Just curious as to how long people expect out of a product before it breaks and not be unhappy having to buy a new one

For me,

TV: 10 Years
DVD Player: 10 Years
Laptop: 5 Years
MP3 Player: 4 Years
Mobile: 4 Years
Games Console: 5 Years

I generally replace all those things before they break, the Sony TV I bought last year has unbelievable picture quality compared to the 5 year old one it replaced.

EDIT - Most, not all.

WE all know today is a throw away society, but to replace any item if it is still working fine is IMO stupid and a waste of money .. if you have the cash to throw away do go right ahead . and contribute to the endless mountain of consumables. throw away needlessly

I buy a new car every 2 or 3 years, the old one isn't worn out so I guess I'm really stupid.

I guess I must be very lucky as all my 'tech' has lasted years until I have finally decided to update them. I always end up giving items away in the end, usually to family.

My Blu-Ray player lasted les than a year.

10 years for a TV I've had 6 in the last 12 years. None of them were broken, I just wanted something bigger / better.

Started with a 28 inch 4:3 CRT, followed by 28 inch 16:9 CRT, 40 inch Rear-projection, 42 inch Plasma, 46 inch HD LCD, and now a 50 inch 3D Plasma.

Modern consumer electronics will likely be scrapped far quicker as they get 'smarter'
Manufacturers won't update smart devices forcing you to either put up with less features or buy a new model every couple years to get the latest things. This has happened in the short time we've had network connected blu ray and smart TVs.

Many 1 year old smart devices won't ever get support for Netflix for example so it's fair to assume this trend will continue as manufacturers want to sell us more and more items, giving less and less support for older models.

As new must have apps (also known as dross) appear it'll only get worse.

You have just bought a new TV - you could have bought a still working used one instead

Oh and FYI nothing I replaced was thrown away - it was either sold or given away to family members.

Yes I think you are, or have more money than you know what to do with.

I buy a 4 year old car, every 10 years. MUCH lower cost of ownership, yet still new enough to be reliable

I get a new Wife, on average, every 10 years........................They were all still working when traded in!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Aye, but you're a tight teuchter.

might not last long.. prefer a new one. if i need one....
i dont throw away a working one, just to buy a newer one.

Where is this place you speak of where wives can be traded in?



Edit - I'm into the 4th decade with my wife so that offsets my technology profligacy.

Best get a try before you buy deal before making the final decision........I just kept getting error messages so decided on a clean break before it turned into something fatal......

1988 - The Portable in the family home
Nineties - The Toshiba Telly here

2000-2009 Tower PC working fine but not compatible with Vista or 7 so I had the hard disc cleared and reformatted and donated tower, CRT, keyboard and mouse to charity
2009-present Dell Laptop doing fine.

DVD Recorder from noughties still working. My general ruleis If it ain't broke, I'm not fussed about upgrading and if it is worth epairing, I get it repaired.

I did this for a while. imo, it worked out very economical.

Unfortunately when my current car got to 3 years old I couldn't find anything better and kept it and now I'm paying fortune in repair bills.

Id say 10 years was reasonable to expect a DECENT tv to last for... maybe not your tesco "logik", of "funai" TV to last... but a good panasonic or sony would hopefully last that long.

Saying that, I did upgrade my 22" tv (LG, lcd, about 3 years old) for a bigger panasonic 32" TV.
But that just means Ive now got a tv for the kitchen too!

I don't really use dvd or blu ray players, but I'd say 5 to 10 years.

Laptop... well, I kept my previous laptop until it because so slow and unstable that I couldn't really put up with it any more.. it didnt make 5 years, more like 3-4... but I managed to trade it in for £150 off a new laptop... (which I was happy with)

Mobile phone, Ive had my nokia 5800 since early 2009... and its still going strong. I will not buy a new one until it breaks.

These electronic companies millions on advertising to make us feel like we cannot possibly live without their latest, "must have" product in our lives..... Personally, I am not having any of it.

I am not a luddite... when something new comes along, that I feel will benefit my life, then yes, I will consider getting a new product... ( i may not jump in straight away though, as I know early adopters often pay more, and can have early, troublesome devices)

In the same time my purchasing has followed almost the same route.
26" CRT 4:3
32" CRT 16:9
44" DLP Rear projector (HD - 16:9)
46" Plasma
60" Plasma smart 3D

Slightly longer time, that's since 1994 so I have kept them for a little longer. The 60" is new.

We've always adopted new technology early.
16:9 when there was no widescreen material just the odd letterbox film
HD before it appeared anywhere
And now 3D, but I think that is a bit of a gimmick and cannot ever see universal adoption with the present technology. We bought this set because of the size. 3D is a bonus and I intend to buy a wireless keyboard to make better use of the smart facility.

I love technology even though I am much older than most.

Unlucky.

I have a 5 year old car that I bought at 3 years old with 70,000 miles, now on 105,000 and not giving any trouble at all. The last one managed 265,000 miles over 10 years and was only sold because the bodywork was looking tatty.


Logik yes, but not much wrong with Funai ... they are a large Japanese company, and the reliability, despite the price, is generally pretty good. Same goes for Orion.

You're not using it enough

I usually don't replace things until there are signs of malfunction and then I decide on how old the item is and how likely it is to go wrong again. Sometimes though when things go wrong I start looking around at what else is available and even if I can repair the faulty item I've already decided to move on.

Car is 10 years old (bought it at 8 months old) - no plans to change.
TV is 5 years old - starting to malfunction (I can repair to get another few years but will probably upgrade to a more modern set)
MP3 - had an iRiver H340 with bad sectors on the hard drive. Instead of replacing the hard drive I bought a new Cowon X7
PVR - Topfield TF5800 - 6 years old and still going strong after replacing capacitors and upgrading hard drive. No plans to change
Computer - 8 years old and still working OK but slow. Will upgrade soon.
Oven - upgraded just to get a better one.

A mixture of having to change and wanting to change.

Sorry, you are misinformed - Funai and Orion are two of the companies who make the crap for Logik, Matsui etc.