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MacBooks Top Consumer Reports Survey in Reliability and Customer Satisfaction
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I often wonder which side of what space do Consumer Reports actually watch.....
We have Windows PC's at home and they both and my Mac have been going strong for bought in 2010 straight.... Dell inspiron 560s. upgraded memory, and nothing else in that time, nor repair work done at all.
U play rough with tech, u replace/repair it more. Not even withstanding systems used in businesses that last just as long.
As for customer satisfaction ? Well, this is an Apple forum
so u don't even need to ask.. The wind just sways in our favor.
We have Windows PC's at home and they both and my Mac have been going strong for bought in 2010 straight.... Dell inspiron 560s. upgraded memory, and nothing else in that time, nor repair work done at all.
U play rough with tech, u replace/repair it more. Not even withstanding systems used in businesses that last just as long.
As for customer satisfaction ? Well, this is an Apple forum
so u don't even need to ask.. The wind just sways in our favor.
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Good news for MacBook owners, I've seen here and elsewhere people complaining about the keyboard breaking down/failing. This survey more or less shows that issue is not widespread.
People seem to love (or hate) the MacBook, very polarizing, none the less, its a beautiful Mac and its good to see apple getting high marks as well.
People seem to love (or hate) the MacBook, very polarizing, none the less, its a beautiful Mac and its good to see apple getting high marks as well.
I bought core2duo back in 2009. I still use it. It was expensive, costs about $265 per year(so far). The battery inflated so had to be expensively replaced, the HDD failed, but it failed after I took it out and replaced it with a bigger HDD.
Otherwise I am impressed it still works given it works daily for few hours at least.
Also surprised Gateway still around,
Otherwise I am impressed it still works given it works daily for few hours at least.
Also surprised Gateway still around,
Not surprised - although it has to be mentioned that you pay a premium for Apple stuff so it SHOULD last a long time and be trouble-free. Thats how I feel about any premium product.
Its not really a 6 year warranty.
If the product breaks down to regular wear and tear, you're not covered.
If, say, a hard drive fails after 5 years, you wouldn't be covered.
It only covers things where you can demonstrate that the faulty part was caused by a fault or defect present when the product was new.
As far as I know at least.
I've had good experiences with Apple though - iMac got a new display after 2.5 years (not under Apple Care), and also problems with a MBP - had bought the last non unibody model, and got replaced with a new unibody model.
I think it's simpler than all this... I think it's about getting a killer title. That's how the MS did it with Xbox... the bought Bungie and made Halo and it was Halo that made the Xbox a hit. Apple has enough money that I'm sure they could buy their way in and get some killer games done with Metal. This is where I scratch my head and wonder why not... or for goodness sake, at least start cranking out family games for the new AppleTV.
But I'm getting off topic and back to the Mac... seems a little focus on making Macs more gaming friendly would be a good thing. In the 90's we loved playing Marathon... we even took our trade show machines and network once out to my house once and set up an 8 station network and had a marathon Marathon party... Back then, it was about $50K in equipment we needed to make that happen. Ah... the memories.
the survey isn't only about rMB.
It calls "MacBooks" all the Apple's notebook, including MBA, MBP and rMB.
Agreed, Dell is starting to sell higher end stuff to compete directly with apple and MS has its Surface line of computers. I will say that Apple's customer support is top notch. I've not had to deal with MS for any Surface Pro issues but so far that feels very solid.Not surprised - although it has to be mentioned that you pay a premium for Apple stuff so it SHOULD last a long time and be trouble-free. Thats how I feel about any premium product.
What's not to like? How about that unsorted short list for starters?
Less compatibility with management software for and equipment in data centers, sub-standard driver quality and compatibility with third party hardware, the need to install a virtualization solution like VMware Fusion, Parallels Desktop, Virtualbox or something else to run software that is needed for WORK that still does not have native support for OS X, non-standard keyboards that especially in non-US-English layouts absolutely SUCK for IT-related work, insufficient amount of extension ports, the complete lack of (official) docking stations for notebooks, OS X getting buggies - and NOT better - with every new release while every new release always breaks backwards compatibility with existing apps which then require costly updates to become compatible with the latest version of OS X, absolutely no same business day or even next-business-day on-site service or warranty, no server hard- or software that is data center ready (ok, not relevant when we talk about notebooks, but still a serious issue with Apple).
So, while I agree that the hardware build quality is nicer and better than the average build quality of an average Windows/Linux notebook, there's a huge trade-off for that in other areas.
But let's also be clear about one other thing here: Apple only builds systems that play in the BMW league if they were cars. There's no cheap low-end machine. But most of those PC-systems that were compared in that survey are cheap low-end machines - which, how absolutely unsurprisingly, break more often and produce less customer satisfaction. The next time, please compare only the same price segment with each other and then let's talk about this again. Comparing 3- and 5-series BMWs with a Fiat 500 is neither fair nor is it valid. Comparing a Dell XPS machine with a MacBook Pro is more adequate - but the mass of the machines out there that PC buyers use simply don't play in that league.
Actually Lenovo's ThinkPads and Dell XPSs were included in the survey and resulted they are much less reliable than any MacBook ....
Me. I'm a DBA and it's what I carry with me when I'm on call. I use VMWare Horizon client to connect to my work VM. I use VPN and terminal to work on our linux servers. I surf the web. I occasionally fire up photoshop or lightroom. I've never, not once, had the thing stutter or lag. It's slower, but not laggy. For reference, I also own a 2014 15" RMBP with 512GB/16GB.
As for ports, I use it every day. For charging. But I've never, not once, needed another port. When I print, I print to my wireless printer via AirPrint. When I move files between it and my phones or iMac, I use AirDrop. I use cloud drives like one drive, sky drive, icloud drive, etc. I email files. Everything is going wireless and/or into the cloud, so wired peripherals are going to slowly die off.
As for people who DO need to plug things in and do processor intensive stuff, this is a bad choice. Qualify your purchase and for those who this laptop suits, it's excellent. It's so small and thin that I can fit it into my leather portfolio. I don't even need a laptop bag. It just looks like I'm carrying around a portfolio full of paperwork. I imagine that makes me a lot less likely to get mugged versus carrying around a laptop bag.
I disagree. (I work in a datacenter, and have worked in an enterprise environment for quite some time and the points the guy above mentioned are stupid, IMHO)
Why would you mention visualization? OS X comes with boot camp utility built right in. Use it to dual boot windows NATIVELY. No virtualization or third party software needed. Boot into windows when you're at work for your windows-requiring software. Boot into OS X anywhere else. I don't see where the problem is. And for MOST of I.T., at least in a datacenter, you're doing everything command line via SSH so I don't see where your driver problems are coming from. I fire up VPN, open terminal, and SSH into our linux servers and fix what I need. If you really need CRT or Putty/Kitty, boot into windows or use parallels cohesion mode.
On top of that OS X has built in support for setting up VPN. I click the icon on the top bar, click which I want to connect to, click. Done. In windows you have to install third party apps to set up VPN in that manner.
That's also not to mention it's handy being able to two finger swipe between workspaces where you have iMessage for texting in one workspace, safari in another when you're logged into your product's support website, and another for terminal, and another for vmware. Being able to text my SA's about a problem without touching my phone is freakin' awesome.
So, while his one specific case might make macbooks a poor choice, don't think it means it's in every case. I work in a datacenter and half of our floor uses macbooks. They're excellent.
Duh ! Consumer reports finding now when everyone knows the Macbooks are the most reliable laptop out their. In last 5-8 years, windows laptops went down in build quality so bad that now there is no point to compare anyone of them against the industry standard Macbook. My one kids macbook is still working after 4 years and other kids Lenovo broke twice within a year. There is no comparison..
The double benefit here is Apple is 3 times less likely to fail, but more importantly if it DOES fail for some reason you can walk into an Apple Store and get it fixed without any hassles. Try that with a Windows computer, and god help you if its some problem that involves interaction with hardware/software where the vendors can point fingers. Apple gives you one neck to grip with a problem, and then rarely do they get remotely close to you wanting to grip a neck because you are walking out with your problem solved.
But things are advancing slower in desktop / laptop computers now. Things can be soldered when they don't need to be charged much.
10 years ago, the average installed RAM was growing rapidly as minimum requirements grew. Today, minimum requirements for laptops and desktops have barely moved in the past 5 years. For example, 4GB of RAM was pretty standard in 2010 and 4GB of RAM is still good enough in 2015 for casual users. 8GB and 16GB upgrades were available in 2010, and they are still the most you can get in Macbooks today. Similar things can be said of SSDs - with everything going into the cloud, 128GB, 256GB, and 512GB will likely remain the options for storage on laptops for a long time at this point.
Even with all soldered components, a Mac purchased today will last longer than ever.
Good points, but your forgetting the upfront ticket price. I have 16GB and 1Tb of SSD (2x500GB) in my 2012 cMBP. To buy that up front now would cost mega, and if I go cheaper smaller, but then my needs change - I'm screwed with soldered hardware.
I don't think Apple's intentions are entirely honourable here, and they don't need to be penny pinching they way they are. Short term gain to be followed by... well, not doom exactly, but they're on the wrong path.
Tim is too much of a numbers $$$ guy, to my mind anyway.
Apple make high end laptops. All the PC companies listed make crappy low end laptops as well as crappy high end. A couple make superior high end laptops.
Point is: I see better reliability and lower cost repair and ownership with Dell Latitude than with Apple MB*.
Point is: I see better reliability and lower cost repair and ownership with Dell Latitude than with Apple MB*.
A recent Consumer Reports survey shows that MacBooks continue to lead all notebooks in reliability and customer satisfaction, based on 58,000 subscribers who purchased laptops between 2010 and 2015.
ZDNet reports that almost 20% of the respondents experienced a breakdown in the first three years of using a notebook, but MacBooks had notably lower failure rates compared to various Windows-based notebooks from Acer, Lenovo, Samsung and other OEMs. MacBook Air had just a 7% estimated failure rate, while the MacBook Pro was slightly higher at 9%.The most reliable Windows-based notebooks in the survey were Gateway's NV (13% failure rate) and LT (14%); the Samsung ATIV Book (14%); Lenovo ThinkPads (15%); and the Dell XPS line (15%). HP's premium ENVY line was near the bottom, with a 20% failure rate, while Lenovo's Y Series had the highest failure rate at 23%.
When MacBooks do break, however, the survey found they are often more expensive to fix, which is why purchasing AppleCare is recommended. Apple provides 90 days of complimentary phone and online chat support that can be extended for a total of three years with an AppleCare Protection Plan for Macs at a cost of up to $349.
In terms of customer satisfaction, 71% of MacBook owners were "completely satisfied with system reliability," compared to "only 38% of Windows notebook owners."
The complete survey results are available at Consumer Reports for subscribers only.
Article Link: MacBooks Top Consumer Reports Survey in Reliability and Customer Satisfaction
I'm not forgetting the upfront cost. I agree the upfront cost is quite high, but it is mitigated by the fact the computer will last a long time.
If I were to buy a $1500 13" Macbook Pro today, I think it is reasonable to say it will last me at least 5 years, maybe more.
That Mac has a $25/month cost of ownership if it lasts 5 years. If a comparable PC cost $900, for example, then it needs to last me 3 years to match that $25/month cost of ownership. If it lasts less, and cheap PCs tend to not even remain adequate for 2 years, then it costs more.
That Mac has a $21/month cost of ownership if it lasts 6 years. If a comparable PC costs $900 again, then it would need to last me 3.6 years to match that cost of ownership. Again, not very likely for cheap PCs.
Those expectations aren't unrealistic. The Early/Mid 2011 Macbooks Pros and Airs, with the Sandy Bridge Intel CPUs, are still perfectly capable today almost 5 years later, and I expect they will remain pretty capable for at least a few more years. Indeed, my old 2011 13" Macbook Air which got me through law school and 2 bar exams is still the daily driver for my girlfriend, and it is as fast and capable today running OS X 10.11 as the day it was new.
That sounds like a drag. I had one iBook that kept having weird problems, but other than that, I've had about 7-8 Mac laptops over the last 15 years and have had relatively few hardware issues.
I had a Macbook battery get all deformed and weird on me (back when they had externally removable batteries, which I miss), but they replaced that. And I think another one had a known issue with the display cable dying after a while. I'm pretty certain that if I'd had a string of PCs over all this time, I'd have hit easily that many issues or worse -- plus the general misery of living with Windows day in and day out.
It's the upfront cost that's most annoying. It forces a longer "keep it factor" and makes it future unproof.
Stretching my MBP 17" into it's 8th year now. I doubt my recently bought 15" MBP will make it that long.
I can see that cloud users (as in younger consumers) don't have an issue with the currently unchangeable configurations, but old folks like me may want to keep ALL their stuff in one place. (On 1 mac)
Not to pile on the fandom love, but the findings are as expected. For me, it's hard to look at anything other than Workstation class PC, as anything else is really nice, but certainly not going to last as long. Every since I've switched over to more writing, and less design and editing, I've been using my Retina Macbook and loving it. One hell of a solid machine.
I would agree too. Sadly, we know that HP and Dell and others don't sell anywhere near as many workstations as they do mid-grade to low level PCs. The Elitebook, Covet lines, Tecra, Mainstream PC systems, etc. are solid pieces of work that do speak very well for Windows systems. However, all-in-all those systems combined may make up less than 10% of the market.
We've been, and always have been, running HP Z Workstations at many of the broadcast stations in Maryland and not a one of them properly spec'd has broken down in years of uninterrupted use. But I would expect nothing less with a near $10,000 machine.
I would agree too. Sadly, we know that HP and Dell and others don't sell anywhere near as many workstations as they do mid-grade to low level PCs. The Elitebook, Covet lines, Tecra, Mainstream PC systems, etc. are solid pieces of work that do speak very well for Windows systems. However, all-in-all those systems combined may make up less than 10% of the market.
We've been, and always have been, running HP Z Workstations at many of the broadcast stations in Maryland and not a one of them properly spec'd has broken down in years of uninterrupted use. But I would expect nothing less with a near $10,000 machine.