The short answer to that question is, no they don't. Of cours many kids think they do and they might not be basing their need just on peer pressure. They genuinely may think they need a newlaptop because it's running slow ... over the last year it has turned from a lightning fast dream machine into something that has to spend time thinking about every processing task before it actually performs the work.
But that is not a sign that the laptop needs to be replaced. Instead it's a sign that the laptop needs a little maintenance to get it back into the shape it was when if was first delivered.
You see, kids in particular are likely to download all sorts of software that they can try before they buy. They're also likely to download smilies, music and other freebies and most of that comes from places that are likely to deliver viruses and trojans at the same time.
All that junk can cause any computer, not just laptops, to run slow as the processor labors through a huge number of conflicting commands and tries to satisfy every one of them.
Cleaning all that rubbish out can, and almost always, does result in an instant increase in speed. Unfortunately cleaning it out is not as simple as attacking the laptop with a broom and removing individual pieces of bad software and spyware can be impossible.
So the answer is what computer technicians call a format and reload and, unless you know what you are doing, it is a job for a computer technician. When the technician formats a laptop all he does is completely wipe the hard drive clean.
Every program on the hard drive is deleted and all that is left is a completely blank hard drive. All the rubbish has been removed.
Then he reloads the laptop with the programs that were orginally on the laptop when it was first delivered. The cost of a format and reload will vary depending on where you are living and here where I live it can cost under $100.00. That's a whole lot less than the cost of a new laptop.
Before I go just let me share with you the story of a very basic laptop that belongs to one of our daughters. We bought it for her at auction because she needed it for her University studies. It was already two years old at that point.
That was over five years ago and her laptop is still going strong. Laptops do not have to be replaced every year if you spend a little time on some maintenance now and again.
