[Nightfall4]

I have been told that the average life span of a laptop is considered 5 years. Between my wife and myself we have owned 4 Mac Laptops. The G3 450Mhz Powerbook had just about every part replaced as well as numerous upgrades. Of course they were all 4 - 5 years after purchase and after the warranty expired

Apple care is nice to have if you can afford it and well worth the investment. After the warranties expire, parts get expensive. More then what the computer may be worth. In that case a person may be better off removing the hard drive and putting it in an enclosure to use as an external hard drive.