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Sixthdeclension

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jul 11, 2010
9
0
I was thinking of getting one for college, but I'll just be using it for writing papers, surfing the internet, and a few other things. I've been a PC user all my life, and I'm wondering if I should bother to spend the extra money onthe MacBook Pro.
 
It should definitely get you through college, OSX is much (I mean MUCH) more durable and long lasting that windows, if your worried about hardware failure just get Apple Care.
 
I'm writing this on my PowerBook G4, which is creeping up on six years old. For all but the last few months of that time it has been my only computer, traveling all over the world with me, frequently in rough conditions. I'm now getting set to get a new laptop but, rest assured, if you treat your MBP decently and you'll find it to be a great machine that delivers for years.
 
They can last for years, but I've never kept one longer than 2 years. I know plenty of people with 5+ year old MacBook/PowerBook/iBooks though.
 
If you take care of it, it will last you until you want a new one. There are still plenty of them out there that are 5+ years old.
 
My first Mac laptop (a G4 titanium) lasted 8 years and it was still going when I sold it for $250 last year.
 
I have two iMacs that are now going on 4 years and are perfectly fine. I upgraded the RAM on one and it runs nearly as well on everyday tasks as my 1 year old MBP. The other, which still is on 1gb of RAM is feeling a bit sluggish when running multiple applications but nothing so intolerable that it needs to be replaced. I'll probably upgrade the RAM in a year or so if it is going to be used continuously. Other than some minor problems with one of them in its first year (which were fixed under warranty), I have had no quality issues whatsoever. They both started on Tiger and now run the latest version of Snow Leopard and iLife 09 like champs.

That's a lot more than I can say for my 3 or 4 Dell desktops. I had a supposedly "business quality" Optiplex about 7 or 8 years back that within 6 months of normal word processing, music listening, and internet browsing had become so slow that it was barely usable. It went in for about 6 fixes before I gave up on that machine and got some newer computers. All of the newer PCs felt slow after a few months and had quality issues.

So, from a PC to Mac convert from a few years back, get a Mac! You definitely won't regret it after the month or so of getting used to the differences and quirks of OS X. And my 13" MBP is built like a tank...1 year of hard use at school and at home and only 1 small scratch on the bottom.
 
spend the extra money, for you won't regret it.

i bought my first mac almost a month ago and i can't say nothing bad about it. my mid 2010 base model macbook pro is quick/responsive and smooth/sleek look.

go for it
 
I'm on my first mac (a macbook) for about 10 months now. So far it's running a little bit slower than when i first purchased it, but nothing unnormal.

My previous laptop lasted 6 years before I gave it to a friend (it's still running) and my desktop lasted 8 years before it got too slow. The hard disk was going bad but there was not much point of spending the money to buy a new one.
 
It's worth pointing out that beyond the hardware, which really should last for 5+ years, Apple has been quite good about making new OSX versions run on older hardware. Unlike various iterations of Windows, which won't run on older computers, older Macs tend to be able to run recent versions.

Of course, Snow Leopard cuts off g4s, but still. I'm typing this on a 7 year old 12'' Powerbook g4, which is running Leopard pretty well. Try that on Windows.

Which means that even as your computer ages, you'll be able to keep up with the OS.
 
Although there are a lot of people here who are suggesting you'll get 5+ years out of a new MBP, just keep in mind the hardware failures can be very unpredictable. That said, I rarely buy AppleCare because my computers always outlive the AppleCare period of coverage.

My Macs seem to be split up into two categories. Ones that just keep on going no matter what and ones that hit a hardware failure 4 to 5 years after I got it. The machine doesn't implode, but something in it burns out and since I plan upgrades around every 4 years anyway, it's not worth it for me to buy the parts to repair whatever burned out.

PowerMax.com also has a great trade in program that makes the decision to upgrade a lot easier to make. If it's not busted, my 4 year old trade-in usually covers between 20% to 30% of the upgrade cost.
 
I have been using my G4 17" PowerBook with 128 mb video ram for over 6 years, I use it daily for browsing and mail. I have Leopard and am on my third hard drive and I also replaced the memory, it wore out!

This Apple was well built and is still a pleasure to use.
 
I've had my MacBook Pro for just over 4 years so far, and it's still running smoothly. I foresee many more years of use from this machine. Runs like a champ! Get a MBP, you won't regret it!
 
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