In case you’ve acquired a pc as a present or want to purchase a used or discounted mannequin, then you could be questioning the right way to inform how previous your laptop is.
Whereas it’s not at all times a exact or simple course of, it’s doable to get a good suggestion of how previous your Home windows laptop is by making use of just a few tips.
Why Your Laptop’s Age Issues
There are various the reason why you’d wish to know what 12 months a pc was made or what technology of laptop know-how it belongs to:
- Figuring out if a pc remains to be inside guarantee.
- Checking whether or not what a vendor says about a pc’s age is true.
- Figuring out whether or not a pc remains to be upgradeable.
Laptop know-how strikes so rapidly that, though a pc may nonetheless be in good working order, its options and efficiency might not be any good for typical jobs at this time.
When Is a Laptop Too Previous?
It is a query we get loads from readers who both wish to purchase an older laptop for a member of the family or wish to know if they need to substitute an current laptop.
The reply is “it relies upon’, since what the pc is used for determines if it has sufficient efficiency on provide. If the pc nonetheless meets or exceeds the minimal necessities for the functions it’s worthwhile to run, then there’s no purpose to interchange it. Given how highly effective computer systems from even ten years in the past nonetheless are, when you solely must do primary internet looking and productiveness, they’re most likely nonetheless advantageous.
A a lot larger challenge is software program help. Microsoft Home windows is the most well-liked working system on the earth, however Home windows 11 doesn’t help all however (on the time of writing) the latest CPU generations. Home windows 10’s end-of-life date is 14 October 2025, and when you want Home windows previous this date, you’ll want a pc that may run Home windows 11 or later. You possibly can’t dangle on to previous variations like Home windows Vista or 7 since these don’t get updates, particularly safety updates.
Suppose you don’t want the Home windows OS. Particularly, you’ll be able to at all times set up one of many many great distributions of Linux, which is completely able to being a daily-driver working system for anybody.
1. Test the Field the Laptop Got here In
If the pc’s authentic packaging remains to be round or the documentation that got here with it, there’s a superb likelihood the manufacturing date is stamped someplace on the packaging or within the handbook. That is often solely a trick that applies to laptops, since even prebuilt desktop techniques are usually assembled from off-the-shelf parts, every with their particular person date.
2. Test the Serial Quantity Sticker
Even when you’ve lengthy thrown away the pc’s field, you most likely haven’t eliminated the serial quantity sticker. In lots of instances, the manufacturing date can be plainly said on these stickers. Even when it isn’t obvious, the manufacturing date is typically encoded within the serial quantity. You will have to search for if so utilizing an online search in order that you understand how to interpret any further info encoded within the serial quantity.
3. Test the Inside the Laptop Case
When you have a desktop laptop with an easily-removable facet panel, you may very well discover the pc’s manufacturing date printed on a label contained in the system. It’s also possible to verify the motherboard itself for a producing date, though in fact this solely tells you the age of the motherboard itself. Nonetheless, until the pc has been upgraded extensively, the motherboard’s date of manufacture needs to be near the common age of the pc itself.
The identical goes for nearly any element, so when you really feel it’s worthwhile to you’ll be able to verify for date stamps on each different element too. Though within the case of the CPU, it’s not value eradicating the heatsink (and warmth paste) to see a date, as a result of you’ll be able to merely infer it from the mannequin of CPU.
When you have a laptop computer with a detachable backside panel, you may additionally see this info printed on the mainboard in lots of instances, but it surely’s often not essential because the date needs to be indicated elsewhere.
4. Test the BIOS Date With Sysinfo
One other good indicator of how previous a pc is is the age of the motherboard’s firmware. This was known as the BIOS (Primary Enter Output System) on older computer systems, however on fashionable computer systems, this has been changed with UEFI (Unified Extensible Firmware Interface).
There’s often a particular key that you need to press when the pc boots as much as entry this, however when you’re operating Home windows, it’s simpler to make use of the System Info app as a substitute.
Press the Begin Button to open the Begin Menu and sort System Info (systeminfo.exe) into Home windows Search, then choose it when it comes up within the outcomes.
Choose System Abstract within the left-hand pane, then search for BIOS Model/Date, and also you’ll see a date listed there.
Nevertheless, that is an imperfect answer as a result of it reveals the date of the newest firmware replace, not the date the pc was made. So if it’s acquired a latest replace, this could possibly be a little bit deceptive.
5. Use the Command Immediate to Test the Microsoft Home windows Authentic Set up Date
You need to use the Command Immediate (CMD.exe) or Home windows PowerShell to verify the date your Home windows system was put in. Merely open the Begin Menu from the Taskbar and sort “Command Immediate,” and run this system. Alternatively, Press Win + R, sort “cmd” and press Enter.
In Command Immediate, sort systeminfo | discover /i “set up date” and the set up date can be displayed.
As with the BIOS date technique, all this tells you is when the present copy of Home windows was put in. If anybody reinstalled Home windows or upgraded to a more recent model, the date will replicate that reasonably than the age of the pc itself. Nonetheless, loads of individuals by no means improve to a more recent model of Home windows or reinstall their working techniques, so it’s nonetheless a helpful trick to have.
6. Test the “Date Modified” or “Created” Attribute of the Home windows Folder
In case you aren’t comfy messing round within the Command Immediate, you may get comparable info by inspecting the attributes of the Home windows set up folder.
Open File Explorer (Win + E is a helpful shortcut for this) and navigate to the C drive the place you’ll discover the Home windows folder. If the Home windows folder isn’t there, it signifies that whoever put in that duplicate of Home windows used a customized location, so that you’ll must seek for it.
Proper-click on the Home windows folder and select Properties.
Underneath the Normal tab, you’ll both discover a “Date Modified” part or a “Created” part, relying on the model of Home windows.
It will inform you when the folder was made. Assuming the pc’s clock was correct at the moment, this tells you when Home windows was put in.
7. Test the CPU Mannequin
The CPU (Central Processing Unit) of a pc is vital to determining how previous a pc is. The CPU is the primary element that the remainder of the pc is often constructed round. So it’s a superb indicator of how previous a pc is. Even when the opposite element specs are newer, the CPU limits the utmost efficiency of core laptop processes.
The simplest strategy to see your CPU is to open the Job Supervisor in Home windows and verify underneath the Efficiency tab for the CPU part. You’ll see your CPU mannequin as listed right here.
Then you’ll be able to take that mannequin quantity, put it right into a search field of a website like Google or on the producer’s web site and discover out when it was first produced, which will provide you with a good suggestion of the pc’s technological technology.
8. Checking the Age of Particular person Elements
In case you’re confronted with a desktop system that’s not a manufacturing facility pre-built machine, it may be exhausting to inform the age of your laptop. In any case, some parts could also be a lot newer than others. Corporations like Dell additionally promote refurbished computer systems the place solely parts that haven’t handed a top quality check make it into the construct. So there could possibly be a mixture of previous and new stuff.
This is usually a downside as a result of parts like energy provides and mechanical exhausting drives are way more prone to fail the older they get since they’ve transferring elements that put on out.
On this case, it’s worthwhile to examine every particular person element for its serial quantity or launch date info.
What About Macs?
Chances are you’ll be questioning the right way to inform the age of an Apple Mac operating macOS. The excellent news is that we will say it to you in only a sentence or two. Merely click on the Apple button on the top-left nook and choose About This Mac. The mannequin 12 months of your laptop can be written proper on the prime, simple!
