Was bored today so I started reading up on Apple/OSX. A few questions.

Hi, I'm not really a PC or Mac enthusiast/hater/etc, so I'm not trying to start a flame/troll war. Lately, I've been trying to determine the best laptop for the future that I should buy, and although I don't like the price, I've started to wonder about Macs and stuff. I have a few questions for all of you.

#1. How has the build quality and durability been for your various Macbooks (MB/MBP/etc.)? What's the average lifespan of these things?

#2. How's Apple's customer service?

#3. How's the upgradeability on most of these? Are HD/RAM upgradeable without voiding warranty?

#4. Battery replacement. How much is the cost? Is it user-doable?

Thanks for your time. Let's keep this thread on track and NOT start a flame/trollwar!

EDIT: If it means anything, the models I'm most interested in are the non-aluminum MacBook models. So feedback on those would be appreciated.

 

Well, the original macs of 20+ years ago still function, there hundreds of iBooks from ~2000 on ebay that are still fully functional, my friends 2006 macbooks still working fine, so yeah.

And depending on the laptop for if its user changable, some models are some arent. you can upgrade componants like any other laptop. support is good.

Very, very good build quality on the new aluminium line of laptops, and the old macbook model has very good build quality too.

 

1. i had white refurbished macbook and it served me a year w/o any problems.
2. excellent
3.you can upgrade ram/hdd in white macbooks and new aluminum mac's w/o voiding warranty!

 

Changing out the HDD and RAM in the white MacBook is simple and easy, same as with the battery. Search online for battery replacements - I've seen them priced from $70 - $95 when I was searching earlier for a replacement

 

1) I have a 2005 & 06 model mb in white. They are both functioning very well. there is a small (about a 3cmx1mm) piece of plastic missing on both at the front right... apart from that build is quite good.

2) never had a reason to use it

3) have upgraded both the hard-drives and ram in the mb, was easy and took about 5 min.

4) not yet needed to replace either battery... there are a number of 3rd party battery's available which are reasonably priced.

overall these have been the best computers and notebooks I have owned.
a

 

1) I've owned a number of macs over the last 15 years. My first Mac desktop is still in service. Never had one fail on me yet. Thats not everyones experience but I consider Mac's "premium" machines easily as good a quality that the top notch PC vendors and I usually prefer the Mac designs.

2) The very best service for the most part. They are usually at the top of the rating heap but always in the top few. There is a lot to be said for on shore, high quality support by people that understand their products. The one exception to this the the WEB only support for MobilMe which is horrific. I hope Apple never release a product that bad again that they have to go that route for support.

3) Plastic Macbooks have memory and HDD easily user upgradable without voiding warrantee and use standard inexpensive components (see macsales.com). Other models are highly variable. For instance the MBA has nothing thats meant to be user upgradable although you could do the HDD if you do not fear voiding you warrantee and pretty full disassembly. Some iMacs have easily upgradable memory but the HD is bad. Usually Apple has upgrade instructions on thier support site if they mean users to do the work.

4) Again highly variable user battery replacement and pricing. Yes on a plastic Macbook for about $120. Yes on most others but not the MBA or the new 17" MBP (can have apple do it though).

 

You will find my replies below in bold.

The build quality on the MacBook and MacBook Pro computers is excellent, and overall are the best notebooks I have ever held in my hands other than a Lenovo ThinkPad. They are very durable especially with the aluminum unibody enclosure. As for lifespan, there are people out there still using old iBook G3's and PowerBook G4's without any issues. I'm planning on keeping my MacBook Pro at least until my AppleCare warranty expires, and beyond that until it can no longer perform the tasks which I require.

Excellent. I've only had to call on them twice, and they've been very helpful and friendly every time, and everyone I have spoken to speaks fluent English (in comparison to calling Dell and not understanding what the agent is saying).

On the MacBook (both the plastic and aluminum models) you can upgrade the hard drive and the RAM to your hearts content without voiding the warranty. The MacBook Pro (Late 2008) and the 17-inch MacBook Pro (Early 2009) both allow for hard drive and RAM upgrades as well without voiding the warranty. It is only on the previous MacBook Pro that upgrading the hard drive would void your warranty, and that was because there wasn't an easy way to access the disk, you physically had to remove most of the top case assembly to get to the hard drive.

Replacement batteries are available from Apple at a price of $129 USD, and are user-swappable except in the 17-inch MacBook Pro which was just released as it uses an integrated extended-life battery (however, that battery will work for 1,000 full cycles which is much more than a typical notebook battery even compared to that found in other MacBooks, and lasts for 8 hours on a single charge). You can find information on different batteries here: http://store.apple.com/us/browse/home/shop_mac/mac_accessories/portable_gear

Hope that helps out a bit!

 

Well most computers built 20 years ago still work today, that's they way they were. Hell I have a vic 20 that still works.

Just because it's made by Apple doesn't mean it's god it's still a modern day machine made some where in china, it will last just as long as most notebooks do today, nothing last as long as they use to 20 years ago.

But they are still built with great quality and you will rarely find flaws or gaps that should not be there.

 

1. This is my first Mac, I've had it for a solid year and a half and its still held up fine! Nothing's chipped away, and some parts have "grayed", but that's expected from any product that's white (heck, look at people's white shoes ).

2. Apple's customer support is known as among the best in the industry. So nothing to worry about for sure!

3. HD and RAM is easily upgradeable, no warranties voided!

4. I'm still on the original battery, still get a solid 3+ hours. Battery replacement on all Mac notebooks but the MBA and 17-inch MBP is user-changeable, extremely easy, and the price of a battery is about $150.

 

This is some good stuff. I was told before that upgrading was almost impossible, but I'm glad I actually got the correct answers instead of ignorant opinions.

 

The famous palmrest cracking.

To the topic starter: since you are interested in the plastic MacBook, be aware of that it is prone to palmrest cracking due to design flaw. You can find many threads about it if you search and google.

 

Why are you more interested in the plastic Macbooks? Is it because of the price or something else?