&gt;<i>For example, that&#x27;s certainly the case with Microsoft Surface Pro [1,2,3,etc.] computers as MS made it clear that the design life of the battery was about 3 years (and isn&#x27;t user replaceable).</i><p>That the &quot;design life of the battery is about 3 years&quot; and it isn&#x27;t &quot;user replaceable&quot; doesn&#x27;t mean the device become obsolete -- just that you need to go to a shop to have the battery replaced.