The current version of OS X is 10.8 Mountain Lion, Lion was the prior release of OS X. It is likely that you can only upgrade to Snow Leopard though, unless your MacBook was one of the late 2006 versions.
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What is the life expectancy of a Mac
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The current version of OS X is 10.8 Mountain Lion, Lion was the prior release of OS X. It is likely that you can only upgrade to Snow Leopard though, unless your MacBook was one of the late 2006 versions.
No, it shipped with Tiger. Leopard came out in late 2007.
Wait, so it has Snow Leopard or Leopard?
No, that distinction goes to OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.x). Lion is 10.7.x.
Yep sorry you are correct - I was looking at date announced, rather than release date.
Writing this reply on a 2007 white MacBook running Lion.
I've upgrade the hard drive twice & RAM once. 4G of RAM.
OS X Lion, I believe is the last support version for this computer.
Older computers still running & in use are a G5 Power Mac from 2004 & G4 Mini.
Take care of your MacBook & it should still keep running for a while.
I know of people that buy a new Windows PC every year (cheap ~$400) because its easier & cheaper than cleaning up the "old". I value my time & I don't think PCs are cheaper.
I've upgrade the hard drive twice & RAM once. 4G of RAM.
OS X Lion, I believe is the last support version for this computer.
Older computers still running & in use are a G5 Power Mac from 2004 & G4 Mini.
Take care of your MacBook & it should still keep running for a while.
I know of people that buy a new Windows PC every year (cheap ~$400) because its easier & cheaper than cleaning up the "old". I value my time & I don't think PCs are cheaper.
Wait, so it has Snow Leopard or Leopard?
I believe that it is Snow Leopard. I have both Leopard and Snow Leopard software packaging that was given to me with the laptop. I know that he did an upgrate, I think it came with Leopard then upgraded to snow Leopard. It is running OS X 10.6.8. I am not sure what that means. Maybe those who are more familiar with mac with know.
I believe that it is Snow Leopard. I have both Leopard and Snow Leopard software packaging that was given to me with the laptop. I know that he did an upgrate, I think it came with Leopard then upgraded to snow Leopard. It is running OS X 10.6.8. I am not sure what that means. Maybe those who are more familiar with mac with know.
I have seen this behavior out of more than a few people as well!
Case in point, one guy nearly had a schedule of buying new laptops and desktops about every 18 months as "something would happen" to them that would be beyond his ability to troubleshoot and fix. Because he's 1000 miles away, I've never been able to tell if it has been a hardware, software or wetware issue.
Literally he'd be buying a new PC of some flavor every 3-4 months as the family of 4 would be running into some sort of issue with a laptop or desktop that often.
Sure, those PCs would "only" be $600-1100 but if you look at the limited lifespan for those PCs, it was out of control.
So, 2 years ago I bought him a Mac mini. It really wasn't accepted all that well, as the family was so used to PC thinking, and the Mac represented something else to have to learn.
But my bud figured it out a couple of weeks ago, as he said "that Mac is running as well as the day you got it for me. The PCs always deteriorated and 'broke' and I had to get another one. $600 there, $800 there, it adds up."
He just bought his daughter a 15" retina MBP.
Computers can always "just break" but to Apples credit i still have both a G3 iMac and iBook Clamshell which works fine, not a single hardware issue in 13 years. Same story with my 10 year old iMac G4. I still regularly use them, although not as a main computer.
Despite owning 7 Macs over the years the only issue i've ever had is a single bad hard drive which was easily replaced. i've only sold my newer intel based Macs to put towards the cost of their replacements. Unlike in the Windows world, i find the hardware outlasts the software support!
Despite owning 7 Macs over the years the only issue i've ever had is a single bad hard drive which was easily replaced. i've only sold my newer intel based Macs to put towards the cost of their replacements. Unlike in the Windows world, i find the hardware outlasts the software support!
My husband is one of those people. That is why I was looking to get my own laptop before my brother gave me this macbook that he used during collage and did not need anymore. He said that he just did not use it anymore and wanted to give it to someone who would.
but, yea, my husband pretty much gets a new computer just about every 3 years or so. He usually screws something up and just tosses out the old one and gets a new one. Windows of course. For that reason he is not allowed to touch my macbook. Not trying to be mean but with his record I am not sure it would survive. Now he has a toshiba laptop. So far he and it are getting along just fine.
That isn't true at all. Other hardware can last just as long. Things like batteries and hard drives are expendable parts either way.
Yes, but...
Anything mechanical is a likely failure point. i.e. Hard drives, super drives , fans & batteries with "chemical" wear out.
Even though Apple computer come from China, I think they are better built. I suspect some of those $400 computer are made with recycled components. I've had many PCs too. We've bought a large number of hi end HP laptops at work. I'm amazed by the failure/problem rate. It also drives me nuts that the trackpad on my 2007 MacBook works SO MUCH better than the one on the HP laptop. Mind boggling.
Also on the PC side, my 2 previous desktop PCs had failures of the north bridge heatsink. The mount clips pulled out of the mother board. First time it happened , I resoldered them back in. The 2nd time I wasn't so lucky, the flying metal took out the motherboard.
In my opinion, Apple computer are better built than "PCs".
Last time I checked many of the Macs still had HDD options and PCs can be upgraded to ssds easily if they aren't ordered as cto options initially. Some of the ultrabooks use ssds standard. The notion that mechanical failure is the only thing that can brick a drive is a fallacy in itself. SSDs die too for a variety of reasons. NAND can go bad. I would not go by hypothetical manufacturer numbers on that. Look at the way they list hours of use for HDDs and you'll see what I mean. I have encountered Macs with swelling batteries in the past, so I'm not sure what point you're trying to make there.
This is a common argument. You're restricting the comparison to hardware that costs a fraction of the amount. My concern is that people have the tendency to suggest that machines supplied by Apple never encounter failures or known problems and use the bottom end of the PC market for comparison. If storage and backup functionality improves, that segment will be virtually lost to phones and tablet devices. (Edit: trying to say that you're comparing Macs to an increasingly inconsequential market segment with little growth). It wouldn't surprise me if $400 machines used questionably refurbished parts. I'm not sure how they profit from most of those models.
I too have had MacBooks with swelling batteries. This MacBook included.
My PC hardware talking about were not cheap. The HPs are more than MacBook Pros. My time is too valuable to waste on a $400 PC.
My experience, and its limited to me & a (almost) all mac company I worked for is that PCs are more expensive, mainly due to maintenance costs.
Ok, I not sure how Snow Leopard compares to other Apple OS X programs, but so far it has been working fine.
Well my 2007 MacBook gave me quite a few good years of solid service but is now slowly breaking. The charger is screwed, the battery is screwed, the case is cracked, and Apple won't be giving it any more software updates - it's stuck on Lion.
For those reasons I recently ditched it in favour of a MBP and will probably sell off the MB for parts at some point soon. Technically you could put a new battery in, get a new charger, and probably use it as it is until something else breaks, but to me that's a waste of time and money.
That's just my own personal experience though. If that 2006 MB is still working fine you enjoy it. I doubt you'll get more than a year or two out of it though if I'm honest.
For those reasons I recently ditched it in favour of a MBP and will probably sell off the MB for parts at some point soon. Technically you could put a new battery in, get a new charger, and probably use it as it is until something else breaks, but to me that's a waste of time and money.
That's just my own personal experience though. If that 2006 MB is still working fine you enjoy it. I doubt you'll get more than a year or two out of it though if I'm honest.
Ok, thanks for your input. I have so for gotten a solid year out of it. So far it is still working fine, current saving for a new MB so hopefully it will give me another year so I do not have to do without a computer for too long.
It goes:
10.5- Leopard
10.6- Snow Leopard
10.7- Lion
10.8- Mountain Lion
So it's the one before the newest one. And to address your confusion earlier, Macs are designed in California (in Apple's HQ) but the parts are physically made in China. Anyway welcome to the Mac world.
It goes:
10.5- Leopard
10.6- Snow Leopard
10.7- Lion
10.8- Mountain Lion
So it's the one before the newest one. And to address your confusion earlier, Macs are designed in California (in Apple's HQ) but the parts are physically made in China. Anyway welcome to the Mac world.
OK, thanks your post was very helpful. I am using snow Leopard so I am two OS X systems behind so to speak. So the parts for apple are made in Chine jut like most other computer brands. Are they designed by the U.S. though?
I guess, what I am looking for is, I have heard that Mac's better than the windows world. Can you tell me why. Sorry for the random questions, just trying to understand the Mac world.
Thanks
"Ok, thanks for your input. I have so for gotten a solid year out of it. So far it is still working fine, current saving for a new MB so hopefully it will give me another year so I do not have to do without a computer for too long."
My guess is it will keep working more than a year.
A friend is still using an aging iBook with either a g3 or a g4 CPU. The drive has been upgraded (and video circuitry repaired at nominal cost), but the thing still runs fine.
Take care of it, and chances are it will keep going.
My guess is it will keep working more than a year.
A friend is still using an aging iBook with either a g3 or a g4 CPU. The drive has been upgraded (and video circuitry repaired at nominal cost), but the thing still runs fine.
Take care of it, and chances are it will keep going.
I have a 2GB I think. Would it still be able to upgrade being that it is a 2006? Apple told me that it was vintage and that parts were hard to fine for it.
The thing to know about "made in China" is that it's not necessarily a bad thing, at least not in itself.
The reason why "made in China" gets such a bad rap is because a lot of the stuff is sent out there to be made because of a manufacturer's drive to lower the costs. (Sometimes it's not the manufacturer itself, but a reseller, such as Wal-Mart, that drives this, but that's another story.) And the issues of unethical practices (underage labour, counterfeit parts) are driven, again, by the desire to win contracts from manufacturers wanting the cheapest prices possible.
China has thus become synonymous with cheap. But that's not entirely true. After all, look at the major cities in China -- they are modern, sparkling, made of metal and glass, they have high speed trains built to high tolerances. It's not like Chinese factories and workers aren't competent or capable.
They will build whatever they are contracted to build. As long as Apple contracts them out to higher standards, the end product will be of higher quality.
The reason why "made in China" gets such a bad rap is because a lot of the stuff is sent out there to be made because of a manufacturer's drive to lower the costs. (Sometimes it's not the manufacturer itself, but a reseller, such as Wal-Mart, that drives this, but that's another story.) And the issues of unethical practices (underage labour, counterfeit parts) are driven, again, by the desire to win contracts from manufacturers wanting the cheapest prices possible.
China has thus become synonymous with cheap. But that's not entirely true. After all, look at the major cities in China -- they are modern, sparkling, made of metal and glass, they have high speed trains built to high tolerances. It's not like Chinese factories and workers aren't competent or capable.
They will build whatever they are contracted to build. As long as Apple contracts them out to higher standards, the end product will be of higher quality.
It's the very first Intel Macintosh (before 2006, they used PowerPC processors), so there are none around that are older than yours. I don't think that other than the battery there are things that _must_ break after some time. On the other hand, some Macs didn't last almost seven years.
It could go on working for five years or ten years, or it could break down tomorrow. Nobody knows. If you put anything on the Mac that you can't afford to lose, use a cheap external hard drive and Time Machine to make backups.
I have a 2GB I think. Would it still be able to upgrade being that it is a 2006? Apple told me that it was vintage and that parts were hard to fine for it.
The very earliest ones can only use 2GB, so that's what my 2006 MB has.