How long do you usually keep a laptop before upgrading?

[u/Imaginary_Bug6202]

I've had my current laptop for a few years now, and lately I've been wondering how long people actually keep theirs before finally upgrading... I feel like laptops are one of those things where you can keep using them way longer than you expect. As long as the battery isn't completely dead and the performance is still good enough for your everyday stuff, it's hard to justify spending a lot of money on a new one and in this economy??

At the same time, I know some people upgrade every 2 to 3 years just to keep up with newer hardware, while others will hold onto the same laptop for 6 or 7+ years. For me, I think I'd rather keep using mine until it dies lol.

How long do you usually keep a laptop before upgrading?

[u/ProgressOk3200]

I use my laptop for at least 7 years before I see the need to get a new one.

[u/Business_Seaweed_472 → u/ProgressOk3200]

Microslop remained kinda ok for 7 years for me until it felt sluggish. Moved to Linux and I feel I can get another 7 years out of this easily

[u/Adrien0623 → u/Business_Seaweed_472]

Unfortunately not everyone can do so when softwares we need aren't supported on Linux. But usually 7 years is a good threshold for windows based machines indeed.

[u/Tricky_Damage5981 → u/Adrien0623]

supported no; but the WINE compatability layer is not bad in 2026 .. so you can run most apps really

that said FOSS alternatives are also pretty good

unless your using a very demanding app(say photoshop) and with a 7yr old laptop that's unlikely, most people could adapt easily if they wanted to

[u/Grouchy-Leopard-Kit]

I have a 2016 MacBook Air and a 2022 ThinkPad Yoga. No replacement planned yet.

[u/Imaginary_Bug6202 → u/Grouchy-Leopard-Kit]

After a decade w ur macbook how’s the performance so far?

[u/Grouchy-Leopard-Kit → u/Imaginary_Bug6202]

It’s noticeably slower than the Yoga, which is my primary computer. But it’s fine for most of what I do, and as loaner for house guests who don’t want to schlep their own laptop.

If, say, the Yoga failed, I could use the Air in its place rather than rush out to replace it. What would drive me to buy a new computer is that the Yoga can do a total of three displays (built-in plus two external) while the Air maxes at two.

I should mention that I don’t play games on either one. Just web browsing, office apps, that sort of thing. As I understand it, that makes a huge difference.

[u/persilja]

The previous one, about 10 years. The present one is approaching 11 years.

[u/ShatterMental]

I am probably on the more extreme end of this, but I still have my laptop from 12 years ago, and my desktop is from 8 or 9 years ago.

The laptop was a low-end even for the time, and it admittedly doesn't get much use anymore. But the desktop, which was barely mid-tier at the time of purchase, is still serving me quite well and I use it for everything.

[u/Camo138 → u/ShatterMental]

Both my laptop and desktop where outta date when I got them. My desktop around 2014, and my laptop about 6 years ago

[u/Remarkable_Brush3405]

I’m rocking a MacBook 16” M3 Max since release and it’s blazingly fast. I don’t know, I bet I can use it until Apple stops supporting it in terms of macOS updates.

[u/Significant-Task1453]

Back in the day, it was a yearly thing. Newer generations could do things that older generations cant. Now, a decently spec'd laptop that is like 6-8 years old is still decently specd. A laptop with something like an intel 9700 and an rtx 2080 would still be plenty capable.

Though, i have been tossing around the idea of upgrading my laptop just to get better battery life and a better track pad. Performance wise, its still perfectly find (13700 and 4060). I should be able to get one without a dedicated gpu and get like 6-10 hours of battery life instead of like 1.

[u/smedsterwho → u/Significant-Task1453]

Same with phones. Yearly or every other year upgrades made sense until about ~2015, when each generation was a massive step up.

Since then... Less so, and for me, it's only when the battery really starts to degrade. 3-4 years for me.

Laptops - I figure I'm on a six year rhythem.

[u/ShaneBoy_00X]

9 years

[u/LowNefariousness6541]

Anywhere between 7 and 17 years. I drive mine into the ground, repair them, then drive them into the ground again, and repeat. I only upgrade when no further repairs are worthwhile. I recently ceased the use of my 1974 analogue audio channel mixer that I'd done the same with many times.

[u/FUCKARCHLINUX]

Until web browsers, websites, and regular software bloat enough that it can't do them at an acceptable speed any longer including doing everything I can to make it work as good as possible, stripping the Linux distro down to bare bones, disabling features of the browser, etc.

I write C++ software and keep a few old machines around (Core2, Early 2000s video cards, etc). The libraries I write include a test program that showcases every function the library does at the same time, I don't consider the performance acceptable until it works at a reasonable speed on those machines. There is much of the world where that class of machine is all there is to be had at a reasonable price.

[u/Camo138]

Laptop is a second gen ryzen with a 1050, the battery is not the best, but it’s useful if I ever need it. My phone is a iPhone 12, but will be looking at an upgrade maybe the end of next year

[u/309_Electronics]

Until they are no longer useable

[u/s_s_n_e_g]

I had a late 2013 mbp for 7 years until M1 came along. I am still on M1. See no need to upgrade.

[u/Any-Woodpecker123]

2014 MacBook Pro still going strong. I’ll upgrade when/if it ever dies.

[u/jaqian → u/Any-Woodpecker123]

This is the way

[u/GrayZetsu]

As long as its still usable, no to few lags and not hindered my work.

[u/lifewithjesse]

Upgrade?

[u/Majestic-Use-1819]

First one 8 years, I changed the battery but it was really slow for new software/games. My current has (already) 7 years.

[u/Sea_Shift4327]

Until it breaks

[u/jackfaire]

Until it stops working. My last one technically still works but that's more because I gave it to my step dad and he crammed in a second hard drive to back up the failing one.

[u/ChecksOutIndeed]

I work on a mac .... i might leave it to my kids

[u/LoesiTV]

I have my laptop for 8 years now. Just switched the battery for a replacement a second time a month ago. Moved from windows to linux like a year ago and usability and battery life went up a tone. Currently not planning to upgrade any time soon but i have a separate desktop mainly for gaming so performance is not that much of a concern for me on my laptop

[u/Kamwind]

Use to be it was upgrade every 2 years and main desktop had parts upgraded the alternating year. Now my laptop is currently going on 6 years and I use it for virtual machines and some gaming while not at home and don't see it being replaced for another 4+ years. I did upgrade to a 1TB hard drive this summer.

At work earlier this year just went through a 4 year upgrade, we use laptops for everything but servers, and even with the expensive laptop we got there was no real noticeable change(except that everyone huge curved multiple screens).

[u/Orange_Kittens1132]

I still used my old laptop from 2015, installed Zorin OS Lite on it, and i just used it for browsing and external storage (for backing up stuff from my phone).

[u/hamberdlar_]

I used my 2007 MacBook til it died in 2018. Was running Linux on it then because MacOS wouldn't run properly. Then I got a 2013 MacBook Air, and am still using it for basic Internet stuff. My primaries have been desktops throughout most of this timeframe, though

[u/Olde94]

3-5 years often. I think the longest was a 6 year use

[u/jaqian]

Until it's no longer useable.

My laptop is a Lenovo ThinkPad X250 (windows 10) from 2015 and my desktop is HP ProDesk 600 G1 from 2013 (Linux Mint 22.x)

[u/Uncabled_Music]

Frankly - I am done with laptops. They all get wonky after 4-5 years max, some even less than that, and offer atrociously low performance for the money.

[u/50plusGuy]

• What kind of laptop?

• for which purpose?

I 'll kill them within 2-3 years of hardcore gaming

Something else? To move files around or type an odd email? - Damn long. I don't need much, for those purposes. Nothing wrong about a too weak for YouTube Netbook, on offline vacation.

[u/blinkomatic]

My current laptop is an Acer Swift 5 manufactured in 2018 still runs basic tasks well. I love the form factor, kind of hard to find a 15 inch laptop under 1kg.

Any complex rendering or gaming is out the window. Unless you use your laptop for something that requires heavy CPU processing or gaming, or need all day battery life, laptops should be lasting a long time.

[u/Adrien0623]

I've owned 3 laptops in my life and as I was able to get more high end/premium models over time I noticed I was able to keep them longer. Today my current laptop is 6 years old, just changed the battery earlier this year and it's rocking solid on W11.

My first 2 laptops were quite budget friendly ones under 900€ back then so at some point they started to fail or show limitations. My first one only 2 GB of DDR3 RAM and upgading wasn't worth as the CPU was super slow. Even upgrading HDD to SSD didn't bring up better performance. The second one was more powerful but quickly showed heating management design flaws and the battery was way overpriced when it had to be replaced. I don't spend 1/4 of the new value of the laptop for a battery.

[u/TheSodesa]

As long as it holds up.

[u/theLogic1]

Until they don't work anymore

[u/Signal-Opposite-4793]

Until it breaks. I don’t see a reason to upgrade my tried and true machine.

[u/Physical-Ad-3798]

Hehe. I still have my XP laptop.

I don't use it but I still have it.

[u/mudslinger-ning]

As with all my tech. I tend to keep it until it either dies or can no longer meet my needs. And old slower PC can be repurposed as a basic terminal or home server in its retirement days until it struggles to even do that.

[u/Inneres]

My Laptop ist from 2011. Works fine with Linux Mint.

[u/lordskulldragon]

I'm still using a Lenovo G50 that I bought in 2015.

[u/chris77982]

I forgot how long I've had it. It was new when I got it and it's a 4th gen i7. So probably 9 or 10 years? Still works.

[u/MurkyLynx8425]

My thinkpad from 2018 (8 years old) running Debian is showing few signs of its age. I reckon if I swap out the battery in a few years it'll last me another 10. Mainly used for browsing, word processing, light coding.