My feeling is that while the stats of the MacBook (or other comparable laptops) may be overkill, it will last for at least three years. I like to tote my laptop around with me whether I am traveling, walking the city, etc. Durability is the biggest thing I am looking for because my needs do not require me to have a cutting edge machine all of the time. My current machine is fine for what I need, but the build quality is crap and it's falling apart.