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MacBook update to be released soon?

Thanks to everybody for your answers. Reading all the answers it sounds to me like the MacBook is not so reliable. I'm wrong?

I've a DELL Latitute D620 and of course DELL it's not well known for producing quality laptops ... but after three years of intensive use ... it's always healthy.
It sounds from this thread that an expensive laptop like the MacBook is a scrap metal after 3 years ... so it's better to buy a desktop like iMac.

Can someone shed some lights? I don't want to buy Apple Care, it sounds too much expensive to me.

thanks to everybody
 
It's all a matter of perspective. Mac users pay a premium for our machines, and we expect a premium of a product.

I'm using a four year old g4 12" powerbook for surfing, etc., around the house, and it is solid and reliable. I expect it to be perfectly usable for my humble needs for another 2-3 years minimum. I bought it used for $400, so my expectations are reasonable.

In my opinion, it would be penny wise and pound foolish to not buy the applecare. Buy it from ebay or a school for a discount. Mac portables are notoriously hard to work on, and extremely expensive to have repaired out of warranty. Let's say a logic board goes out 2 1/2 years from now not due to any abuse or maltreatment. With applecare, you either get an identical model out of the box if they have them, or a new equivalent of the same thing if they don't. Without applecare, you could be looking at spending more on the repair than what the machine is actually worth. You also get phone support for the machine or the i whatever software it came with for three years instead of the 60-90 days.
 
clyde2801 said:
It's all a matter of perspective. Mac users pay a premium for our machines, and we expect a premium of a product.

In my opinion, it would be penny wise and pound foolish to not buy the applecare. Buy it from ebay or a school for a discount.
Click to expand...

I understand what you're saying, though I disagree. The circa 25% premium you're paying for Applecare, were you to buy it with each computer you purchased could only be recouped in the most horrible of circumstances.

Apple offer it because they make a lot of money off it. They make this money because the majority of us will never claim, or claim to a value less than the price we paid for the Applecare. Put it this way; you'll not see many good poker players buying Applecare, lol. :)
 
So the final suggestion is: it's better to buy Apple Care for a laptop and it's not worthy for an iMac?
 
frittino said:
So the final suggestion is: it's better to buy Apple Care for a laptop and it's not worthy for an iMac?
Click to expand...

An iMac is a laptop in every way except the HDD. So all of the internal parts are expensive and not simple to change. Applecare for the iMac is very cheap on ebay (less than $80).
 
brop52 said:
An iMac is a laptop in every way except the HDD. So all of the internal parts are expensive and not simple to change. Applecare for the iMac is very cheap on ebay (less than $80).
Click to expand...

I'd call an iMac far more durable than a laptop. The keyboard and mouse are easily and cheaply replaceable, the ports don't have cables plugged in and unplugged as often, it has no hinges, it's transported and bumped around less than a laptop, it has a stiffer assembly and bigger fans as weight isn't a critical factor.

And the LCD, ports, and mobo assembly are in the air, out of the way of spilled drinks, food crumbs etc.

I see plenty of 5 - 7 year old iMacs still going strong.
 
no major revision will be made to the current macbook family. they were only released q4 last year. maybe a processor upgrade and they will ship with snow leopard. nothing to loose sleep over if u did buy tomorrow and they revised on wednesday. not worth worrying about really. hardware wise anyway. snow leopard would be good to wait for though.
 
RedTomato said:
I'd call an iMac far more durable than a laptop. The keyboard and mouse are easily and cheaply replaceable, the ports don't have cables plugged in and unplugged as often, it has no hinges, it's transported and bumped around less than a laptop, it has a stiffer assembly and bigger fans as weight isn't a critical factor.

And the LCD, ports, and mobo assembly are in the air, out of the way of spilled drinks, food crumbs etc.

I see plenty of 5 - 7 year old iMacs still going strong.
Click to expand...

You are correct. That's why the AppleCare is cheaper on the iMac vs. the Macbook. It isn't as likely that something will go wrong but if something does then it is a very expensive repair. Plus even changing out the HDD that is destined to fail is not an easy thing to do vs. even the Macbooks.

As for old iMacs still going strong I know. I have my G3 iMac still functioning. It uses desktop parts and not laptop parts. Only problem is the CRT.
 
Re AppleCare what I can't understand is how you can buy it cheaply in eBay.

If a buy a brand new laptop I realize I can sell it through eBay after a couple of months but I can't figure out the meaning of selling extended warranty.
Is indeed the same service you buy through AppleStore?
 
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