the highest price bid wins.