This may be kind of a stupid question, but is it true that your computer has a life and whenever it's on it's using up it's life? Meaning it only has so much time to be on before it dies or something?

Sorry if this doesn't make sense!

Not really. There are Apples from the 1980s still running just like new today, and there are also computers that were bought a week ago that have already broke down. Any major catastrophic failure a computer has will probably happen within the first thirty days...otherwise, as long as you take care of it, you'll easily get quite a few good years from a computer. You/your friendly neighborhood tech may have to replace a hard drive now and then if the one you have goes corrupt (Which doesn't have much to do with a HD's age), and perform other maintenance, but no computer has some sort of finite lifespan (your computer isn't just going to suddenly, one day, stop working since it's 6 years old)

If what you suggested were true, I'd never have a computer last past 6 months

It's not a stupid question, Niki. It's just a curiousity question. ;)

No, it does not really have life. It's being used up by battery and power. Just like any other electronic device. It does, however, have its internal parts go bad at times. Such as the motherboard, video card, etc. Sort of like a human being's organs, in a way. Well, maybe that's not the best comparison, but I hope it helps place a picture a bit.

We have some machines at work that have been constantly turned on and in use for over ten years, some with little to no hardware maintenance, other than blowing dust out of the fans, regular checkups and the occasional upgrade.

Granted, these machines are currently used for pretty menial things and dont get stressed very heavily, but as long as you have relatively good hardware to begin with, and you take reasonable care of it, you should be able to get a very long life out of a computer.

laptops are like that, but you can recharge the power by plugging them in.