How long should a laptop last?

[BorrowedThyme]

I bought an expensive, high spec laptop to teach in lock down. Now the charging is intermittent, the screen is splitting away from its frame, and the mouse keeps freezing.

AIBU to think something that cost £600 should last longer than 3 and a half years?

My Macbook from is 9 years old and still fast and reliable. Charges fine, screen is good and the battery still lasts a good few hours.
Not at all cheap, but it has lasted so well

I will get another when it breaks

Yeah, I was debating if I should say that!

Levono ThinkPads are high end, but not really the rest of the range.

The mouse isn't part of the laptop. Ifby mouse you meant tracking pad, maybe you could extend the life with a external mouse?

RE: the frame. No real answer. But it sounds like you have actively been moving it around (unlike most laptops - I know they are meant to be portable).

Maybe just limp along with it until it breaks? As the other person said £600 is more lower mid range.

I quite like the Lenovo ThinkPad range, they are quality. Can you get you school to buy?

A mac, I regularly get 5 years out of them. (self, kids, etc -- we've had a lot and they go 5 years without complaint). Everything else, 1-2 years tops. They start crashing, won't hold a charge, et.

I think my last one lasted 3 years. My current one is 3 and a half and still going fairly strong though! I think 3 years is the minimum I'd expect it to last

Mine tend to last around 4 years. I get significantly more expensive ones though….my last was £1500 and is still going after 3 years but it is feeling it’s age now.

Our work laptops last 3 years - then all seem to give up in quick succession.

My ancient Vaio is 12 and still works ok as long as it's plugged in! I bought a Chromebook to replace it and it lasted barely a month before dying. Sent it for repair and it was returned in the same state so I got a refund. Laptops are fragile these days...

Surprised at this as I always though of Lenovo as cheap with cheap parts? I'm quite possibly well out of date on that.

I'd expect a laptop to last about four years. If you need top spec then expect to have to update it even more often, more like every two years to keep it current.

While they can keep chugging along longer, I'd think of a 4-5y+ laptop as old, 8-10 years is very elderly.

The physical damage does sound concerning in yours OP.

I’m still using a 2012 MacBook Pro, during lockdown I added extra RAM and changed the HDD to a SSD drive so it’s now super fast. Sadly I need to get a new one as various software I use wants a newer OS than I have. Any windows laptops we have stop working well after 4 years or so but the kids keep using until they die.

It may be considered " mid range " in the general scheme of things, but it was certainly very expensive and high tech for me!

It doesn't sound like it's been very well looked after if the frame is coming away. In fact, all the issues you describe don't seem to have anything to do with the actual machine - apart from the touchpad maybe.

Do you clean it properly and store it away properly when it's not being used?

I would only buy Apple. Rock solid products and service.

I am typing now on my 6 year old Acer - I think I paid around £400 when I bought it. It's used every day but not excessively, and lives in my living room, so not carried around at all, I think that's helping. I am not planning to replace it soon!

I use my laptop every day for a few hours. Most of the time I have to replace after 3 years but my Lenovo has been going for about 4 and a half now, only problem is runs out of battery after about an hour so I basically have it plugged in all the time.

Apologies, didn't mean to sound insulting! The sad fact, though, is that unless you're spending £1k+ on a laptop, you can't expect more than 3-4 years of useful life out of it.

For what it's worth, my next laptop will be a Framework - every component is replaceable and upgradeable.

You might be able to find a smaller workshop who'd be capable of fixing yours, but it's unlikely to be cheap.

What kind of thing do you use them for? My laptops easily last that long with pretty much daily use. I've had my current one for at least 6 years and it's still going strong, it's an Acer

@VisionsOfSplendour on reflection I am rubbish with maintenance of laptops so that probably has something to do with it. I would say I use them daily for writing and tv. @BorrowedThyme perhaps take my post with a pinch of salt as I don’t care for them well 🤦🏼‍♀️

Maybe it's to do with watching TV, I use mine for word/excel and visiting websites but I next to never watch anyrhing. I could see how that might make them wear out more quickly

I've had a MacBook Air for 11 years. 2 chargers in that time but otherwise still works perfectly.

My husband's Macbook is at least 12 years old if not more. My Lenovo desktop pc from 2018 or 2019 though is a pile of rubbish, takes an hour to start from cold. A complete waste of £800.
I've now bought a second hand Acer, I'm done with new items.

I bought a Lenovo in early 2020 just before Covid. It was about £300, on offer reduced from around £400-£500. I use it for work 5 days a week and it’s still fine.

I've been using my current Lenovo laptop for 8 years now. Have had to replace the screen once (this one is on me for carrying it around then without a wallet, but my previous Lenovo laptop was more hardy for the screen - though developed more problems in 5 than this in 8) and another replacement about 1.5 years ago (the screen was flickering and the service told me it was a connector rather than the screen itself; at the same time the front(?) of it was also replaced, so the whole frame(?)).

Need to get a new charger though, since mine is barely connected anymore. The battery's poor now when it's not connected - about 40 mins - so that needs a replacement too.

I bought an Acer laptop during lockdown so also about 3 years ago, for around £250. My brother rates them. He's not wrong, it's still going brilliantly.

Correction, it's a Chromebook. It's brill though.

I have a Lenovo that has lasted me years and is still going strong but I hardly ever move it