to my multitudinous mac owning friends:

[ww2planes1]

If I were to buy a MacBook, now, how long do you think I should expect it to last (assuming normal use) before something broke on it like say, for instance, it randomly shut off and stopped turning back on again

Comments

[herbie]

I have a Powerbook for.. 3-4 years before it started doing that. My Macbook Pro (1.5 years-ish?) hasn't started doing those things yet, although I do think I'm going to go get battery replaced under Applecare.

[ww2planes1]

Yeah, I think you got your MB Pro right around the same time I got my laptop. I suppose I should be fair, the first time wasn't Asus' fault. My notebook got hit with that Nvidia graphics card issue that plagued a lot of notebooks over the last year. This could actually be a related issue... we'll see.

[starshadow]

My Macbook Pro (admittedly 1st Generation and therefore buggy) went in for repairs within a year for system hangs which they couldn't replicate and yet the problem came back repaired anyway, and now, 3 years into ownership, it's beginning to fall apart entirely. xD But I'm willing to concede that this is a problem with me, not the laptop, because as I've stated elsewhere, my laptop before the MPro melted in a similar time frame (SIMILAR PROBLEMS TOO XD).

The bottom of the line macbook I bought for travel work (and has now become my full time internet computer. In light of the MPro's imminent failure, I'm using the MPro for video and pictures only) is functioning fine for what it's got (integrated graphics *shakes fist*), and we're entering into second year of use. Unfortunately, I can't comment on its future problems yet. :3

I'd say, you know, us shiny Mac users look so cool! but you've got to remember you'll have problems wherever you go. 8(

[ww2planes1]

Yeah, I've had my desktop for... going on 5 years with minimal problems. (Only had to replace the graphics card which I bought from the wrong company). And I'm used to far more solid things outside the world of computers. I plunked down a lot of money for a laptop that would last me longer than 2 years, and while I'm happy to say that the mechanics are going to last that long, I'm not so sure about the internals... Still I don't think a Macbook is in the cards yet, but we'll see.

Thanks for the advice (to all of you)

[topaz]

i had to get the logic board replaced on my macbook (not pro) within a year, but as i understand it they've ironed out a lot of the problems like that - i had one of the earlier models, so i had to deal with a bunch of issues that they've since ironed out. other than that i've taken it in a couple of times for cosmetic things (cracking and chipping) which were also their fault and which they also fixed. i feel like there was something else as well, but i can't remember what right now.

i got it in july of 06, and since i have applecare (which lasts until this coming july), every single time i've taken it in they've fixed it pretty quickly and for free. (ok, sometimes not so quickly, but that's because i took it into the uva bookstore and they had to ship it out and get it back.) also, all of the problems have been of a "hmm, that's worrying, i should probably get it taken care of before it gets too much worse" nature, rather than emergency repairs when it just won't work at all.

[silvertipwings]

Mine & the ones my family have owned tend to last 4-5 or 6 years. My laptop batteries have to be replaced every 2-3 years because I'm on my computer 5-10 hours a day (yep!). Also, I'm near hitting 10 years of being virus-free. <3 MacBook.

[anonymous]

In general, I would recommend spending for a 'business' line from most manufacturers. In college, I had a Dell business model that was pre-owned by someone else at the solar house. That computer lived through 2 years of daily moves to classes, to solar house (with all that dust) and the only problem was a dead HD replaced under warranty.

Another dell business laptop at work had two issues in the 2 years that I've had it - a fan died on MB due to being too dirty and one key fell off the keyboard. A short call to Dell support had them send a guy to fix both. (Though I could have done it myself, but since company pays for warrantee, didn't want to screw with it)

I curently have a Lenovo that I've been (ab)using for a year without any problems.