Yeah, like the title says, I was just wondering what the life span of computers is lately.
I've built a few desktops over the years. They generally only lasted about three years or so and then some new software, or even OS update or bit change would require an upgrade to keep up to speed.
I suppose it depends on what you are doing with them. For instance, I bought a basic Dell desktop for my wife a while back now. It came with Vista pre-installed so I'm guessing that Windows 7 was not around at the time, or, if it was, it was in its early days. So that should give you an idea of how old it is. It is only ever used for storing pictures and the odd internet/email stuff. Still going strong, and even stronger since upgrading to W10. Vista made it seem like and ancient POS and W10 was like a breath of fresh air.
Main reason for the question is, I bought my current DAW laptop nearly five years ago now. It has had a couple of larger SSD drives since then, but that's it.
I am finding that, other than a couple of CPU hungry VST effects, it is coping very well with SPlat and all I can throw at it.
Gaming wise might be a different matter, and I do indeed play games on it from time to time, but I'm not that bothered about it not keeping up because gaming isn't its main use. I generally find that if I use "Low" graphics settings then it copes okay.
Just bought a new battery... Hoping to get another couple of years out of it just yet