I'm surprised you've managed to hold onto it for so long!
You must not be abusing your systems like me (don't worry- just personal
systems or test/sample models @ work; generally for testing hardware)
I had a Lenovo T43p which I just destroyed. I had gotten it with a 3 year
warranty through a value added reseller who supported GNU/Linux. The hardware
warranty was through Lenovo still. The warranty part wasn't option unless I
bought it direct. Anyway- when it expired I had used the warranty once on the
motherboard and figured for $80 I'd get another 2 years warranty (so 5 year
total). I knew it would be a problem again because I was dissassembly the
system on a weekly (if not more often) basis and messing with the
keyboard/hard drive/etc. I figured it would save me money when ports became
an issue (keyboards and things like that are not designed to be removed on a
daily basis; lol). Turns out getting 2 more years was a mistake. The 2nd time
it went in during the 3-5 year period I got it back with a refurbished
motherboard. How do I know it was refurbished? It didn't work right. Called
them up- and yep- they didn't have new parts for it any more. That was the
end of that laptop. I did send it in one last time. Not sure if it really
works properly today. I still have it. I never ended up using it for any
significant time after that third motherboard replacement. Switched to using
one of our models @ ThinkPenguin (recently founded).
I did like that system. I have had a few systems I liked. One of them is the
Emperor Penguin which which we currently sell @ ThinkPenguin. Probably the
best notebook ever in terms of GNU/Linux support and comfort. I switched to
it from an older model we sold. Had used that for 3-4 years and then my abuse
of it took its toll.
I also liked the Lenovo T43p. Good quality. Never was too happy with it
though. My own fault. At the time I wasn't yet aware of just how much a
problem non-free software was and this model was heavily dependent on it. It
did finally work "good enough" although it took many many many years. .. and
yea- did I said I bought this from a company which "supported Linux"? A
little insignt on where ThinkPenguin came from. Years of buying "Linux
laptops" and nothing satisfactory. Then I realized why!
I liked one of the laptops from Linux Certified although it was mostly
conincidence that it was not hostile to GNU/Linux. It was a very low quality
system though. I had it a little over a year (like 13 months maybe) and was
why I ended up with a Lenovo from a valued added reseller the next time
around.
Then I had a Sony I liked too. My first ever laptop. Might be the best laptop
I have ever owned. From a design stand point. I've never seen another model
like it and the only real reason it beats everything is that when you opened
it the back tilted up so your keyboard was on an agle. Plus your lap didn't
get hot as a result. This had other issues with GNU/Linux although I still
used that for at least a year once I got it working. It is much cooler than
this picture makes it look. Despite it being thick for todays standards this
was actually a really thin laptop in 2000 too. Under 2" (just 1.77").
Here is the picture of the sony:
I'd love to see another laptop design with the tilt feature. The Emperor
Penguin comes close actually. With the high capacity batter it tilts although
the heat dispersion isn't there. Not that this unit gets anything more than a
little warm. Actually it stays very cool compared to most other laptops.
