Hi everybody, Jeremy here, Managing Director of The Human IT Company, Vancouver's best outsourced IT service and support provider, and today we're talking about lifespan. Since a number of organizations are starting to go into a budgeting phase, we've been getting a lot of questions lately around the average lifespan of a computer. Certainly not a very complicated topic, but it is an important one since it affects money, planning, and honestly many different aspects of operations.
Computer Equipment Lifespan
So what is the average lifespan for a computer? It's probably not a surprise to anybody when I say that the easy answer is "it depends". Generally for budgeting purposes, we would allow that a laptop is going to have an average lifespan of three to four years, and a desktop will typically last you 3 1/2 to five years. Of course this is only a broad estimate and there's a lot of factors that will change how long your equipment lasts. The frequency with which you move your desktop, how often you travel with your laptop, and even the environmental conditions will all affect the lifespan. That's before we even get into looking at the applications you use and whether or not your hardware meets the system requirements for those tools. But if you're trying to do some budgeting these are good numbers to work with as a starting point.
How Long Do Servers Last?
A server is typically going to last five to seven years, or at least it will if it has been provisioned properly by your IT service provider. Server lifespans are so much longer because you want to try to amortize the higher cost over a longer period of time; getting a server that lasts you five to seven years takes a little bit of voodoo and gazing into the crystal ball, but it's not particularly difficult, and that gazing is important to do.
Network Equipment Lifespan
Network equipment, like switches or firewalls, or wireless gear, are tricky, and you can again expect to have a four to seven-year lifespan. This type of equipment is usually upgraded based on performance requirements; for example if you've got one of the newer fast Internet connections that does more than 1 gigabit per second, but your firewall only supports 1Gbps, then your firewall becomes the bottleneck. Why are you paying for faster Internet, if your network devices don't support those speeds? Performance issues like this are the most common reason that network equipment gets upgraded, but again for budgeting purposes, these are good time frames to work with.
There are of course variations to all of this; commercial businesses that are heavily reliant on technology are going to slide more to the shorter end of these lifespan estimates. Organizations like charities or nonprofits that are more cash constrained will slide to the longer end. Both of these are perfectly acceptable of course, the trick is to simply plan for them when you're doing your budgeting so that you're not surprised in two or three years down the road.
The number one challenge in doing proper budgeting… Knowing where you're starting from. Having an effective and accurate inventory of your current equipment is critical in knowing which machines need to be upgraded first, and when. Once you have that inventory, it's easy to plan for a smooth and predictable refresh cycle that isn't going to crash your budget.
Need Help With IT Planning?
If you'd like to know more about IT budgeting, IT planningg, IT lifecycles or even if you want to know whether or not your network is doing what it's supposed to, send us a message at www.humanitcompany.ca, leave us a message in the comments below, and we'll work with you to make sure that your plan meets with the reality of your expectations, and your budget. Thanks for watching and have a great day.
