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13" MPB - 6 years?

Dont listen to other people. If you want to know, you can look on ebay to find out. Mac laptops only good for 3 years. No more. There are a few exceptions. It is not like the powerbooks or ibooks, those were really good.
 
justaregularjoe said:
So my question is this: If I buy a MacBook Pro now, of the current generation, will it last me for the next ~5.5 years? Or should I wait until just before I leave, get the educational discount and the best Mac hardware on the market then (Fall 2010)? The second option would be relying on it for only ~4.5 years, but that is still a long time, right?
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Simple. Look at the specs of one that is 5.5 years old right now. That would be a January 2004 model. Can you see yourself using that today? Is it powerful enough to handle your intended usage? and to run the applications you need? That will answer your query.

Personally I think it's a pipe dream to get 6 years out of a laptop. 4 years is about the most I would think, and that's only if you're not doing heavy CPU/GPU intensive work.

FWIW We're still using our October 2005 Powerbook G4 (1.67 Ghz, 2 GB RAM) and it runs all the modern applications we need including OSX 10.5, Photoshop, MS Office 2008, etc. The fact that it won't run the upcoming Snow Leopard means we'll likely sell it this coming fall/winter though.

Also remember, once you're enrolled in Uni, you get student discount to purchase your next one.
 
if you want a laptop to last u 6 years, i'd say u get the 15" mbp with the 2.8ghz or the 3.06ghz processor 😉

i bought myself a 2.4ghz mbp with 256mb (8600) (june 07 model) when i entered my 11th grade! I am going to enter my 1st year of college in september this year and i absolutely love the mac. the 8600 hasnt given me any issues so far as others have reported! i have upgraded the HD from the stock 160gb to 320gb and the ram from 2gb to 4gb. the machine runs everything thrown at it and it solves all my needs!

of course in another 6 years c2d wont be around and you ll have quad core mbps' but for all your college work, it should work 😉
 
Wotan31 said:
Simple. Look at the specs of one that is 5.5 years old right now. That would be a January 2004 model. Can you see yourself using that today? Is it powerful enough to handle your intended usage? and to run the applications you need? That will answer your query.
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WHile I agree with the consensus that a mac can last you six years (after all i still use my G3 ibook from 2000 and my Powerbook from 2005!), however regrettably things aren't nearly as simple as this today.

Back with the PPC macs, upgrades were particularly slow, sometimes with only mild 0.2 Ghz processor upgrades in an entire year. With this limitation (caused by the slow development of PPC chips due to their heat and power restrictions), apple were to some extent forced to refine their OS to run more and more streamlined, ending (to my mind) with OS 10.3 or panther, an OS that seemed to sip from the computers processors and ram, rather than guzzle it down! In fact, it was so streamlined that it is recommended above earlier versions for macs built years before its introduction - no simple feat.

Now we are with intel, what is great is that the speeds of the machines we use are really increasing (even if sometimes it doesn't seem so), with upgrades far more often, and ones that provide significant progress with CPU, RAM speed and FSB etc.

The downside therefore of these faster macs is that unfortunately they don't tend to last as long as the old PPC ones.

However (and finally!), Snow leopard should be particularly useful in this regard, and also it should not be forgotten that no matter what any nay-sayers here may attempt to convince you, a mac today will perform the as good in six years as it does today if using the same programs. The only problem comes with innovations that bring new functionality over time (such as core image, coverflow in itunes etc etc).

If you are happy with the functionality now, and furthermore aren't someone that needs the latest and greatest (as many here seem to be), you will be absolutely fine speed wise over the next six years. Just understand that any equipment, computer based or otherwise, can break at any time.🙂
 
I pay about $200 for a new Mac every year or so by selling my old one and finding a good deal on a last generation refurb. Buy right after a product upgrade, and you have a perfectly fine modern computer without hurting the wallet.
 
student_trap said:
WHile I agree with the consensus that a mac can last you six years (after all i still use my G3 ibook from 2000 and my Powerbook from 2005!), however regrettably things aren't nearly as simple as this today.

Back with the PPC macs, upgrades were particularly slow, sometimes with only mild 0.2 Ghz processor upgrades in an entire year. With this limitation (caused by the slow development of PPC chips due to their heat and power restrictions), apple were to some extent forced to refine their OS to run more and more streamlined, ending (to my mind) with OS 10.3 or panther, an OS that seemed to sip from the computers processors and ram, rather than guzzle it down! In fact, it was so streamlined that it is recommended above earlier versions for macs built years before its introduction - no simple feat.

Now we are with intel, what is great is that the speeds of the machines we use are really increasing (even if sometimes it doesn't seem so), with upgrades far more often, and ones that provide significant progress with CPU, RAM speed and FSB etc.

The downside therefore of these faster macs is that unfortunately they don't tend to last as long as the old PPC ones.
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Your conclusions are faulty in that they're making assumptions about the future. Picking a 5.5 year old Mac and seeing how it runs today is THE single best way to estimate if a current Mac will last you 5.5 years into the future. It's based on known history, i.e. fact, not speculation.

Your points about PPC vs. Intel are irrelevant. Who is to say that Apple won't switch to ARM or SPARC or even develop their own non-intel architecture in a few years time? Preposterous you say? I bet you'd have said the same in 2004 if I told you Apple was switching all their machines to intel.

Fact is, nobody knows what Apple will do 1, 3, or 5.5 years from now. Not you, not me, not anyone here.
 
nick9191 said:
The general rule with computers is that if they don't break in the first couple of weeks, they will probably never break if you are careful with them. So not accounting for any unlikely hardware failure, the machine should still be fast enough to keep up with most basic tasks, assuming todays basic tasks are the same in 6 years. But it probably wont be able to run the latest and greatest OS.
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I've had a video card fail on me after 4 years, a hard drive cable fail on me after 9 months, hinges fail all of the time, as do keyboards. That is the worst rule of thumb I have ever heard. BTW, not one of these computers with these issues failed within the first few months, in any way.
 
Airforcekid said:
Im still using an iMac over 10 years old. I would upgrade in 3-4 years however if you just stay basic 6 years can easily work.
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OH Snap! I completely forgot about my Mom's iMac... cira 1998 I think. Wasn't that the first one. It's still works, she just doesn't use it any more.
 
might just jump in and say my mac 512k which is 23 is still functioning fine along with my 2 10 year old ibook clams and my 12 year old tam

to op: you should wait to buy until you need it
 
My mom still uses a 6.5 year old TiBook G4 as her everyday computer and hasn't had problems with it.

My family's main computer is a 3.5 year old iMac G5 and we have no plans to replace it anytime soon.

Depending on your usage, I think it very well could. Web browsing, office work, iTunes, iChat, e-mail, etc. don't take many resources.
 
A good example...

Title: What if Computers Were Designed to Last? Published:February 25th, 2009
http://www.macnightowl.com/2009/02/what-if-computers-were-designed-to-last/
I remember a client, a semi-retired interior decorator, who still used her Mac IIci, circa 1990, in 2001. Even when I sold her one of my older computers, an iMac, she kept the IIci at hand as a second computer. Indeed, she still preferred to use it, even though the System 7-based operating system installed on it couldn’t get her online to see the latest sites that required recent browsers to render properly. No matter. She could still use her aging version of ClarisWorks to put her business data in a spreadsheet, or print out mailing labels from the database module.

Lest you forget, today’s iWork, the direct descendant to ClarisWorks and AppleWorks, still doesn’t sport a database feature.

My point? Today’s personal computers really aren’t built to last, not even as long as the ones you bought 10 or 20 years ago. But just try to use the vintage Mac with current applications. Apple has gone through processor and operating system transitions that make it impossible.
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I had a Toshiba Satellite laptop circa 2001 running Windows Me with 8 or 6 GB and a 64RAM. If the modem had lasted I would have bought a new Toshiba PC in 2005. I just replaced with last one with a new uMBP 17." For the most part either of those computers were either middle of the road or low end. NOW, I have the latest and greatest... nearly. So my plan is to make it last 6 years (undergrad and grad work). However, I am going into journalism and music performance, so my need for the LATEST everything isn't necessary. As long as I can word process, I can upload it to a higher level computer for layout and publishing in the future.

BTW, my 2005 laptop is still working. The video card is out of date, but I don't game. It does take a minute or so to load. Other than that, it works even if I had to replace the A and R keys because the backing broke on them.

If you have doubt about getting a new Mac, WAIT! unless you cant.
 
smooth said:
This must mean there is not a single iBook that is currently functioning....anywhere.
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Thank you. You guys are crazy to think these new macbook pros aren't going to last. Although not a laptop, my 350mhz powermac g3 ran just fine. No problems. All it ever had was hd's and ram. Next were my ibook's and powerbooks. They have all been fine. No problem. Heck, I even kept one and my mom still uses it to this day. It got its ram maxed out and a bigger and faster hd.

My 2.4 mbp has been perfectly fine. I think it is going on 2 years now.

Bottom line is, if you really take care of your mac or any laptop for that matter, it will take care of you.

I think people still sell clamshells on ebay dont they? 😀 That's atleast 9 years old.

As long as you don't expect to run the lastest and greatest software after 5 years or so, you will be fine. That is why I finally ditched my iBook.
 
I currently have:

25 Months old 2.2GHz MBP (it's faster than my brothers new 13 inch MBP in many tasks!) This computer still perform! It's actually blazing most new laptops.

After the introduction of the Intel Core series I guess CPU evolution has slowed down a bit and I think that a 2.2Ghz can last me another two years!


As for my apple, laptop history, I can clearly say that they do last for more than 3 years 🙂

iBookG3 Dead battery, but still working perfectly
Powerbook 2300, still working perfectly (altho 15 mins on battery)
Powerbook Duo 280, still working
Powerbook 230, still working
Powerbook 180c, still working
Apple Portable, still working (dead HD tho)

I also had two G4s that i sold, but they were working perfectly when I did.
 
MacLover4491 said:
Macbooks problems are/were logicboard, palmrest, keyboard, touchpad, screen, overheating, etc.

Mba: hinges, screens lines, overheating, kernel panic, etc..

mbp: overheating, crack glass trackpad, graphic problems, case shell bent problems, etc


I do accept that the ibooks were really good but other lines arent good
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And everybody with any problems will start a new thread on MacRumors. And everybody reading these threads will then start finding the same symptoms in their own Macs, whether they are there or not.
 
Wotan31 said:
Your conclusions are faulty in that they're making assumptions about the future. Picking a 5.5 year old Mac and seeing how it runs today is THE single best way to estimate if a current Mac will last you 5.5 years into the future. It's based on known history, i.e. fact, not speculation.
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afraid not, they used totally different architecture, and were limited by motorola and IBM. Such a huge shift in architecture is precisely why using the past five years to predict the next is severely problematic.

You are saying the equivalent of: the last 6 years have been of economic boom and that we should judge the next six by looking at these years, despite that we have hit a considerable economic down-point.


Your points about PPC vs. Intel are irrelevant. Who is to say that Apple won't switch to ARM or SPARC or even develop their own non-intel architecture in a few years time?
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They might do, and if they did, my point would be more, not less relevant.

Preposterous you say?
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No I don't, and indeed didn't. Actually.

I bet you'd have said the same in 2004 if I told you Apple was switching all their machines to intel.
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said that it is dangerous to use the immediate past to predict the future? Most definitely. Ironically doing so is gamblers logic.

Fact is, nobody knows what Apple will do 1, 3, or 5.5 years from now. Not you, not me, not anyone here.
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I don't claim to know anything at all. I am merely pointing out the facts of the past, and how they break your application of them to the next five years is at its core flawed 🙂. How Socratic
 
MacLover4491 said:
Macbooks problems are/were logicboard, palmrest, keyboard, touchpad, screen, overheating, etc.

Mba: hinges, screens lines, overheating, kernel panic, etc..

mbp: overheating, crack glass trackpad, graphic problems, case shell bent problems, etc


I do accept that the ibooks were really good but other lines arent good
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Really?

Care to recall the issues with the iBook G3's?? Fantastic build... Oh and the batteries on the G4's???

Research... It works! 🙄
 
A computer can last 6 years IF you can put up with horrible performance in new applications. Most people cant. I definitely wouldnt want to use a computer for 6 years, it would be torture after the 4th year... but it would still be usable.
 
MacLover4491 said:
That doesnt tell anything about the quality or how long a mac portable can last. I still believe mac portables are good for 3years only.
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My son has had his MacBook for 2 years. He just had The Apple Store do a hard drive replacement under warrenty.

He pretty rough on stuff so, check back in 4 years.
 
stainlessliquid said:
A computer can last 6 years IF you can put up with horrible performance in new applications. Most people cant. I definitely wouldnt want to use a computer for 6 years, it would be torture after the 4th year... but it would still be usable.
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Ya, true. But people are still buying 4/5 year old iBooks to use as daily surfers. To each his own really applies here.
 
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