How long should a Mac last?

Thomas A Reed wrote:

Yes, of course, by that statement I must have meant that anyone who buys AppleCare is stupid! I couldn't possibly have been referring to people with in-depth knowledge of the topic.

Some posters have problems with 'grey-scale' issues.

Nice game of what if...if you bothered to read the whole thread you would see it cost him $700, so...yeah. your post has no need to exist.😕

Soto wrote:

Nice game of what if...if you bothered to read the whole thread you would see it cost him $700, so...yeah. your post has no need to exist.😕

I am happy that you have your own opinion, regardless of what I think of it.

its not an opinions...it....cost....him....$700..... (the opinion is whether or not someone thinks he should get Applecare) I for one...could not care any less if ANYONE gets Applecare. My life will now move on from this thread. TO EACH HIS OWN

You should consider yourself lucky for receiving any sort of discount. Your computer was out of warranty. You knew what the warranty was when you bought the computer. Next time you buy a computer, I would suggest that you find one, if you're able, with a 3-5 year warranty. In my opinion, your actions were very childish.

And on that I will end.

Clinton

Why are some people in this thread being so snooty? I think this poor fellow has asked a legitimate question: Since macs cost more and the company touts them as a superior product, how long shuld you expect one to last?

Sidestepping the idealogues, I'll actually try and answer the question:

I bought a macbook pro in 2009 and also dropped about $3,000 on it. It was a lot of cash and I had just finished school, but I considreed it an investment in my career. That said, I've often crunched the numbers and I hope/ expect it lasts at least 5-6 years.

I never bought Apple care (I think extended warrantees are a scam — 'we'll stand by our product longer if you pay us extra money.' Nonsense) and my computer just passed the three-year mark. Gotta say she still runs beautifully, probably in no small part because I decided to go with max RAM (4gb) and a faster processer when I purchased.

That said, I would still be ticked if it suddenly broke down now. I love macs, but in terms of the math, you could buy a new PC laptop every year for about five years for the same cost as a single $3,500 macbook.

I'm contemplating a RAM upgrade now and if I do that, I really do think my macbook will make it to 6 or so. If it does, I'll consider it to have been a worthwhile expenditure.

Given the huge cost difference and considering the fact computing power is constantly marching forward, I think 5-6 years is a reasonable expected lifespan for a MacBook.

I have a 6 year old iMac with zero issues to date.

Interesting exchange. I entered this question in a search engine and have come across several of these debates. My conclusion--don't look for straight answers on one of these forums.

Haven't read all the post but totally agree with questioning of MacBook life. If I'm paying 1400. For a superior product , why did it crash after 2 1/2 years? Taking mine in soon. Really bummed out because I just downloaded my pics from Spain trip!!!

Most crashes are caused by 3rd party software installed by the user, but you couldn't have done that, could you?

I have 2 MBP's, a 2006 and a 2009, both still in daily use, so that's one at 7 years and one at 4, both run fine, watch what you install and never install unless you know how to remove.

bonniefromdallas wrote:

, why did it crash after 2 1/2 years?

You would have to explain what you mean by "crash" but if you mean its hard disk failed, that is not an uncommon problem. After many years I have yet to personally experience a hard disk crash in any of my Macs, but there are enough anecdotal reports from others to lead me to conclude hard disk drives have simply become disposable items in recent years.

They are certainly inexpensive enough to replace. Your data may be priceless though.

When you can buy a 1 TB external USB drive for considerably less than $100 there is no excuse not to have one. No one should be without a backup, preferably two or more.

John Galt wrote:

bonniefromdallas wrote:

, why did it crash after 2 1/2 years?

You would have to explain what you mean by "crash" but if you mean its hard disk failed, that is not an uncommon problem. After many years I have yet to personally experience a hard disk crash in any of my Macs, but there are enough anecdotal reports from others to lead me to conclude hard disk drives have simply become disposable items in recent years.

I have had 2 HDD failures in 20 years, one brand new (no spin out of the box) and one on a 3 year old drive (I/O failures). It's no sweat if you keep a backup, disastrous if you don't.

I have an early 2008 MBP. I'm using M/L. It runs fine.

I am just asking the same question a few years later! I had an iBook, bought in 2004 that only lasted less than 6 years before the video card went, which would have meant an expensive repair. I was in the middle of my MA dissertation at the time, but thankfully managed to e-mail my work to myself to open on another computer before it went completely. I lost a lot of other stuff like photos etc though and Apple said it would cost about £100 for them to get the photos and stuff off the laptop for me.

I then bought a MacBook and after just 4 1/2 years the light has gone, so the screen just goes black - I'm told that would also be an expensive repair.... I'm used to using Macs, but just wondering if they are really worth all the money???