I have seen quality desktop units that will go that long, but I have yet to find a laptop that will. My last one, which I retired in July, was an HP Pavilion DV5000 series--four years old, and it was on its fourth hard disk.
I replaced it with an ASUS ultra-compact, a UL30, which so far seems to be the best laptop I have owned. We'll see how long it lasts--but according to the reliability figures published in the last year or two, ASUS is among the best out there.
More durable machines among laptops are usually confined to corporate models, at least in the Windows world. Apple machines have a history of being very well built, but I believe their luster has faded a bit in the last few years in terms of reliability and component quality. I do believe they are still among the best made, just not such a gap above the competition as there once was.
Therefore, if long life is what you seek, I'd mostly be looking among the corporate machines. You are not so likely to get the flashiest machines around, nor the cheapest, but component selection is somewhat likely to be a cut above the consumer-grade ones.
I'd probably have bought an Apple this time except I am not prepared to pay double to get one--I don't think they are that much better. For example, the 13.3" Macbook Pro is a better machine in several ways than my ASUS as far as components and features is concerned. However, my machine was a bit under $600, while the cheapest Macbook Pro is twice that, almost exactly.
Comparing the two: the Mac has the same amount of RAM (4 GB); half the hard drive space (250 GB compared to 500), one less USB port (2 vs. 3). It has an all-aluminum case, a more advanced trackpad, probably a better webcam, a faster processor and faster graphics. Battery life is rated "up to 10 hours" on the Mac, "up to twelve hours" on the ASUS. The Macbook Pro 13.3" has a DVD drive; the ASUS does not (so I paid $40 for an external one I hardly ever use). On the other hand, the Mac is 4.5 pounds while the ASUS is 3.7.
I have not heard how well the new Macbook Pro buttonless trackpad is supported in Linux; since I wasn't buying one, I didn't check.
Because most of my computer activity is either on the Internet, doing office-style applications, or watching video--the ASUS is all I need.
Other laptops that may be worth looking at from a durability standpoint would include the corporate models of Lenovo or even, perhaps, of HP.
However, as a primary machine few people hang on to laptops very many years since so many refinements have made older ones quite obsolete very quickly. I'm not sure that is so true today, as typical laptops have reached a high degree of parity with most desktops in terms of features and performance.
I will say, though, that for those who do have a perceived need for higher performance in a laptop, the difference between a Mac laptop and a comparable PC laptop is far less than it has ever been before. To have gotten a machine that will perform as the Mac does, I would have had to pay about $300 less than the Mac rather than half as much.
David
--- In LINUX_Newbies@yahoogroups.com, "Paul" <pfrederick1@...> wrote:
> Thats Linux for you. Once it is going it goes forever. Well with consumer PCs forever seems to be about 7-10 years before catastrophic hardware failure in my experience ...
>
> Paul
>
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