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Macbook reliability??
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knightstyle
Posts: 7,224 Forumite


in Techie Stuff
How reliable are Macbooks? Mine has just refused to come on at three months old. Got it going now but should I be worried. Three previous Emacs all failed just out of warranty, but my original blue iMac lasted 10 years.
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My experience is that Apple computers are not reliable at all and do not last very long. This view will be contradicted by numerous people.0
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That will depend who you ask, but the consensus here among the mac users is that they would be the soul survivors, along with ants and cockroaches, of a nuclear holocaust. Possibly surviving a direct hit such is the build quality, I believe the US army are re-enforcing military vehicles with them to protect soldiers in Afghanistan, so far they've only managed to outfit half of one humer due to cost.0
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Like any manufacturer you are bound to get some % rate of failures. Although you seem to be quite unlucky by the looks of it.
Between my Friends and Family I tend to be the IT guy, and people tend to ask me what to get for their needs and most the time I tend to order the items for them depending on what they require.
In the last 2- 3 or so years I've purchased for family and friends roughly the following New items and have listed any faults that have appeared, Age of item is given.
Apple
iMac - No faults - 2 1/2 years
iMac - faulty out the box - replaced by Apple straight away. Replacement - No faults 2 years
Macbook - No faults - 2 years
Macbook - No faults - 1 year
Macbook - No faults - 6 months
Dell
Desktop - No faults - 3 1/2 years
Desktop - No faults - 3 years
Desktop - LCD screen is playing up - 2 Years
Laptop - Faulty media buttons after 6 months - sorted under warranty - 3 Years
Laptop - No faults - 2 years
Laptop - No faults - 1 1/2 years
Hp
Laptop - No faults - 3 years
Laptop - No faults - 1 Year
Sony
Laptop - No faults - 2 years
Toshiba
Laptop - No faults - 3 years
Laptop - No faults - 2 years
Laptop - Dead pixels out the box - replaced - Replacement - No faults 1 1/2 years
Laptop - faulty out the box - refunded
Laptop - Faulty DVD RW drive out the box- refunded
The last few Toshiba's have been disappointing as I seem to get a fault every time or is it just bad luck.0 -
Surveys vary, but Macbooks are usually in the top four and there isn't that much difference between them at that end of the reliability scale.
http://www.smh.com.au/digital-life/computers/apple-laptops-fourth-in-reliability-study-20091118-im8t.html
http://blog.squaretrade.com/2009/11/a-rebuttal-to-some-comments-about-our-laptop-failure-study.html
And from Which? magazine:-Our annual survey of thousands of computer users reveals which computers are most – and least – reliable.
There is no stand-out brand when it comes to laptop reliability. All brands received an average reliability score in our survey.
Laptop Which? reliability index
BrandScore Toshiba87% Acer86% Apple86% Fujitsu-Siemens86% Hewlett-Packard86% Sony86% Dell84% Overall reliability86%Table notes
The Which? reliability index is based on the proportion of machines that have needed a repair. Scores for each brand are adjusted to account for sample size and product age – so a brand won’t be unfairly penalised if a lot of owners have older models. There must be at least 50 owners of a brand for it to receive a reliability score.
Sample sizes Toshiba (285), Acer (176), Apple (169), Fujitsu-Siemens (51), Hewlett-Packard (183), Sony (170), Dell (423). Total sample size is 1,691.0 -
Acer
86%
Apple 86%
:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:
:T:T:T:T:T:T:T:T:T:T:T:T:T:T:T:T:T:T:T:T:T:T:T:T:T
:beer::beer::beer::beer::beer::beer::beer::beer:
Love it Acer as reliable as Apple, in your face Marty and Leopard!0 -
lol,:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:
My acer is 5 yrs old, HDD sound, boots up in 5 mins, A drive yes A is on but computer says NO, and the plastic around the hinge is cracking oh and the DVD wont read anything. other than that its fine, It connects to the net and does the business.
I have a 6 month old Dell thats working a treat after some teething issues with ZA messing up the system.Survey earnings total 2009 £417, 2010 £875, 2011 £5740 -
As others have said you will get failures in all computer equipment. My Macs I have never had serious issues with. I use a 10 year old Powerbook Pismo daily and never had a problem.My wife's ibook and our other imacs/emacs have been very reliable. As for other manufacturers Never had much problems with HP or IBM. Every Dell I have ever owned though has been terrible (and I wouldn't have one again) but other people love them. So overall I think luck has a lot to do with it
If you are getting multiple problems I would be going back to apple.0 -
If you are getting multiple problems I would be going back to apple.
There is room for them to be more accommodating than those who are supplying price competitive items.0 -
Thanks for replies, Just wondering if I should report the failure to Apple or wait and see if it happens again, Haven't bought Apple care extended warranty yet either???0
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Acer
86%
Apple 86%
:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:
:T:T:T:T:T:T:T:T:T:T:T:T:T:T:T:T:T:T:T:T:T:T:T:T:T
:beer::beer::beer::beer::beer::beer::beer::beer:
Love it Acer as reliable as Apple, in your face Marty and Leopard!
Pity you didn't read the other links.
Acer had a 23.3% failure rate over 3 years; Apple had a 17.4% failure rate.
Furthermore, the survey showed that expensive computers (the kind you think are a waste of money) are more reliable than cheap computers.
Take that, everything Asininity stands for!0
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