Hi everyone. I think I will be buying the new Macbook Pro after the WWDC because my family and friends highly praise Mac OSX. However, after reading some of the threads on this forum, it seems that Macbook Pros are having quite a lot of issue such as arrow disappearing, over heating etc. If you happen to own a Macbook Pro, is macbook pro tough enough to do the job? Please help. Thanks
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Are Macbook Pros reliable?
- Thread starter chanyitian
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People come to forums with problems. They don't come to just say how good it is and leave. Buy it, you'll love it.
As the abover poster said, the forum don't represent the vast majority of users without problems, it is like going to a hosipal and think the whole town is sick. 
I had couple of macbooks, they have very high standard in quality of material and construction. Although I do't keep laptop for long, some of my friends are still using 3 to 6 year old macbooks without any hardware problems and the operating system is still very snappy.
I'd say go for it.
I had couple of macbooks, they have very high standard in quality of material and construction. Although I do't keep laptop for long, some of my friends are still using 3 to 6 year old macbooks without any hardware problems and the operating system is still very snappy.
I'd say go for it.
Thanks for your advice, but what about the hard drive? my past 2 laptops were wasted because of the hard drive.
Apple uses same hard drive as Windows pc makers, so I'm not sure it will be more or less reliable. Regular backup is what I'd recommend. However, Apple warranty seems to be much better than normal PC makers, so if you want a piece of mind 3 year Apple Care is a good idea.
My pleasure.
Hard drives by their nature are very temperamental. Most large-scale companies still use tape storage for long-term archiving because of this. Whether it's a Mac or PC, you'll always have the same risk as they all use the same thing (give or take intrinsics no sane person cares about). Therefore the only thing we can do as consumers to prevent this is to back-up our important data. Obviously, if you're backing up to another hard drive, you'll always have the same risk. However it's a reduced risk as you don't use the hard drive very much. Having said that, various RAID configurations are available in case you're really paranoid. But most people just work with a standard hard drive and back-up.
I hope that makes you feel better and/or causes a loss of faith in the computing industry, not Apple
I own a MacBook Pro 13 inch early 2011 model. When i bought it i still had my pc and i was using the mac just for it's laptop purposes. After i start using it more often i decided to drop the pc (gave it to my dad) and use the macbook daily. It is great. I upgraded to ssd and works like a charm. After you will get used to the operating system and the things that differ from windows, you will love it. I recommend buying quad core, the diffrecene in performance is visible. Also if you use it as your main workstation 15 will do. You cand also attach it to an external display, but for example my macbook is struggling when connecting to external display and the video performance drops a lot. That's why a 15' model worth the money.
Hard drives are easily replaceable (and user serviceable) on the MBP without voiding your warranty. Make sure you have an external drive for backups, which is something you need regardless of what computer and what operating system you're using.
Depends what you use it for. The other day I was using mine as a baking sheet for chocolate chip cookies. I placed it in the oven at 350 degrees for only half an hour, and needless to say, most of its plastic parts melted. So in my case, the Mbp was not reliable.
That is totally unacceptable. I've found the 17" to be a great sled during the winter. It keeps you warm as well if you keep it on.
Turns out that platter based storage media (including HDD's) should be replaced about every three years. After that, their rate of failure increases exponentially.
Google's studies showed an average failure rate of 1.7% for one year old drives to 8.6%+ for three year old drives. The rate at which the drive fails is not dependent on data transferred/read. Temperature also does not play a huge role, unless you are excessively cooling your hard drive (which makes it fail more).
Note that this applies for all hard drives, not just Apple's.
In the event that your drive fails, Apple should replace it for you - possibly even if the machine is out of warranty.
Google's studies showed an average failure rate of 1.7% for one year old drives to 8.6%+ for three year old drives. The rate at which the drive fails is not dependent on data transferred/read. Temperature also does not play a huge role, unless you are excessively cooling your hard drive (which makes it fail more).
Note that this applies for all hard drives, not just Apple's.
In the event that your drive fails, Apple should replace it for you - possibly even if the machine is out of warranty.
Very true, I tend to replace my backup and NAS hard drives every 3years with higher capacity models, and use those older ones for secondary backups for 2 to 3 more years.
I've had my MBP for 24months now and just fitted a SSD swapping out my CD drive for the optibay and moved the original 500gb drive into there to store my downloads, photos and music.
I love it to bits. It is used probably 10hours a day 7 days a week and goes from update to update without a reboot or crash. I never turn it off just shut the lid and send it to sleep.
It plays games well too, but I only really play WoW and Diablo 3
I love it to bits. It is used probably 10hours a day 7 days a week and goes from update to update without a reboot or crash. I never turn it off just shut the lid and send it to sleep.
It plays games well too, but I only really play WoW and Diablo 3
DO you bring it from place to place ( eg. home to office, home to school)? or does it just sit on one place? cuz im worried that taking it around may break it.
I take my MacBook to a lot of places, travelling overseas, around the house and to university and it's held up fine. My very old notebook and my Sony VAIO both had failing hard drives (both had Seagate HDDs when I went to replace them) but my MacBook came with a Fujitsu drive and it's held up well. Especially the exterior, the unibody hold up really well as the metal doesn't erode like a plastic exterior you might find on other machines.
I've got one, and I can't wish for a better computer.
It fits me perfectly, and I haven't experienced any type of problems with it, I absolutely love it.
I would say it's one of the most reliable laptops out there. You don't get any problems with software etc., since Apple is making fx the OS themselves.
It fits me perfectly, and I haven't experienced any type of problems with it, I absolutely love it.
I would say it's one of the most reliable laptops out there. You don't get any problems with software etc., since Apple is making fx the OS themselves.
My last MBP was the first Intel model. It was absolutely problem-free for more than 6 years. It was used, moved, carried, connected to many devices (wired and wireless), loaded with a ton of data and programs, and never gave me any problems.
Apple's Applecare is probably the best warranty/support program I've ever seen. I've purchased it with every Mac (new and refurb) I've had.
Good luck with your decision.
Apple's Applecare is probably the best warranty/support program I've ever seen. I've purchased it with every Mac (new and refurb) I've had.
Good luck with your decision.
Time machine backing up to a separate drive makes recovering from a drive failure very painless. If you want to get away from magnetic drives altogether, an SSD gives better performance and opens your apps instantly.
They are the most reliable laptop you can buy, imo. I've never had an issue with mine that I've had for over 6 months, compared to my previous HP Envy where I had a hard drive failure, keyboard failure, and trackpad failure, all within the first 6 months. OSX is like an ecosystem because everything is just seamless.
Downside (stoopid design omission)
Downside...
These are 2 things that really get me.
KEYS. The MBP does not have a 'forward delete' key or a 'page up', 'page down' keys. To do this you need to use a combination of 2 keys, which really breaks up your rhythm and momentum. Really, especially if you use it for loads of writing, note taking, and moving around your document.
USB sockets. These are too close to each other so you can only use one at a time.
SCREEN. I got a matt screen. Worth it to avoid glare and reflection, but check it out because that's extra money.
Downside...
These are 2 things that really get me.
KEYS. The MBP does not have a 'forward delete' key or a 'page up', 'page down' keys. To do this you need to use a combination of 2 keys, which really breaks up your rhythm and momentum. Really, especially if you use it for loads of writing, note taking, and moving around your document.
USB sockets. These are too close to each other so you can only use one at a time.
SCREEN. I got a matt screen. Worth it to avoid glare and reflection, but check it out because that's extra money.
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