The easier thing to do is just buy and off lease laptop especially if you are just doing basic office stuff. Most computers last a long time and the specs don't need to be updated constantly for that kind of work any longer. Or you can slide it downwards in use. So I like to have an updated laptop and upgrade every 3-5 years or so because I work in IT. What I do is replace mine and that old one goes to my dad (or anyone with less needs). So right now he is using my last one and so that one is now 7 years old or so. Even the one before that is still in use as a backup system for a kid. That one is over 10 years old. But you go buy the lowest priced laptop and it probably won't last that long. People have to understand that there is a massive difference between a $500 laptop and a $2000 one. This is where buying off lease comes in because you can get a powerful system for much less then it was new. This likely mean it was higher price to begin with and will likely last longer. It is why I always think it is funny when people say that apple laptops last forever. Well they don't really make those cheap systems so they will likely last far longer. Spend 2k on a windows based laptop and it will be the same kind of quality.