Geek Stuff

I decided for this post to create a general list for the expected life of certain computer parts. Keep in mind that parts can go bad at any time, just like with human beings, death is unexpected in most cases. Also, take into consideration that every 6 to 12 months brand new parts come out on the market.

So let’s begin (the following is if you take as best care of the machine as possible. Time may vary depending on care):

Computers:

Desktop:

1-Hard Drives: 2-8 years. Life is unexpected.
2-Power Supplies: t>=10 depending on how many power peaks the computer experiences.
3-Motherboards:7-10 years. Slowness starts to show around 6 years.
4-Memory: 2-4 years.
5-Overall: 10 years

Laptop:

1-Hard Drives: 2-8 years. Life is unexpected.
2-Power Supplies: t>=10 depending on how many power peaks the computer experiences.
3-Motherboards:7-10 years. Slowness starts to show around 6 years.
4-Memory: 2-4 years.
5-Overall: 10 years

VCR’s/DVD’s: 8-13 years. Better brands like Panasonic, Sony, Toshiba, and Magnavox tend to last longer.

Blueray: 7 years

Printers: 5 years

Batteries: 2 years. Remember to keep new batteries in the fridge to preserve the charge.

CD’s/DVD’s: 5 years if taken care of. Avoid scratches, but once it gets burned or water damage or dents, it’s done.

External Hard Drives: 5 years because external devices cause more heat and burning up the hard drive sooner than internal.

Flash Drives: If taken care of, they can last a life time, but they end up getting lost, broken, or getting filled.

TIPS: KEEP THE FLASH DRIVE ON A KEYCHAIN OR RING AROUND YOUR NECK. MAKE IT AN ANNUAL ROUTINE TO CLEAR OUT OLD AND UNWANTED FILES. NO, VIRUSES CAN’T AFFECT FLASH DRIVES.

Televisions: As long as they are taken care of and you don’t mind having the newest technology, they can last about 18-20 years, depending on how much power peaks it experiences. I suggest considering a new television at least every 8 years.

SIDE NOTE: POWER PEAKS TEND TO FRY THE MOTHERBOARDS IN DEVICES. IT ALSO FRIES THE POWER MECHANISM IN DEVICES. SURGE PROTECTORS DON’T DO MUCH OTHER THAN GIVING YOU MORE OUTLETS AND BATTERY BACKUPS TEND TO COST “SOME MONEY”.

The next section deals with servers. Before I give you the list, I would like to mention a few things. Servers tend to stay on for a long period of time, causing more heat and more use. Also, depending on what software you are running, what services you have, how many databases you are running, your bandwidth, and how many visitors you get, the life time tends to be a little bit lower.

Servers:

1-Hard Drives: 5-6 years. They tend to heat up since the server is always on or they get filled up with media content.

2-Motherboards: 8 years because they end up doing large amount of servers if you have a low quality of servers.

3-Memory: 2-4 years. You want to make sure you keep your memory maxed out with all modules working.

4-Power Supplies: 10 years depending on power peaks.

Final thoughts: Keep in mind that these are just my estimates considering the imperfections of technology and un-avoided natural disasters. Parts can last a lifetime if taken care of and not disasters occur, but the devices may not hold up to the current technologies (dependency and speed). Keep in mind that changing parts is not done just because of broken parts, but because parts get outdated. For example, remember when you would call the operator and then they would connect you to the call? We don’t do that anymore. Or records. Technology gets outdated frequently.

Don’t forget the 3 R’s: 1-Reset 2-Reboot 3-Restore.

updated: 11-15-2011

Windows Spanish character codes:

Upper Vowels
Vwl Code
Á ALT+0193
É ALT+0201
Í ALT+0205
Ó ALT+0211
Ú ALT+0218
Ñ ALT+0209
Ü ALT+0220

Lower Vowels
Vwl Code
á ALT+0225
é ALT+0233
í ALT+0237
ó ALT+0243
ú ALT+0250
ñ ALT+0241
ü ALT+0252

Other Symbols
Sym Code
¿ ALT+0191
¡ ALT+0161
º ALT+0186 (Masculine Ordinal)
ª ALT+0170 (Feminine Ordinal)
« ALT+0171 (Left Angle Quote)
» ALT+0187 (Right Angle Quote)
€ ALT+0128

Thank you for reading!