How long should a business laptop actually last?

Most business laptops are good for 3-5 years of solid performance before ageing batteries, slower storage and rising software demands make replacement more cost-effective than repair. Budgeting for a rolling refresh, say a fifth of your fleet each year, avoids a painful all-at-once replacement bill and keeps everyone on supported hardware.

Coach's tip: check whether the laptop still receives security updates before assuming "it still works fine" is good enough reason to keep it.