They do however last a much longer time now.

A 8 years old graphics card can still play modern games. Ten years ago playing a modern game on hardware that old would've been unthinkable.

And with how the market is right now, we'll be stuck on the current "reference level" of hardware for a while longer.

I’d say something like a PS4 is future proof. $350 got like 10 years of modern software.

i'd say it depends (as with everything)

i'm still using an old i7 3770k @ 4.8ghz with 16gb (ddr3) ram running linux for random tasks like executing tests. obviously, power consumption is higher.

my main machine is a MBP M1 Max which i use for everything. i also have my main linux desktop workstation that has a 5950x with 128gb (ddr4) ram.

i'll probably get 2-5 years out of my MBP, and my AMD workstation will probably be good for another 5-10 years.

i'm not a gamer, but i have a 3080. i'm sure my 5950x will still be good for gaming in 10 years if paired with a modern GPU.

About 20 years ago my dad bought me a $5k computer, it was future proof for about "5 years" before we had to upgrade its internal parts (more memory, new graphics card).

It was future proof but not really because it struggled a lot in its final years.

> Computers are never "future proof".

Upgradeable components however could go a loooong stretch towards that goal. It can't be that hard to follow a common form factor for at least the housing across two or three generations to allow a reuse of everything but the main PCB.