Macintouch: MacBook Reliability Survey Results

[IJ Reilly]

Macintouch recently asked MacBook owners to respond to survey questions about reliability and satisfaction with their laptops. The preliminary results were published today:

http://www.macintouch.com/#survey.2006.07.31

The biggest single issue reported appears to be "buzzing" and "mooing." Oddly enough, many more MacBook Pro owners reported "buzzing" than "mooing," and vice-versa for MacBook owners!

The 17" Pro had the lowest rate of reported repairs, but overall, the MacBook beat the Pro models for frequency of repairs, by quite a margin.

Anyway, interesting results. Might be useful for information for people trying to choose between models.

[myMac]

Macintouch recently asked MacBook owners to respond to survey questions about reliability and satisfaction with their laptops. The preliminary results were published today:

http://www.macintouch.com/#survey.2006.07.31

The biggest single issue reported appears to be "buzzing" and "mooing." Oddly enough, many more MacBook Pro owners reported "buzzing" than "mooing," and vice-versa for MacBook owners!

The 17" Pro had the lowest rate of reported repairs, but overall, the MacBook beat the Pro models for frequency of repairs, by quite a margin.

Anyway, interesting results. Might be useful for information for people trying to choose between models.


Haha, I was just going to post this! I'm glad I refreshed my browser before starting a new thread. That is really interesting and really does show that a lot of online forums depict an overall negative impression regarding the new mac products (because many times, they come to the forums when they have problems).

[drewfasa]

I do alot of work with statistics, and I'm guessing that these polls are probably distorted heavily towards unsatisfied people as they are more likely to be on the net voting in polls, whereas people whose MBs are fine are doing fun things like watching DVDs etc.

I would be very suprised if 10% of all Macbook owners were dissatisfied and would guess that a real statistical sample would show only 1% or less. 10% overall repairs could ruin a company.

[IJ Reilly]

I do alot of work with statistics, and I'm guessing that these polls are probably distorted heavily towards unsatisfied people as they are more likely to be on the net voting in polls, whereas people whose MBs are fine are doing fun things like watching DVDs etc.

I would be very suprised if 10% of all Macbook owners were dissatisfied and would guess that a real statistical sample would show only 1% or less. 10% overall repairs could ruin a company.

This is probably true to some extent, so the results should be taken as relative thing. Still the good part of the methodology for their surveys is that all daily readers of Macintouch see them, not just people looking for a place to complain.

[ricgnzlzcr]

I'm still debating on whethere to upgrade to a macbook now or when the next revision comes out.

[plinden]

It's interesting to compare this to Macintouch's 2005 survey (http://www.macintouch.com/reliability/laptops.html) on iBooks and PowerBooks.

For example - 41% of the 1/1.25GHz 15" Al PBs and 21% of the 15" 1.5/1.67GHz PBs required repairs in the first year. We'll need to see the results of an equivalent survey this time next year to compare, but still ...

[drewfasa]

It's interesting to compare this to Macintouch's 2005 survey (http://www.macintouch.com/reliability/laptops.html) on iBooks and PowerBooks.

For example - 41% of the 1/1.25GHz 15" Al PBs and 21% of the 15" 1.5/1.67GHz PBs required repairs in the first year. We'll need to see the results of an equivalent survey this time next year to compare, but still ...

Was that as reported on a poll, or stats from Apple. I guess they are the only ones who know how many Macbooks go back for repairs, unless they tell us, which they probably wouldnt.