There are a lot of ways to keep your laptop in good condition and most of the ways are easy to be performed. They do not need any money or lot of time.
The first way to preserve your laptop is using Anti-Virus/Anti-Spyware software. The tendency with the viruses is that one caught they start multiplying and you can hardly clean your laptop from them. So it is good idea to use good anti- virus software. You can have one installed with the operative system of your laptop or can buy one or can download one for free. The free versions are not that secure as the paid one, but it is up to you. Your laptop has to be scanned at least weekly, which will be good prevention and can save you tons of further problems.
The second way of preservation is permanent updating of the laptop software. Most of the big companies usually update their software and you can take advantage of this. Those updates fix bugs and weak places of the software and guarantee you security. Using updates you can prevent huge troubles with your laptop.
The third way of preventing is perpetual defragmentation of the hard disk. As much information you save on your hard disk as much unorganized your laptop’s hard disk becomes. These will slower and impede the work of the hard disk and of the laptop. After each defragmenting your laptop is adequately reorganized and the information is shipshaped. Defragmentation has to be done at every 2 months.
At forth place you have to leave from 5 to 10% free disk space. This is not advice, this is obligatory. The operative system uses part of the hard disk space for virtual memory and if it is blocked with information, the laptop will work slower, which will lead to problem like heating and etc. So if you want more life for your laptop, always leave those 5-10%.
And final advice is use of electroshock protection. Never underestimate the importance of electric shock and the consequences of it. Even if the place you live in has lightning conductor, always a trouble can happen. It is good to have connection block and LAN protector. If you miss to use them after a storm you can get a fried slice instead of your laptop.
Follow this steps and the only reason that you will need to change your laptop because of will be that it is out of date or it does not cover your needs.