Do macbooks last a long time?

I'm thinking of buying a macbook pro and I wanted to know how reliable the machines are.

I assume they're excellent considering the 4 digit price tag

 

They are awesome. I have owned every generation since the TiBook and except for the one I dropped 3 times, they all were solid.

I traded my last one for this pig and I am regretting it.

 

I've owned 5 Mac's over the past year (4 Macbook Pro's & 1 iMac), and they've all honestly been great. They might cost a bit more than a Windows machine (though, prices have recently dropped), but they're totally worth every penny. Also, Apple has great customer service, so even if you have problem you'll be covered!

 

I saw a pristine first gen iBook on eBay a week ago. If that's not a testament to longevitiy, I dunno what is!

Apple's support is among (if not the) best in the industry so that's one thing to count on.

 

I dropped it, hit it, spilled water on it for many times, and it still works like new

 

even better than Dell's?

because whenever I had a problem with my old Dell, I'd call them up and the part would be sent to me inside of 48 hours or a repair man would be at my door inside of 72 hours.

I have a hard time believing anyone is as good as Dell. Sony was bad (in-home tech messed up my machine). HP is bad (no in-home). Dell's, however, made me want to buy more of their products. It made me understand why Universities and businesses buy Dell.

Edit: oh, and recently I saw a website that had the longevity/repair scores up for each company. I believe Apple was either 3rd or 4th behind Asus, Sony, and...I think...Toshiba. HP was the worst.

 

ANYWAY for the OP, MACS well taken care of last a long time, the one i have now is 3 years old and still works like a charm! their support is excellent, but i cant guarantee that their GENIUSES are real smart. when i got this macbook the keyboard was oily and rubbed out, there were cracks around the edges and it was 3 years old, i took it to apple store and they fixed it FOR FREE! now the topcase replacement for the cracks cost 120$ alone.

i like apple and im happy with my experience SO FAR haha, im just using the mac to develop applications and photoshop and website builders like iweb rapidweaver and dreamweaver, thats the only reason why i switched.

 

I must admin, my mbp I got in june 09 still looks like it did when I took it out of the box, love it!

 

The amount of time a laptop will last is directly proportionate to how you treat it. If you don't care and bang it around, it's not going to last as long as it would if you make a conscious effort to take care of it.

There is no way to properly answer the OPs question because everything is subjective, and dependant on the amount of care taken by the user.

Having said that, I've had my Unibody MacBook since December of 2008 and I've had no problems at all with it.

 

If you take care of it, it will look and work well for 5 years. I still see Powerbooks being used and the ones that were taken care of still look as good as the new ones.

 

My Dell Business support experience has been nothing but flawless. I've only ever had to chat with them twice in the 3 years I owned this laptop. Each time, the person on the other end was unfailingly polite, helpful, and seemed to truly know the product-not just going off of a script.

However most people don't buy Latitude's and OptiPlex's, and instead get to deal with Home support which while better than HP's by far, can be hit or miss sometimes. Glad to hear your experience has been good as well.

 

+1 for Dell Business and XPS support. We have Dells at work and no tech support probs so far, and when my XPS 13's nvidia 8400gs GPU died (the dreaded nvidia design defect) I called and had an onsite tech replace the mobo within 48 hours (and it was even a Dell Outlet refurbed unit).

Back OT, as far as consumer units go...you'll rarely see PCs more than 2 yrs old on eBay/used sales for more than $100. I think that speaks a lot to the value of Apple computers.

 

i did not read the entire thread but i have a nov 2008 macbook pro and it's still scratchless and faultless even though the gpu goes to 70c 's once every blue moon in windows.

 

I got screen issues on my Powerbook within 3 years, which they replaced for a new one after three failures at repair. The same thing happened with my Macbook Pro, within 3 years, which was replaced thanks to 3 year warranty. The one I have now screws up unless I wiggle the screen a bit, and the screen anomally goes away. But since it happens rarely I doubt if they can find the problem. I have till June though before the warranty runs out. Just be sure you extend the warranty before the 1 year warranty runs out. I must say their service during each of my issues was top notch. And I can't knock the new, upgraded replacement laptops they gave me.

Here is a longevity report but it's from 2005:

http://www.macobserver.com/tmo/arti...aptops_Have_Fewest_Repairs_Best_Tech_Support/

Here's one for 2006:

http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-10233-1.html

Here's a more recent article:
http://www.consumersearch.com/laptops

 

Who wouldn't take care of a 4 digit laptop? Lol. That's why I have a budget MSI VR420 for college. Fell flat on the ground off my bed while it is on and still runs great and Windows didn't even crash lol.

 

Work computers...nobody takes care of their work machines and most of them are fairly expensive. My old Dell D630 ran 24x7 and I killed it 3X from heat. 2 of those were nVidia GPU's so I don't blame Dell's design and the 3rd was me forgetting to clean out the vents. The tech pulled a 2" dustball from the heat sink when it crashed after they swapped it to an integrated video. Probably 1/3 of the cost was the Dell Gold support but by my rough estimates it was a $1,200 machine w/o the warranty by the maxed out specs. I would let it run cpu intensive tasks that had the CPU's pegged for an hr or two so I was due a e6400 around now but I quit in November for a new job.

People practically ate in their computers there and the used D610 I started with was still incredibly gross after 2 hrs of scrubbing w/ alcohol wipes. We had maybe 30-40 people in the office but the Dell guy just worked out of our office but I usually just had them come to my place to do repairs. My coworker cracked his screen twice and let it regularly overheat as a means to avoid work for a few days.

 

Just as a data point for you...

Before the unibody mac, I would have told you that macbooks are tanks... one of the most reliable laptops period.

The unibody macbooks are nowhere near apple's usual level of quality. They have fallen below even bargain basement Dell $400 laptops in quality levels due to some sort of engineering problem with the power coupling or battery resulting in a rash of bricked unibody macbooks at my company.

Most of these have come from normally inconsequential bumps or brushes.

I wouldn't buy a first-gen unibody macbook on a bet at this point, or if you have one, treat it like fine porcelain or don't be surprised if it bricks.

 

It's hard not to agree with this. Without knowing the OP's needs in detail, we can only speculate our hearts out.

 

That couldn't be more true.

 

i'm typing on a macbook pro from early 2006... it's pretty banged up and dented and scratched... has required a few replacement parts over the years but it's still going strong.

 

What about the cracks in the white macbooks? I saw more complaints about that on the net, than unsatisfied mac unibody owners.

I also second the opinion that your laptop will last depending on how you treat it, my acer's only problem is the nvidia 8600mgt. I rarely move this laptop (basicly I use it as a desktop), which is why it will last me a long time. If you need something that you will carry around everyday you should go for a boring strong bussines laptop (toughbooks, thinkpads, hp bussines laptops like those new ones with military standards, the bz series also seem strong according to the sony site ).

 

the most popular reliability chart (Endgadget, 2009):

http://www.engadget.com/2009/11/17/laptop-reliability-survey-asus-and-toshiba-win-hp-fails/



Chart represents a 3-year service history for 30,000 laptops.

Provided by SquareTrade, who warranties all of them.

 

i cant blame HP and acer and gateway, those three are mainstream all around user laptops, some really treat laptops like crap, apple on the other hand is generally treated well

 

Idunno. family members of mine have had nothing but problems with their HPs, and I know they're good to them.

one bought one of the infamous dv9000 HPs (GPU recall, overheating, non-warrantying)...the other had a smaller one that HP mishandled the repair of. a 1-week fix took them 30 days...after they lost the laptop at the repair center!

that being said, Acer, Gateway and HP probably offer more low-low end models than anyone else. sometimes, you get what you pay for.

 

I think quality for most companies has come a long way from what it used to be. A few years back when I was just starting college there was a report that the average life expectancy for Dell's consumer line-up was like 18 months, and most of the other brands weren't a whole lot better.

Not to say there still aren't problems, but there seem to be fewer laptops out there that are just obviously cheap pieces of junk. Also support seems to be improving from what it used to be. Calling a major manufacturer like compaq used to involve ridiculously long waits on the phone followed by lots of conversations with people who have no idea what they're doing. I had to call Dell recently for a family member's desktop and everything got sorted out very quickly.

I used to only buy business machines just because you could rely on the support people actually knowing which end of the plug went into the outlet and you got service calls (IBM had great support).

I've been very pleased with the build quality of my mac in the short time I've had it, but I'm still getting the extended applecare, just to be safe.

 

I own an HP which I've dropped a few times. Still going strong baby.
And my cousin's uncle's roommate's brother in law..... blah blah blah..........


Just goes to show, anecdotal evidence is a waste of time.

 

I would say they last.
They are EXTREMELY well built, and run their software well. It's almost different than on a 'normal' laptop, you don't seem to have weird slowdowns with anything really.
The only thing to watch is batterys, but those are covered on applecare i think

 

Wow that's interesting, I thought Lenovo had a higher reliability rate than Dell. I wonder what the demographics of this chart is though. It says it's done by SquareTrade online, so it must be from those that purchase on ebay, and the like. It obviously doesn't cover the manufacturers, because they warranty their own products. I would take this chart with a grain of salt.

 

Eh, no. A 5-6 year old Dell Inspiron can still go for $100-200 and above, as long as it is in a decent working condition.

Exactly.

That survey is not particularly reliable.
Would suggest you read the actual report, instead of the pretty pictures on endgadget.

http://www.squaretrade.com/htm/pdf/SquareTrade_laptop_reliability_1109.pdf

 

How long your toy will last? Depends how you play with it and how well you are maintain it. Keep it smooth as silk and smooth performance...



sorry if that sounds very wrong to you...

 

Macs have fantastic build quality. Even the haters can't diss on the Apple build quality. I remember a news report about a Macbook Air surviving a plane crash. (dented, bent and a cracked screen but still booting)

Apple is great about customer service as well. You walk into a store and deal with physical people instead of getting transfered from person to person in India....

Extended warranty is great as well.

And there's OSX. It's a very lean and limber OS. Not to mention some amazing exclusive software.

Honestly though, if gaming is anywhere on your top 3 functions then you won't be very happy. Macs always have very weak graphics cards.

 

There was a huge thread discussing this article when it came out. You can google it.

 

Ughhh, not that article again.......

It didn't survive a plane crash. More like it survived a blunt force (dude's head) to the chassis.

If you want real durability, do a real benchmark, like launching it from a trebuchet.

 

I'm pretty sure today all the laptop is aging quicker than before when you compare to newer technology but it is still fast enough to run future applications (+5-6 years).

Technology keeps on growing and changing so fast that it makes the 6 months old computer looks like a 6 years old one.

 

That's why you get a desktop.

 

I can't, I work on bus, on train, at friend's place, cafe, at work and at campus. I'm on the go all time.

There is no way for me to get a desktop...

xD

upgrades are not an issue... see my sig. i just upgraded my HDX 16... probably one of the first HDX 16 with 3.06Ghz.

 

Yeah, I'm on the move a lot. I feel ya. I just segment my workload. I leave the heavy lifting to my desktop thanks to remote software. Plus, that's the only way I can get into my office network..

 

I never figure out how to get the remote to works. I guess I need a static IP address which I need to pay $4 more to my ISP...

 

Teamviewer. Free.

LogMeIn. Free.

 

Most people that i know who have bought Apple laptops have typically shelled extra for extending AppleCare. Makes sense if you are buying a $1500-2000 laptop.

With Windows based laptops support as well as build quality is significantly better when you buy business models(as opposed to consumer models). This goes for HP, Dell, etc.

From the sound of it the original poster is just considering MAc's for the first time. The question he should be asking is if someone has experience comparing the build quality of say Macbook Pro versus a Windows business model say Thinkpad?

 

For good or for worse, Apple and Dell have roughly the same average build quality. Note that's from actual data... not from hype or fanboi-level devotion.

I am going to go on record as that is NOT fantastic.
I'll go with "decent" or "good", but even "excellent" doesn't actually apply anymore.

Sites like this review and contrast many different laptops... and its time to stop looking at every apple computer as the same build quality.
They aren't.

Each line/build has its own positives and negatives and the first run of unibody macs are among the worst that apple has ever made so far as reliability. This is a stark contrast from the pre-unibody day when macbooks ruled the roost.

Also, working in IT for many years and having worked on many more laptops than most of you have ever seen, we have had numerous incredible booting machines including one that dragged under a car with the screen caught in the door for many miles... still booted (screen didn't work, but worked with external monitor)... this doesn't mean I'd recommend that lucky laptop's build. (It was a Dell, go figure...)

 

Apple should really drop Foxconn and switch to Quanta for Macbook manufacturing. Foxconn can build good products, just not at preminum build quality.

 

If you want durability, you get yourself a real warranty. It pains me to see these MBP running around claiming durability, but sporting one year warranties. If the manufacturer won't even back them for more than a year.........

 

Or get the Panasonic Toughbook...

 

3 years warranty standard on Dell E series.

 

Perhaps it's an indication that Apple is confident enough in their products not to need a 3 year warranty.

 

The Dell 3 year warranty isn't free either. You're paying for it one way or another.

 

Doubt it, almost every company just wants to make more money selling extended warranties, it's just the way it is. Asus being the exception (2 years standard + 1 year accidental standard is awesome).

Surfasb already stated this wasn't true.

 

It is true for other Dell lines however.

 

Then what about every fly by night computer manufacturer offering the same 1yr warranty? It's certainly true that newcomer companies need to offer long warranties to establish their quality (think Hyundai) but generally luxury products have longer than average warranties. You could basically take Asus as one such competitor taking the aggressive warranty approach.

Acura, Lexus, and Infiniti all offer longer warranties on their luxury models relative to Honda, Toyota, and Nissan. BMW and Mercedes offer longer than the industry standard 3/36k. Apple's policy is about maximizing revenue vs. a statement about their quality. If they were that certain of their superior quality...they wouldn't sell a 3 yr policy at all and it would be standard. Going to something like a standard 4 yr would probably be a very strong (and very expensive) statement on quality but would destroy refresh cycles and their ability to do planned obsolescence.

It's a standard cost/benefit analysis. If the computer's so rugged it'll last at least 3 yrs, there's zero cost associated with claiming that on the warranty since it'll never come in. If it'll last more than 1 yr but probably under 3, the industry standard is 1 yr, and you're a for profit business; then you'll give it a 1yr, price the warranty at an amount greater than your expected repair cost in order to maximize revenue. Given most laptop repairs are grossly expensive, you can also price this fairly high since you also own the supply chain for replacement parts ($500 logic boards).

Face it, Macs are built from the same components as every other pc out there. They suffer from the same PC component failures (nVidia bump failures) and aren't built to military specs ala Toughbook standards so treat them as such. Glass panels and aluminum are more delicate than thick plastic but if you take care of them, they'll last a good long time. My 5yr old Gateway is completely cheapo plastic and still chugging w/ only scuffs and nicks despite being in the hands of my parents.

I'd also like to say, please don't buy those hideous plastic cases for your macs. Adding a 1/4" of polycarbonate b/c you're scared of cracking your machine means your machine build is too weak or you should be more careful. It adds so much size, detracts from the looks, and really negates the point of getting such thin computers.