So you want some certainty that the computer you just bought will last as long as possible.\u00a0 So, how do you try to ensure you get the longest life possible and how long should it last?<\/p>\n
Obviously there is the way you treat it; keeping it away from liquids, being cautious of the cables and ports, etc, but, even the best cared for computer isn\u2019t going to last forever.<\/p>\n
One way to insure your investment is to buy the longest warranty option you can buy.\u00a0 You probably noticed when you purchased your last computer that most entry-level and consumer-grade computers come bundled with a 1-year warranty.\u00a0 If you looked at the higher-end and business-class computers you might have seen that some of them come out of the box with a 3-year warranty (most all of the desktops Fox sells fall into the later class <cough, cough> ;).\u00a0 So, what if you want a longer warranty?\u00a0 Well the major PC manufacturers will offer to sell you an extended fourth year of warranty coverage (at generally nearly twice the price of the first three years combine) and even a fifth year (which can easily hit half the original purchase price of the computer).\u00a0 That is where the story ends.\u00a0 I don\u2019t know of a single computer manufacturer that will sell you that sixth year of warranty coverage.\u00a0 Not one.\u00a0 Even Apple, seated on their pedestal above all other things computer (just ask one of their users, they\u2019ll confirm this fact for you) will only sell you up to 3 years (if you buy their AppleCare+ package for their Mac products).<\/p>\n
Why don\u2019t computer manufacturers sell a sixth year of warranty?\u00a0 Do they think people wouldn\u2019t buy it?\u00a0 Do they feel they can\u2019t possibly squeeze any more money out of the consumer?\u00a0 More likely their engineers have gotten together with their warranty people and figured out that computer components (especially the little plastic fans that keep things cool, the optical drives, the hard disk drives and all the other moving parts) last on average for three to five years.<\/p>\n
Beyond hardware life-expectancy there is something to be said for obsolesce as well.\u00a0 Microsoft tends to release their new operating system versions on two-and-a-half to three year release cycles.\u00a0 That is of course until Windows 10 came along.\u00a0 Microsoft took an unexpected turn upon releasing Windows 10.\u00a0 Microsoft gave away free Windows 10 upgrades for Windows 7, 8 and 8.1 computers.\u00a0 We are close to the fourth anniversary of the Windows 10 release date (which released July 29, 2015).\u00a0 That means that if you bought a new computer with Windows 8.1 on its release date (October 17, 2013) and took advantage of the free upgrade to Windows 10 (while it was available), your computer is five-and-a-half years old now.\u00a0 Having run the front counter of a computer repair store for nearly 20 years (I started here January 2, 2000) I have seen my fair share of computers come in and out of the shop.\u00a0 Recently I have started noticing to how many of the machines coming in originally shipped with Windows 10 versus the number that were upgraded from an older version of Windows.\u00a0 I don\u2019t have exact numbers, but, I can attest to the fact that the lion\u2019s share of the computers coming in at this point shipped with Windows 10 on them.\u00a0 So, they are less than 4 years old.\u00a0 I still see the occasional Windows 7 or 8 COA (Certificate of Authenticity) stickers on computers coming into the shop, but, they are much more the exception than the rule.<\/p>\n
Looking at all the information out there I think it\u2019s pretty safe to say that the industry expectation is that your new computer will last an average of three to five years.\u00a0 If your computer lasts longer than the average three to five years, that\u2019s great. I don\u2019t advocate for disposing of a computer that is still doing its job.\u00a0 But, you should be aware of this life-expectancy and back up your data accordingly.\u00a0 After all, it is really your data that is the most valuable part of a computer. -Jayson<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
So you want some certainty that the computer you just bought will last as long as possible.\u00a0 So, how do you try to ensure you get the longest life possible and how long should it last? Obviously there is the way you treat it; keeping it away from liquids, being cautious of the cables and<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rs_blank_template":"","rs_page_bg_color":"","slide_template_v7":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1696","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.webuildsolutions.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1696","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.webuildsolutions.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.webuildsolutions.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.webuildsolutions.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.webuildsolutions.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1696"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.webuildsolutions.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1696\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.webuildsolutions.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1696"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.webuildsolutions.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1696"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.webuildsolutions.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1696"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}