Geeky Question re Laptops - how long do they last???

[OllieWollieWoo]

I've had a laptop (Toshiba) for around 5 years and have recently started to have a few problems with it - it takes longer and longer to switch on and load programmes properly, screen freezes and now it loses the internet connection at least once a day and I have to reboot etc.
Does anyone have any idea of how long a laptop lasts (its used a lot each day) as I'm not sure if I should be looking to get a new one or send this one for a service/repair job???? (Frustration levels rising fast so may well be buying new one when this one gets jumped on in fit of sheer desperation!)

Any thoughts???? Thanks

how long is a piece of string?

5 years is good age for a laptop though and it's probably time to put it out to pasture. Things have changed an awful lot in the last 5 years (price has dropped like a stone and performance increased) so you're almost certainly better off getting a new one than trying to fix an old creaky one!

I'd agree with Geekboy. After 5 years of changes you will see a huge difference in performance and probably weight too.

In the meantime some of the problems may be software ones. If you copied off important files do you have a disk or some means to reinstall windows/return it to as you bought it?

Beware that if it's windows 98 you probably can't then get windows updates to bring it up to date. If you could install XP on it that might give it a new lease of life, but finding XP drivers for it would probably be difficult.

I'd definitely recommend a new laptop even if you experimented with this one afterwards.