Build quality on Macbook

svedekim · Jun 8, 2008

Hi.

I'm planning to pick the Macbook some time next month, I have an G4, which been running really great, still has 3+ hours on the battery.

I'm planning to run bootcamp on, so I need the Intel CPU.

I've been reading af few threads where people comment on broken case on their comptuters, is the build quality of the current Mac Books as good as on a iBook g4?

The reason I'm going for a mac is design and quality.

alphaod · Jun 8, 2008

If you don't drop you computer, abuse it like crazy, I don't see why it would be any different than the iBook.

mpw · Jun 8, 2008

svedekim said:
...I've been reading af few threads where people comment on broken case on their comptuters, is the build quality of the current Mac Books as good as on a iBook g4...

My experience is that quality is shockingly poor. My MacBook has had a list of problems as long as my arm, one of which is the case cracking. I'm on my 3rd lower case/keyboard/trackpad and it's cracked again, of course it's out of Apple's warranty now because the third failure was more than 90days from the 2nd.

It's been back to the local Apple Premium Reseller about 6times, and they concede that they witnessed some of the (non-case) problems, but are at a loss to figure out what's wrong with it. I've emailed Apple several times and they called me once, the only option they could offer was for me to take it to an Applestore Genius... in another country and see if they could help!

Every Apple laptop and desktop I've owned has had issues, most sorted under warranty it has to be said, but my MacBook is by far the worst. I have a friend who bought 5 Apple computers in the last 18months, and it took something like 12 machines to find 5 that worked acceptably out of the box.

At work I've used Sony laptops and HP/Dell desktops and never had any problems with the hardware. The day I can load OSX onto a Sony is likely the last day I risk purchasing Apple hadware.

coachingguy · Jun 8, 2008

mpw said:
My experience is that quality is shockingly poor. My MacBook has had a list of problems as long as my arm, one of which is the case cracking. I'm on my 3rd lower case/keyboard/trackpad and it's cracked again, of course it's out of Apple's warranty now because the third failure was more than 90days from the 2nd.

It's been back to the local Apple Premium Reseller about 6times, and they concede that they witnessed some of the (non-case) problems, but are at a loss to figure out what's wrong with it. I've emailed Apple several times and they called me once, the only option they could offer was for me to take it to an Applestore Genius... in another country and see if they could help!

Every Apple laptop and desktop I've owned has had issues, most sorted under warranty it has to be said, but my MacBook is by far the worst. I have a friend who bought 5 Apple computers in the last 18months, and it took something like 12 machines to find 5 that worked acceptably out of the box.

At work I've used Sony laptops and HP/Dell desktops and never had any problems with the hardware. The day I can load OSX onto a Sony is likely the last day I risk purchasing Apple hadware.

While I feel for mpw, I would venture a guess that their issues are in a fractional minority. I owned 2 iBooks, the last iteration of the G3 and the last iteration of the G4, both had logic board isssues and the case crack issues (as has been documented ad naseum), my MB has been trouble free for over a year, I have a crack in the case, but that was my fault (well, the wife's actually), other than that I feel that this is the best laptop I've owned. And I go back to the 145B...

Lombard, Titanium, Alubook as well as the two iBooks. My job is buying me a MBP this summer so the wife will be getting the Mb, I'm curious to see the build quality, but as has been said earlier if you treat it right (usually) it should last. Mine is with me all day working, in the bag (get a good bag! I've got an Osprey Transit bag) for home, and working a few hours at night, then back in the bag for work the next day; so mine does get some abuse - it is a mobile computer not a laptop that is deskbound.

Buy with confidence!

Coachingguy

Hmac · Jun 8, 2008

This forum (and others) is strongly biased toward people who are having problems. Far more people are going to post with a gripe than those who will post just to say "everything's going fine".

MacRumors in particular seems to represent a pretty self-selected group people with complaints. Just because we're hearing more gripes doesn't mean there are more problems. If you read MacRumors with any frequency, one would think that all the Mac hardware is dropping dead right and left.

I'm sure I'll be labeled an "Apple Fan-Boy" for saying so, I draw this conclusion from the fact is that none of the multiple Macs in our family over the last several have had any hardware issues whatsoever except for a dead hard drive on a three-year-old iBook.

Matek · Jun 8, 2008

In my opinion the build quality is quite average. It's certainly much better then noname laptops that get squeeky and loose after a couple of months, but it's not as good as a ThinkPad or similar either.

After a year and a half, I got some cracked plastic on my MacBook, but other than that it doesn't feel like it's falling apart (many laptops I used did).

flopticalcube · Jun 8, 2008

Best laptop I ever owned. Build quality is definitely above average in my experience (but not the best). For a notebook in the $1000-$1500 is pretty good.

svedekim · Jun 8, 2008

flopticalcube said:
Best laptop I ever owned. Build quality is definitely above average in my experience (but not the best). For a notebook in the $1000-$1500 is pretty good.

Well u pay for brand and design aswell...

If I'm looking at the same quality as the g4, I'll be more than happy.

Currently I'm on a T61 it's a bit sqeeky from being carried around, alot.

AmbitiousLemon · Jun 8, 2008

Keep in mind that Apple continues to rank top in every customer service and product quality survey.

So while anecdotal evidence as presented by mpw can sound scary, the statistics show that you are more likely to have a problem with another PC manufacturer than you are Apple. Its also worth noting that Apple and other PC manufacturers have all improved over recent years. So don't listen to the claims that build quality is falling.

72930 · Jun 8, 2008

AmbitiousLemon said:
Keep in mind that Apple continues to rank top in every customer service and product quality survey.

So while anecdotal evidence as presented by mpw can sound scary, the statistics show that you are more likely to have a problem with another PC manufacturer than you are Apple. Its also worth noting that Apple and other PC manufacturers have all improved over recent years. So don't listen to the claims that build quality is falling.

The build quality for the original MBs was appalling, and the sheer amount of returns showed that.

aristobrat · Jun 8, 2008

AmbitiousLemon said:
Keep in mind that Apple continues to rank top in every customer service and product quality survey.

So while anecdotal evidence as presented by mpw can sound scary, the statistics show that you are more likely to have a problem with another PC manufacturer than you are Apple. Its also worth noting that Apple and other PC manufacturers have all improved over recent years. So don't listen to the claims that build quality is falling.

FWIW, Consumer Reports found that Apple has the lowest laptop quality (with 23% being defective in one way or the other). However, the manufacturer with the HIGHEST laptop quality (Lenovo) still sent out 20% as defective, so there doesn't appear to be a huge quality difference between any of the laptop manufacturers.
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13579_3-9937231-37.html

For workstations, it was the opposite. Apple was #1 in quality. And like you mentioned, #1 in support.

AmbitiousLemon · Jun 8, 2008

aristobrat said:
FWIW, Consumer Reports found that Apple has the lowest laptop quality (with 23% being defective in one way or the other). However, the manufacturer with the HIGHEST laptop quality (Lenovo) still sent out 20% as defective, so there doesn't appear to be a huge quality difference between any of the laptop manufacturers.
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13579_3-9937231-37.html

For workstations, it was the opposite. Apple was #1 in quality. And like you mentioned, #1 in support.

I'd say you are cherry picking there. The findings showed that there was no statistical difference between any of the companies surveyed. Thats a bit different than saying they were lowest. Pretty useless report when they didn't collect enough data to be able to say anything with statistical significance.

When you look at reports that were conducted properly (ie enough data points to reduce error to the point where you can see a difference between the manufacturers) Apple does quite well.

Shackler · Jun 8, 2008

AmbitiousLemon said:
I'd say you are cherry picking there. The findings showed that there was no statistical difference between any of the companies surveyed. Thats a bit different than saying they were lowest. Pretty useless report when they didn't collect enough data to be able to say anything with statistical significance.

When you look at reports that were conducted properly (ie enough data points to reduce error to the point where you can see a difference between the manufacturers) Apple does quite well.

do you know how much data they collected and if thats a significant amount to be proportional to the entire population? if not you really can't say te report is useless.

Also for your reports that were conducted properly do you have a link to any of them?

AmbitiousLemon · Jun 8, 2008

Shackler said:
do you know how much data they collected and if thats a significant amount to be proportional to the entire population? if not you really can't say te report is useless.

Go and read the report linked. That was their finding not mine. Consumer Reports concluded that there was no statistical difference.

Shackler said:
Also for your reports that were conducted properly do you have a link to any of them?

We've been through this a few times before. Last time we talked about this. A simple google search turns up lots more.

Shackler · Jun 8, 2008

AmbitiousLemon said:
Go and read the report linked. That was their finding not mine. Consumer Reports concluded that there was no statistical difference.

We've been through this a few times before. Last time we talked about this. A simple google search turns up lots more.

That is just talking about margin of error on the report be aide they didn't survey the wntriw population not that it is useless or that they didn't collect enough data.

hexonxonx · Jun 8, 2008

flopticalcube said:
Best laptop I ever owned. Build quality is definitely above average in my experience (but not the best). For a notebook in the $1000-$1500 is pretty good.

Agreed! I bought my BlackBook in April and it's build quality is pretty darn good. Case is good and so is the display.

AmbitiousLemon · Jun 8, 2008

Shackler said:
That is just talking about margin of error on the report be aide they didn't survey the wntriw population not that it is useless or that they didn't collect enough data.

You are not understanding the findings. Sample size is determined by the nature of the sample and the size of the sample. They chose a sample size that resulted in a margin of error that made the differences observed in their data statistically insignificant. All that one can conclude from that data set is that there is no statistically significant difference between the measurements they took. Generally one would not publish such information, but rather go back and collect more data. Trying to interpret this data to rank the manufacturers is incorrect. The only fair statement you could make from this data set is that the failure rate between all manufacturers measured is very similar, which in itself is sort of interesting.

asphyxiafeeling · Jun 8, 2008

sadly, i don't really have anything good to contribute to this discussion.

but i would like to say i am constantly suprised by macrumors!

i'm 18 years old. i've been creeping around forums and the like since i was 13. most of these have been for video games, music sites, guitar things, etc. i had come to the conclusion that forums are 95% filled with idiots, flaming, arrogant people, etc.

i've been hanging around macrumors for about two months.

aside from the occasional snappy comments, this forum is incredibly mature!

people can argue and discuss things, disagreeing several times, without losing their temper or making personal attacks!

so i've changed my theory.

forums with kids/teenagers in them (MUSIC/VIDEO GAMES/ANYTHING BOYS LIKE) are 95% filled with idiots, flaming, and arrogant people.

forums with intelligent, mature folks, on the other hand, can actually be great places to discuss, speculate, and help others. Mac Rumors is one of those places (to some extent, hahaha!)

now, i'll shut up. i don't mean to be a kiss-ass or anything like that, but i've been pleasantly suprised so many times here that i just HAD to say something

to attempt to be on topic-

i find macbooks to be of decent/above average build quality. keep in mind this is a low/mid-range notebook, and apple's least expensive. if you compare that to a low end laptop from other manufacturers, it's not that bad. factor in OS X + iLife, it's a good deal!

most people who have Apple notebooks keep them for YEARS! is it the build quality? maybe. is it OS X? maybe!

most people i've met with other notebooks often have them riddled with viruses/spyware/garbage after 6 months, to the point where the laptop is near useless. (keep in mind these people i'm talking about are poorly educated on computers, they don't know much about anti-virus etc).

i realize i didn't really say anything right there. but i tried!

Phillyzero · Jun 8, 2008

For laptops, I do not know how they compare to older variants from Apple, but I do see that on the whole macbooks have less issues and problems when compared to the air, and especially to the mbp. Either way, you'll end up seeing a lot more 'problems' on sites like these for the mb/mbp/mba as people with problems will bother to come and post. The build quality on the whole is really quite strong, the only thing of course is dirtying the white or oiling up the black. (and of course TN panels, but just hope you get a LG panel and it'll be at least the best of a less then ideal situation

)

Mushrooshi · Jun 8, 2008

asphyxiafeeling said:
sadly, i don't really have anything good to contribute to this discussion.

but i would like to say i am constantly suprised by macrumors!

i'm 18 years old. i've been creeping around forums and the like since i was 13. most of these have been for video games, music sites, guitar things, etc. i had come to the conclusion that forums are 95% filled with idiots, flaming, arrogant people, etc.

i've been hanging around macrumors for about two months.

aside from the occasional snappy comments, this forum is incredibly mature!

people can argue and discuss things, disagreeing several times, without losing their temper or making personal attacks!

so i've changed my theory.

forums with kids/teenagers in them (MUSIC/VIDEO GAMES/ANYTHING BOYS LIKE) are 95% filled with idiots, flaming, and arrogant people.

forums with intelligent, mature folks, on the other hand, can actually be great places to discuss, speculate, and help others. Mac Rumors is one of those places (to some extent, hahaha!)

now, i'll shut up. i don't mean to be a kiss-ass or anything like that, but i've been pleasantly suprised so many times here that i just HAD to say something

to attempt to be on topic-

i find macbooks to be of decent/above average build quality. keep in mind this is a low/mid-range notebook, and apple's least expensive. if you compare that to a low end laptop from other manufacturers, it's not that bad. factor in OS X + iLife, it's a good deal!

most people who have Apple notebooks keep them for YEARS! is it the build quality? maybe. is it OS X? maybe!

most people i've met with other notebooks often have them riddled with viruses/spyware/garbage after 6 months, to the point where the laptop is near useless. (keep in mind these people i'm talking about are poorly educated on computers, they don't know much about anti-virus etc).

i realize i didn't really say anything right there. but i tried!

Sorry to be off topic, but I found the "ANYTHING BOYS LIKE" A bit sexist, not to mention I do incredibly enjoy music and video games.

About macbook build quality, I have used my macbook alot, it feels very sturdy. Only problems I have encountered are a small defect, the right arrow "sponge" was weird shaped, had it replaced quick and easy, I was in and out very fast, and it was a pleasure getting my macbook back to normal position in my house. Otherwise, all my problems are caused by me, and no problems from Apple's end.

SFStateStudent · Jun 8, 2008

svedekim said:
Hi. Is the build quality of the current Mac Books as good as on a iBook g4? The reason I'm going for a mac is design and quality.

What was the question? LOL I've owned (8) different Mac macbooks/powerbooks since the 1990's, (I don't remember them being call laptops). Really impressed with each one. I've always taken care of my powerbooks/macbooks and will continue to do so. I've never had a cracked case, no melted cases, no broken keys, no discolored cases, no creaking of the hinges, no dead pixels, and no frayed power cords/magsafe charger. I have had a screen on a MB that developed minute scratches where the keyboard/trackpad/spacebar come in contact with the screen. Since I put my MB in a backpack along with about 4-5 textbooks, that adds pressure to the keyboard and screen, causing those minute scratches on the screen. The MBA or the BlackBook would be a nice match for your design and quality. Enjoy your choice!

Mackan · Jun 8, 2008

Just be prepared that the MB case *might* crack. It is a design flaw.

badapple2 · Jun 8, 2008

The case of the MB in my case broke after it was returned from a repair where it was not repaired. As far as bias goes: I came to this forum because I am utterly unhappy with the quality of the MB. So unhappy, in fact, that I spent my time creating a website bashing the mac

(http://www.macisbad.com).

Chundles · Jun 8, 2008

Mine's fine - the plastic means it can feel ever so slightly creaky, certainly not as tough as the "feels like it's carved from a single billet of aluminium" MacBook Air but still pretty good.

asphyxiafeeling · Jun 9, 2008

Mushrooshi said:
Sorry to be off topic, but I found the "ANYTHING BOYS LIKE" A bit sexist, not to mention I do incredibly enjoy music and video games.

About macbook build quality, I have used my macbook alot, it feels very sturdy. Only problems I have encountered are a small defect, the right arrow "sponge" was weird shaped, had it replaced quick and easy, I was in and out very fast, and it was a pleasure getting my macbook back to normal position in my house. Otherwise, all my problems are caused by me, and no problems from Apple's end.

Yeah, it was a unnecessary comment, sorry. I was trying to think of something all the irritating people had in common- they're usually guys. I wouldn't see a girl (in most cases) flaming/trolling in gamefaqs, ultimate-guitar, or runescape's forums; you'd have to agree there.

Anyway, you were right.

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