MacBooks Top Consumer Reports Survey in Reliability and Customer Satisfaction

Popeye206 said:
Good stats to see and based on a 58K user survey too.
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58,000 is a pretty small sample size. And we don't know what questions were asked. If it's anything like their car reliability surveys, I'd take the results with a grain of salt. A confusing or hard to use entertainment system interface has nothing to do with a car's reliability, yet CR lumps them together.

Wish CR showed the questions that were asked. Their article provided not much more info than the chart I posted above.
 
Popeye206 said:
Good stats to see and based on a 58K user survey too. I'm sure Apple stock will plummet now! :D
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As a very long term dedicated Apple customer and volume shareholder, I'd be remiss if I failed to comment on the somewhat dodgy stock performance of the last eighteen months. While merely mentioning this may attract the juvenile "Apple is Doomed" refrain from the peanut gallery, I do believe that the road ahead is paved with more Tarmac than Gold.
 
soupcan said:
How can you be satisfied about a computer that overheats like a madman when doing anything remotely CPU heavy with a 480p camera and just one connector?

If you compare it to other ultra portable machines, sure, aluminium beats plastic, but as a product on it's own it's a long way from being any good.
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Sounds like it might be dust.
 
NissanGuy23 said:
My 2010 MBP is still going strong and i use it every day. Cheaper PC laptops seem to have a one or two year lifespan and need to be replaced frequently. So much for saving money..
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Yup after going through two brand new plastic windows laptops in 4yrs I bought a used music studio 2010 MacBook Pro off craigslist literally three years ago and it's still going strong without a hiccup. I just did a 5hr Dj set running serato without a single glitch. Would have never even dreamed of doing that on a windows machine, not with confidence anyway.
 
So, people who spend 3x as much for a niche product they know they want end up happier than the "let´s just grab this one, it will probably work. At least its cheap"-crowd..

Did not se that one coming, said no one ever :)
 
soupcan said:
How can you be satisfied about a computer that overheats like a madman when doing anything remotely CPU heavy with a 480p camera and just one connector?

If you compare it to other ultra portable machines, sure, aluminium beats plastic, but as a product on it's own it's a long way from being any good.
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"Just one connector" - makes me think this product isn't for you. Doesn't make it a bad product, though.
 
sw1tcher said:
58,000 is a pretty small sample size. And we don't know what questions were asked. If it's anything like their car reliability surveys, I'd take the results with a grain of salt. A confusing or hard to use entertainment system interface has nothing to do with a car's reliability, yet CR lumps them together.
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Actually you are wrong.

The car surveys break things down into engine, body, interior, etc. And their surveys are the "gold standard" and track other surveys.

PS: I'm not a subscriber to CR.
 
I'll keep my reliable and upgradeable 2012 MBP (best of both worlds; the pinnacle of the MacBook, IMHO) over a Windows box any day of the week. In fact, I just had no hesitation acquiring a late-2008 MacBook off ebay to replace my wife's recently liquid-fried 2014 MBA based on my experience with that same model (since sold to a friend and still kicking) prior to getting my 2012.

I don't have a greatest opinion on the post-2013 models due to the heightened risk I perceive due to all the soldering, though I don't have any reason to believe they are any more likely to fail. That said, the 2008-2012 models are absolute rocks to be relied upon.

Software, on the other hand, tells a sorry story of decline. I really wish they'd button that up - really losing ground to Windows and that's completely unacceptable for anybody, much less a company of the supposed esteem of AAPL.
 
The main board on my 2010 15" MBP failed this past summer, but I still don't have any complaints. I use this machine all the time, and the repair only cost $300. I still like it better than the 2015 MBA I have to use at work.
 
soupcan said:
How can you be satisfied about a computer that overheats like a madman when doing anything remotely CPU heavy with a 480p camera and just one connector?

If you compare it to other ultra portable machines, sure, aluminium beats plastic, but as a product on it's own it's a long way from being any good.
Click to expand...

If you bought it to Skype people.....you would be disappointed . I've never used it to Skype.

Also, every MacBook Pro I've owned has hit about 100 degrees Celsius when doing CPU intensive work, how is this MacBook any different. It's not even black screening like previous MacBook pros...it's a solid performer.

it's a lovely machine if you can accept the compromises of such a compact design.

Though this story is about all MacBooks , not the 12". The one in the picture is an Air
 
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This is great stuff, now the only thing missing is for Apple to make their computer hardware and software less terrible for gaming. Then I won't have to consider getting a Windows PC ever again.
 
soupcan said:
How can you be satisfied about a computer that overheats like a madman when doing anything remotely CPU heavy with a 480p camera and just one connector?

If you compare it to other ultra portable machines, sure, aluminium beats plastic, but as a product on it's own it's a long way from being any good.
Click to expand...

I kinda agree and disagree. The 2015 MacBook isn't geared towards professional users, the whole idea was to have an ultra portable notebook that can still deliver the experience of OS X without too many sacrifices. Equipped with Intel Core M and using a fan-less passive cooling thermal design, of course the MacBook will perform terrible on anything more than browsing the web and taking notes. However, I agree that putting a 480p webcam in such a premium notebook feel silly.
 
Apple hardware has always been of very good quality.

Quick story time:

In the early 90's I took a job in a high-tech medical device manufacturer. I insisted on being given a Mac (Mac II of some flavor) and I got the whole package - Apple Monitor, CPU and so on.

Everyone else at the company used Gateway "workstations." I mean everyone else. I caught a lot of flak for that.

Then one day, I was in my office when a brownout happened. The lights dimmed, I heard a few cuss words, and I went back to working. Over the next few minutes I could hear a lot of people getting up and walking away from their offices and desks. I kept working for a while, then one of the partners stuck his head in my office and said "well, see you tomorrow!"

I had no idea of what he was talking about, and he explained that since all of the computers were down and the power wasn't going to be fixed quickly, that we could all go home.

I said "My computer is working great, what are you talking about?"

Turns out every single PC was down, hard. My Mac II didn't even blink.

The partner had a lot of people come look at my Mac and say "Our gear needs to be this robust."

Now, using Macs for anything other than DTP in those days was hard to do, so he wasn't referring to having Macs replace PCs, but more that our medical gear that we designed & manufactured needed to be as robust as the Mac.
 
convergent said:
Clearly this is more evidence that Apple is evil and totally controls and manipulates western media with propaganda.

(sorry... been in the forums too much lately) :eek:
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You forgot to ask about the Mac Mini and complain about the 5400 rpm HD and the 16GB iPhone!

AppleCare is a must for new purchases, however what is more important is what happens AFTER AC is over.

I am on 2008 MBP 17" (sniff) bought used on ebay which I kept upgrading.
Still runs great, takes all OSX versions in stride and when the motherboard croaked, it got fixed for about $ 350 or so several years ago.

Also bought a 2014 15" MBP Retina on ebay and it is beautiful.

All in all these are the best notebooks, except I would still like to be able to tinker, which would extend its life and functionality considerably for many years.
 
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soupcan said:
How can you be satisfied about a computer that overheats like a madman when doing anything remotely CPU heavy with a 480p camera and just one connector?

If you compare it to other ultra portable machines, sure, aluminium beats plastic, but as a product on it's own it's a long way from being any good.
Click to expand...

First of all, I think the ratings are about the entire MacBook lineup. Not just the new MacBook. Second, I assume you own one of the new MacBooks and are speaking from experience. Third, I believe the point of the MacBook was to be for fairly casual users who want small and light. If you are doing processor intensive applications, etc. you really need to consider a MBP.
 
sw1tcher said:
58,000 is a pretty small sample size. And we don't know what questions were asked. If it's anything like their car reliability surveys, I'd take the results with a grain of salt. A confusing or hard to use entertainment system interface has nothing to do with a car's reliability, yet CR lumps them together.

Wish CR showed the questions that were asked. Their article provided not much more info than the chart I posted above.
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As someone who has been involved with marketing and surveys for a long time.... 58K responses is going to show the trend pretty easily. Obviously the questions would be good to see, but you can assume everyone answered the same questions no matter what platform or manufacture they were using. Not that I agree with all surveys, but I'm guessing this one is pretty sound.
 
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