Technical Articles
2025-01-11

The Lifespan of a Computer: How Long Can It Last?

Computers can be used indefinitely as long as they don’t break down, but they are likely to fail due to the aging and damage of various components on the motherboard, such as capacitors. Many of my colleagues are still using old computers, with quite a few around 10 years old. However, compared to what many netizens have at home or in their offices, these might not be considered old at all. After all, there are still people using products from the Core 2 era or even earlier Pentium 4 models. Many examples from computer textbooks in high school and college are still showcasing Windows XP, which was released over 20 years ago.
The Lifespan of a Computer: How Long Can It Last?
This is the computer of Director No. 1 (an all-in-one), which uses the 10-year-old AMD modular architecture Athlon X4 855 processor (3.50GHz/4MB L2/4C4T). It is a rare OEM custom model, with the retail market generally seeing more X4 840 or X4 860K models. Its advantage is that it has a relatively low TDP setting (65W), slightly lower than other models in the same series (95W), so the current price for second-hand stripped parts is still worth 50 yuan, while the 95W counterparts are only worth 18 yuan.
This processor is a big pit; its performance is only at the level of Intel’s 2nd-3rd generation i3, and its actual heat generation is not low. Every time I visit her office, I can hear the loud fan noise. The information that pops up when searching online for this CPU model is basically about the Lenovo machine she uses. The bottom right corner of the computer screen has had the “Activate Windows” prompt for a long time; you just get used to it. 4GB of memory is basically unusable; I see that the 360 acceleration ball is mostly red, which might be the source of her work motivation.
The Lifespan of a Computer: How Long Can It Last?
Director No. 2’s computer (an all-in-one) uses a CPU from 10 years ago, the 4th generation i3-4170 (specifically the Haswell-Refresh from 2014), valued at 27 yuan. The operating system has not been activated since someone helped him reinstall it last time, and the watermark indicating activation has been there for a long time. I even opened the machine for a photo because it does not have a solid-state drive; it can take a long time to boot up, and once all the programs have loaded, it can still be used.
This is the “typical characteristic” of a pure mechanical hard drive system. Such machines are not unusable; you just need to have enough patience. When installing software, try to choose a clean version, and you might consider installing the government version of WPS 2016/2019 (ad-free). 4GB of memory is already occupied by 53% just after booting without doing anything, so opening a couple of web pages or documents will quickly fill it up.
In the workplace, it is most taboo to purchase an “all-in-one”. An “all-in-one” is an anti-human existence, with poor performance and high prices, and it is troublesome to upgrade by dismantling it yourself.
The Lifespan of a Computer: How Long Can It Last?
Assistant No. 3’s computer is finally not theidiotic all-in-one. After booting, Win 7 reports that “the operating system is not genuine,” and the desktop background has been blacked out by Microsoft. The CPU used is the 4th generation i5-4570 from 10 years ago, which is a relatively “high-end” model, valued at 119 yuan. Because it is equipped with Win 7 and has a later installed 120GB SanDisk garbage solid-state drive, plus the system is relatively “clean” without a lot of messy programs installed, it runs quite fast. However, the overall dark style can be quite depressing, and I hope to soon upgrade to a genuine system with a bright desktop background.
It seems that having a lifespan of over 8 years for computers is a very common phenomenon in the market, thanks to the flexible hardware and software pairing mechanism of computers, which is completely different from those devices that can only provide fixed programs and services and are easily replaced by new devices. The open operating system of computers ensures that software can be updated for a long time, perfectly meeting user needs over a long period. The most impressive aspect of this flexible and open mechanism is its backward compatibility; a large number of old version programs can be compatible with products made with new version programs, although the functionality may be somewhat limited. Additionally, various components can be upgraded independently, and some shortcoming components can even be “remedied” through upgrades.
In fact, the phenomenon of using “old machines” in various so-called “high-end” and “advanced” laboratories is even more common. In order to perfectly cooperate with large instruments, specific operating systems and software need to be used, so seeing XP everywhere is quite normal. Today, I specifically took a tour and took some photos.
The Lifespan of a Computer: How Long Can It Last?
(Looking at this logo, it should be Core 2 or the first generation Core i)
The Lifespan of a Computer: How Long Can It Last?
(All are XP)
The Lifespan of a Computer: How Long Can It Last?
(The host used in conjunction with the XRD system, i3-2120+2GB)
If the corresponding experimental instruments are not updated for a long time and the matching software does not put forward any special new requirements for the computer configuration or system, as long as it does not break, these old machines can completely continue to be used, and it does not even concern performance; they can complete the predetermined actions.
Common communication software like QQ, TIM, WeChat, etc., often require version updates every few days. Some even won’t let you use them without updates, which over time leads to increasing resource consumption on the computer. The iteration and upgrading of software versions should be the culprit for why our computers feel slower the more we use them. If you always choose the initial version or slow down the frequency of software updates, this process will be significantly slowed down.
The Lifespan of a Computer: How Long Can It Last?
The Lifespan of a Computer: How Long Can It Last?
Just like many office workers, using a computer for work is actually just editing simple EXCEL spreadsheets, daily WORD documents, or using POWERPOINT to create presentations that are not visually appealing, have no continuous animations, and merely list images and text. Using Office 2003 to open them can actually be much more efficient, fast enough that you can’t even see the welcome page clearly… So, if the teacher’s PPT-making skills do not improve over time, always just simple text + images, and the videos played are always low resolution and have a very dated voiceover, then teaching computers used in classrooms can really go 20 years without updating.
The Lifespan of a Computer: How Long Can It Last?
These “classic” courseware, let alone XP + Pentium 4 + Office 2003, even a 586 computer with Windows 98 and Office 97 can still run smoothly in 2050.

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The Lifespan of a Computer: How Long Can It Last?

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