Average time before Mac hardware failure?

Whats the average time an iMac, MacBook, MBP, or Mac-Mini last before the hardware begins to fail? Its a pretty vague question, in that it "depends on how aggressive the user is with the machine" but its one I'd like to get an idea about. Typical PC's I've owned in the past have given me 3 years of servitude before it showed signs of failure, and I'm wondering if Apple's hardware fares the same way.

 

Many, many, many people are still using 5 year old ibooks and powerbooks.

The MacIntels use the same hardware as PC's, so fail rate would be the same. But still, its way to vague to actually give an answer. It's somewhat of a case by case basis.

 

Huh? By this logic a Dell Inspiron is just as reliable as a Thinkpad because has, "the same hardware." This, of course, is completely ludicrous and makes absolutely no sense.

 

It all depends. I had a G4 tower that I used every day, and never turned off unless the power went out... and I used it since I bought it brand new in March of 2000 until I sold it two months ago. I had to replace a fan once because it got loud, and the hard drives/memory were upgraded, but everything else was original.

My father has an iBook G4 that he bought new in early 2004, and all it has needed was a new power adapter last year.

On the other hand I was an Apple tech, and I've put new motherboards in two month old computers.

Sometimes you just get a bad part in a machine and it will fail, and sometimes user abuse causes issues too. If you're worried about the computer, get AppleCare.

 

I'll get this about one-month before the standard 1 year warranty is about to expire

 

I don't think it matters when you get AppleCare. I think it extends the warranty to three years from the date you purchased your mac. I'm not sure though so someone more knowledgeable can answer this better.

 

Your right. The extension begins from the date of purchase for the device. It doesn't matter when AppleCare is purchases, so long as it is within the first year of warranty.

 

What exactly does AppleCare do? Does it cover accidental damage? So if I drop it, will it be replaced?

 

In a nutshell, its your basic warranty plan that extends out to 3 years. I don't think it covers accidents such as dropping your Mac. It covers problems such as screen issues, motherboard failures, and other hardware that might fail within the warranty period. I'm not sure about hard-disk problems though... can someone clarify this?

 

Yes it just adds an extra 2 years to your original warranty. However you also get 3 years of phone service from the original purchase date instead of just 90 days. It covers any damage or broken parts as long as it was not caused by the user. i.e. your video card overheats while using it at stock clocks, they will repair it. However if your motherboard shatters because you dropped your $3000 laptop, you're SOL.

 

Some manufacturers sell "Accidental Damage" insurance. Apple does not have this, but Dell and Gateway do.

 

lol, I don't think Apple sells enough computers to be able to add that option

 

The exact average time before a Mac fails, calculated from a 100% sample size of all the Macs in the world, is 5 days, 4 hours, 3 minutes, 2 seconds, and a partridge in a pear tree.

 

The hard drive is no less susceptible to failure in a ThinkPad than a Dell (accelerometers aside). Parts fail at rather random times. I bought 2 Seagate hard drives on the same day, one lasted about a year and the other is still going some 3 years later.

Apple does not sell insurance because it is not worth the hassle to them. Dell and others need to sell things like warranties and insurance because of their razor thin margins. Also, anyone who buys one of those is kinda throwing money away. Most renter's and homeowner's insurance will cover it, and from what I have read, it can be a real headache trying to get the computer manufacturer to honor their warranty.

For the OP, I would say expect roughly 3-4 years on a notebook and maybe 4-5 on a desktop. Same as you would with most PCs.

 

No, AppleCare Protection Plan does not add anything to the standard one-year warranty (other than TechTool that comes with it), it just extends it to two more years to make a total of three years.

 

Eh? It comes with TechTool? Was that what was in that CD they sent me? lol

Is it Basic, Pro or Deluxe?

I always just thought it was some random diagnostic stuff...(couldn't be bothered to stick the CD in and find out :/)

 

Yeaps! It comes with TechTool Deluxe too .

 

Sweet I found the CD. Let's hope installing it doesn't blow up my MBP.

 

Then you can diagnose what went wrong with TechTool Deluxe!

Unless you blew up the CD too. Then too bad.

 

Pft...turns out the Deluxe version is only the 1.5-year old version that's out of date and isn't even Leopard-tested

$60 to upgrade to the full Pro version...right

at least I didn't see smoke coming out...yet!

 

This is probably already true and all, but is the current version of AppleCare sold provide a version of this tool that is supported on Leopard? Just checking... I'll be visiting the Apple store tomorrow evening and pick up Apple Care then.

 

hmmm... I was just looking at the AppleCare for MBP on the Apple store website and realized it goes for a whopping $350 to extend the warranty. Glad I have until July to decide to get it...

If Apple does release the supposed MacBook Air (hereby dubbed MBA) with the specs I need (and want ), my MBP will go for sale to fund the MBA purchase.

 

Here's some info: http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1284323&tstart=0

The gist of it is, the latest version of TechTool Deluxe is 3.1.1, but this version has not been tested with Leopard. If there's a newer version of Deluxe than this, it's certainly not showing up on Micromat's site or in Apple updates.

TechTool Pro 4.6.1 is Leopard compatible, but it'll cost $59.99 to upgrade from Deluxe 3.1.1 to Pro 4...so... (the base price is $99 I believe).

As for Deluxe, scanning your system won't cause any problems, but I certainly wouldn't care to ask the tool to fix any of those problems.

 

Mac hardware fails??