I'm really curious because I want my macbook to be useful for a couple of years. I just purchased the newest model out. Does anyone know or have experience of their long life macbook pro's? How long has anyone's macbook pro lasted? And I don't mean by the battery, but the whole laptop. Or in general, what is the average lifespan of a macbook pro?
If you take good care of it, you can get a decade or more out of it.
The LEDs that provide the display backlighting will eventually wear out and need to be replaced. Likewise, the LCD screen itself isn't going to last forever. The point is: for a high-technology product, the MBPs have an incredible lifespan. They're very good laptops.
I have G4 PowerBooks that are 5 years old and still going strong. Apple notebooks are good quality, long-lasting machines.
It will be you that leaves the relationship, not the other way around! At some point you're going to walk into an Apple store three years from now and say, "****, this is a lot faster than my old MBP!" Twenty minutes later, you're going to walk out of the Apple store carrying a box and $2400 less in your wallet.