Laptops and computers are an essential part of our lives. They are used for business needs as well as personal use. It is hard to find someone who doesn’t have a laptop these days. From gaming laptops to business laptops, they are made to service a variety of essential needs.
We can feel lost without them if they suddenly stop working. You may know that your laptop’s lifespan is about to come to an end by the sound it starts making or the constant updates it keeps asking for you to do, however, what other signs are there that you may be missing out on?
If you are curious and want to know the answer to “how long do laptops last?” so you can start planning on buying a new laptop, then read on to know what signs to look out for so you aren’t staring at a broken down blank screen out of the blue.
How Long Do Laptops Last?
Let’s dive straight into it. You may think that spending more money will get you a laptop that lasts longer, and whilst that could potentially be the case, be it better technology used as well as state-of-the-art software, your laptop will still have an end date attached to it which on average can be aorund 2-4 years because most people may aim to buy laptops that cost a couple of hundreds of pounds, rather than thousands.
You also need to take into account, battery CPU, battery life, RAM, and motherboard. If these functions are made with high quality materials then they may last longer, which means the operating system will keep chugging along.
Gaming laptops
For instance, a gaming laptop is made with excellent features, however, the constant changes in games and technology can surpass some gaming laptops and cause them to fall behind.
A mid range gaming laptop could only have an average lifespan of a few years which may not be ideal for the avid gamer, however, just like other expensive laptops, the more you pay the longer the lifespan.
The computer hardware in a gaming laptop is high quality, but gaming laptops are made with a sole purpose in mind, and eventhough they can be used for other needs like web browsing and working, they are still focused on gaming, so the laptop’s life can be decreased within 2 years as they cannot keep up with new gaming needs and hardware, whereas every day laptops can be upgraded even with short lifespans attached.
New Technology Introduced
As time goes on there are new technologies and components put on the market, so if your current laptop cannot keep up with this demand it can turn obsolete. Advanced tasks will not be able to be completed, and your laptop computer may need to be scrapped.
Apple laptops are known to have a longer laptop battery life compared to other computers on a singular battery charge. This is great for people who need to take their laptop with them everywhere, as over time, the more we charge our laptops the harder it is for the laptop to retain that charge.
How Do You Treat Your Laptop?
If you treat your laptop well and you take care of it, you should notice that it doesn’t struggle so much and you are able to use it for a lot longer. This doesn’t just mean making sure you don’t spill anything on it and keeping it clean, it also means with how you use it.
Light Tasks
If you are using it to do some web browsing, listening to music, watching videos, and some emailing, then it is not working incredibly hard so your laptop battery will last longer and your laptop life will be a lot more positive.
Heavy Tasks
However, if you are doing video editing, gaming, programming, etc., then your hardware is working a lot harder for you, and your laptop lifespan is going to decrease.
You may find that you need to charge it a lot more, or that you start treating it like desktop computers where it has to be plugged in constantly, this is evident that it is on its way out.
What Signs Should You be Looking Out For?
If you have basic consumer laptops in your home, then you are looking at a shorter time span than business laptops or gaming laptops as they are nothing special and they just get you from A to B, so you can expect that it won’t be pushing 4 years, however, this time will decrease if you ignore the early signs like the ones below.
If you have noticed this with more than one of your laptops and you have had to replace them at a rate that is too much, then it may be a better choice to get a desktop PC instead.
Security is Out of Date
Your hardware needs to be compatible with the newest versions of your operating system, if it is incompatible and your current laptop cannot handle it, then it is time to buy new.
Have you put all the right security features and measures in place? Kept them updated? If not, your computer is going to react and slow down. If it keeps asking for security upgardes, then buying a new laptop may just be the best thing to do in this situation.
The Fans Are Getting Noiser
Fans are a necessity to keep a laptop running. If they start running loudly then it shows that it may just be the end for that particular laptop as it is clearly struggling to cool the laptop down so it can work with what you are doing on it.
If it feels hotter or your battery pack feels hotter too, then it is on its last legs and will definitely need to be changed as it could cut out at any time, and it always happens at the worst times.
Applications Are Not Loading Like They Used to
If you are waiting ages for an application to load and it is clearly struggling with it, then this could be an early sign that shouldn’t be ignored. With old hardware and new applications there is an issue because your laptop cannot keep up with what you need.
You should be checking the compatibility first to see if it can handle it, and if not, then you would probably have to look for a new one anyway, especially if you need that piece of software or application to do your work.
There Are Multitasking Issues
You probably need your laptop for many different things, this is especially true if you are working from it or you are a student, so if it has trouble keeping up with your searches and opening documents and webpages, then it’s not going to be a great asset to you.
RAM seems to be the main problem with something like this. If it is insufficient for the tasks you need, you won’t be able to get past this. Going from using your computer to watch a video to then doing multiple tasks, will ultimately make it stutter and fall.
Starting Up and Shutting Down Are Very Slow
When you see the loading screen for too long or your computer decides to freeze when you try and shut it down, it is definitely coming the the end of its days as its trying to keep up with what’s going on and it simply can’t anymore.
There could be a physical problem attached to this, for instance, you would need to keep food and debris away from the computer’s fans so they don’t get clogged, plus it would be beneficial to decrease the automatic applications that load whenever you turn it on.
If this still doesn’t make a change, then it looks like it’s on its way to the scrap yard.
Conclusion
After reading through this article, maybe you can better understand exactly how long laptops last and what signs to look out for if you suspect it to be taking its final bow.
Laptops are expensive and when they don’t work as they should it can be increasingly frustrating, especially if they are needed for work or education. You can only do the best you can with the tools you have.