EDIT: Getting a ton of great responses thanks everyone <3 Once this is up for 24 hours or so I’ll make another edit summarizing everyone’s recs for future reference. Keep ‘em coming!

TL;DR Have any recs for non-Apple phones/laptops that have lifespans of at least 5+ years?

Wanted to get everyone’s opinion on want brands/products have worked for them. I’m lightly techy and not afraid to put some effort in, but also don’t want to build everything from scratch. I think Apple’s products are often anti-consumer, anti-privacy, anti-yadda yadda yadda.

At the same time, with both phones and laptops, I’ve found my Apple products to have double or even triple the lifespan of any other brand. I did my research and bought a $1000+ HP laptop with Ryzen7 a little over two years ago, and due to a flaw in the hinge which is now subject to a class action lawsuit, the screen has cracked and it’s mostly unusable. Other purchase haven’t failed quite that dramatically but don’t tend to last as long. On the other hand, my or my partner’s old Macbooks and iPhones are easily seeing 5+ years of use in addition to software updates.

So let me know what’s worked for you!

  • LucyLastic@beehaw.org
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    1 year ago

    Do they last longer? I have an IPhone 3 somewhere that just decided to stop working, yet my HTC with Android 1.2 still works fine.

    Most of what’s held me back from Apple products has been their planned obsolescence, where the OS was no longer supported, which I’ve never had with a PC. I’ve had my cheap second hand laptop for 7 years now and that still works fine with the latest software

    • DrManhattan@lemmy.design
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      1 year ago

      “Planned obsolescence”? Like where the iPhone 7 and on have received 6 to 7 years of software updates?

      • LucyLastic@beehaw.org
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        1 year ago

        I can’t use the iPhone 3 I have in a drawer, even though there’s nothing wrong with it. Meanwhile my HTC that runs Android 1.2 still works with Google maps just fine.

        I was also pissed off when all the OSX software dropped support for single-core Intel processors which rendered some very expensive 2 year old machines at work useless for anything Mac-specific.

        For context, my Dad is still using a PC I built out of parts recovered from a skip in 2008, and it works just fine.

        • DrManhattan@lemmy.design
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          1 year ago

          Well there was no such thing as the “iPhone 3”. There was the iPhone 3G or the iPhone 3GS, but no “iPhone 3”.

          And this doesn’t prove anything lol an iPhone 3G can still connect to a 3G network and make calls and browse the internet.

          • LucyLastic@beehaw.org
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            1 year ago

            Yes, it’s a 3G. In black if minutiae matter to you.

            It doesn’t have maps, and most websites are unsupported even though it’s far newer than the old Android phone.

            • DrManhattan@lemmy.design
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              1 year ago

              So you’re angry that a Google service doesn’t have longevity on an Apple product?

              Your argument makes no sense. Who even cares if these ancient paperweights work? That’s not “planned obsolescence”, that’s just hardware and software getting old.

              • LucyLastic@beehaw.org
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                1 year ago

                Well, I went and looked it up and apparently since the iPhone 4 onwards Apple actually started to get their shit together and started supporting their hardware for more than 3 years … I do find it funny though that an unsupported iPhone can’t connect to the app store at all while even the evil Google’s old apps can still get live data without problems.