How long will my laptop get security updates?

A laptop has no single support date the way a phone does. How long it stays safe depends on what it runs. A Chromebook released from 2021 on gets 10 years of updates from Google, counted from when its platform came out, and shows you the end date in settings. A Windows 11 laptop gets updates for as long as you keep moving to each new yearly version of Windows, because every version on Home and Pro is supported for 24 months. A Mac gets fixes while Apple's newest macOS supports it, plus about two years, though Apple publishes no number. And on Windows 11 Home and Pro, version 24H2 stops getting updates on October 13, 2026, five days from now.

Why the "3 to 5 years" figure is wrong

The common answer is three to five years. For most laptops that is not how support works. On Windows and macOS the fixes come from the operating system, which does not count down from the day a laptop went on sale. On Windows the deadline belongs to the version of the system; on a Mac, to whether this year's macOS still installs on your model.

The short figure has stuck around for two reasons. Older Chromebooks really did expire young: in December 2022, Which? found 21 of 57 refurbished Chromebooks on Back Market already past their update date, including a Dell Chromebook 3120 that had stopped getting updates in September 2021. The other is that people mix up security updates with driver and firmware support, a separate and shorter clock covered below.

There is also a legal reason no date is printed on the box. The UK's product security rules made phone makers publish a minimum support period, which is how the figures in how long phones get security updates became public. Schedule 3 of those regulations names desktop computers, laptop computers and tablets without a cellular connection as excepted products, unless they are designed only for children under 14. So nobody has to tell you a laptop's end date.

Every kind of laptop, in one table

The bottom row can rescue a laptop the other rows have given up on, as explained in open source software for ordinary users.

Chromebooks: the only laptop with an end date

Google's automatic update policy says it plainly: "ChromeOS devices receive 10 years of updates." Google's September 2023 announcement adds the detail that matters when you buy: the 10 years count from when the platform was released, meaning the hardware design the model is built on, not from your purchase or that model's launch. Chromebooks released from 2021 on get the 10 years automatically. Older ones only get them if someone turns on extended updates.

To see the date, open Settings, select About ChromeOS, then Additional details. The Update schedule section shows when the last update will arrive. After that, Google says the device gets no more ChromeOS and browser updates, which include security fixes. Check before you buy a used one: none of the retailers Which? looked at showed the date.

Windows: the clock belongs to the version

Microsoft's release information page says each Windows 11 feature update comes once a year, in the second half of the calendar year, with 24 months of support on Home and Pro and 36 months on Enterprise and Education. A laptop that installs every yearly version never reaches an end date. A laptop that stays on one version does, quietly.

Microsoft says 26H1 is only for new devices from early 2026 and is not offered as an upgrade, so for an existing laptop the move that matters is 24H2 to 25H2. To see which one you have, open Settings, System, About, and read the Version line under Windows specifications. If it says 24H2 on Home or Pro, check Windows Update this week.

What Microsoft does not publish is how long a given processor will be allowed to install future versions, and that is the honest limit of any Windows answer: the real end date arrives when a new version will not install. Windows 10 showed what that looks like, and the options for those PCs are in the Windows 10 extended updates explainer.

Drivers and firmware run on a separate clock

Windows updates fix the operating system. The firmware that starts the laptop, and the drivers for its chips, come from whoever built the hardware. Microsoft publishes this as a dated table for its Surface range. Surface devices released before 2021 got driver and firmware updates for at least four years from release. Devices released from January 1, 2021 get at least six.

• Surface Laptop 3, released October 22, 2019: firmware and driver support ended July 30, 2024.
• Surface Laptop 4, released April 15, 2021: support ends April 15, 2027.
• Surface Laptop 5, released October 25, 2022: support ends October 25, 2028.
• Surface Laptop 7th Edition (Snapdragon), released June 18, 2024: support ends September 10, 2030.

Microsoft's policy adds that after the servicing period, a device keeps getting Windows feature and security updates under the normal Windows lifecycle. A Surface Laptop 3 on a supported Windows 11 version still gets security fixes today, just no new firmware. For other brands, look at the support page for your exact model and check the date of the most recent BIOS or firmware release.

Macs: follow the newest macOS, plus two

Apple publishes no support period for Macs, but its security releases list shows the practice. On September 28, 2026, Apple released fixes for macOS 27 Golden Gate, macOS Tahoe 26 and macOS Sequoia 15 together. The latest entry for Sonoma 14 on the same list is August 6, 2026. In effect, a Mac is fully supported while it runs the newest macOS, then has roughly two more years of fixes on its last version.

Intel Macs reached the end of the upgrade path this year. macOS 27 runs only on Apple silicon, and it dropped the last four Intel models: the 16 inch MacBook Pro from 2019, the 13 inch MacBook Pro from 2020 with four Thunderbolt 3 ports, the 2020 iMac and the 2019 Mac Pro. When Apple announced in 2025 that Tahoe would be the last version for Intel, it said those Macs would get three years of security updates after Tahoe's release, as Tom's Hardware reported. Tahoe came out in September 2025, which puts the end of support for every Intel Mac around late 2028.

macOS 27 dropped only Intel models, so every Apple silicon Mac back to the first M1 models of 2020 still gets it. There is no published rule for how long that continues.

What the law will require from December 2027

The European Union's Cyber Resilience Act will change this for laptops sold there. Its main obligations apply from December 11, 2027, and Article 13 says the support period "shall be at least five years," or shorter only when a product is expected to be in use for less than five years. The Commission describes its scope as connectable hardware and software, which takes in laptops. The UK exception above still stands.

What to do with the answer

1. On Windows 11 24H2: install 25H2 now. That buys you until October 12, 2027, on the same laptop. Back up first, as a backup that would survive a failed upgrade explains.
2. Buying a Chromebook, new or used: look up its update date before you pay.
3. On an Intel Mac: plan for late 2028. Keep installing Tahoe updates until they stop.
4. Old but still supported: keep it. Slowness usually has a fixable cause, covered in speeding up a slow computer.
5. Past every date: a laptop with no fixes still works, but every newly found flaw stays open, and malware is built to find exactly that. Install Ubuntu, or wipe the laptop properly before it goes, as factory reset before selling describes.
6. Buying new: treat the support date as part of the spec, which is why it belongs on the laptop buying checklist.