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It's true though. I've had my Macbook for a few years and my roommate has had his for 5. I can't remember a time when it broke down. On the other hand, my si

by physcab 17y ago

It's true though. I've had my Macbook for a few years and my roommate has had his for 5. I can't remember a time when it broke down. On the other hand, my sister has a Dell, my co-worker has a Dell, both of which have lost keys on the keyboard, have weird noises you can't turn off, runs slow as shit, and can't be repaired without an accompanying traumatic experience in customer service.

DannoHung 17y ago
Eh, they're not so perfect. I've had RAM go bad, OS's that needed reinstallation, bad hard drives, bad mobos, bad batteries, and for some reason my Late 2008 MBP refuses to sleep and wake properly (need to bring that in actually). That said, there are definitely fewer constant maintenance tasks that I need to perform for myself and family members, which is the biggest relief. That and Time Machine. Time Machine is a god send. Time Machine is the single best thing that was ever added to Macs.
Tichy 17y ago
This wasn't what my comment was about, but I can't resist: sorry, but EVERYBODY I know who has a Mac had problems with it at some point or other. I recently bought a MacBook because of iPhone dev, and sure enough, I'll have to let it serviced because the line out connector is broken. Even though it is within warranty, it will cost me several days without the MacBook just because of a crappy headphone jack. They won't even order the replacement part in advance, so it costs me another day to bring in the MacBook, wait for them to check if it is really broken, then come back a couple of days later when the part has arrived. If that isn't bad service, what is? I never had problems with any other non-Apple notebook or PC - seriously, not even a crashed hard disk. (Edit: to clarify, I agree that this is all anecdotal evidence, I just wanted to counterpoint the "all non-Macs fail" story) Also I don't know what Dell customer trauma you are talking about - maybe they should have paid for the next day on location service then? Would still have been cheaper than a Mac Notebook, and more efficient. To be cheap and then complain is idiotic. Of course they probably bought shitty consumer notebooks from Dell. Rule: always buy from the business line (this goes for all companies). (Note: I despise this practice of offering trashy consumer devices, Apple really scores against the competition in that respect).
- davidw 17y ago
  I thought Dell's customer service was excellent: http://journal.dedasys.com/2007/11/20/and-were-back-in-action http://journal.dedasys.com/2007/11/20/and-were-back-in-actio... For the same price as an Apple, I got an equivalent Dell with the extra service coverage.
- bretthoerner 17y ago
  It's always anecdotes and random chance when it comes to "X's hardware sucks!" I've had lots of hardware that failed: HPs, Dells, Seagates, Western Digitals, Apples, and just about everything else. For day-to-day use I still (currently) prefer Apple and OS X... to each their own.
  - davidw 17y ago
    > It's always anecdotes and random chance when it comes to "X's hardware sucks!" You're right that all companies probably produce bad and good stuff over time. From a business point of view, I think the ability to get a given level of service is much more important. I.e., failure, sooner or later, is a given. How are they going to help you deal with it?
bitwize 17y ago
The initial (summer 2006) run of Intel Core macbooks was pretty bad. Everyone I knew at the office where I worked at the time bought one. Within a month each and every one of those Macs was in the shop, or behind the Genius Bar or whatever. I bought a Compaq. Hasn't given me trouble for three years. I've got my eye on the unibody case MacBooks with stylish TI-99/4A black-on-brushed-metal color scheme. I hear they're hella well built.
- redrobot5050 17y ago
  Having owned a summer 2006 Intel Core MacBook (in the shop 1 for heat, and 2 times for bad 3rd party RAM I got from RAMjet.com that Apple's Hardware Diagnostics gave a thumbs up on) and a Unibody MacBook Pro 17" inch, I can tell you the build quality of the unibody is amazing compared to the first intel MBPs. I rest my hand on the Core MBP and I compress a fan. My DVD drive is loud as all hell. The unibody is silent and solid.
thismat 17y ago
I've owned 3 macs and built several PCs and owned several PC laptops. 2 of the three macs were just as buggy as all of the PC laptops I've had, but the desktop dual G4 had MANY more issues than my desktops ever had. On the laptops, my MBP is 3 weeks old and is running great, I love the thing, but I also have a Dell XPS 1530 and it also runs fantastic (yes, with vista, which isn't horrible at all). Now, if I had to get the MBP serviced, I'd have to contact apple/take it to a store, wait for parts most likely, wait for the swap, possibly pay for the fix, 2-3 days of my spare time wasted on fixing it. If my XPS broke (I've had a heat issue and an issue with the CDROM), I get online with dell tech support (@ 7pm after work, while the kids eat dinner), a service requested is filed, and within 2 days someone is on site fixing my laptop, while I work/do my normal routine. I'm a fan of both Windows and OSX (and linux) all for different reasons, but I'd much rather have to deal with Dell's tech support instead of Apples. On another note, anything with moving parts like a computer, and critical components like a computer, is prone to problems and breaking, doesn't matter which company you buy from, the chances of it breaking are still there.

by physcab 17y ago

DannoHung 17y ago

Eh, they're not so perfect. I've had RAM go bad, OS's that needed reinstallation, bad hard drives, bad mobos, bad batteries, and for some reason my Late 2008 MBP refuses to sleep and wake properly (need to bring that in actually). That said, there are definitely fewer constant maintenance tasks that I need to perform for myself and family members, which is the biggest relief. That and Time Machine. Time Machine is a god send. Time Machine is the single best thing that was ever added to Macs.

Tichy 17y ago

This wasn't what my comment was about, but I can't resist: sorry, but EVERYBODY I know who has a Mac had problems with it at some point or other. I recently bought a MacBook because of iPhone dev, and sure enough, I'll have to let it serviced because the line out connector is broken. Even though it is within warranty, it will cost me several days without the MacBook just because of a crappy headphone jack. They won't even order the replacement part in advance, so it costs me another day to bring in the MacBook, wait for them to check if it is really broken, then come back a couple of days later when the part has arrived. If that isn't bad service, what is? I never had problems with any other non-Apple notebook or PC - seriously, not even a crashed hard disk. (Edit: to clarify, I agree that this is all anecdotal evidence, I just wanted to counterpoint the "all non-Macs fail" story) Also I don't know what Dell customer trauma you are talking about - maybe they should have paid for the next day on location service then? Would still have been cheaper than a Mac Notebook, and more efficient. To be cheap and then complain is idiotic. Of course they probably bought shitty consumer notebooks from Dell. Rule: always buy from the business line (this goes for all companies). (Note: I despise this practice of offering trashy consumer devices, Apple really scores against the competition in that respect).

davidw 17y ago
I thought Dell's customer service was excellent: http://journal.dedasys.com/2007/11/20/and-were-back-in-action http://journal.dedasys.com/2007/11/20/and-were-back-in-actio... For the same price as an Apple, I got an equivalent Dell with the extra service coverage.
bretthoerner 17y ago
It's always anecdotes and random chance when it comes to "X's hardware sucks!" I've had lots of hardware that failed: HPs, Dells, Seagates, Western Digitals, Apples, and just about everything else. For day-to-day use I still (currently) prefer Apple and OS X... to each their own.
- davidw 17y ago
  > It's always anecdotes and random chance when it comes to "X's hardware sucks!" You're right that all companies probably produce bad and good stuff over time. From a business point of view, I think the ability to get a given level of service is much more important. I.e., failure, sooner or later, is a given. How are they going to help you deal with it?

bitwize 17y ago

The initial (summer 2006) run of Intel Core macbooks was pretty bad. Everyone I knew at the office where I worked at the time bought one. Within a month each and every one of those Macs was in the shop, or behind the Genius Bar or whatever. I bought a Compaq. Hasn't given me trouble for three years. I've got my eye on the unibody case MacBooks with stylish TI-99/4A black-on-brushed-metal color scheme. I hear they're hella well built.

redrobot5050 17y ago
Having owned a summer 2006 Intel Core MacBook (in the shop 1 for heat, and 2 times for bad 3rd party RAM I got from RAMjet.com that Apple's Hardware Diagnostics gave a thumbs up on) and a Unibody MacBook Pro 17" inch, I can tell you the build quality of the unibody is amazing compared to the first intel MBPs. I rest my hand on the Core MBP and I compress a fan. My DVD drive is loud as all hell. The unibody is silent and solid.

thismat 17y ago

I've owned 3 macs and built several PCs and owned several PC laptops. 2 of the three macs were just as buggy as all of the PC laptops I've had, but the desktop dual G4 had MANY more issues than my desktops ever had. On the laptops, my MBP is 3 weeks old and is running great, I love the thing, but I also have a Dell XPS 1530 and it also runs fantastic (yes, with vista, which isn't horrible at all). Now, if I had to get the MBP serviced, I'd have to contact apple/take it to a store, wait for parts most likely, wait for the swap, possibly pay for the fix, 2-3 days of my spare time wasted on fixing it. If my XPS broke (I've had a heat issue and an issue with the CDROM), I get online with dell tech support (@ 7pm after work, while the kids eat dinner), a service requested is filed, and within 2 days someone is on site fixing my laptop, while I work/do my normal routine. I'm a fan of both Windows and OSX (and linux) all for different reasons, but I'd much rather have to deal with Dell's tech support instead of Apples. On another note, anything with moving parts like a computer, and critical components like a computer, is prone to problems and breaking, doesn't matter which company you buy from, the chances of it breaking are still there.