How long should a laptop actually last?

Laptops are replaced far earlier than they need to be, usually because they feel slow rather than because anything has broken. The fix for slow is often twenty pounds.

Step by step

1. Separate the three lifespans.The hardware may run for a decade. The battery lasts three to five years. Security update support typically ends somewhere between five and ten years from release. Whichever ends first is your real limit.
2. Check the support end date.This is the one that matters. Once security updates stop, the machine is not safe for banking, email or anything with a password. Manufacturers publish the dates.
3. Know what actually fails.Batteries swell or lose capacity, fans clog, hinges crack, keyboards wear, and older mechanical drives die. The processor and board usually outlive all of it.
4. Fit an SSD if it still has a hard drive.The single biggest change you can make to an older laptop. A machine that takes two minutes to boot will take fifteen seconds. Inexpensive, and often user-fittable.
5. Add memory if it is low.8GB is the practical minimum now and 16GB is comfortable. If yours has 4GB and the memory is not soldered, this is the second-best upgrade.
6. Replace the battery rather than the laptop.A swollen battery is a safety issue and must be dealt with promptly. A tired one is simply a consumable — replacing it restores portability for a fraction of a new machine.
7. Clean the fans and vents annually.Dust is why older laptops run hot, throttle and sound like a hairdryer. Compressed air through the vents, or a proper strip-down and repaste on an older machine.
8. Check whether anything is upgradeable before buying.Many thin laptops have soldered memory and storage. If you want a long life, that specification is worth checking at purchase, because it decides whether year five is fixable.
9. Consider a lighter operating system at end of support.A Linux distribution or ChromeOS Flex will keep a machine secure and useful for browsing and documents well past its original support window.
10. Judge repair against replacement on parts price.A screen, keyboard or battery is usually worth it. A board or a soldered-storage failure on a budget machine usually is not. Get the part price before deciding.
11. Keep it on a surface that lets it breathe.Beds, sofas and cushions block the intakes. Sustained heat is the main thing that shortens component life.
12. Back up regardless of age.Storage fails without warning at any age. A backup makes a hardware failure an inconvenience rather than a loss.

Tips

• Look up the security support end date before spending anything on an old machine. It sets the ceiling.
• An SSD in a machine that still has a spinning drive transforms it more than any other upgrade at any price.
• A swollen battery is not a 'later' job. It is a fire risk and it needs replacing now.

Common mistakes

• Replacing a laptop because it feels slow — Slowness is usually storage, memory or heat, all of which are cheap to address. The machine underneath is often fine for years more.
• Carrying on past end of security support — Unpatched vulnerabilities are never fixed, so anything involving a password or payment is genuinely risky. Change the operating system or replace the machine.

If it doesn't work