@crossingthethreshold My last two laptops lasted for ±a decade before the hardware started giving out. So, assuming the hardware quality kept up recently (a big assumption, granted…), that shouldn’t be a limiting factor; it will be the increased demands of newer OSes and newer apps and…. I get the sense that newer OSes have been worse about this than earlier Mac OS X releases were, where every newer OS was faster on the same Mac, and is exacerbated by the non-upgradeability of newer models (can’t add more RAM or a bigger internal HD).
All that was designed to make you feel better about life remaining in your Air, but I’m not sure I actually accomplished that goal….