Letters to the Editor
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Your Mileage May Vary
I tend to use my laptops for about 7 or so years. Of course, I use them to read email and surf the web and maybe play games. If I wanted to use Word, I'd just let it age with the computer. Its not like I need all those weird new macros and ooh ahh features they add to software. (The real reason they add stuff to software is some senior engineer wants job security or some marketing person is high on Red Bull and narcissism.) The batteries tend to be useless, so I take them out, put them on a shelf and plug the computer in to the wall. When I am not using a laptop, its turned off. It amazes me how people leave them on, enticing .ru script kiddies into zombifying their machines.
Most people don't upgrade their towers. They put them in the garage and buy new ones, so that's a nice argument in Nerdland, but most people could not be bothered. Many "civilians" I know are so hands off that they have to call up the "Geek Squad" to clean up their messes when they click on the wrong link.