Macbook lifetime?

bango said:

Well I got my Macbook 2 weeks ago and now im wondering how long does a Macbook usually last for? That is if its kept clean and all that other good stuff.

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16 days, give or take.

How long will it look clean, or continue to operate? If you mean clean, I'd say 16 days

if you mean operate, well, my family uses a G4 as their primary computer, and that's what, 4 or 5 year old technology?

Nobody really knows, because Macbooks have only existed since May 2006. We got ours two days after they were released, and it's going strong. I expect (hope) it will continue to last well past the warranty period, which expires next May. I would also assume that the vast majority of Macbooks are similarly still in service.

By way of comparison, our iBook G3 lasted three and a half years before going kaput (actually it still boots up, but usually freezes up within a half hour or so, making it basically unusable). However, it was plagued by the famous logic board problem which was due to a design flaw on Apple's part. They replaced bad boards up until it was three years old, at which point it was unsupported. The last logic board failed with telltale symptoms about six months past that cutoff point.

Since the Macbook doesn't have any known design flaws as severe as the iBook logic board problem, I expect it to last longer.

get applecare and you'll be guaranteed it'll last at least 3 years. after that we have no idea.

5 years if you take care of it, but hardware breaks sometimes, but expect 5 years.

I have the first generation Macbook (2006) and it is still working perfectly fine. I did upgrade the memory and the hard drive, so I am not sure if those might have failed by now. Definitely get the 2 year Applecare extension before your first year is up; I have used it a few time already (case crack, keyboard replacement, power adapter, battery) and it has more than paid for itself.

I still have an iBook G3. It's on its 3rd battery, but still going strong (albeit slowly...).

I haven't gotten apple care so I suppose I can expect it to last just as long as its weakest component. Unless repairing it is significantly cheaper than getting a new laptop.

I got my MacBook in October 2006 and it's still running with no problems.

Having said that I recently had to replace the power adapter as it frayed to the point of being unusable.

Other than that, I upgraded my RAM to 2GB and have recently put in a 320GB HDD.

ibook g4 (last revision)

it's about 3 years old and the battery life is still verry good for its age. I did get a replacement though (battery recall), so the battery i'm using right now is probably about 2 years old.

I have had two MacBooks:

• My first MacBook lasted 13 days before the hard drive crashed (thankfully still within the return period).
  
• My current MacBook has lasted me 9 months so far and there is no sign of any end in the near future.

I would suggest that your MacBook has at least a year (if not two) before you should consider a replacement. And I have a feeling that your replacement will be more on the part of your computer's technology becoming out-of-date, rather than the computer's quality and performance deteriorating.