You maybe bought a new laptop or thinking about buying a new laptop. And you’re thinking about whether you should get a laptop that’ll last you for three to five years.
In the back of your mind, you’re probably thinking, how long should a laptop last?
If you’re searching for answers, well you’re in the right place. If you do have a laptop, you may be wondering how long it’ll last you, and you’re looking for ways to maximize your laptops life expectancy and minimize any hazards to it which might cause your computer to drop in life expectancy.
Your laptop is essential, you do daily work in it every day, whether you’re a gamer, a student, freelancer or an entrepreneur, your laptop is vital to you.
Most laptops nowadays have a life expectancy of around four to five years.
New Programs, Software, And Applications
There are always new programs, applications and software arising every day. And some programs, you’ll need to meet the requirements to operate it optimally.
On a daily basis, you use your laptop for anything. If you’re a gamer, you’ll need the most advanced up to date hardware. However, if your laptop already has the right components, it can handle most games with ease for about the next two to four years from when you purchased your laptop.
If you’re working casually and don’t operate programs that require you intense graphics or high demand on your hardware, then your laptop can last you up to more than ten years and up.
Upgrading Laptop Components
If you’re a real gamer, then you’ll most likely buy the current and latest PC games in the market, which all require a certain amount of CPU and GPU demand.
You’ll need to be able to play your games at max settings and with an above FPS of 60 to enjoy and fully immerse yourself in the experience. Most games nowadays require you to have more and more CPU, GPU and memory capabilities.
So the laptops you may get today will probably last you two to four years later until you have to upgrade to a new one.
However you probably may have specific options for upgrading some hardware within your laptop; however, it won’t be as easy as updating your components in a PC desktop
Battery Life and Expectancy
The battery in your laptop is the primary power source, and it is what gives life to your computer. A reliable and stable battery should last you four to six years.
Your laptop may be in perfect and good condition. However, your battery life is slowly going to lose its life expectancy.
There may be conditions that your laptop remains in great shape and runs perfectly stable, but your laptop’s battery loses all power. And that’s the time when you’ll have to replace your battery.
Preventing Heat Build Up
Laptops are known to produce high amounts of heat when you’re engaging in top demanding programs or playing a graphically intensive game.
Some of the few ways to prevent excess heat from occurring are to move your laptop to a hard surface. Avoid placing your laptops on a soft surface such as a blanket, clothing or anything that may prevent your laptop from circulating airflow.
Most laptop nowadays have a good internal structure and allows airflow to circulate freely. And most laptop fans are powerful enough to prevent excess heat.
However, if you game to the extreme while using high demanding programs, you’ll probably need extra cooling or hardware that can prevent excess heat from accumulating.
You can purchase additional cooling which you can place in the bottom of your laptop to prevent it from overheating. However, most likely the fans in your laptop should suffice.
Tips On Raising Your Laptops Life Expectancy
Plug Your Laptop To An Outlet
There are myths stating that the adapter will burst or something will catch fire if you plug your laptop in an outlet after hours after it’s fully recharged.
This is not true.
Nowadays currently all laptops use lithium cell ions for battery and once it’s fully charged, it won’t overcharge and will not cause any problems to your battery.
You’ll be saving your computer’s battery from the wear and tear, by keeping your laptop plugged in an outlet.
The Backlight Of Your Laptop
The backlight of your laptop’s screen can also consume so much of your laptop’s battery. The display consumes most of the battery’s energy.
However, nowadays, current and improved LED screens are more energy friendly and should save more power on your battery.
One thing you can do is to reduce the brightness of your screen in half, and you’ll be able to maximize and save your batteries life and as well as lowering workload and energy on your screen.
A second way of saving energy and power is to go to your control panels > Power options and hit the ‘Change plan settings.’
You’ll be able to set your screen to a dim state after one to three minutes of timeout. So that way you can maximize your laptop’s energy.
Turn Off Unnecessary Apps and Programs
You can always turn off unnecessary applications and programs running in your background. While playing a high intensive game, you may want to turn off any unwanted programs running in the programs that may compete with CPU usage, battery life or GPU.
Having a high intensive program running reduces the battery already, if not plugged in.
And having any software updaters running in the background can cause battery drainage as well. The updater might be attempting to download a large file for updating without you knowing it.
So if you remain not plugged into an outlet, you’ll need to reduce the laptops workload, so that way it can preserve the wear and tear on your battery and the other hardware components that are supporting it.
Turn Off Unused Hardware
Well, most of the time you’re using your laptops full capabilities and its hardware. However, you can always turn off the Wi-Fi if you’re not using it.
You can also turn off Bluetooth if not in use.
Your keyboard backlight can also cause energy reductions. It’s incredible when it’s night time or when you’re using your laptop in dark environments. However, it’ll preserve your battery life if this feature’s off during the day. So its best to leave the keyboard lights off when operating in bright environments.
In Conclusion
You’ll have plenty of opportunities of saving your laptop from wear and tear and preserve its energies.
So, how long should a laptop last you? The laptop should be able to last at most ten years or up if well maintained and taken care of.
Hopefully, these steps provided to you the foundations of taking care of your laptop.
6 thoughts on “How Long Should A Laptop Last”
Thank you for clearing the myths about plugging laptop to outlet constantly. That is what I did but many people still having the misconception that it is dangerous.
My laptop has been with me for more than 5 years. Just like what you say, battery is the one to give way first. Now it doesn’t hold charges beyond 2 hours. Other than that it is still all good.
You’re welcome Grace. I’m glad this article has helped you.
I once used a laptop for five years and eventually gave it out and the next one lasted less than a year before developing faults. I believe the length of time a laptop spends depends on a lot of things like how many hours would you have it running daily? What kinds of work do you do with it? And if the person is careful or a careless user.
You’re right Dhayours, it really depends on the user.
I usually do light work to medium work, using Adobe programs.
Great information on laptops and other related accessories. I like the way you have described about reducing the laptop heating and the surface we should keep the laptop. It’s good to know that we can use a laptop up to five years. I will definitely try your tips daily when I am working with my laptop.
Thanks for the feedback Yasodhara. Yes, soft surfaces are bad for laptops because it may block the vents and traps heat.
I’m glad this article has helped you.