It's not hyperbole but you could probably say the same about any modern computing device. Think about all the hours spent by the countless engineers designing all the individual components in a modern laptop. Now think about all the hours spent developing / iterating on previous versions of those components to get them to the point they are now.
It's very impressive.
Assuming "trillions" means 3 trillion. Divided by the average work hours during a persons career that'd come up to about 33 million people.
That's quite a few engineers.
It's like the Civilization technology tree. To get the laptop, you first have to invent Electronics, and before that Physics, and before that...
Easily adds up to trillions of hours.
Man-hours and man-years? Probably not hyperbole at all.
Ars has never been too serious. The same author has an article titled "Is the Internet a failed utopia?".
If you haven't read that article[0], you should.
If you have read it, what's your quip with it? It seems quite reasonable. Is it the title?
[0] http://arstechnica.co.uk/information-technology/2015/06/is-t...
Wow, I did not know that Ars was so much into hyperbole. That claim is just ridiculous.