I've tried to counter this with buying commercial/business oriented items. E.g. my 8 year old HP nx6320 (since discontinued) is built like a tank and still works absolutely fine (I still see them working as cash machines/receipt printers in shops). Because it is a business segment machine, it cost me a fortune at that point of time. I bought a new lighter/smaller Dell because I was tired of hauling the HP and it is also a business segment machine. It would be interesting to see how long it goes before having problems.