My oldest notebook (A 1995-model WinBook) is still working just fine. I didn't take an interest in notebooks until the v1.9 standard for EPP was released, but once it was available, I started using notebooks to control things that had to be left running for long periods (> 1000 hours) since they weren't impacted by short-term power outages, hence, didn't have to be powered through a UPS.

I've had a few other notebooks, but aside from having my son take one to college with him, they're all still useable and productive.

I have a couple that are older, i.e. equipped with Windows v3.1x, but still have the EPP v1.9 capabilities. I bought those as "experienced" units and I'm sure they had years of use before I bought them. Hard disks seem to be no problem at all. I even used a couple of old notebook HDD's on "retro" systems running CP/M, as mass storage built right onto the system board. AFAIK, they're still running, too, some 15 years after they were reapplied.

BTW, though I've had a number of hard disks fail over the years, the old 5 MB ST506 that I got in 1978 is still working fine, as are the 8" Shugart HDD's in one of my old CP/M boxes. The drives in my old Netware v3.12 server from the very early '90's all work just fine, too. It seems that, if you treat them right, they'll keep on going for a very long time.

RE