Still Impressive. Five Years Later.
Five years after purchase is a very different test from five days after purchase.
We went back to BlackBook owners to find out what happened once the specifications, benchmarks and launch reviews had long been forgotten. We run the survey every year. This is what year five looks like.
What Five Years Revealed
We ask the same question every year: are you still using your Venom BlackBook? Here is what owners told us five years after purchase.
98.1%
were still using their BlackBook.
This was the result we cared about most. A computer can win a benchmark and still turn slow, unreliable or uneconomic long before five years. Continued use tells us what a spec sheet cannot: owners still found the machine good enough to keep in their working life.
93.3%
said it was the best PC they had ever owned.
Not the best Venom — the best PC, measured against everything else they had used before and since.
95%
would have difficulty considering anything other than a Venom.
Five years in, most owners had already decided what their next machine would be.
88%
had never needed support.
Most five-year owners never contacted us at all. The machine simply worked. What about the other 12%? We answer that further down.
What Owners Actually Said
These are not launch-day impressions. They are owners years into living with the machine.
“I purchased it because it was the best high-end portable built with the best configuration. It kept going, and it is still going.”
— Detective Snr Sergeant, NSW Police Force
“It has never missed a beat — the most reliable PC I have ever owned.”
— Field Engineer, Quantitative
“Five years on and I have never needed support. It works like the day I bought it.”
— Director, Suchlowe Contracting
“This is my second Venom — and the first served me well for seven years.”
— Philippa M., VIC
“It has been completely reliable and a pleasure to use. The build quality is exceptional.”
— Ric
“Best laptop I have ever owned. Very fast, high quality, and excellent support.”
— Julia E.
“Outperformed similar laptops owned by my friends — exceptional speed, seamless multitasking.”
— David G., VIC
“This is the best laptop I’ve owned. The quality and speed are fantastic.”
— Tim, VIC
5.0 average from 51 owner reviews published on ProductReview.com.au. Figures current at last check.
More independent reviews, awards and long-term tests: Venom BlackBook Reviews.
Five Years Tests Different Things.
Day one measures speed. Five years measures everything a benchmark never sees.
Cooling.
Years of thermal cycling and dust. A cooling system with real headroom keeps performing; one designed only to survive a launch-day benchmark does not.
Hinges and chassis.
Thousands of open-and-close cycles and daily transport. An alloy body earns its keep — one reviewer put ours through six months on the road across Poland, Moscow and back and found “not a single scratch”.
Battery.
A battery is a consumable. In a BlackBook it is serviced and replaced — not a reason to replace the whole computer. We don’t glue them in.
Storage and memory.
Workloads grow over five years. Serviceable, upgradeable drives and memory let the machine grow with them instead of falling behind.
Supportability.
A computer is only useful long term if the parts, the recovery media and real technical help are still there when you finally need them.
Inside a BlackBook S-Pro 14: twin fans and dual heatpipes for real thermal headroom, a replaceable M.2 SSD, serviceable memory and a battery that is not glued in.
Longevity Is Engineered, Not Accidental.
That result isn’t luck. It is the outcome of decisions made before the machine is even costed:
— Thermal headroom, rather than designing around a momentary benchmark peak
— Replaceable SSD and storage
— Replaceable memory, where the model permits
— A serviceable battery architecture — not glued in
— External recovery media in the box
— Real support after the sale
— A refusal to make the whole machine disposable because one component has aged
If a component was the best available five years ago, it is usually still very good five years later. We choose the best parts, then we make them serviceable. That is why a well-loved BlackBook is still a genuinely good computer half a decade on.
The reviewers noticed the same thing at the time: “slim, yet sturdy, and remarkably versatile thanks to a replaceable battery and upgradeable SSD.”
— PC & Tech Authority, long-term review
And When Support Was Needed?
Most five-year owners told us they had never needed support. Among the 12% who did, 94% said they were very happy with the help they received.
Support at Venom escalates in order — a help-desk ticket, an assigned specialist, written steps, a phone call, approved remote access, and, when necessary, no-cost courier pickup, repair and return. It is built to solve the problem, not to record the ticket.
Five Years Doesn’t Have To Be The End.
Some owners keep using their BlackBook. Some pass it down. Some upgrade it. And some are ready for the next one.
A working BlackBook up to seven years old can re-enter the Venom Value Cycle — serviced, refurbished, and given another working life with another owner. Eligible owners can trade one in after buying a new equivalent model, and we pay them directly, 30 days after the new machine arrives, so their data moves across on their own schedule.
Anyone can offer a trade-in on a one-to-three-year-old machine. Doing it on a five-to-seven-year-old one is, as far as we know, a world first. Our customers become our future suppliers.
Five Years Later, The Idea Hasn’t Changed.
The same thinking that kept a 2020, 2017 and even a 2013 BlackBook in service is in every machine we build today.
New Release BlackBook S-Pro 14 Wraith G10 — the 14-inch SpeedBook.
New Release BlackBook S-Pro 15 Wraith G10 — the 15-inch SpeedBook.
Meet the full BlackBook family →