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How long do you get out of a apple notebook these days?

MatLane

MatLane

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Sep 30, 2008
549
25
England, United Kingdom
I know it might be a stupid thing to ask


But just wondering


seens as im going to be paying such a price for it.:rolleyes:

Whats the most you guys have got out of one? or how long do you think?



Sorry in advance if this is pointless.


Cheers

ML
 
You'll be running strong all the way. Some people here are actually still on G3 iBooks, or maybe G4s. 4 years is a safe bet though.
 
Pro users - 3 years
Consumer users - 5 years
Get-every-penny-out-of-it users - 10 years or until it dies.

Hard drives usually fail in 3-6 years though.
 
As long as it doesnt break down, it will last as long as the care you put into it in terms of how long it physically lasts. In terms of how long it will serve your requirements, depends on your computing needs. But consider this, with a mac today, you'll *prob* be very happy using it 3 years down the line compared with a simliar mac bought 3 years earlier.
 
Providing you don't overuse your enter key, well over a few years. I've had mine 4+ years and it's still going strong.
 
I got 3 years out of my 12 inch PB G4. At the end of the 3 year period apple replaced the computer for a track pad issue that was persistant and repaired 3 times. They ended up replacing with a new MBP which I traded up for a 24in iMac.

I just purchased a new Al MacBook for my gf and I. I hope these will last us a minimum of 3 years.

I think 3 years is a good time frame. I justify this by the length of the applecare warranty.
 
I've owned my MacBook for a little over 2 years and it still runs as smooth as the day that I purchased it. I imagine it can still go for a few more years.
 
Get-every-penny-out-of-it users - 10 years or until it dies.
Click to expand...
I like this though, but I'm not planning to keep my MBP till 10 years+

I prefer WD hard disk, I have a WD hard disk that lasted for 10 years+, sadly Maxtor and Seagate cannot match up to that longevity, after 4 years+ my Maxtor and Seagate hard disk start acting up and in the end it died.

WD all the wayyy:D
 
Judging by the quality of the computer, the technology involved, and the nature of use, most users would probably expect to get a good three to five years out of a computer. Of course, there are those who seek to change their computers with every upgrade, but I don't believe such people form the majority of users. Personally, I have averaged four, with the computers I have owned to date, which were Windows until earlier this year, when I switched to Apple.

Cheers
 
I've been using my first gen Macbook Pro(1,1) for 2.5 years now and have had very few issues.

It's survived several falls to the ground, both onto tile and carpet, from lap height, to kitchen table height. It's only suffered bumps and bruises and still running very strong. My only complaint is my 100GB HD(which I'll be replacing with a 320GB one soon), and my limit of 2GB of RAM. And the only time that bothers me is when I'm running Firefox, Adium, iTunes, and Photoshop at the same time, or running a virtual machine in VMWare.

I imagine I'll keep it until I'm out of college at the very least, but probably longer than that. The longevity of Apple product is amazing, my girlfriend runs a G3 clamshell all maxed out with no issues, and I've also got a Powermac G4 that I use regularly as well, and those are both coming up on being 10 years old.
 
I've been replacing mine (on average) every three years. Not because they stop working, but I just need more speed and features. My 9-year-old PBG3 Lombard still works (including the 4GB HDD and 20x CD-ROM) and occasionally I fire it up to surf the net. The screen is dimmer and the hinge has more play than it used to have, but it's still a useful laptop.
 
ozziegn said:
I like your sig. The Voyage Home was one of their best movies. that and The Undiscovered Country.
Click to expand...

Haha indeed! It was always my favourite one. I just hope the new one can compare although after seeing some of the recent screen grabs, it was looking a bit too comic book for my liking. :(

Tallest Skil said:
Tell that to the 160MB HDD in my LC 575, purchased in 1994.

They don't fail that quickly.
Click to expand...

The older hard drives lasted a lot longer. These days they don't last as long, they're much more delicate and far far more compact. I've noticed this since hard drives got larger than about 10-20gb. Obviously some drives last longer than others but I've had drives fail in under a year. They usually come with great warranties these days, I've had to replace loads of hard drives under warranty - it doesn't bring your data back though.
 
Ironically enough, the hard drive in my 12" Powerbook G4 1.33 started conking out the day after I brought my new Macbook Pro home. Sucks because the Powerbook is our kitchen surfing machine these days.
 
My Dad just retired his cube that he bought about ten years ago and replaced it with a mini. He made some upgrades to the cube throughout the years and worked very well for him the whole time.
 
I've averaged about 2 years per notebook. I purchased an iBook G4 in 2004, which died in 2006. Replaced that with a BlackBook, also in '06, which died in '08 and was replaced by Apple with the new MBP (I only had to pay the price difference).
 
My MBP is 2.5 years old and I may keep it for another year or so until the Core i7 processors come to notebooks. The performance delta between the new MBP's and my old one isn't enough for me to spend the amount of cash needed for a new one. I made the mistake of getting the 1st Gen MBP and don't have Firewire 800, so I'm waiting another year just in case any new features creep in.

I do LOVE the new MBP and MB, they look and feel amazing. It will be interesting to see what Snow Leopard will do for these machines coupled with the new Core i7 processors.
 
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