2yrs on - here's a list of why I probably won't buy a MacBook Pro

[joefinan]

I've had my PowerBook G4 for just over 2 years. It cost me £1,450 and would be considered a professional laptop computer. However, in that time there has been a number of problems:

- The 'R' key popped off after a matter of weeks but was not covered on the warranty - that cost me £28.

- Dust is managing to get in behind the LCD display causing shadowy specks.

- I've needed to reinstall the Mac OS on four occasions.

- After just a year, the internal fan started making a loud rattling noise - infuriating!

- My HD icon recently vanished from my desktop so will need to reinstall a 5th time.

- iCal suddenly lost ALL my events and I never got them back.

- One of my USB ports works intermittently.

- For the last few months, the LCD flickers and sometimes goes altogether... and this is the final straw.

So I need a new computer - but will I buy a Mac? Probably. Will I buy a MacBook Pro? Probably not. Will I consider returning to Windows? I feel I have to.

For a professional laptop to get such light use and have so many problems is unacceptable. I saw my PowerBook as an investment - if I pay more I'll get a machine that will last me longer. My crappy Toshiba PC laptop lasted me well over 4yrs. Bad show, Apple.

[~J~]

How many Macs have you ever owned? If just this one, how can you justify going back to a windows-based system because one computer had some problems? Have you ever had a windows system that had no problems?

[joefinan]

Fair point - but a windows-based laptop would be around £1,000 cheaper.

[CalMin]

Sorry you had so many issues. It sounds like you'd be better off with a Windows machine.

My Powerbook G4 bought in October 2003 is going strong, runs Leopard nicely. It is the best computer that I have EVER bought.

Good luck in the Vista world......

[xUKHCx]

Fair point - but a windows-based laptop would be around £1,000 cheaper.

Not really for the same specs you will have to spend a decent amount of money either way.

[ergdegdeg]

So I need a new computer - but will I buy a Mac? Probably. ... Will I consider returning to Windows? I feel I have to.

Er, okay... So you want to buy a Mac and run Windows on it?

[~J~]

Fair point - but a windows-based laptop would be around £1,000 cheaper.

Understandable. I just hate to see people bash anything that they only try once. These things (computers in general) are the same as any other piece of electronic equipment... most are good, some turn out bad. Its the manufacturing process, the design flaws, etc - whatever you want to put it on. Ive had 3 Macs as of right now - a PB G4 12" (that I got when it was 2 years old) had that for ~9 months and upgraded to my current MBP. I also have a Mini 1.83 C2D that I bought refurbed. The only hardware issue Ive had was on my MBP - a MONTH after I stinkin got it... the HD crashed, lost everything on it (of course, being a IT admin - I had it all backed up). So, the only issue was with my newest (& brand new) system! Oh well... a year later... the MBP is running awesome and I love it! Converted 4 people now and counting!

[mojohanna]

I am using a 4yr old pb that has been dragged all over the world. It has been bashed dropped knocked (all while in my briefcase) but still, this thing has been a workhorse. All I do with it is email, spreadsheets real basic stuff.

I have never had to do a reinstall on any mac that I have ever owned (going back to the original 128K Macs). Although I tend not to install a bunch of weird third party apps, just the mainline stuff (flip 4 mac etc.). The fact that you have done so 4 times is a bit unusual, but consider how many times you would have had to done so with a windows laptop.

Your problem with the vanishing HD icon is a simple fix, go to finder preferences and select it to show up on the desk top.

I am assuming you did not purchase apple care as many of the items you mention would have (should have) been covered under apple care (fans, USB port, display issue). The $350 investment (i think that is what it is for the laptops) is in my opinion, a good value.

Good luck with your next purchase. Based on what you have stated as "light use" there should be no reason why you would need to spend the money on a MBP. A MB should suit your needs just fine.

[Brianstorm91]

Get it replaced, nobody's expecting every single one to be perfect.
If you'd sorted it, you'd be owner of a PowerBook in great condition still.

[joefinan]

Your problem with the vanishing HD icon is a simple fix, go to finder preferences and select it to show up on the desk top.


Thanks for the advice but I've tried that (and much more) and nothing is bringing back my HD icon.

[tdhurst]

I purchase my 1.5 Ghz, 12" Powerbook G4 in July of 2005.

In that time, it has been used every single day. It has traveled with me to Seattle, California, New Mexico and New York. It has been lugged from countless coffee shop to coffee shop. It has produced countless stories for the two magazines I work with, dozens of ring tones, plenty of iMovies.

It has served as a mini-theater, a game playing machine and untold hours of entertainment.

I've not had one single problem with it, and I'm the very definition of a heavy, heavy user.

While I understand that some people have issues with their purchases, I think far more people are like me. While I can't attest to the quality of Macbooks and Macbook Pros, I can say that every Mac I've owned (three G3 iMacs, one G3 tower, one flat-panel iMac, one G4 Tower, an iBook and three Powerbooks) have served me extremely well. I've never had to toss a broken Mac or replace one due to anything faulty (I sold the iMacs, the iBook and two of the three powerbooks, the G3 tower was tearfully retired).

I would say your situation, while unfortunate, is certainly not the status quo.

[SubaruNation555]

It's a crap shoot. If you get a $1,500-$2,000 Apple Laptop and it's wonderful then you're going to keep coming back for the next model. However, if it's riddled with problems then you're most likely going to look elsewhere or be much more hesitant to get another one. Apples Pro machines are a lot of money and when a lot of things go wrong it can leave a sour taste in your mouth.

I don't blame you for being pissed off, it was a very expensive computer. I'm not going to going to tell you I've never had to reinstall the OS or replace this or that because we all have different experiences with different machines and my old PowerBook was by no means perfect. I've had great Apple experiences in the past but I understand joefinan's frustration.

Nothing else runs Mac OS and if you love it, as most of us do, then I'd give the MacBooks/MacBook Pros a chance. Good luck with your purchase.

[MacHiavelli]

How many Macs have you ever owned? If just this one, how can you justify going back to a windows-based system because one computer had some problems? Have you ever had a windows system that had no problems?

I've had several Windows PCs that have had no probs at all - save for the usual MS crashes. Hardware has been very reliable. Only had one hard drive failure in one PC. All the others have worked flawlessly, both desktops and laptops.

[mpw]

How many Macs have you ever owned? If just this one, how can you justify going back to a windows-based system because one computer had some problems? Have you ever had a windows system that had no problems?
I've had four Macs, and three of those went bad before they should reasonably expect to have. Meanwhile the two MS Windows based PC's I've had never had any problem other than I didn't like their OS. It didn't screw-up at all, but I don't like some aspects of it. At work we only use MS Win. and the only problem I can recall in all that time was with one faulty Dell docking station/laptop.

In my experience Apple's hardware quality is at best no better than anything from the big players in the MS Windows camp.

[crobbins]

I would have to agree that Apple's hardware is no better than any PC companies. I've owned three macs now and every one of them has had to go back at least once because it's died upon or arrival or two days later. My MBP, the favorite machine of mine, had to be replaced three times before I got a good one. However, the fourth one of that batch has lasted me two years with absolutely no problems whatsoever.

[Techguy172]

Ok, I'm going to be straight forward and tell exactly what I think, Suck it up buy a new one boo hoo! it could happen with a PC as well so don't throw that one. Mac's use the same hardware and apple doesn't make this hardware so don't blame them a key fell off oh well it happens. If you really didn't like the computer or the OS then buy a pc but the same problems are certainly possible.

[DaveF]

- The 'R' key popped off after a matter of weeks but was not covered on the warranty - that cost me £28.
How is a broken keyboard key not covered under warranty?

[THX1139]

For a different perspective, I just lent my 2001 500mhz G4 laptop to my friend because her two year old Toshiba died. She's going to borrow it until Macworld because she's thinking of switching to Mac.

My old laptop is like the energizer bunny. I thought of dumping it on eBay to make a hundred bucks, but it's more valuable as a backup machine, or something I can take to a coffee house and not freak out if it got stolen. Apple makes good machines but a lemon now and then is bound to slip by QA.

[Osprey]

Laptops are a different animal. Every computer (Mac or Windows) might have problems. I have had hard drives go out on Windows machines very quickly and I have a Toshiba that didn't work out of the box (should have taken it back immediately, my bad because I thought I could fix it). I still have the Toshiba, but have to re-install at least once a year because there is some kind of issue with the software. My point is that any machine can have problems, but the bottom line is that I enjoy working with my Mac OS so much better than Windows that I think I will continue to buy Apple products. I don't hate Windows XP, I just don't like it as well as Tiger and that's the bottom line for me.

[MIDI_EVIL]

My G4 PowerBook, Feb 2005, is absolutely flawless, and is still in mint condition. Not a hitch with this machine.

But regardless, it's a shame to lose you and 'Good luck' maintaining your Windows computer.

[zioxide]

- I've needed to reinstall the Mac OS on four occasions.

Have fun with Windows then, because you'll probably have to do a clean format & install monthly to keep it from getting bogged down.

I don't know why you had to reinstall, but it was probably an easy fix (see HD icon below) and you didn't try to figure it out :/

- After just a year, the internal fan started making a loud rattling noise - infuriating!

Get a new fan? That would be covered under warranty..

- My HD icon recently vanished from my desktop so will need to reinstall a 5th time.

Finder Menu > Preferences > Show hard drives on desktop

- iCal suddenly lost ALL my events and I never got them back.

iCal isn't just going to lose events randomly.. you probably did something wrong. Anyways, Time Machine on Leopard would be good in this situation.

- One of my USB ports works intermittently.

- For the last few months, the LCD flickers and sometimes goes altogether... and this is the final straw.

Warranty... get it fixed.

Consumer reports still says Apple makes the most reliable computers.

[mr.light]

I would have to agree that Apple's hardware is no better than any PC companies. I've owned three macs now and every one of them has had to go back at least once because it's died upon or arrival or two days later. My MBP, the favorite machine of mine, had to be replaced three times before I got a good one. However, the fourth one of that batch has lasted me two years with absolutely no problems whatsoever.

In the past few years I have purchased around 35 imacs, emacs, and ibooks for my school. No problems no returns on any of them. I own 3 imacs ( 1 new) and an ibook G4. No problems no returns. I'm not saying there can be no problems with your Macs but, wow, don't go buying any lottery tickets! :eek::D

[Concorde Rules]

Interesting.

5 Years I owned a PowerMac G4 867.

Never HAD to reinstall OS X, only reason I ever did was to update when the new systems were launched.

And I dont see how moaning about hardware issues and then buying a PC laptop will change anything?

Foxconn do alot of the PC laptops parts too, both will have problems.

Just get a MBP. Mines perfect. And so its 99% of other peoples. There are alot of bad threads on here because no-one starts a "I love my MB/P".


Owned a 1.42 iBook too, perfect apart from a dead DVD drive 6 months in which was replaced under warranty.

Buy another mac, enjoy it.

Job Done.

[ktbubster]

I've had my PowerBook G4 for just over 2 years. It cost me £1,450 and would be considered a professional laptop computer. However, in that time there has been a number of problems:

- The 'R' key popped off after a matter of weeks but was not covered on the warranty - that cost me £28.

- Dust is managing to get in behind the LCD display causing shadowy specks.

- I've needed to reinstall the Mac OS on four occasions.

- After just a year, the internal fan started making a loud rattling noise - infuriating!

- My HD icon recently vanished from my desktop so will need to reinstall a 5th time.

- iCal suddenly lost ALL my events and I never got them back.

- One of my USB ports works intermittently.

- For the last few months, the LCD flickers and sometimes goes altogether... and this is the final straw.

So I need a new computer - but will I buy a Mac? Probably. Will I buy a MacBook Pro? Probably not. Will I consider returning to Windows? I feel I have to.

For a professional laptop to get such light use and have so many problems is unacceptable. I saw my PowerBook as an investment - if I pay more I'll get a machine that will last me longer. My crappy Toshiba PC laptop lasted me well over 4yrs. Bad show, Apple.

Did you just never even bother to ever call apples support line the first year when you had applecare (or I guess go to an apple certified retailer or store) It sounds like almost all your problems would have been covered and resulted in fixes or a replaced computer.

I'm never really sure why people complain without actually thinking that MAYBE apple or whatever company will FIX the issues. You clearly got a bit of a dud. You are a not the majority, you are the minority. Every apple i've ever owned or my family has owned (included a ti book that lasted and was still going strong for 5 years I had it and after as well as a 17inch powerbook and a 15inch powerbook aluminum) have been great machines. Every minor pproblem (ibook at one point had a bad USB port) has been covered under applecare (within the 1 year comp support)

You should always get some sort of extended care on electronic expensive purchases like computers. Whether it's the extended applecare or a coverage by your credit card company or home owners insurance or any other place. It has paid off, and when it doesn't it gives you a piece of mind. Like everyone else said, apple's hardware is the same as others.

I still don't understand why you didn't take time to get apple to make those repairs. Even OUT of warranty sometimes they will help with stuff that shouldn't be going wrong. THey have been great about that for me. I still don't understand your complaints about much of this stuff, but it's sad to lose someone from teh apple side, but chances are you will be back if your PC happens to be an unlucky one and crap out on you.

edit: how was the R key popping off not covered by warranty? Did you actually talk to anyone at apple about it? If they said no did you get transfered and speak to someone else? That would cleraly be covered by warranty unless you dropped it or banged it or it fell off when you were messing with something and that was obvious to a repair technician. Otherwise it should be covered. I had a stuck key and part of my keyboard where the things that kept the keys on were really loose and constantly coming up and apple just swapped the keybaord on my ibook. That sounds like a bit of a lack of asking on your part, or there is something you aren't telling us abut why it came off.... and 28lbs???? how the heck did it cost that much? A whole new keyboard?

[bijou]

Funny, a crappy Toshiba laptop is precisely what pushed me into purchasing a MBP.:p

[thechidz]

I've had my PowerBook G4 for just over 2 years. It cost me £1,450 and would be considered a professional laptop computer. However, in that time there has been a number of problems:

- The 'R' key popped off after a matter of weeks but was not covered on the warranty - that cost me £28.

- Dust is managing to get in behind the LCD display causing shadowy specks.

- I've needed to reinstall the Mac OS on four occasions.

- After just a year, the internal fan started making a loud rattling noise - infuriating!

- My HD icon recently vanished from my desktop so will need to reinstall a 5th time.

- iCal suddenly lost ALL my events and I never got them back.

- One of my USB ports works intermittently.

- For the last few months, the LCD flickers and sometimes goes altogether... and this is the final straw.

So I need a new computer - but will I buy a Mac? Probably. Will I buy a MacBook Pro? Probably not. Will I consider returning to Windows? I feel I have to.

For a professional laptop to get such light use and have so many problems is unacceptable. I saw my PowerBook as an investment - if I pay more I'll get a machine that will last me longer. My crappy Toshiba PC laptop lasted me well over 4yrs. Bad show, Apple.
Laptop computers are not investments... Its like buying a car... Macs are like Toyotas and PCs are like Fords. ie. at least with mac, your item will not completely depreciate in value in the first year

[skye12]

Very unusual problems which none of my friends or I have
expierienced.

Windows is a joke. How could anyone want to go back to that?

[Brianstorm91]

Funny, a crappy Toshiba laptop is precisely what pushed me into purchasing a MBP.:p

Indeed, and a crappy Toshiba laptop is precisely what's pushing me to purchase a MBP :)

[iMan G5]

Windows laptops may be £1,000 cheaper, but there is going to be 1,001 more problems than your having now. Most of those can be fixed if you called apple....IE usb port....

[iW00t]

Ok, I'm going to be straight forward and tell exactly what I think, Suck it up buy a new one boo hoo! it could happen with a PC as well so don't throw that one. Mac's use the same hardware and apple doesn't make this hardware so don't blame them a key fell off oh well it happens. If you really didn't like the computer or the OS then buy a pc but the same problems are certainly possible.

Please keep your fanboi attitudes to yourself. High prices lead to high expectations, if Apple does not welcome the high expectations it is very simple: drop the prices.

Can't do that? Suck it up then.

[DesignerOnMac]

Been an Apple owner since 1988. I have had a MacII, MacIIFx, (2) Quadra 800s, (2) Mirrored G4 1.25Ghz Desktops, (3) iBooks, (1) Powerbook, and 2 months into my new 2.8Ghz iMac, (3) Cinema Displays, (1) LaserWriter Printer. I have only had 2 repair issues. One of the G4 desktop had a failed HD, Apple came to my studio with a new HD and installed it, even though I could have. One of the iBooks had a key pop off. Called Apple, they send out a repair box for free, the iBook was repaired and return shipping was free and was back at my studio within 3 days!

Sorry you have had a bum laptop, but as others have noted your in the minority and not the majority. I do not know why you did not have your issues taken care of by Apple during the first year, even if you did not purchase AppleCare to extend the warranty.

[mosx]

I love how the people are jumping on the OP.

"It's your fault!" "I hate it when people bash things after only trying them once!" "Suck it up and buy a new one!"

Thats ridiculous.

The OP bought a very expensive system that really ended up with bad build quality and he got ripped off on warranty service. I don't know about the UK, but if that keyboard key had popped off here in the US, especially California, and Apple tried to refuse repair under warranty, then they'd be in some serious trouble.

I like how one person said "Windows is a joke" or something like that. I find that hilarious because I've had the exact opposite experience. On both of my Macs (second Mac was a replacement thanks to Flextronics destroying my system with a dead optical drive), I've had OS X (Tiger and Leopard) crash more than I ever had Windows crash in the almost 2 decades I used Windows PCs. I've had to reinstall OS X a number of times, and I'm on my fourth Leopard install now. Ironically, through all of that, Windows XP (on both Macs) has been rock solid. Not a single crash, hiccup, or any type of instability. With Windows, my Mac is easily one of the most stable PCs I've ever seen. But OS X (on both Macs) has bugs, its unstable, and I've had it crash randomly while doing everything from emptying the trash to trying to burn a disc.

Will I buy a Mac again? Absolutely not. The prices are not justified. The middle MacBook with SuperDrive after taxes will cost roughly $1400 here in California depending on where you buy it. Mine was $1408 in LA county. For $1400 at that time, I could have gotten a 17" Windows PC with a dedicated GPU and twice the RAM and a much larger HDD. Now for the same price you can get a 17" system with a 512MB dedicated GPU, twice the RAM, twice the hard drive space spread over two hard drives, HDMI output, etc. with the option of getting blu-ray or HD-DVD internal drives.

OS X may not have Windows "problems", but it has its own set of problems that are equally as bad, just different. I'd rather have to run a spyware sweeper once a week than worry about OS X crashing when I go to empty a couple of text files from the Trash.

Oh and theres also the fact that Apple screwed me and who knows how many others over with the iPod games, trying to force us to repurchase them all. Hah!

[Reason077]

How is a broken keyboard key not covered under warranty?

Yeah, I find that pretty surprising. I had a key pop off and break on my MacBook when it was well out of warranty, and it was replaced for free by my friendly mac dealer - I'm fairly sure the Apple Store would do the same.

[mosx]

Laptop computers are not investments... Its like buying a car... Macs are like Toyotas and PCs are like Fords. ie. at least with mac, your item will not completely depreciate in value in the first year

I guess you could compare a Toyota to a Mac.

I someone with a 2002 Prius and the main hybrid battery is going bad. Of course, it's out of warranty. So that means an out of pocket expense for them of about $4,000 according to the dealer.

With a Mac, if a unit is out of warranty, you have to pay ridiculous out of pocket costs to repair them as well even for simple things such as a hard drive or optical drive and just about everything else. ;)

Where with Fords (and PCs) they're mostly user serviceable and the user can replace nearly everything at reasonable costs without worrying about destroying their system.

[Techguy172]

Please keep your fanboi attitudes to yourself. High prices lead to high expectations, if Apple does not welcome the high expectations it is very simple: drop the prices.

Can't do that? Suck it up then.

How was I being a Fanboy of anything?

[susan28]

ok, been reading this thread and as i'm in the market now i'll put in my .02.

first the verdict: i'm getting a MBP to reap the benefit of CoreAudio and the generally music-friendly characteristics of OSX. i especially like the "native" MIDI services. aside from working well, i'm naturally drawn to the fact that the OS is designed with music production and performance in mind.

ok, i shared that first to show you i'm not a hater - quite the contrary - but i do have a few gripes, 2 of which can be solved by bootcamping xp (but it's ashame to have to, hence my sharing this), the latter i'm not so sure.

alright. so 2 things i'll miss from windoze are: the little "envelope" icon indicating new mail since last you visitted your inbox. the mac equivalent is the red dot with the number of unread mail in the box, period. but you have to actually visit the inbox to see if there's anything new, which is an unnecessary hardship when it's so easily solved with the new-mail icon. my suggestion for a nice understated (Apple-style) way of conveying new mail without affesting the Leopard template at all would simply be to make the unread-mail circle a different colour when some of it was new since last visit, then it wouldn't even require a new icon. nice and tidy, and performing a small-but-common-sense function, especially for bloggers, which i do when not mixing. so this little inconvenience from my routine (being immediately otified of new mail) irks me, but not enough to elclipse the musical perks.

the other thing, equally small but nonetheless ordinary on windozers, is that i prefer the bottom of the screen be used as an active-window dock, with everything you've got going with its name on a conveniently-togglable button, at a glance. on Macs you have to click and hold on the various programs' icons (Mail, Safari, System etc) to get a scroll list of the active windows in each app, as opposed to an at-a-glance list of buttons at screen bottom. (on windoze machines this area occupies the space occupied by the program dock on the Mac, the contents of which is stacked in the "Start" menu in windoze, a better place for them IMO, and offers the collappsible "quick launch" area for those who want dock access). i know OSX has the area on the right side of the dock for minimised windows, but you can't tell their titles with those little icons, and windoze lists everything active, period, not just minimised, on the dock. i just prefer the windows dock/toolbar to Mac's dock, as gorgeous as Mac's is (and it really is).

the other issue is that when i use the "tap" function on the trackpad to scroll by placing the pointer over the scrollbar arrows, it drifts off the arrow in a few taps. no windows machine i've ever used has done this, and all the MBP's have done it, regardless of trackpad adjustments etc. again, there are workarounds like simply using the scroll keys, or 2-finger scroll, but this is how i'm used to it and more than the annoyance itself, it to me is simply below Apple's normal bulletproof quality standards, and is especially bumming given that even the cheapest windoze machines don't have this problem.

so, i'm getting an MBP as soon as the Penryns hit the street, because my art comes first. but i might very well boot up XP for the daily communications drudgery and only break out Leopard when it's time to rock and roll, but it would be nice to have Leopard tweaked a lil with the dock setup and Mail with a new-mail notification function, and i could embrace it more fully.

as far as the pointer drift when tapping in a single spot, though i can live with it, it really needs to be addressed, and my heightened annoyance at it - aside from the trait itself which is a step down even from my old toshiba rebate-coupon special - is definitely partly due to the "high expectations" factor not only stemming from the cost, but also because i know lots of Mac users and am finally about to join them, in the industry and whom i respect, who swear by Macs.

so i'm getting one, but those are my observations from what i think was a very unbiased comparison. if anything i was biased toward Mac, but these are the few disappointments i had upon actually playing with them, which i'd love to see addressed.

[The Menacer]

How many Macs have you ever owned? If just this one, how can you justify going back to a windows-based system because one computer had some problems? Have you ever had a windows system that had no problems?

This is an unfair argument. I am by no means a Windows fanboy, but I don't think it's as horrible as everyone's making it out to be. Yes, Windows gets viruses, but if you're not stupid and keep your virus protection up-to-date, it's almost impossible to get them. And yes, Windows does have bugs. So does OSX. Leopard INSTALL discs shipped with problems! Also, hardware problems on PCs are a lot easier AND a lot cheaper to fix.

Again, don't get me wrong, I prefer a Mac over windows 9 times out of 10, but don't bash it for having bugs when OSX has significant ones that are just less noticeable.

[Techguy172]

This is an unfair argument. I am by no means a Windows fanboy, but I don't think it's as horrible as everyone's making it out to be. Yes, Windows gets viruses, but if you're not stupid and keep your virus protection up-to-date, it's almost impossible to get them. And yes, Windows does have bugs. So does OSX. Leopard INSTALL discs shipped with problems! Also, hardware problems on PCs are a lot easier AND a lot cheaper to fix.

Again, don't get me wrong, I prefer a Mac over windows 9 times out of 10, but don't bash it for having bugs when OSX has significant ones that are just less noticeable.

I completely agree OS X is certainly not perfect and don't say it is. Yes I like it but when errors come up it's just the same if not worse then some of windows issues and when you think of it apple only has to manage 6 computers it should really have less problems.

[heatmiser]

I completely agree OS X is certainly not perfect and don't say it is. Yes I like it but when errors come up it's just the same if not worse then some of windows issues and when you think of it apple only has to manage 6 computers it should really have less problems.

Agreed!

[oseary]

I positively LOVE my MB Pro... I of course have my Windows stuff in a virtual machine, but I won't ever buy another Windows box.

I've reloaded OS X 2 times--I "broke" OS X by installing some fonts and Adobe crapped out on me, the second time was when I got Leopard. I am always cautious of "upgrades" because of my experience with Windows PC's (I'm actually a Windows-based corporate IT admin, who uses a Mac) that upgrades aren't the best preference.

Other than that, I've had intermittent issues with my Airport card, my girlfriends Macbook (purchased a few months after mine) can connect to networks, and I can't. It's a royal pain at certain times, but not something to warrant a major fuss.

It's a great lil machine... I'm trying to persuade my father in getting one. :D

[jnc]

That's an advertisement for extending your AppleCare if I've ever seen one. But then I've only kept one Mac of mine for longer than the 12 months the original warranty covers :p

That keyboard issue should certainly have been covered under warranty... did you buy it from Apple??

[jnc]

I completely agree OS X is certainly not perfect and don't say it is. Yes I like it but when errors come up it's just the same if not worse then some of windows issues and when you think of it apple only has to manage 6 computers it should really have less problems.

Apple does fix issues pretty speedily...

[thechidz]

I guess you could compare a Toyota to a Mac.

I someone with a 2002 Prius and the main hybrid battery is going bad. Of course, it's out of warranty. So that means an out of pocket expense for them of about $4,000 according to the dealer.

With a Mac, if a unit is out of warranty, you have to pay ridiculous out of pocket costs to repair them as well even for simple things such as a hard drive or optical drive and just about everything else. ;)

Where with Fords (and PCs) they're mostly user serviceable and the user can replace nearly everything at reasonable costs without worrying about destroying their system.


In general though, how often do you see fords in the shop? toyotas?