How Long Should You Keep a Computer?

My 1999 Pro - still works, but the hard drive could not be upgraded as Apple moved to Intel chips.

I also have a MBP - about 4 years old now- I plug in an external monitor and work from this and external hard-drives- works ok now. i have no reason to upgrade yet... I'm about to update to LR 6.... any issues I could expect?

You should keep a computer until it's no longer enough for what you need. My computer was built back in '09, and is still going strong after a few upgrades last month. I don't get the whole "you must replace this" in the world today. I tend to hang on to my mobile phones for a long time too, but I don't value their use that much. Why would I want a new one?

As for my computer, I can no longer upgrade it so I would expect to replace the main components in two years so I would have a completely new system.

my macbook pro was about 6+ years old when I retired it and got a mac mini. I had to, since the old machine was lagging behind with the big files from my new FF camera. Not sure if I could still update the OS, haven't turned it on in a year easy. I avoid upgrading until I have to for some reason, otherwise it's more work than it's worth to me, even if it's rather simple with migration assistant on the mac. I hope the mini will last me an other 5 or so years

5 years average, but with some upgrades(ram, additional graphics card, new usable technologies like SSD) up to 7-8 years. Yeah, not a modern consumer yet

I thought along the same lines as the OP until a little over a month ago...

I've been a Mac user since 2006 with my Macbook 13", I generally hated computers until I got that thing. It lasted me (well, technically it's still ticking actually) 7 years of daily use as my do-it-all machine until I upgraded to a Mac Mini i7. The only issue I had with it was a HDD failure (which was really my fault from the way I was using it) and a couple of dead batteries, which is a current problem that I'm not sure I feel like replacing again, it only works now if it's plugged in.

I used my Mac Mini for a year and recently was persuaded into buying a PC by my gaming friends... darn it, they've done what I thought couldn't be done... I'm a PC convert. Windows has come a long way, I've got Windows 7 on my PC and I'm learning to like it, though I still prefer OSX... but, Windows 10 looks to be bringing so much to the table that I doubt I'll be missing OSX anymore.

Yes, Apple machines are very reliable (for the most part), but they also lack any real upgrade-ability... which I know if you're anything like I was you'll scoff at that comment with something like, "You don't need to upgrade, everything on it works fine", but sadly that's simply not true. You simply don't know what you're missing by being able to upgrade until you have the option.

The PC I bought I got used... well, sort of, it was a build a guy made using some spare parts and some new ones that he got so he could sell it as a complete machine. It's got a 6 Core AMD CPU (1090T) clocked at 3.2ghz (a full GHZ faster than my Mac) from 2011 and a pretty respectable dedicated graphics card (r9 280) with 8gb of RAM and a 1TB HDD. Basically, it kicks the pants out of the specs on my i7 Mac Mini (though the i7 in the Mac is arguably faster in some applications at least in benchmarks) and it cost me less than half what my Mac cost me... I paid $400 for it and my jaw dropped at how flawlessly it ran. I've already thrown in a 250GB SSD and overclocked the CPU to 3.7ghz (something you can't do on most Macs).

Will my PC be as reliable as my Macs have been? Time will tell, but the difference now is, if there's one area of my PC that's becoming outdated I can replace that one part for a small fraction of what it would cost me to just buy a new computer. The same can be said if a part fails.

The only thing my Mac really has going for it over my PC imo is the OS and the form factor. I love the look and size of it, but the cost for performance and the literal cost aren't worth it to me so it'll be getting sold in the very near future.

So how often will I be replacing my PC? As a whole, likely never. I'll more than likely just be replacing parts as/if they fail or I see the need for an upgrade.

I'm a pretty heavy user, so I upgrade whenever my laptop breaks on me, which is usually around every 2 years.

I have been a long time PC user for home uses, although there have been two cases in which I used Apple computers because that is what was provided to me at work.

Reliability? The only issues since the mid1980s that I have ever run into on desktop PCs are multiple harddrives that have failed, and one power supply which has failed. All the rest were retired simply because the horsepower of the processor could not keep up with the growing demands of ever-larger bloated Operating Systems and applications software!

So my philosophy is...

1. Upgrade PC hardware when the basic unit can no longer be updated economilcally by swapping in new expansion cards
   
2. Upgrade PC hardware the the processor no longer reasonably supports fast operation with the latest OS and versions of applications software
   

I don't game anymore on PC so I upgrade parts as they go, if they do! My last computer lasted about 6 years before it just became too sluggish to do what I needed it for. I bought a Dell combo 2 Black Friday's ago and have been happy with it. Just depends on what you use your computer for. Gamers upgrade often, very often. Constant struggle to have the best hardware out there. I'm happy with my PS4

My current PC was built for me and cost $450NZ.

It came with XP pro (because I asked for it) and I brought a large 6x9 monitor separately (for about $100NZ)

While XP can only recognise 3 gig of ram, it has four and is fast enough for my needs (internet/email, photoshop/indesign etc).

I think i've had it about 3 years...since my old laptop died anyway...

It has a 500mb hard drive and I run 3 extra external hard drives totaling 4.5Tb's which are where all my files (like my documents etc live), the PC hard drive is for software only.

Works for me, as I don't have to use an apple and don't have to use all those godawful later versions of windows...

When It can no longer work with new software I need to run, I'll be screwed...ha ha