When should a business replace its computers?

Most businesses replace computers too late. Here is how long business machines really last, the signs it is time, and when an upgrade is enough.

How long does a business computer last?

• Laptops: 3-4 years.
• Desktops: 4-5 years.
• Apple Silicon Macs: often longer, and they hold their trade-in value well.

7 signs it is time

1. Booting takes a coffee break.
2. Zoom, Chrome and Excel together make the fan take off.
3. The battery lasts one meeting.
4. The operating system no longer gets updates. Microsoft ended mainstream support for Windows 10 in October 2025, and many older machines cannot run Windows 11.
5. The warranty is over and a repair costs half a computer.
6. Employees prefer their personal computer, which is also a security problem.
7. The software the business needs no longer runs well.

Upgrade or replace?

For a machine under three years old, moving from a hard drive to an SSD or adding memory can buy another year or two. But many new laptops have soldered memory, and an upgrade does not fix a worn battery or an unsupported operating system.

The hidden cost of a slow computer

Ten minutes of waiting a day adds up to almost 37 hours a year over about 220 working days, nearly a full working week per employee.

Replace in stages

Replace roughly a third or a quarter of the fleet each year, by age. Keep a simple list: who has which machine, purchase date, serial number and warranty end.

And the old ones?

Three- or four-year-old machines, even faulty ones, usually still have value. With ITStore trade-in we collect them, inspect them and give credit toward the new equipment, with a full data wipe and a certificate per machine. See also what to do with old business computers.

Ready to refresh? See our business computing equipment or send us a list of your old machines.