How well did your Mac portables held up?

I'm a relatively old Apple portable user. I owned one of the original WallStreet Powerbooks and the Rev a version of the G4 Powerbook (Tibook). Both machines each had its issues but served me well.

Compared with today's Apple portables. My 9-10 year old wallstreet Powerbook was built like a tank and probably had the nicest keyboard of any laptop keyboard (besides the Thinkpad) I have seen to date. I dropped it, manhandled it and brought it half around the world, I wrapped it in an old bath towel to pad it inside its bag because the concept of sleeves was alien to me back in 1999 . It had its LCD replaced after its 13th month of service but thanks to Applecare, the replacement was free.

During its service lifespan, it held up very well for the 3 years I've used and abused it. It still looks good as new despite of my abuse. In fact it is still alive and I boot it once in a while to play old Mac shareware games like Escape Velocity and Doom when I'm bored.

My second laptop was a first generation Tibook. It was thin, beautiful and notably faster then my old PB G3. Because the machine looks so fragile, I handled it much more carefully. It seem so delicate, I mean, if you just as much as look at it funny the paint will chip off. I've also seen other more abused Tibook develop some nasty rusting and pitting in its casing as it ages - not a pretty sight

This machine gave gave me a 1 year of reliable service but died on me way after its warranty expired (I did not buy Applecare - my mistake). According to the technician the cause of death is logic board failure probably due to dirty spike prone power supply in Bangkok and Manila. I basically scrapped it and sold it for parts.

Now I'm planning to get a new 17 inch Macbook Pro (because it seems to have the crown of "most sturdy" in the MBP line) and I'm curious on how well Apple's newest machines are holding up. I plan to keep it for at least 3 to 5 years but these days I keep on seeing people with laptops (even Apple laptops) that die just right after their 1 year warranty runs out. Or have issues that require multiple repair and replacements.

So to the veteran Powerbook/ibook/Macbook and MBP Pro owners how are your machines holding up after a year/years of use/abuse?

 

I think its more "there's more people with Mac notebooks" than "the quality of Mac notebooks have gone way down". The fact that the Mac market is so much larger than even just two or three years ago, obviously increases the amount of defects out there, even if the percentage of defects has stayed the same, the total amount of defects has gone up along with the sales of Macs.

So yeah, I think the Mac notebooks are still well built. The aluminum MacBook Pro may dent if you drop it too hard , but other owners have said they've dropped their MBPs without a scratch. I think masterchef341 was one of them!

 

In a couple of months, I'll have had my MBP for a year, and it still is in mint condition.

I think if you want to get the most out of your new MBP, you might want to look into getting a hardcase, like the speck ones, or something similiar. My case has taken so much abuse, and my MBP still looks brand new (the genius at the apple store thought it was a penryn refresh when I brought it in ^^ .

But I think if anything does go wrong, make sure that you get apple care. I had a couple of issues, but they got replaced with new parts for free, and fast, so I'm really happy about that.

So just my advice, is get a hardcase, and get apple care. The hardcase may or may not be the prettiest thing, but it protects the MBP for sure.

 

MBP owner since April. I travel each week and my laptop has held up flawlessly. 0 scratches, 0 issues, 0 complaints.

 

Good point.

I guess when I mean sturdy, I did not mean how well the Macbook pro can withstand a 5 feet drop or being tossed around like a cheap watch . I guess you guys are right, there are bags and sleeves that protect it properly. Scratches, minor bumps and cosmetic defects does not really bother me that much (but it still bothers me, of course) but I'm more concerned how well it will keep on running without issues years of daily heavy use.

Many of the complaints I hear on forums and blogs are usually claiming that they 'babied' and yet it just stopped working one day due to some issue.

 

I owned a MacBook for ~6 months, and apart from the discoloured palm rests, it held up remarkably well.

 

I have been a Macbook Pro owner since April of this year and with light traveling (school, friends houses) as well as virtually everyday use it has held up quite well.

No problems to really speak of.

 

The reason your Wallstreet was more durable is because it was made out of plastic.

I mistakenly bought a PowerBook G4 in aluminum because I thought it would take more abuse than the Dell Latitude P3 500MHz it replaced... (Also, product life is better. My friend edited movies on his Pismo G3 500MHz using iMovie. My Dell would barely run a clip in Adobe Premiere. Equal hard drives, equal RAM.)


I consider myself to be the QA test on any electronic and/or automotive tool product.

I'm a mechanic; I keep PDF copies of service manuals on my laptop.
I'm an amateur radio operator, volunteering sometimes with ARES (Amateur Radio Emergency Service/Disaster response) and Skywarn (Storm Chasing/National Weather Service observer.)
I build and tune "MegaSquirt" Engine management computers for vehicles.

I carry my laptop around my house/shop/garage. It gets dropped, put on a greasy bench near my welder, set on vibrating engines or in the passenger seat of 4x4's and track cars...


The PowerBook took to this well, but one misplaced drop while doing something casual ruined it. I was moving from my bedroom to the living room, carrying the laptop open. I dropped it and it landed on the corner where the CD drive is.

The palmrest and bottom sections separated and the CD drive mechanicals were damaged. The lid does not close properly sometimes resulting in it not sleeping all the time. And the battery does not always stay connected, so it's a gamble if I pull the AC power and carry it around.

I have parts on the way to repair it, but it was an expensive lesson to learn; Plastic, while brittle, will return to its original shape when bent. Aluminum will bend and keep the new shape.

The Powerbook will stay on household duty as I have a new laptop to use in the shop and outdoors. (Panasonic Toughbook)