MBA Unreliable?

[Wicked1]

I've only owned my MBA for a few months, and it's been rock solid so far.

Our household has 3 macbook pros, 1 imac, 1 macbook air and 1 mac mini. The one problem I had was a warranty logic board swap on one of the MBPs. My son owns a 2008 MBP and that also had a logic board swap early on in it's life, but had been running strong ever since. It recently received an SSD upgrade to lengthen its life, so to speak.

Having been in IT since 1984 and been exposed to quite a bit of computing hardware, I've found these apple products to be on par with or ahead of the rest of the vendors regarding product reliability. I don't mind paying a the premium price, as in my mind it's been worth it.

$0.02 worth.

Ditto for me 2

2008 MacBook Core 2 Duo 2.4/4GB/500GB never bought Apple Care and bought this new, still running strong Zero issues. Can use a new battery but have not purchased on yet.

2010 MBP Core 2 Duo 2.4/4GB/320GB Bought AC never used it nothing wrong still going strong.

2012 MBP i5 2.5/4GB/240SSD no AC and now out of warranty, use it all the time, no issues.

We are very careful with our Macs and iPhone's in my house however had a few iPhones go bad under warranty, but no biggie as they were replaced.

 

[CarbuncleBrain]

Anecdotally bad

Mid-2013 MacAir. Had numerous problems, nearly all associated with waking. I've not had a good row with support, because as soon as the agent tries a few things and finds that it is a tough problem, they give up. I have been convinced that it is a hardware problem, but, I think since I have extra RAM, they have been working the software side; trying everything possible.

 

[TheRealDamager]

Mid-2013 MacAir. Had numerous problems, nearly all associated with waking. I've not had a good row with support, because as soon as the agent tries a few things and finds that it is a tough problem, they give up. I have been convinced that it is a hardware problem, but, I think since I have extra RAM, they have been working the software side; trying everything possible.

What are your issues with "waking"?

 

[CarbuncleBrain]

What are your issues with "waking"?

Two primary ones that have a set of differing symptoms:

- Crashing: system shuts off and can't be turned on without a long power button push.
- Failure to connect to (new) Time Capsule

Ive also had different temporary error notices that disappear after a few seconds. Probably bogus, but they don't inspire confidence in the system.

 

[rekhyt]

To keep things short and to the point –

Been using my MacBook Air 11" since the mid of 2012. No issues so far. Used a MacBook Pro from 2009 to 2012. No issues as well. Had to stop using it because I accidentally damaged it myself, but that was my fault, as opposed to the build quality.

 

[iMacC2D]

Removed.

 

[psik]

Mid 2012 MacBook Air 13" (Ivy Bridge). 1.8GHz Core i5, 8GB Memory and 512GB SSD.

Logic Board replaced at 6 months for intermittent video lockups.
Power Adapter replaced at 6 months, stopped working.
Key Cap replaced at 10 months since it kept coming loose.
Battery replaced at 11 months for a "Service Battery" warning.
Trackpad replaced at 18 months as the button stopped working.

Replacement battery health is at around 89% and likely headed for another Service Battery issue in the near future. Second Power Adapter is showing some similar issues to the first.

AppleCare was not overly helpful even during the warranty period, particularly for the battery replacement as the battery began reporting issues in the OS, but passed Apple's diagnostics. Had to wait for the battery to get worse before it would fail the diagnostics and justify a repair.

The machine is well looked after, rarely leaving the house, stored and transported in an STM case, free of knocks, chips and scratches and the battery is used in accordance with Apple's Battery Tips. The MacBook Pro (Early 2008) that sits alongside it is handled and maintained in exactly the same way, and still works, looks and feels new.


So this machine is a particularly bad unit, but not reflective of every MacBook Air out there. I actually bought this machine because of a perceived brilliant track record of MacBook Air reliability. The reduction in moving parts does help reduce the failure rates for some common failure points like Hard Drives, but overall I wouldn't suggest the MacBook Air is more reliable than a MacBook Pro (for example) because of it. If anything they're about the same.

Sorry what you describe seems more than just bad luck or just a coincidence... Given the number of times you had problems...

Of course you conclude that 'is because this is just a bad unit' but how so? Seems like mbas may have regular or consistent problem unlike the MacBook Pros

 

[iBlazed]

By default the internet is a place for mostly negative reviews. If you're happy you usually don't go online to tell everyone how happy you are with your purchase. I mean, I do, but most don't. People usually go online to complain/get help.

 

[iMacC2D]

Removed.