How Long Should a Laptop Last?

Summary: Protecting laptops with antivirus security and physical security helps them last longer. Learning laptop care best practices can help your device work longer and function better so you can extend time between replacements.

Laptops have been essential in supporting the dramatic increase in remote-access work. But users are often unclear about the maintenance and care of their laptop. Questions such as “how long should a laptop last” or “how can I protect my laptop” are common after purchase, especially for expensive laptops. The more you protect these devices, the longer they will last. However, taking your laptop out and about exposes it to more physical and cyber security threats than if you kept it home. But fear not – there are several steps that can be taken to protect laptops wherever you plan to use them.

Physical Security Laptop Protection

Physical damage to laptops comes in many forms – from theft, falls or liquid damage. You can protect a laptop from most forms of physical damage by following these tips:

• Secure Your Laptop – If you are using your laptop in a public and unsecure setting and you must step away from it, consider securing it with a “Kensington” cable. These locking cables allow users to attach their laptops to a table to prevent theft. In the time it takes to ask for more napkins at the counter of a coffee shop, your laptop could be out the door under someone’s coat. Of course, if you never leave your machine unattended, you might not need to use a cable lock.
• Use a Protective Cover – There are many options for physically protecting a laptop. Adding a protective “skin” is a popular option on the low end. However, skins do not do much if you drop your laptop. Hard cases are more cumbersome but more likely to protect from physical damage because of their built-in shock absorption. Many users have special laptop briefcases or backpacks with padded compartments to protect devices.
• Add a Screen Protector With Privacy Screen – A ballistic glass screen protector with a privacy layer offers physical protection for the screen and makes it difficult for someone to see what you are working on from either side of you. Broken screens, especially on Mac computers, can be very expensive to replace.

Cyber Security Laptop Protections

Do laptops need antivirus? Yes. Failing to protect your laptop with high-quality antivirus and other forms of cyber security can allow malicious viruses to control the performance of your device, even rendering is unusable. It can also allow private and sensitive data (such as credit card numbers, business and financial data, passwords and logins and more) to fall into the hands of cybercriminals. While the following cyber security recommendations are good for any computer, they are especially important for portable and mobile devices that access the internet on public WiFi:

• Password Security – Always require a password for logging into a laptop. Password protection is perhaps the most basic protective measure everyone should use. If you log in and out regularly, you will help prevent others from accessing your computer and private data.
• Hard Drive Encryption – Without protection, hackers can remove your hard drive and get past your login credentials. But by using an encrypted hard drive, if your laptop is stolen, cybercriminals will have a much harder time reading your data.
• Password-Protected Screen Savers – Everyone knows what a screensaver is. It can be set to come onto your laptop screen whenever your machine has been idle for a pre-specified amount of time. Without password protection, a touch of any key will bring the screen back to work mode. However, when waking up from screen saver mode, a password should be required to exit the screen saver mode and get back to operational mode.
• Data Back-Up – Regularly backing up your data could be the most important action to protect your laptop (and other devices). With a current backup, a damaged, lost or stolen laptop’s data can be reinstalled on another computer. Backups can be copied to external drives or saved to the cloud. For Macs (iOS), using “Time Machine” backup allows the user to have the data and folders reinstalled precisely where it was before the loss or security event.
• Install All Updates – Many updates to the existing system and application software contain “security fixes” for previously reported vulnerabilities. Therefore, it is well worth your time to install all necessary updates. Criminals take advantage of known vulnerabilities and can exploit software or operating systems that have not been updated.
• Use a Virtual Private Network (VPN) – VPNs afford users a high degree of anonymity and security by creating a “tunnel” network for your data transmissions. VPNs encrypt data and transmit it to a server in another city or country, where that server re-encrypts it and sends it from there. As a result, anyone trying to hack into your network or spy on your actions will be unable to locate your IP address and location or view data in a readable form. VPNs are affordable protection for your online work.
• Think Before You Click – Best practices for safe computer use apply to all your remote work, just as they should in your home or office. For example, resist clicking on attachments or links sent in emails without first checking the sender's authenticity. Phishing emails and texts are more realistic than ever thanks to editing software that fixes language usage mistakes. Malware and spyware can be downloaded when users impulsively click on links and attachments without being sure they are from a trusted source.

So, How Long Should a Laptop Last?

Most tech experts agree that you can expect a laptop to last at least four years, with Apple products lasting longer. However, there are plenty of 8-year-old carefully protected laptops still plugging along out there (and a few 12-year-old ones). On the low end, a laptop that is used continuously, dropped, banged around or used under harsh or dirty conditions is lucky to last for three years.

Have your IT technician visit your home or office to maintain your laptop on a yearly basis. They will clean fans, apply needed antivirus laptop security software patches, check the device for malware and help improve the speed and performance for you. If your laptop is lightly used, you may consider upgrading it with more memory or a new hard drive. When the time comes where it is no longer wise to repair or maintain your laptop, the repair technician can recommend a replacement that will suit your needs and budget, and safely de-commission the device by thoroughly removing sensitive private and business data before you donate, discard or recycle the laptop