Expected Lifespan of IT Equipment

[LeMarchand]

Been tasked with compiling a (no doubt to be ignored) list. What are people's thoughts on:

 

Laptop: 3 yrs

PC: 5 yrs

 

Monitors: 7 yrs

Chromebook: 3yrs

Tablets: 3 yrs

iPads: 5 yrs

Mobile Phones: 2 yrs

Phones: 5 yrs

Servers: 5 yrs

Switches: 7 yrs

Networking wiring etc: ???

Wireless points (Unifi): 5 yrs

Printers: 5 yrs

Display Boards: 5 yrs

Edited November 22, 2024 by LeMarchand

[Cat_Jam148]

Laptops is a minimum of 4 years here, the Lenovo machines we go for can do that easy.

 

PCs, 6-7 years. With an SSD and a good processor, they can last for as long as Microsoft supports them on the OS.

 

From my experience, iPads can go 7 years. It's really the discontinuation of security updates, which seems to be around the 7 year mark, that forces us to retire them from use.. The hardware does keep chugging along, even the battery life is half decent.

We're just now looking at replacing our 6th gens from early 2018.

[dhicks]

Laptop / PC:

 

We've just replaced our all-in-ones after 7 years. The old machines were still usable, and were taken by a charity which re-distributes them, they take anything under 8 years old, so our 7 years usage out of them sounds about right. "All-in-ones" here meant both some VeryPC Windows devices and some iMacs - the iMacs were about to go out of MacOS security update support, again after 7 years. We would expect the same amount of use from laptops (especially teacher devices), possibly with a replacement battery half-way through their lifespan if needed.

 

Chromebooks: until they go out of update support, for some devices that is 10 years, although again 7 might be closer. We've just replaced our staffroom devices (NUCs running ChromeOS Flex) after 6 years as there was an update issue. This is assuming the devices don't get bashed around too much, of course - I think some schools allow for a 20% replacement / spares rate, we're nearer 5%.

 

Monitors we simply use until they stop working. Our touch screens we'd expect to get 10 years out of them, athough any embedded OPS devices might need replacing after 5 years.

 

We would expect our servers to last more than 5 years, I think ICT Direct are even doing extended warrenties for older hardware up to 7 or 8 years.

 

Switches: we've just reeplaced our switches after 10 years.

 

Network wiring: I think the warrenty was meant to be for 25 years, I don't know how well that holds up.

 

Wireless access points: we've just bought new Ubiquiti access points to update our existing Ubiquiti points, we're installing them one-by-one. The older ones are working fine, probably about 5 years old. The new ones have support for newer wireless standards, of course. Much the same for CCTV cameras - we're finding our older (5 years?) cameras aren't supported as well by Ubiquiti's management system, so we're upgrading individual cameras as we get to them.

 

Printers we have on a managed contract, I think typically 5 or 7 years.

 

Phones (as in wired handsets): I think we've got 10 years out of our current handsets, some of which we're now replacing.

 

Tablets / iPads: we'd go by the iOS-updates availability, which I think is around 5 to 7 years.

 

Mobile Phones: again, we'd probably go by updates being available, so we'd expect to get longer than 2 years from a device. For my own device I have a FairPhone, which should last (with updates) for 10 years.

[2ilent8cho]

We currently aim for .

 

Laptops : 7 to 8 Years

Desktops : 9 to 10 Years

iPads : 6 to 7 Years

Phones : 15 Years

Wireless APs : 10 Years

Switches : 10 Years

 

Though we have gone longer if the devices can stretch a bit more. We have just decommissioned 200+ 2013 MacBook Airs after 11 years of service, our desktops (2014 iMacs) are 10 years old now and are set to be replaced next year. iPads do a 5 year run from Year 7 to Year 11 with the same pupil, then a couple of more to do other jobs else where if still in good working condition.

[Oaktech]

Until it dies...

 

We have about 400 laptops/chromebooks, about 120 PCs and 40 whiteboards across 3 schools.

 

I have a budget for about 15 laptops, 7-10 desktops and 3-5 whiteboards every year with a contingency pot for repairs. I then have a 'big budget' to replace a whole set of something every 5 years so we keep rolling.

[jmak]

Laptop: 5 yrs (We're buying Dell Latitudes with 5 year next day onsite warranty and accidental damage)

 

PC: 5 yrs

 

Monitors: 7 yrs

 

iPads: until they stop getting updates

 

Mobile Phones: 2 yrs

 

Phones: 5 yrs

 

Servers: 7 yrs (under manufacturer warranty)

 

Switches: existing ones have been here up to 15 years. Currently undergoing total refresh and then we will stick to support cycles.

 

Networking wiring etc: forever!

 

Wireless points (Aruba): until support ends

 

Printers: 5 yrs (leased)

[DWilson1997]

Laptop / Surface Pro: 3-4 years

Laptop / Dell Latitude: 4-5 years

Desktop PC: 5 years

Monitors: 3-5 years - docking monitors so tend to fail quicker

Tablets: 3 years or when OS is out of security updates

Mobile Phones: 3 years or when OS is out of security updates

Switches (Meraki): 10 years or when OS is out of security updates or if higher performance is needed

Wireless points (Meraki): 5-10 years or when OS is out of security updates or if higher performance is needed

Networking wiring etc: as and when facilities develop areas of the school

Printers/MFD: 5 years (outright purchase)

Display Boards: 7 years

[gszech]

Laptop: 4 years

PC: 5 Years with optional extension if they are still running fine.

Servers: 5 years with optional 2 years extended warranty.

Pupils Chromebooks: Until they destroy them or OS is no longer Supported by Chrome Updates.

[psydii]

Laptop: 3 yrs 5 yrs but replace if faulty and 3yrs+

PC: 5 yrs 10 yrs or supportablity threshold crossed.

 

Monitors: 7 yrs never

Chromebook: 3yrs As per laptops

Tablets: 3 yrs DO NOT BUY

iPads: 5 yrs 7 yrs

Mobile Phones: 2 yrs 5 yrs

Phones: 5 yrs 10 years

Servers: 5 yrs 10 yrs or until unsupportable

Switches: 7 yrs Limited lifetime warranty

Networking wiring etc: ??? "25 yrs" in practice this is capital/lifecycle. Likely only need to replace if

Wireless points (Unifi): 5 yrs 10 years

Printers: 5 yrs only when they fail

Display Boards: 5 yrs 10yrs+ or when they fail

 

Key is supportable and security. Printers are isolated so any risks from firmware vulnerabilities are mitigated. The time frames above are ideal case based on optimal purchase window where product is new so support/updates are expected for the duration. This is one of the reasons we don't network our boards - if people relied on connectivity, they'd have to be replaced once they stopped getting Android updates, so we keep the software capabilities driven by the usb/hdmi connecting device (typically running Windows/macOS/ChromeOS).

Edited November 22, 2024 by psydii

[Rob_D]

If you use HP brighter futures for PCs and Laptops they only accept up to 8 year old kit for trade-in, so that's your refresh cycle.

[dmj]

It's a rather subjective question because it depends entirely on the quality and specification of the items when they were first bought and the workload that is expected from them.

 

On a good spec/quality PC/mac I'd expect to see 10 years. Perhaps 5 on a laptop and more for a Chromebook or macbook.

Even old servers end up in failover clusters, and kernel support rarely gets dropped - perhaps after 20yrs? Rather depends what the server is doing I think.

 

Networking gear is a bit easier, we know that Neilsens law predicts 50% growth of internet bandwidth every year, so knowing what your new kit can do now makes it easy to extrapolate what it needs to do in future, or until the support for zero days runs out.

[Chris_Cook]

Depends on the age of equipment, but 5 to 8 years for us on most equipment. It also depends on the grade of equipment. - IE, buy a higher spec PC and it will last a bit longer. Same with a brighter projector etc.

 

Older laptops the batteries lasted about 2-3 years, but could be replaced. These days the batteries aren't as easily replaceable, but they last much longer because they start at a higher capacity.

 

Newer chromebooks have longer software support than older ones. But then some of ours don't last more than a day with some users.

 

Wifi is probably about 5 years as the expectations on the system (speed, coverage, density/number of client devices, and roaming around site) will change quite a lot in that time. You can probably skip a wifi generation each time. With the amount of mobile/laptop equipment in use in schools this is probably them main one to keep on top of.

 

I would align this to the manufacturers updates and security support where possible.

 

A vulnerability scan can be helpful for picking up older kit that might be forgotten about.

 

Copiers are on a 5 year lease, but like many organisations we've extended that due to lack of use during covid.

 

I'd also use metrics like login/boot times to make sure kit is still meeting your business needs.

 

We don't really have the bad capacitor issues that seemed to plague kit from around the years 2000-2005, so the 5 year thing isn't as much of an issue as it once was. Modern software is also much more efficient (relative to CPU speeds) and security engineering in programming is much better than back then as well. These days we are more limited by disk and network speeds that CPU and RAM.

 

Cabling is probably good for 20 years if installed to a good standard. We still have cat5 cabling from back then that's good enough, but will need upgrading if we go to higher speeds than 1Gb. Same for our fibre - we have fibres that are probably about 20-25 years old, but now won't support 10Gb connections. Some of our Cat cabling that wasn't done to a good standard hasn't lasted this long. We actually still have BBC Micro Econet cabling in place in some areas and I recon that would work if we tried it. I suspect much of our cabling will outlast the building its in with a few exceptions.

[MatthewL]

Laptops warranty plus 1 year typically 4 years

Desktops warranty plus 1 year typically 5 years

Tablets, iPad's,. Mobiles until no OS updates can be applied or before if there is a need

Monitors till they need replacing

Servers 5 years roughtly

Switches no plans to replace unless they die or no further firmware updates

Network wiring - never

AP's never unless there is a need

Printers keep them running until they die or for copiers about 5 years

[FN-GM]

We have a simple rule. Any equipment that is portable - 3 years. Anything statics - 5 years.

[MrEprise]

We have a simple rule. Any equipment that is portable - 3 years. Anything statics - 5 years.

 

3 years for portable devices is one that surprised me until we had an external IT Security & Support company come in at one point (trying to help the Trust turn all our schools server-less) and the discussion of Laptop longevity came up. They pointed out that if you use a Laptop almost constantly, by year 3 the battery has degraded to the point it'd ideally need replacement and that can sometimes come in at a hefty cost (especially if replacing more than one,) and it can also be virtually impossible to source replacement batteries for some models.

 

It's one of those where I'm reluctant to, but do agree with.

[Millgate_Jon]

SHAMELESS PROMO ALERT >>>>

 

In December we are having a big push on our Breakfix services so if you do have any infrastructure hardware (servers, switches, storage arrays) that is outside of manufacturers warranty - we can cover it on a NBD Guaranteed Fix contract.

 

Fraction of the price of the manufacturers version of the same thing and can help with planning/budgeting if any of that kit scheduled to be refreshed has actually got some life left in it and doesn`t actually need replacing just yet.

 

All we need is the make, model and serial number and we can quote - drop me a line if you`ve any questions........happy to help.

 

Thanks

 

Jon.

[FN-GM]

3 years for portable devices is one that surprised me until we had an external IT Security & Support company come in at one point (trying to help the Trust turn all our schools server-less) and the discussion of Laptop longevity came up. They pointed out that if you use a Laptop almost constantly, by year 3 the battery has degraded to the point it'd ideally need replacement and that can sometimes come in at a hefty cost (especially if replacing more than one,) and it can also be virtually impossible to source replacement batteries for some models.

 

It's one of those where I'm reluctant to, but do agree with.

 

I have just given back my old work laptop. It is nearly 3 years old, the new one is fine but the battery is notably better!

[garethEds]

We've just sent some HP devices for recycling but they would have lasted a lot longer if MS had not insisted W11 needed certain security stuff. These devices were HP600/800 G1 (and G2) devices. They run W11 fine when built from MDT. I've kept some but others are going to be recycled. Just got to hope that the 30 I have in one room all last.

[drutt]

Laptop: 3 yrs, but we don't bother with warranties as vandalism is a constant issue and we do most repairs in house. When refreshing laptops we always buy a spare stock of keyboards for our initial repairs, then we cannibalize parts from laptops that are deemed too far gone as the months pass.

PC: 8+ yrs - really depends on what the desktops are doing, we still have some from 2013 here that work perfectly with Windows 11 and with an SSD they fly through any tasks the students are doing.

 

Monitors: When they fail or we refresh desktops

Chromebook: Don't use

Tablets: Don't use

iPads: When they fail, we only use these for our signing in and out system

Mobile Phones: When they fail, only select SLT have school provided phones

Phones: Refresh for these is managed by Facilities Management contract, they just replaced our onsite VOIP system after 10 years with a cloud system and I can easily see these lasting another 10

Servers: 10 years or as long as we can get warranties

Switches: 10+ years, depending on requirements. We invested in a 10Gb backbone back when we did our first refresh in 2015/16 and aren't utilizing all of it even now.

Networking wiring etc: In our older buildings this is replaced as necessary, in our main building with it all being relatively new build from 2010 it's unlikely we'll need to replace this anytime soon.

Wireless points: 8-10 yrs, we refreshed these this year. Our previous refresh was 2016. It entirely depends on whether you need more coverage or better data rates from newer wireless standards. Our new system uses one of the APs as a virtual controller so if we have an AP fail we can just buy a new one, plug it in and it will pull the configuration automatically.

Printers: 3 yrs, we're on a managed service contract for our printing solution, this is through a local authority framework

Display Boards: 10 yrs or as needed, we invested in replacing all our projectors and smartboards with viewsonic screens in 2020 and don't expect any major changes for 10 years, we've had a couple of the screens fail over the last year, some of these were put in around 2018/19 during our initial tests but each has been either repairable or replaced under warranty.