How long is the ideal service of a laptop?

My colleagues say that a computer has only 2 years of life as a good computer and after that 2 years, obsolescence sets in. That means newer models of hardware and new software can make the computer passe. Our home desktop is more than 6 years old and we feel it's antiquated already. My HP laptop is more than 2 years old now and some of my colleagues (having the same age with my laptop) are already requesting for a new issue. I'm also thinking of doing the same.

How long should a laptop be replaced by a newer model?

 

That's bunk. I've had laptops work for 8 to 10 years. It's how well you take care of them and how much you upgrade them more than anything else. Most of the limitations implemented can be upgraded past or have been overcome in the past by fixing other bottlenecks to level out the performance, but the manufacturers and industry as a whole are now trying to make it a 2 year thing for the masses so that they can profit from it and not have anyone's newer systems last longer than 3 or 4 years at most. It's sad.

A laptop should only be replaced if it malfunctions, or it can't perform anymore. Usually, you can save money by buying a laptop early on that has the features you'll need to upgrade to later (i.e: being able to upgrade to more ram, having things physically accessible to upgrade the hard drive or replace the screen without having to take a bunch of things apart, and other features that make life easier and laptop longevity longer).

It saddens me that we now live in a throw-away society that just pitches perfectly good technology into the trash when a marketing fad or trend tells them to.

 

Since I am technically a dummy, that is what I thought too, 2 years max for the service! Nowadays though, I am seriously thinking about buying that extra service insurance for anything related to technology. My only problem is how to afford that extra expenses, but it would give me a peace of mind for a while!

 

It really depends on what you do with your laptop. If all you do is some basic computing such as checking email, using web browser, Word processing, spreadsheet in Excel, Powerpoint stuff, and maybe watching some videos or listening to musics, plus some light gaming then a high end laptop can definitely last you for more than just 2 years.

In fact when I bought my Dell Vostro 1500 in 2008, I paid $1,100 USD for it. It had a Nvidia 8600GT, Intel Core 2 Duo T7500 @ 2.2GHZ with 4MB L2 cache and 2GB RAM. The thing was used in heavy gaming at LAN parties, as well as being a tool for my school and work after my graduation. It was still kicking until last fall. When I turned it on, I could hear the boot sound, yet the screen stays dark. That was after 7 years of heavy use ! Although I stopped heavy gaming a while back, it still served me well in everything else.

Unless you will always play the latest, most demanding video games, your laptop will not be outdated in 2 years. There is no need for upgrading or replacement if all your needs are met. You can continue to use the laptop until it stop working. Sometimes a little upgrade might put some new life into your old laptop. As the matter after about 3~4 years use, I had upgraded my Vostro to 4GB RAM and gave it a SSD. Totally worth it!

@ IBMPC8088,
You do not have to throw it away to the trash. Some computer parts can still be sold for $$ on ebay. Old, but still functional laptops can be donated or sold.

 

Yeah, that's not true at all. What is true is that if you have a desktop and you have the latest parts, expect the parts to be "outdated" in a year or so. That doesn't mean at all that the desktop isn't good anymore, it just means that companies release new parts all the time.

What also matters more than other things is simple maintenance. If you have a desktop, but you check/clean it out every month or two, and you make sure not to overburden it for too long (meaning you don't play an extensive game for 12 hours straight for a week) then you won't have any issues at all for years to come.

Chances are, assuming you clean the desktop, the first thing to fail will be the hard drive, which is also the easiest thing to replace.

In terms of laptop, it's still similar in that if you take care of it (don't let it over heat too often, cool it down when it does, don't keep it on your lap or on a carpet) and you clean the fans every once in a while (though this is much trickier with a laptop) then it will last you a long, looong time.

I use 10, 12 year old laptops all the time, all I do is replace the hard drive when it fails, and I'm good to go.

 

I don't think there's a set time for to it. Though the technology gets better and better, we're at a point now where even if you have a computer that is a 2 or 4 years old, the chances are that it's still a pretty impressive machine that can effectively do what you want it to do. Most computers have been pretty impressive in terms of video playback and speed for years now. Of course, they'll continue to get better. But as long as you keep your computer virus free and take care of it physically it can last a lot longer than two years.