Entire Laptop Lasting Life

Hi there

I am seriously considering buying an apple macbook pro 15' and I'm just wondering how long the computer would last for roughly. If I am paying £1500 for a laptop I would expect it to last a minimum of 6 years.

The reason I ask this is because I spent around £500 on a Dell laptop a few years ago and this essentially lasted about 3-4 years. Not through any virus related problem but apparently becuase of a system failure.

I would hope not to have any such problem if I spent a lot of money on a Macbook pro.

Any help would be much appreciated.

Cheers

Murphie

The answer is entirely subjective and completely determined by how you use the machine and what you consider "lasting" to be.

Harware-wise, there's not any reason it shouldn't last at least 6 years if you don't abuse it.

But performance-wise, that all depends on what you find acceptable at any given time.

You are buying a piece of electronics. It will last until it fails. No one can guarantee how long it will last. There are members here using Macs that are over 10 years old. We see reports of others that say their machine died one day after the warranty is up.

I had 10 yr old cheapie off the shelf HPs at the office, sporting P3 1 Ghz processors that were just replaced this year.

Have a 7 year old machine I custom built in Feb '03 - cost me $3K to build it back then and a friend still using it to this day.

That same friend has 2 dead notebooks that are less than 2 years old.

Expecting that a computer will last you 6 years??? maybe, maybe not.
I'm sure not going to say you can expect to see 6 years out of any computer.
For all I know, there's going to be some new technology come out 2 years from now that makes everything we already have obsolete.

My current Mac is 4 years old now and still going strong enough that I've just invested in the 2nd new battery and the 2nd hard drive upgrade for it thinking it may well last me to your 6 years life. It might, it might not. And my experience may not be yours.

Murphie .... Ask yourself another question ........ Do you drive?
How long would you expect any car that you bought to last?
Do you ride the clutch?
Do you drive a foot from the guy in front at 70 mph on the motorway?
Do you service the car properly and regularly?
Do you approach the lights at full speed and then slam the anchors on?
Do friends say, "Nah, It's OK. We'll get the bus"

Translate all that over to using a computer and you have your answer. (ish)

Will the HARDWARE last six years if you treat it properly? Nobody can say for sure, but the odds are very high in your favour on that.

Will you WANT it after six years? Ah, now THAT'S another question. Big changes coming (aren't they always?) over the next few years. If you're a hardcore user, you'll feel that pace of change much more than some granny who does email, facebook and card games.

That's the best answer I can give ya!

Consider this: the warranty is for one year out of the box. This means that the manufacturer is saying, "We guarantee this computer will operate for 365 days, and not a minute more. After that, we can offer no guarantee and it may stop working at any time. Consider yourself warned. If this is not acceptable to you, do not buy our product."

(Increase that number to 1095 days if you purchase the extended warranty.)

Now, it'll probably keep working beyond that 365/1095-day period, just because the manufacturer wants a margin of safety. But once that warranty period is over, you're on your own.

Personally, I buy laptops with a manufacturer's extended warranty on a credit card that offers a further extended warranty. This gives me four years of coverage. At the end of four years, I expect to have to replace the computer, either because it's starting to fail or, more likely, it's too slow for my purposes.

Thanks for the replys.

I think it would last for a fairly long time if I bought it.

Those saying I should look after it what do you mean by doin that?
Replacing things.. having it serviced??

Sorry if I sound like an idot asking these sort of questions?


Cheers

Murphie said:

Thanks for the replys.

I think it would last for a fairly long time if I bought it.

Those saying I should look after it what do you mean by doin that?
Replacing things.. having it serviced??

Sorry if I sound like an idot asking these sort of questions?


Cheers

Click to expand...

Just treat it right.

Don't drop it, bang it on things, carry it inside a case, etc. Don't spill things on it, clean it out occasionally, etc. You might need to replace your hard drive eventually, which is a very easy fix.