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How often do you upgrade your iMac/MacBook/iPad/iPhone?

S

Star Nuts

macrumors member
Original poster
Jun 24, 2012
84
0
I bought my first iMac in 2008 and am about to upgrade for the first time. Well, hopefully. Not sure what's taking so long for the next iMac to be released. I'm guessing I'll be upgrading every 4-5 years.

I usually upgrade my iPhone every 2 years.

I'm thinking I'll do the same with my iPad. I purchased the iPad 1 about 6 months after it came out and bought a used Ipad 2 when the 3 came out. I'm not sure if I'll keep buying the previous model every two years though. I may take the plunge for the 4 if it seems worth it then get back on the 2 year schedule.
 
My trend seems to be every two years or so...

iPhone: Started with 3G and upgraded to the 4 and will upgrade to new iPhone in fall.

iPad: Started with iPad 3, but if the rumours are true about the mini, might sale the 3 and go with it, otherwise the iPad 5 will be next upgrade.

Mac: Currently have a MacBook Pro 13" from 2010 and will be upgrading this year to the iMac. Was going with the Retnia, but I think I'll pass for now and I really don't need the portability anymore.
 
My Apple purchasing policy is generally buy-skip-buy. For example, iPhone: bought original iPhone, skipped iPhone 3G, bought iPhone 3GS, skipped iPhone 4, bought iPhone 4S. Same with iPad: bought original, skipped iPad 2, bought the new iPad.

iMac is different. I only buy on death or when my iMac is no longer supported by OS and applications. My 2006 iMac has been on death row since Lion was released.
 
Mine seems to be every 2 years for my main / workers machine ( currently a maxed out iMac july 2011) and every 3- 4 years for my laptops. This isn't really planned, it just seems to work out that way. My next upgrade will hopefully be a new Mac Pro when the new range is finally revealed. I guess my MBA is a luxury, so doesn't really count. As for upgrading my current 17" MBP? Well that's going to be a toughie...It's only 8 months old, so fine for now, but the rMBP just isn't for me, as technologically advanced as it is...I need real-estate.
 
iMac and laptop, about every three years. (Someone else gets the old one each time.) iPhone, every second release, though I may get the iPhone 5 this fall even though I have a 4S. I still have my iPad 1 and won't upgrade it because I use a MBA in its place most of the time.
 
Depends... laptops around 3-4 years but i might keep this one for longer... and ipad this is my first so idk yet,
 
As much as I love macs the time when my machine starts to show it's age really dissapoints me. The fact that I can't just get a new graphics card every year or two instead of having to spend $2000+ every 2 years when it should be no more than a quarter of that if I were to make frequent 'upgrades'.

I use the term upgrade in the sense that you take an item/object you already have and make adjustments to it to make it better not completely replace it, hence the reason I'm building a mighty custom build with my own choice of beautiful case and extras:) I might run mac as a virtual as it is still great for productivity.

As for Apple's OS X the recent itterations of it haven't been very exciting the only update I was ever genuinely excited about was Leopard as it was a real change of scenery......oh the good old days.

My imac (24" 2008) is getting old, can't handle much and I can't even play today's games on the bear minimum of settings:( It's hard drive is only 640GB and the dual core just isn't cutting it, I probably would have gone straight ahead and blindly fallen into Apple's hands again and purchased the new iMac if it had released when it was expected to. I couldn't wait and searched for alternatives then heard about cutom PCs and thought hey! why not?

I'm also curious if anyone has an SSD installed in either their iMac or Macbook would you be able to tell me your boot time? I'm thinking it might be worth putting one in my iMac(2008) to speed it up if it works as good as I hope.
 
I tend to adopt the following life cycles:

Phone - 2 years (although will update 4S to 5 this year as girlfriend still has a 3GS!)
Laptop - 3 years
Computer - 5 years (with a mid-cycle hardware upgrade i.e. RAM/SSD/etc.)

I have an iPad2 but have no plans to update as I'm struggling to find a genuine use for it :D
 
iMac: 3-4 years
iPhone: next model released after 18 mo upgrade eligibility
iPad: haven't yet. considering a 2 year or 3 year cycle.
 
iMac - I've got the late 2009 model, and have been waiting for the 2012 models to release to update it (3 years)

iPhone - I've got a 3GS, and I'm upgrading this fall when the 5 (or whatever it's called) comes out (3 years)

MacBook Pro - Just bought my first one, replaced my crap-tastic Netbook I bought in 2009 (3 years)

So, my upgrade cycle is about 1000 days . . .
 
iPhone & iPad - buy-skip-buy. Roughly a new one every two years.
Macs - no later than the end of Applecare. Roughly every 2 1/2 - 3 years. Currently waiting for the iMac redesign/refresh and to see if there is a retina 13" MBP this year. I will pick a rMBP ins tread of a MBA.
 
Rlnplehshalo said:
I'm also curious if anyone has an SSD installed in either their iMac or Macbook would you be able to tell me your boot time? I'm thinking it might be worth putting one in my iMac(2008) to speed it up if it works as good as I hope.
Click to expand...

Installed 256GB Crucial M4 into early 2008 MacBook Pro 15". Boot time about 20 sec. I have a bunch of startup items and they launch like lightning as do apps. It's beyond worth it. I am capped at 6GB RAM, needed more until now. With SSD, I can quit apps & relaunch so fast that RAM is no longer a constraint. Also, I needed Snow Leopard for one old app, so I have a second partition for that, can boot back and forth in under a minute. And it's almost as quiet as an iPad now.

On the upgrade cycle, similar to others, iPhone every 2, Mac every 3 while passing the old Mac to a family member, iPad 2 still feels great, so hard to know when that will be replaced. Despite being an early adopter, first Mac in '84 and first iPhone early days, we waited for iPad 2. In holding pattern now waiting for iMac 2012.
 
iPhone: every 2nd generation, I'm on the 4s now...not sure if I'll keep the iPhone after the 4s since the iPad has cannibalized a lot beyond phone calls.

iPad: I went iPad2 to new iPad and I'm glad I did. That said, I will definitely hold onto this iPad until it is no longer supported I want at least 2 years out of it if not a little more.

iMac: I made the mistake of getting rid of my 2007 iMac for a 2010 model. I could have gone until at least this year. I know this is my last iMac and while the ram upgrade situation is moot for me particularly, I'll try to hang on as long as I can. I don't like buying a new Apple machine every 3-3.8 years but it's been the pattern.

I hope I can hold out until 2014 on upgrading everything...
 
I usually upgrade every 2nd gen of iphones. I figured from now on I get bored of having one phone for 2 years...so Ill start upgrade every year :D

ipads - ill stick to every 2nd gen - its mostly my kids that use them.

macbooks, for me laptops are only used for keeping the iphoto library with me and have a more useable computer than a ipad with me when needed, so I´ll probably keep my macbook air mid 2011 for at least a couple more years. So laptops every 3rd year.

imac - I have a early 2009. so 3.5 years...thats way to long, I´ll never wait this long again. Once I can buy the 2012 model I´ll probably keep it for 2 years and then sell it - to make sure I get some money back before its worthless, and also so that I can have a more up to date machine at all times....This is the machine I really need to have with top of the line hardware.

pads and phones I will only update frequently because its fun with new toys, not because I need it. Laptops I don´t look upon as toys, and since I prefer desktops those are only as a secondary necessity and to keep my wife off the imac.
 
I upgrade my iMac every five years, and my iPhone every two years. Once I become an iPad owner, that'll probably be every two/three years.
 
iPhone- every gen
iPad- every other version (original to iPad 3)
iMac- when it dies, or stops getting OS upgrades, hopefully a while for my late 2009, fingers crossed :)
 
iPhone: Every other gen. I bought the 3G, 4, and will get the 5 when it comes out.
Mac: About 4 years. Longer if the system isn't too sluggish trying to run a new app/OS. My late 2008 Macbook Pro with a Core 2 Duo is showing its age. A quad Core i5 or i7 iMac will seem blazing fast.
 
Apple Mac - I've had a number of Mac's over the years, alternating between new and used depending on what I could afford at the time. Bought my first new one in the mid 90s, the next one was used. In 2000 got a G4 new, cost be over $3k at the time. In 2008 I got a used G5 on eBay for just over $1000, a bargain compared to the new price. Now I'm looking at getting my first iMac this time the brand new (updated) model when Apple gets around to updating it. I've also had several used laptops but never really made good use of them.

iPhone - bought my first and current 3Gs over 2.5 years ago, waiting on the next one at the end of the year so this one will be 3 years old by then.

iPod - bought a classic 80Gb when it first came out about 4-5 years ago, still got it though I don't use it much. Wish Apple should make a hybrid using the HDD of the classic and add a touch screen, yes it would be thicker than the current touch but could have up to 160Gb of music!
 
iMac: 4-5 years or when the memory speed doubles, whichever comes first
iPhone: 3-4 years
Macbook: same as iMac
iPad: Same as iPhone
 
I upgrade my Mac every 4 years, my iPad and my iPhone every 2. I am a UI designer, so I need to stay updated with mobile devices.
 
I'm still on my first MacBook: 2009 13" MacBook Pro. Just hit 3 years but hoping for 5. The longevity of apple products is one of the reasons I love them.

Also on my first iPhone: iPhone 4 but it's gonna be really tempting when the 5 comes out. We'll see.
 
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