How frequently do you upgrade your laptop? I suppose desktops are more long lasting because you can upgrade individual components but my laptop is already starting to give up after 2.5 years.

Which laptop do you have?

Asus Vivobook S14 Have made some upgrades over the years.

When I have the money, around 3 years or so. The farthest I’ve pushed it is 5 years. I always try to buy a top of the line MacBook Pro.

I like to go with a 3 year cycle. This is my 2nd cycle going. Buy the best you can get in the market, hold onto it for 3 years!

I buy a high-end machine roughly every 5 years. As soon as you buy a new laptop (or PC or smartphone), it's time to start budgeting/saving for the next one.

Isnt 5 a tad too long ?

Honestly I have nothing happening locally on the laptop. Every thing is being built/stored on the cloud anyways.

Whenever I buy a machine, I ensure that it is upgradeable with time. The component which is surely not upgradeable is the CPU. I buy laptops with the latest gen CPU so that they run at least 3-4 years. In 2014, I bought a Lenovo Ideapad with 4th gen i7 which lasted me my university days, and then in 2018, I bought a Thinkpad with 8th Gen i7, which is my current personal machine. I expect it to last for at least a few more years. It's going to be 3 years and it shows no signs of slowness (I know people have 10year old Thinkpads running smoothly 😂). I had upgraded the RAM from 16GB to 32GB last year because I needed to run multiple build clusters locally. At work, I have a Macbook Pro 16 i9 with maxed out specs. That is also expected to run at least 3-4 years, although not upgradeable at all. At the end of its warranty, we have a policy to recycle the machine. @straight-continent-34777 -- buy a Thinkpad someday 😅 5 years would then be a very short timeframe. 😛

@gorgeous-tent-29765 I’m a Thinkpad AND a Mac proponent. Mac for the ecosystem and Thinkpad for what it delivers as a “machine”.

@straight-continent-34777 -- I know. 😅 Both product lines are suitable for their target audience.

Windows - 3 years Mac - 5 years

It is worth noting that when it comes to Intel (or now AMD as well), laptop processors (particularly on PC side) are distinguished broadly by a U-series chip and an H-series chip. It isn’t as simple as i7 > i5 (or Ryzen 7 > Ryzen 5). U series are aimed for lighter workloads (due to chip topping at lower wattage limit and less number of cores). If you’re buying a device for software development (or gaming or video editing), always go with H series. Thankfully we’ve entered a phase where PCs and laptops are relevant again for OEMs to compete and produce better devices.

Specifically for a Mac, I’d wait until WWDC this year before buying anything. The latest M1 chips are really good but their dev focused machines should be much better from a longevity perspective.

I am using my 2nd laptop bought oct 2020, 1st one in 2011(HP M6) still using it for gaming..

The most intensive task my laptop ever has to do is run youtube videos. So 5 years or more for me. Praying that my M1 keeps up till 2026.

I have used my Dell Inspiron 15R for 5 years, with upgrades to RAM, replacing the battery once. But I’ve seen Macbooks are far off and can be used for 6+ years. That being said, If you have money and all you have is one laptop that you use for work/personally, it is better to upgrade every 3 years.

Since there’s now a varied audience on this thread, I’ll throw in another thought - If you’re a knowledge worker, you know what the word “backups” means. This means YOU NEED ATLEAST 2 LAPTOPs.

My MSI Stealth Thin is going strong at 2 and a half years as of now. Won't need upgrading for at least another 2 I feel.