How is the iMac reliability compared to Macbooks

[TraptedMind]

I have had bad luck with Macbooks, Between the 13 inch and 16 inch. The 13 inch had multiple logic board replacements. I finally gave up and got a refund from apple after weeks of talking to them on the phone. I decided to try the 16 inch because I was under the impression it fixed a lot of Macbook issues. With the unit i got, i have had kernel panics, touch bar freezing, speaker popping and with bootcamp the 16 inch runs hot and battery lasts 2 hours at most. I am more than likely going to return this before the 14 days.
Does the iMac have its own set of issues or is it a more durable machine? If i got one, i would get the 27 inch version.

 

[tillsbury]

You've had bad luck, and anyone else's experience is similarly only going to be one anecdote, but generally laptops are more susceptible to problems purely because of their lifestyle.

And, of course, imacs have separate keyboards and mice so problems with the physically moving components are easy to swap out if they happen.

My 2014 retina imac has been excellent since the day it came out. I've maybe had to reboot it half a dozen times because of weird things happening.

 

[kazmac]

My last two iMacs have lasted at least 4-6 years without issues. I’ve owned this 2013 27” for five years, and lately it has had intermittent port problems (sometimes the usb-a ports work, sometimes they don’t).

Sure, it’s slow, but unlike the PCs I tried for working from home, the iMac works fine with my job’s software. If Apple Silicon wasn’t around the corner, I would have purchased the 2020 high end base 27”.

There are plenty of folks who have no issues with any MacBooks, or do have issues with iMacs.

My next Mac will be an AS machine, probably the smaller iMac.

 

[glenthompson]

As Tillsbury said, laptops generally get exposed to more hazards due to their use case. Any hardware can break. I have 2011 iMac and MBP. Both still working well. Both have had upgrades, memory and SSD. iMac SuperDrive is dead, MBP SuperDrive works fine. MBP had to have the GPU replaced, iMac GPU is fine. Which is more reliable? Both have been good machines.

 

[BATman.Berlin]

I am running on Mac‘s since 1999 and never had any issues with either iMacs or MacBooks. Even better, after my macbooks end their lifecycle with me, my kids are running them even further. That’s when they usually start to break. I mean literally break. That’s why I kept buying Macs over the years, because I know they will serve my family for at least 7 years.
Re: kernel panics and touchpad freezes, I experienced some of these phenomena sometimes, but they were all related to some crappy software I was running (#Microsoft Office 2013 etc).
I never experienced any hardware failing except what my kids do to their macs.

 

[Fishrrman]

My opinion only:
iMacs are "better than" MacBook Pros in terms of reliability, but still have their problems.

The "best" Mac in the "reliability category" seems to be the Mini.
There's something to be said about "keeping the display separate"...

 

[Apple_Robert]

I have had both and haven’t had a problem with iMac or MacBook Pros. The iMac is rock solid.

 

[pldelisle]

First Mac was 2012 Retina MBP15. LG screwed up the firsts retina display batches (staingate). Got a replacement with a Samsung display. The guy to who I sold it still run it.
Second was a Late-2013. Hah a Logic bord replacement because I « semi-intentionally » fried the GPU while doing heavy computation. This laptop is still my daily driver and works as fast as a opened the box in late 2013.

My friend working at Apple says the main failure in iMac was the fusion drive. It was still the only mechanical part in the iMac. Now it’s past.
I think you had either bad luck or a software issue.

Rule of thumb: don’t buy a MacBook Pro if it will be used as a desktop. The battery will wear out far more rapidly. I didthe experience and my battery is swelling after only 500 cycles. Don’t do that. If you want a desktop, buy iMac. If youplan to be mobile, buy MBP.