Anyone have a macbook pro that lasted for more than 4+ years?

[S.B.G]

This thread really needs a poll. I want to buy a MBP but it seems like they do not last that long.

What are you talking about? This thread is filling up with testimonials about how long other folks MBP's are lasting. As I mentioned in my earlier post in this thread, my MBP is on year 5 and still going strong. I'm using it right now to type this message.

It seems like a similarly priced PC might be a better choice for quality...but maybe the resale value of a Mac makes up for the difference?

I doubt that a similarly priced PC will have better quality than the Apple laptop.

 

[SirWilliam]

What are you talking about? This thread is filling up with testimonials about how long other folks MBP's are lasting. As I mentioned in my earlier post in this thread, my MBP is on year 5 and still going strong. I'm using it right now to type this message.



I doubt that a similarly priced PC will have better quality than the Apple laptop.

Well maybe the components are not any better quality but they are made in a more durable way. My current 5 year old laptop has a 15.4" 1920x1200 screen (which you have never been able to get on a 15" MBP), built in keyboard drain, magnesium chassis and screen roll cage and a whole lot more serviceable modular parts. Both my computer and the current MBP are made by Quanta...so I dunno.

 

[Voch]

White MacBook still alive...

My "day one" 2Ghz Core Duo white MacBook purchased on May 16, 2006 is still alive as my dad's primary machine. It's had a mobo replacement (may have been a power surge?) and the plastics replaced from that palm rest chipping problem, both under AppleCare. My dad and I think the optical drive is going bad though...it only reads discs when it feels like it.

Voch

 

[plumosa]

I'm typing this on a 12" powerbook g4 from 2004 and it still works perfectly fine. And I haven't babied it whatsoever, its been dropped a billion times and frankly, looks like it as well.

I use it every day for surfing on the internet in bed, using it for recipes in the kitchen, etc. For anything intensive, I use my imac.

The only thing I've replaced is the battery and charger. Hell, I just recently put the original 60 gb hdd back in because I needed the 320 gb one for my expanded itunes collection. So it now has a fresh install of OS X and things are quite snappy again.



When people buy a highly spec'd computer, it will generally last for a very long time because it can handle the updates in technology that bargain computers can't handle. I think this is true for PCs as well since my husbands similarly old, higher end HP is still working fine.

Sure there are duds, but applecare takes care of most of them as they are problems from manufacturing and show up fairly quickly. Its nice that its so easy to just go to an applestore and have them be able to deal with a lot of it just in person. You can't say that for most PCs...

 

[NickZac]

If I can find the money before June, I may have to take one of these to a class of 300+ students (Im still in a class like that... ) - and see just how many odd, quizzical looks (If I do find the cash, I shall report back )

Apple is all about thinking 'different'...I could see a commercial of someone rollin on their 35lb 'lap' top and the are sitting next to sometime with a quad core MBP and the guy with the MBP looks at the guy with the beastly computer and says "I love your system" and then beautiful scantily dressed women are walking by and saying "hey _____ I LOOOOVE your computer" in a teasing voice while rubbing the dude's back, then a screen says "Mac Love; Always and Forever Different" "True, True".

 

[MagicBoy]

This thread really needs a poll. I want to buy a MBP but it seems like they do not last that long. I am still using a business class HP that is over 5 years old, not one problem and still runs perfectly as my primary computer. I have even older IBM Thinkpads that still run just fine.

It seems like a similarly priced PC might be a better choice for quality...but maybe the resale value of a Mac makes up for the difference?

I'm sorry, but I can't agree with that.

I've worked in corporate IT for many years, mostly with ThinkPads. Comparing them to the Apple machines we also support and my personal experiences running Apple kit, the MacBook Pro is as good quality if not better.

 

[ctyhntr]

Quanta is an OEM, and they build to spec to Dell, HP, or Apple. GM built both the Corvette and Citation, one is praised for its performance and the other is one of the most problem plagued car of the last century. Quanta, like GM builds to different price points.

Well maybe the components are not any better quality but they are made in a more durable way. My current 5 year old laptop has a 15.4" 1920x1200 screen (which you have never been able to get on a 15" MBP), built in keyboard drain, magnesium chassis and screen roll cage and a whole lot more serviceable modular parts. Both my computer and the current MBP are made by Quanta...so I dunno.

 

[ender land]

heh it seems that the IMAC is doing much better quality wise than the macbook pro.

Wonder why. 0.0

Desktops are much less likely to be moved around, dropped, put into bags while running (overheating), moved suddenly, include hardware designed for space considerations, etc.

I would be very surprised to find any companies desktops lasting fewer years than its laptops. Pretty much every single element is working against laptop life when compared to desktops. I guess desktops might be more likely to be left on all the time, but otherwise, laptops get FAR more abuse than desktops.

It seems like a similarly priced PC might be a better choice for quality...but maybe the resale value of a Mac makes up for the difference?

There is a reason the resale on a mac is so much better than on a windows computer

 

[tigress666]

Most of my past macs (all desktops and all were ones that were out prior to OSX) have lasted years and years. Apple in the past in my opinion makes rock solid computers (at least desktops).

But I can't verify the same for their laptops. My past macbook has had to have several repairs within the span of 3 years (the hard drive died a month after the warranty expired even). hard drive, the portable plug accessory for the power brick, the cooling fan, the mouse button, the top plastic case all broke in those three years and had to be replaced.

My current laptop is a little over 6 months and already had to have them replace a key and the trackpad (which apparently is a known problem).

So, while I love the OSX and I love my macbooks' features, I really don't have a high opinion of quality/durability/long lasting when it comes to macbooks. To be fair I've never had a PC laptop (only a desktop) so I can't compare how a mac laptop does compared to a PC laptop.

If they didn't have me locked in cause I prefer OSX that much over windows, I'd probably consider another laptop even though I do think the features are nice (basically I'd be doing some thinking on what was most important to me and if some other laptop was a better deal for what I wanted).

 

[Invisible Elf]

My dad has an 8 year old Macbook (were they called Powerbooks or something?). He plans to keep it until he's had it 10 years before he replaces it. He uses it daily but only for light usage though, and doesn't move it much around.

 

[patashnik]

MacBook Pro 15" bought in November 2006. Sees 8-10 hrs of daily use. Never had to repair anything, but I've been through a couple of batteries.

 

[mscice]

3 years just passed last week, going onto my 4th year...

This laptop has been running daily for 16+ hours... no replacements on anything, stock ... best of all works as it was brand new

Im kinda scared about the nvidia issue but I guess I have 1 more year for it to break.

cheers

 

[Bankaimadness]

3 years just passed last week, going onto my 4th year...

This laptop has been running daily for 16+ hours... no replacements on anything, stock ... best of all works as it was brand new

Im kinda scared about the nvidia issue but I guess I have 1 more year for it to break.

cheers

So 16+ hours daily.. 0.0

What do you do on it dude?

 

[jvmxtra]

So 16+ hours daily.. 0.0

What do you do on it dude?

There are people who use their laptop that much a day.. I program for living and I abuse laptop 14 to 16(sometimes even more a day)..

People like us do put these machines to real test.

 

[RichardBeer]

Although it is the common view that macs have higher build quality and durability and thus last longer, whilst I agree I feel it's also important to stress that a little bit of occasional maintenance goes a long way! Chiefly dusting out the mac with canned air and making sure nothing is clogged. Maintaining a healthy cooling system will extend the life of the components.

Although also on a side note, I can see fitting an SSD as a measure to prolong the comparative performance of a macbook pro but also as a means of drastically reducing the risk of a hardrive failure due to no moving parts. (Although I've also heard a fair volume of horror stories when it comes to Apple supplied mechanical drives, but I don't know to what extent that rumour is substantiated.)

Basically, keep it clean and keep it safe and your prospects are looking good!
People can try knock the OS, the specs, the price but you have to admit Apple know how to design.

 

[paintballswimgu]

It maybe better to visualize if we create a poll.

Died after 4 years
Died after 5 years
Died after 6 years
Died after 7 years
Died after 2.75 years

Still going after 4 years
Still going after 5 years
Still going after 6 years
Still going after 7 years
Still going after .8 years

added to it

 

[Gomff]

Got a Macbook Pro 2,2 which is over 4 years old and still running well. It needed a Logic board replacement after an EFI update went wrong which was covered with Applecare but apart from that, a hard drive upgrade and a new battery recently, it's running (and looking) like brand new still.

Sure, it's not the latest and greatest but it can still handle Aperture, FCP express, Photoshop and some 3D modeling and rendering. It also has Windows 7 and Linux installed...Not bad for a laptop it's age really.

In a way, half of me wants it to die so that I can upgrade because there's no other way I can justify buying a new machine. The other half of me is pleased every time I wake and start using it, because it's still such a useful tool that more than justified the initial extra cost compared to a PC laptop.

 

[mscice]

So 16+ hours daily.. 0.0

What do you do on it dude?

I work on it daily 8 hours.. then it runs torrents etc... I use it as my main machine I have 24" LCD plugged into it, mac keyboard + mouse + 2TB external for timemachine wifi over asus rt-n16 gigabit router.

It gets abused No point in spending 2200$ on a laptop and use it for emails only you want browsing + emails only.. get a ipad.

 

[HarryPot]

Black MacBook 2 Ghz Core Duo, I have had a couple self inflicted repairs (hard drive upgrades) that were repair Free of Charge by the genius bar, you gota love it. $1200 spent Sept. 2006 and I'm still using it Daily!

p.s. I know it's not a MacBook Pro, although an Air is on the horizon...

Ain't the Black MacBook a beauty of a machine?

I also have a first generation Black MacBook (since August 2006) for the first four years only the battery failed (covered by Apple).

In this past six months it has started to show problems. Wi-Fi range is terrible, almost unusable. iSight camera isn't working. Bluetooth works randomly. iSight and Bluetooth I never use. Wi-Fi almost never (work uses wired network).

Apart from that, it still works perfectly and has outlasted any other laptops owned by friends or family. (Except for the ones who also have Macs or IBM/Lenovo's).

I'm planning on getting a new MBP 15" when they get updated. But I'm sure I'll still be using this MacBook for some other things.

 

[macdud]

Black Macbook as well (early 2007 ) ... toured the world with it ( i'm a musician ) ... planes, trains & automobiles ... a few liquid spills on it ... drops ... it's still ticking and used daily as my primary gig machine, only repair needed was a fan replacement, and a new battery last year... but of course i realize it could die tommorow, which is why im contemplating a new macbook pro at the moment ... it's honestly the best computer investment i ever made !

oh and my girlfriend still uses her 12" powerbook from 2004, although she just browses the net and itunes, her laptop is still in excellent shape, those things were built like tanks !

 

[aCondor]

My Dell is working perfect after 3.5 years. Durability is not a Mac patent. If you have a laptop and take care of it... it will last a long time. It is quite rare for a computer to "die" before 3 years unless there is operator misuse.

 

[benwizkid]

It's not like one day your computer is just no longer functional. Usually one buys a new computer when their current one just isn't getting the job done. Due to the nature of OSX the longetivity one mac is higher than that of a Pc. The flipside though is Mac Owners love to frequently buy new toys

 

[seek3r]

Without the need of any repairs and stuff?

Browsing through the net I found a lot of horror stories of them breaking in only after a year due to lemons.

A problem with that question is you suppose no-one upgrades it in that time, and that we don't reuse the parts. I have a just under 4 year old MBP and:

I have replaced my HD 3 times, but both of the previous drives still work 1 in another machine, 1 is an external now - I just wanted more internal capacity in the machine each time.

I have replaced the battery, but batteries wear down no matter what, and it was simply cycle counts that caused me to replace it recently, so I get better battery life.

I just replaced the display recently with a higher res one - but the older LCD still works quite well, I just wanted more pixels

I have upgraded the memory, but the old memory is in a friends machine, and still works as well.

So in answer to your question, no... and yes

I have replaced many parts, but all the old parts still work and were I to re-assemble them I'd have the original computer. For that matter though the premise is.... problematic. There are some parts that, statistically at least, one can reasonably expect to fail in time (hard drives, batteries, etc) and that's independent of the computer model or manufacturer....

 

[sauced]

My old white Macbook is almost 4 years old, and never needed a repair... even after I spilled a caramel macchiato on it. It was in perfect working condition when I sold it to a friend a couple of years ago, and it's still working well for him.

 

[JoJoCal19]

First gen Intel MacBook here, purchased in June 2006 and running super strong! Only thing I've done is upgrade the HD and add 1GB of RAM. The battery obviously doesn't hold as long of a charge and the screen isn't as bright as it used to be but it runs great.