By adding an SSD and maximizing the RAM, along with using a free operating system such as Linux or FreeBSD, your laptop can easily be extended another five years of life.
@nixCraft That was the first thing I did with my Laptop when I got it in 2013.
SSD improved the battery life immensely.
Maxing the ram to 16Gb made it useful for development work.
It's still going strong, although the battery isn't what it was but for 10 years and counting...
Oh and it's on it's 3rd power supply...
@peter @nixCraft I still haven't changed it. One it runs just fine. Second, it seems hard to find mate screens nowadays, they're all brilliant. I hate brilliant screens.