How long is the lifespan of a laptop?

I have heard rumors that laptops are designed for 5 years of usage and after that they simply break. Like more more and more issues show up and eventually it's cheaper to buy a new one rather than fix that laptop.

I have been using my current Dell laptop for a little more than 3 years. During this time I have had to change the motherboard and the faulty LCD screen. Luckily this model had 3 year warranty, so I didn't have to pay for anything.

I don't feel that my laptop is outdated yet as I don't really play games on it, but I have this anxiety that my laptop could 'kick the bucket' any time soon. For that reason I have already started to copy all of my important files to a cloud and I'm slowly saving money for a new laptop.

Am I worried for no reason or is there some truth behind this statement that laptops are intentionally made to last 3-5 years?

 

Your could just be unlucky with any electrical equipment.

There's no set time, some of my old laptops I've sold to friends are still going
eight year on. Renewing a laptop will give many benefits over old machines.

Power saving comes to mind. Software is written in a sloppy way these days
needing more and more resources both in computing power and harddrive space.

You pays your money and you take your chance.

 

I think it greatly depends on how well you take care of your machine and clean it. If you have constant upkeep and updates you should be able to get your moneys worth from your computer. That is if you know what you are doing.

 

I believe this is the case as my HP laptop when hit 5 years old, it started to fall apart. I had to take it in for service, and was able to run it for another year, then the sound system went, the fan went, the keyboard fall apart. I ended up bought another HP laptop, but this one lasted only 2 years and now it is over heat and everything just crawling slower than a turtle.

 

I agree it depends on how well you take care of it. My sister has an LG she's been using for more than 7 years now and it's working just fine, although it almost died once but it was just malware and I reinstalled windows for her and now it's still working great. Not sure how true this 5 year rule is.

 

I took care of my HP laptop, I don't download music, games, or movies and only the necessary things that websites require nowadays, such as flash player, reader and java. I always clean out my laptop once a week but nothing can rectify my current HP. The only thing left for me to do is to find a reputable repair shop for them to look it over. I am sure it will cost an arm and a leg so I have to save my money now and call around town.

 

Hi bro,
The laptop life is all depends on the user, and how many person is using it, I've been using my HP 625 laptop since 4 years exactly, and it still works fine, the only thing destroyed is the CD Reader, and by the way I'm using it 12/24 hours !!

so you should just take care of it, clean it from while to while, and keep it in safe places ! and it should works fine for at least 5 years !

 

Mines lasted for 3 years with no hitches whatsoever, it's gone through windows 8, 8.1 and now 10 with no issues. You must be unlucky or have a bad laptop model. As far as I'm aware laptops can last as long as they are looked after (not technically forever but you know what I mean).

 

I agree that it depends on how you treat it, but also, what you start with. If you anticipate having the laptop for years, buy it with the top specs, as much RAM and the best processor available, with plans to expand in the future. As with anything, you'll probably have to do some maintenance such as replacing the battery, adapter, etc., but that could save you a lot of money in the long term.

If I can resurrect mine, I'll still be happy with it, and won't plan to replace it anytime soon. It's still working great physically, now that I've switched out the adapter, and it could use a new battery, but I'm not going to invest in that until I know I can bring it back to life.

 

My old Toshiba laptop has been with me for 7 years, but yes, it started overheating and 2 out of 3 USB ports got broken.... so in the end it was cheaper to just get a new laptop. So I did last year, because I really needed it Some laptops last more than others, right now my old 7 year old laptop has behaved well, I no longer use it on a daily basis... only for emergencies, but I am guessing it's going to drop dead soon (I've seen some signs). I'm not worried though, I have the newest one So if I can use this one for at least other 6 or 7 years I'll be very happy and will not think twice before buying a new one.

 

It depends on how well you take care of it. But even then I think there's still a possibility of it going out. I'm worried too because I love my computer and hope to have it for a long time. You'd think in the year almost 2016, they'd be able to make computers that would last a long time.

 

@thess Sometimes the brand does matter, a friend of mine who fixes laptops and computers recommended me Toshiba, because he said those computers were for rough use, and they indeed are. That is why I haven't dared to try other laptops, since Toshiba has proved to be a really trustworthy brand.

 

I'm thinking of buying a laptop too, so everything posted here helps. I tend to use computers 7 days a week and I can stay on it for over 3 hours at a time! I have work to do and write books so a dependable laptop that can do a lot like safe pic things, as well as texting documents and books is important for a book to be written. I have learned a lot at this topic-thanks!

 

A laptop can physically last as long as 10 years or more and work pretty well with the OS it was originally designed to work with as long as preventative maintenance and a few hardware (e.g. hard drive and memory) upgrade measures are implemented. However a ten year old laptop will not perform well with the newer applications that are designed to demand more more resources like your memory, cpu etc. So a machine can physically last as long as ten years, however within a 3 to 5 years span it will inevitably perform slower due to its old hardware not being able to handle newer applications.

 

A laptop on average does last about 5 years. There are two main factors that play into the lifespan of the laptop. First, the quality of the parts in the laptop. Second, how well one takes care of the laptop. Taking care of the laptop also refers to how often we take it in to have it maintained. Like a car needs a yearly service, our laptops also need to be serviced and maintained on a regular basis to increase its longevity. Personally, my laptops last about three years. However, I am not very good in taking care of my laptops and therefore that might be a factor in a lower lifespan for my laptops.

 

Some laptop problems can be related to the cmos battery failing after five or so years
most can be replaced.

 

It obviously depends on how you handle you laptop and how much use it gets. I had an HP that ran for 5 years. It currently still works but it is slow and heavy that I decided to upgrade to another one. I went to business school where they replaced our laptop after two years. The laptops we got seemed to die right before the two year mark.
My friend has a MAC that is going on 7 years. I would say the more you take care of it (hardware and software wise) the longer it will last. Also, I noticed a lot of times the battery on laptops die within a year or two. Make sure you aren't overcharging your laptop or leaving it plugged in for long periods of time.