life span of macbooks?

I had a iBook G4 1.42ghz that I had running fine for 2.75 years. Apple replaced it with a first generation MacBook Pro (I think the 2.2ghz) because the new MacBook's didn't have comparable specs (don't remember what they were referring to and not questioning a free upgrade, definitely got lucky there).

My mom is now using that Macbook Pro and it's still going strong after nearly 4 years, only thing is that we had to replace the battery.

**Remembered what it was, the ibook had a 14" screen and the guy said he'd upgrade me to the 15" mbp instead of going down to the 13.3" display of the mb.

I've got a macbook 1.1. I've had it since 2006. My battery died so I replaced that and also maxed out my RAM (both thru macmodify.com ). Works great now. My only complaint is that the brand new white shiny battery looks kinda funny in my fading, dirty macbook. Its like the millennium falcon of macs now.

My wife has a MB (metal unibody with replaceable battery) from 2008. She loves it and it works just fine. Granted, she uses it at home and only travels with it to visit family twice a year. The battery could use replacement, and 4GB of RAM fills up more quickly than it did 4 years ago as applications and web pages demand more. Still, she says she has no need for a new one.

mikemurf said:

I've got a macbook 1.1. I've had it since 2006. My battery died so I replaced that and also maxed out my RAM (both thru macmodify.com ). Works great now. My only complaint is that the brand new white shiny battery looks kinda funny in my fading, dirty macbook. Its like the millennium falcon of macs now.

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Completely agree with the sad shape of a nice shiny battery hanging out with an old faded macbook

I'm on a Macbook (2007) 2.1 which has been all over the world in some very harsh desert environments and it still runs great. I upgraded RAM and replaced a failing disk - and just replaced the battery (380 cycles - but it was bouncing around from 85% capacity to 20% capacity - c'est la vie). It runs as well or better than the day I got it even with Lion installed. Granted, I don't use it for hard core processing (or anything that gets the temperature way up). At 52 months old, I'm hoping to get at least 2 more years out of it.

Would members typically say that their iMac lasts longer than their MBP? I just got a new iMac because my previous windows lap tops would last only 2 years on average. The windows machines have a terrible quality signature to them. I am hoping that my iMac continues to function exactly as it does now for 3-4 years.

If so, my computer lifespan would double with my first apple product purchased. The quality and performance of my iMac is so superior to what I was previously using. I feel like being on a iMac commercial.

Ive had my 2010 macbook pro for a year..its my first mac..I love it..very durable. never had ANY problems what so ever..just sits on my coffee table mostly..battery only holds a 99% charge now..but other than that..i plan on keepin it a year after the new macbooks come out...

For what it is worth: I own a late 2008 15" macbook pro (2.53Ghz) that I bought refurbished early 2009. I never had any problems with it other than a sticky trackpad which was covered in the Apple care. Changed the battery once, added 4GB of RAM for a total of 8. I can't imagine changing it for anything else for at least another 4-5 years as long as it holds up.

I've always run it on a cooling pad, so that might make a difference. Also, an Apple Genius told me that under the Apple care, you can walk into any Apple store with your computer and they will clean it inside out free of charge. Just another quality service from Apple which will ensure your computer stays in good shape.

rippingviper said:

Battery is at 879 cycles and still holds 4 hours charge.

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That is pretty legit. I know the the girlfriends laptop (Toshiba) made 600 cycles before it's charge was at 50%.

Good Machine

I have a 15" MacBook Pro from 2006 - Core Duo 2.0 GHz. It is what you would call my "pride and joy" I guess.

Let me give you an idea of how I have used my machine:

I used the computer in engineering school and I lugged it everywhere for programming in unix, and various windows programs via parallels. I would use my laptop instead of the computers in our labs. There were a couple of times (while unix programming) that I accidentally put the processor in an infinite loop and the computer got very, very hot.

For 3 years I used the computer every day for 8-10 hours. I would play DVD's on the computer from netflix in the background while studying or programming (ie House MD - great background series) to keep me motivated. I also scored (original sound track and foley) a 2.5 hour film and various small projects, so the computer would spend several hours encoding with the fan on max and the processor temp hovering around 200F.

For the last 4 years since graduation, it has been used 1-3 hours daily at home while I suffer using a PC everyday at work; a PC that has to be re-loaded and I spent 3 days re-installing software and setting it up.
I have replaced the following:

3 Batteries at 2 year intervals (old li-ion tech)
1 Power Cord at first year.
One DVD Drive (after watching about 1000 movies plus software and burning cd's)
Both Cooling Fans @ $50/each (after 6 years heavy use)
Never re-loaded OSX, upgraded to snow leapard
Upgraded HD twice using the time machine backup, flawless


It's still running just fine, but is considered "vintage" and not longer supported by apple - so at some point there will be some software that will force me to upgrade. For now, I'm holding out for Flash memory pricing to keep on falling.

Only trick to regular hard drives is: After closing the lid, do not pick up and move your computer because it is trying to write data to the drive. Wait until the sleep light is pulsing. This keeps the bearings on the platters from wearing out from the torque applied to the axis of the platters; eventually the head will make physical contact with the platter when the bearings are loose enough.

Djp78 said:

I to have a MacBook. It's a 2007 version early to mid year. I am attempting to decide to get a new one or a iMac or possibly neither. My MacBook battery is dying, I don't have enough ram, the optical drive just ejects everything I put in it. I do have an iPad 2. I am no longer in school and now just surf the net, email, and occasional game. Should I bandaid my current MacBook or purchase something else?

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I have a MacBook of the same vintage. I plan on reinstalling Snow Leopard on it and selling it.

From the description of what you do I'd have said the iPad should meet your needs, but if you want a new(er) portable I'd suggest a MacBook Air unless by "games" you mean some of the more demanding titles.

I don't suggest "fixing up" the MacBook unless you're selling it. I loved mine to bits, but it has a TERRIBLE graphics chipset, and the battery is fairly expensive to replace, and let's not even talk about the pain of fixing that bad optical drive.

I had a Toshiba laptop that I used, very light use, for five years and then it began quitting on me, I would restart, until it just totally died. Rather than take it somewhere I have replaced it with an MBP. In hindsight, (and ver non-tech here), I believe the Toshiba was overheating and that I should have periodically had the insides vacuumed due to lots of dust in my environment, but I didnt know that was required on that laptop. Now I am wondering if I should take this MBP somewhere, maybe annually to have its insides cleaned. I have googled it and find no mention for a mac.

I have a ibook g4 from 2005 that still runs perfectly. only reason i rebuilt it is the person i got it from took it apart to see how it was made and forgot how to put it back together. otherwise it never would have been taken apart.