Average lifespan of a laptop

[P4-630]

I was reading at yahoo answers and a guy answered:

"By far, the component that is affected the most is the motherboard because it holds so many components that need to work concurrently in order for the laptop to simply turn on. The most common problem is that the motherboard's capacitors go out first leading to a non-bootable(and thus non-usable laptop). These capacitors have up to 5000 hours of life. A rough estimate for someone who uses laptops as their primary computer (e.g. without a desktop) is 5 hours a day average; this yields 2.7 years. (Keep in mind in mind that this calculation assumes that you use your laptop for EVERYDAY for 5 hours, regardless of your vacation or days off. If you actually do use it for 5 hours a day it may be significantly less.) But this is simply a very rough estimate and it can vary drastically depending on how frequently you use it. (Remember, if you turn it off when you don't use it, you will preserve the life of your laptop.) "

https://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20100313013520AAQb2nC

I think this is real bullshit about the capacitors that have only 5000 hours of life.

My mom has an acer bought in 2008, which is still running strong and she uses it about 5 hours a day.

 

[Kursah]

There really is no sure answer to this, but honestly in my years of experience the most common failing part on a laptop is the hard drive. Smaller spinning drives that experience so much more in the form of moving abuse. Many capacitors outlive their life expectency, many don't. If even one bulges and fails though that could mean a new board or replacement cap is required to have a functioning system again.

I would say I see the average dead or dying laptop at about the 2-4yr mark with more modern laptops, older ones seem to do better in the 4-6yr+ range. Depends on how they're cared for, cleaned, cooled, etc.

Like any other piece of consumer technology, new and cheaper methods of getting the same or better performance are being made yearly, with that the quality and durability is reduced. I would expect newer laptops in any kind of low-mid budget to not last as long as an older laptop honestly. I see far more old Dells and Gateways and Acers still working and see a ton of failing newer laptops, some even just months old. Again though, most times abuse has the most direct result on the lifespan of a device.

 

[P4-630]

There really is no sure answer to this, but honestly in my years of experience the most common failing part on a laptop is the hard drive. Smaller spinning drives that experience so much more in the form of moving abuse. Many capacitors outlive their life expectency, many don't. If even one bulges and fails though that could mean a new board or replacement cap is required to have a functioning system again.

I would say I see the average dead or dying laptop at about the 2-4yr mark with more modern laptops, older ones seem to do better in the 4-6yr+ range. Depends on how they're cared for, cleaned, cooled, etc.

Like any other piece of consumer technology, new and cheaper methods of getting the same or better performance are being made yearly, with that the quality and durability is reduced. I would expect newer laptops in any kind of low-mid budget to not last as long as an older laptop honestly. I see far more old Dells and Gateways and Acers still working and see a ton of failing newer laptops, some even just months old. Again though, most times abuse has the most direct result on the lifespan of a device.

What do you think about the life expectancy of my Asus G750JX gaming laptop? I only have SSD's in it, so no mechanical harddrives,
I use it about 14 hours a day, about 1 hour of gaming a day.

 

[eidairaman1]

My Dell Xps Inspiron 9100/Gen 1 with a P4 3.4 Gallatin (Northwood Extreme with 800FSB,L3 Cache), 2GB ram, m18 GPU radeon 9800-256MB, r420, Core ocd from 350 to 459 and ram from 297 to 416. Still running good, no parts failures(3 fans on it) Tells me it has good airflow.Had it since 2004. Only mod i did was change the tim to AS5 on cpu, Akasa Shinetsu Pads stacked on gpu and chipset, and As5 mixed with AS Thermal Adhesive, tweak monster ram sinks on the ram

 

[Jetster]

Laptop motherboards rarely go out. The most common is the hard drive followed by the power plug from being dropped.

 

[xfia]

pretty sure cap rating is done under full load.. a computer just sitting idle is hardly affecting lifespan especially if p states have not been disabled.

 

[FireFox]

I have 5 years with an Asus laptop the only thing that I have changed is the hard drive, (once becasue it died),so +1 to what @Kursah said.

 

[OneMoar]

indefinably if properly cared for

 

[P4-630]

indefinably if properly cared for

Which I do with my laptops, such as blowing out dust if there is any,
I just hope that I never have to replace the thermal paste of my laptops, because I don't like DIY on my laptops for such.

 

[kurosagi01]

To me depends how heavy use the laptop is used,generally find laptops to last about 3-4 years before you see a dip in performance and then slowly die out.

 

[Frick]

To me depends how heavy use the laptop is used,generally find laptops to last about 3-4 years before you see a dip in performance and then slowly die out.

Why would the performance be lower, unless it's thermal throttling or degration from heat which shouldn't happen as long during it's lifetime anyway?

But yes the statement quoted in OP is bull. The number one cause of death is people just thrashing them about (I will never understand how people manage to break them so completely unless it's a failed insurance/warranty scam) about and trash them after a few years of bad surfing habits have made them riddled with crap and the computer shops charge 100 euros just for looking at it amd and obviously tells them it's just not worth it.

 

[P4-630]

Why would the performance be lower, unless it's thermal throttling or degration from heat which shouldn't happen as long during it's lifetime anyway?

I watch my temps every day, if I notice that the temps are higher after some time, I blow out my laptop with an air compressor.
So I should be fine for years to come. I just don't know how fast the thermal paste of my gaming laptop will degrade, I hope it won't.

 

[Kursah]

What do you think about the life expectancy of my Asus G750JX gaming laptop? I only have SSD's in it, so no mechanical harddrives,
I use it about 14 hours a day, about 1 hour of gaming a day.

Depends on a lot of factors, some you can and some you cannot control. Every piece of electronics has a use-life. SSD's can still fail, and when they do...you lose your data with no way to get it back..so keep that in mind.
Gaming laptops have a tendency to build up more heat than many other laptops, heat and cooling cycles, expansion and contraction, current, etc all play a part in the lifetime of an electronic device.

Keep it clean, cool, and don't bang it around a lot, you'll be okay. It will eventually fail, heck even when taking care of it, if one resistor or capacitor wasn't quite up to quality control specs and slipped passed QC, your device could fail today. Just take good care of it, and odds are it'll take care of you for some time. Goes with the saying you'll often see on used FS items "adult owned", keep it clean, keep it simple and cared for, you'll be fine.

But I won't give you any kind of guarantee on dates, but odds are you'll have years of faithful service if you do a good job of maintaining it, and doing as previously suggested.

 

[stinger608]

Hell, I purchased a brand new Gateway P7811-FX brand new in early 09 and it is still going strong.

I have updated the bios to allow RAID, which I did for a short time, upgraded the ram to 8 gigs (max it will allow), and upgraded the processor. I have been running Windows 7 Pro on it since Windows 7 came out and just recently loaded Windows 8.1 on the system.

As has been mentioned, I think a lot of it depends on how systems are taken care of. My ole Gateway still looks brand new. I still, to this day, use the felt divider that was between the screen and keyboard every time I put it away. Still have everything that came with it new including the original box. Hell, I still play games on it from time to time.

As for most common failing parts; I think it is depending on the system itself. Some have issues with the power port, some have issues with motherboards, and some have video card issues.
There was an HP model that was always having video card issues and tons of people were backing or heating up the built in video cards to extend the life of the system.

There were a few Dell models that had daughter board issues.

But for the most part I think that heat is the number one issue with failing laptops. If a person can control the onboard heat the laptop will last many many years.

 

[FireFox]

Gaming laptops have a tendency to build up more heat than many other laptops,

My Asus Gaming G72GX
This is an example about Temperatures:

The situation inside the case, in regards to the components, looks a lot worse. Whilst the temperatures of the CPU level off to about 50°C and the GPU to around 60°C in idle mode, the cooling revealed big weaknesses in our endurance test (Furmark + Prime95). Thus, both the CPU (up to 97°C) as well as the GPU (up to 102°C)

 

[CAPSLOCKSTUCK]

My laptop is 9 yrs old still runs XP fine with good temps and regular cleaning.

Its the batteries that need replacing not the laptop in my experience.

 

[FireFox]

I've cleaned my laptop just once in 5 years

 

[CAPSLOCKSTUCK]

I've cleaned my laptop once in 5 years

When i look at filth on my laptop it is definitely dirty. !!

 

[THE_EGG]

What do you think about the life expectancy of my Asus G750JX gaming laptop? I only have SSD's in it, so no mechanical harddrives,
I use it about 14 hours a day, about 1 hour of gaming a day.

I used to have an Asus G53JW which I got in 2010. I only sold it 6 months ago to upgrade. It was still fully operational and the original HDD was still good too. The only bad thing was that I think one of the fans' bearings was on its way out because it would rattle a little bit.

The G53JW was quite possibly one of the most over engineered laptops I've had. From my experience with laptops, Fujitsu laptops have lasted the longest with the exception of the Toshiba M200 Convertible Tablet which is still kicking to this day.

 

[krusha03]

My dad still uses a laptop he purchased back in 2003. Does it work? yes! Does it work well? Hell no! Every time I would sit behind it, I would feel like hitting it with a hammer and throwing it out the window. The battery is of course dead and one of the hinges is cracked but nothing that can't be fixed with some super glue and baking soda. I bought him a new laptop as a birthday present last year since I couldn't see him working on that single core 2.2GHz P4 which is technically slower than an Atom but he still uses it. It is as they say, old dogs can't learn new tricks but then again he is older than @CAPSLOCKSTUCK

 

[CAPSLOCKSTUCK]

My dad still uses a laptop he purchased back in 2003. Does it work? yes! Does it work well? Hell no! Every time I would sit behind it, I would feel like hitting it with a hammer and throwing it out the window. The battery is of course dead and one of the hinges is cracked but nothing that can't be fixed with some super glue and baking soda. I bought him a new laptop as a birthday present last year since I couldn't see him working on that single core 2.2GHz P4 which is technically slower than an Atom but he still uses it. It is as they say, old dogs can't learn new tricks but then again he is older than @CAPSLOCKSTUCK

Thanks..... i love a good laugh on a sunday morning . My arthritic, rheumatic, disjointed bones need a good rattle.

Only joking.........49 and going strong.

 

[krusha03]

Thanks..... i love a good laugh on a sunday morning . My arthritic, rheumatic, disjointed bones need a good rattle.

Only joking.........49 and going strong.

Fuck then he is as old as me and you together BTW I was joking of course man, no offence He is still more than enough tech savvy for his age just few years back with current developments

 

[CAPSLOCKSTUCK]

Fuck then he is as old as me and you together BTW I was joking of course man, no offence He is still more than enough tech savvy for his age just few years back with current developments

@krusha03 Look after him, you can replace a laptop but you will never replace your Dad, wish him well from me.

 

[FordGT90Concept]

There are four laptops I was directly involved in, all Systemax.
1) bought in 2004. Poor thing went through an 18 wheeler wreck which I believe did more than just cosmetic damage. It started locking up after that so it got recycled probably around 2012 not only because it was having problems but it was functionally replaced by #3. ~8 years, no OEM servicing.

2) bought circa 2006. The only servicing it had was the optical drive failed. Systemax mailed a replacement and we installed it. It is still working but doesn't get much love because everyone hates XP these days. 11 years, minor OEM servicing.

3) bought in 2008. It was sent in twice for repairs and both times was to replace the track pad and on the second time, also the optical drive. This would normally be a minor service job but this machine is semi-rugged so these repairs had to be performed by the OEM (Gammatech USA). The track pad has design deficiencies (the mouse clickers aren't strong enough). It was serviced twice in total, still operational. Moreover the battery still holds about 40 minutes of juice because the user is very careful about treating the battery right. ~7 years old and still going strong (almost like new, in fact; yay for magnesium alloy!).

4) bought circa 2012. It got sat on (not a gentle sit either, more like jump into couch where laptop was) shattering the monitor. Not warranted, obviously. Systemax mailed a replacement screen and we installed it. Later, it was discovered the same mistake also broke the plastic one of the back screws was supposed to hold on to so the back panel would move. "Fixed" via JB Weld for plastic. The only other thing of note is the battery was recently replaced because unlike #3, the user doesn't treat it well. Systemax stopped making computers so those OEM battery came from an Amazon supplier. It isn't a perfect match for the laptop but it works. ~3 years old and despite a hard start to life, the innards are still sound.

The average, right now, of these four systems is 7.25 years. 3 out of 4 are still in use so that average will keep climbing.


As for time. Pretty sure #3 ran 8+ hours per day until early 2014. It was on whenever he was driving the 18 wheeler and conditions varied widely (hot, cold, vibrations, grease, dust, etc.). It had a GPS program running on it and also kept track of the "80-hour rule."

 

[dorsetknob]

Got a 2008 Acer aspire 5619z laptop
It has been Running 24/7 for the last 2 years (only rebooting occasionaly when the webcam program errors)

ITS HISTORY
Dug it out of a scrap yard about 4 years ago Think it was scrapped because the owner borked the screen
came with NO Ram No HD
I replaced the screen with another from a scrap Yard
Upgrades the CPU to a t2250 (the fastest i had as spares)
whacked in some 2gig of DDR 800 mem ( max it supported)
fitted a 250gig HD win XP Pro
well it then got occasional use as my traveling support laptop till i needed it to moniter my ailing Father via a MSI 370i infra red webcam
thats why its on 24 / 7

ps Its Due some Dust busting downtime maintenance soon and i will replace the tim then as a precaution