Milboo, while I agree with the concept, their is no explicitly stated period for computers. I am making these points as a devils advocate and generally related to many issues I have had. I find it a constant source of frustration.
While you could argue that you should get 3-4 years from a laptop, it could also be argued that a laptop that is in the bottom 25% of the price range would not. It is not only relevant what you paid, but also how that compares to what other people paid.
If you refer to the ACL and ACCC examples, they use things like use it a couple of times and it breaks, not something like a laptop, which has probably be opened and closed over 500 times. The argument can easily be made that fair wear and tear and user mishandling are the cause as there has been no others with similar issues that point to a design defect. That physical manipulation of the hinged can resolve the issue, it backs up the argument for mishandling.
Manufacturers are far more likely to work with you for a resolution. In the computer industry, a big thing was HP being forced to publish the your rights as a consumer and pay a big fine
Important Notice – Your rights as a consumer | HP® Australia and has made the manufacturers a little better to deal with. Unfortunately, there is nothing explicit in there
It didn't change dealings with the suppliers but did make dealing with HP easier.