How the 5-Year Hardware Life Cycle Impacts Your Bottom Line.

And just like that, it’s time for another laptop.

 

When we were younger, anticipating every new upgraded laptop model was exciting! But when you become the person responsible for the bill, it’s a lot less enticing.

 

Upgrading technology can be a source of financial (and mental) stress in our lives, both on a personal and business level.

 

Recently, you’ve probably seen us talk more and more about the issue of aging inventory, otherwise known as the 5-year hardware life cycle. Blog posts like our V-Scale launch mentioned it briefly, but we want to take a moment to cover this topic in more detail to give you a better understanding of what this problem is, how it affects your business, and when it’s truly necessary to upgrade your office hardware.

 

What is the 5-year hardware life cycle?

The 5-year hardware life cycle is thankfully a fairly self-explanatory problem, but it’s implications aren’t always as intuitive. Like the name implies, it’s the fact that the average estimated life span for all hardware is around five years.

 

Companies who choose to use hardware beyond its life span will almost certainly experience slower IT environments, increased security risks, and decreased productivity, and that’s the implication we want to drive home today. No matter what brand of hardware you use, it’s important to know what the life span of your equipment is and upgrade it when the time comes in order to keep your business protected and competitive.

 

However, since the 5-year hardware life cycle is just an average estimation, we thought that a breakdown of average hardware life cycles by manufacturer would be much more helpful in allowing your company to operate within your hardware’s optimal operational capacity.

 

Average life cycle of Apple hardware:

Overall, Apple products have an average life span of four years and three months, but specific product life cycles are listed below. Just like the 5-year hardware life cycle, it’s important to remember that this is an industry average rather than a guarantee. Some products may last longer than four years and three months, and some will not.

 

iPhones tend to be the Apple product with the shortest lifespan of around two to three years, with MacBooks remaining optimal for around four years, and iMac lasting from four to five years, if not longer. iPhone upgrades, both in terms of new device models and OS updates, are created more frequently than MacBook and iMac upgrades.

 

Average life cycle of Windows hardware by manufacturer:

This is an average estimation of the life spans of each manufacturer’s products based on the experience consumers have reported. It’s important to note that these estimates can vary from customer to customer, and product to product.

 

• Dell: three to five years
• HP: approximately three years, but often up to six
• Lenovo: three to four years
• ASUS: three to five years
• Microsoft Surface: two to three years

 

Varay’s Subscription Solution to Costly Hardware Upgrades:

Here at Varay, we recognize the financial and operational burden of the 5-year hardware life cycle, and the manufacturer-specific life cycles, add to business budgets. And we know that when push comes to shove, businesses sometimes just can’t afford to upgrade all their outdated technology.

 

 

 

 

That’s why our V-Scale service allows businesses to rent top-of-the-line, updated, and secure hardware as an affordable alternative to incurring high up-front equipment costs. Contact us today to see if V-Scale is the right solution for your business!