How long does a Mac usually last?

[Xenomorph]

I got a power mac G4 cube runs 10.4.11 still works and its like 8yrs old

I have a nice PowerPC G4 @ 1.33 GHz system at home with 1.5 Gigs RAM (also running 10.4.11).

Unfortunately, 2010 seemed like when PowerPC really died. Updates and software stopped coming out, and World of Warcraft finally removed/dropped PowerPC support.

[Soldiers33]

just cuase you upgrade your pc every 6 months doesnt mean you have to. You just simply want to. Ive had my pc for the past 4 years and havent upgraded anything and it runs perfectly with no lag what so ever.

[-=Outlaw=-]

I know this is an old post but I found this forum while doing some Google research since I am going back to Mac next week.

I purchase my first Mac (iBook G4) in early 2003. I went all out since I was just atarting college, graphic design major, etc., etc. My Mac withheld the uttermost abusive relationship. Long atory short - I retired my Mac in 2007 (late) when the keyboard was missing a FEW letters (my own fault - don't ask...), ad the monitor was 1/2 way falling off at the bottom bevel hook-type plastic. Otherwise.... my machine NEVER let me down. I did not want to retire my best friend, iBook. She was with me for about 4 years. She still works and I will use her from time to time.

Since 2007 I have purchased a total of 5 WINDOWS LAPTOPS (2 Dell systems around $800-1,000; 2 HP systems @ $700ish; and 1 Toshiba @ $900)

My daily activities include blogging, web design, online classes (college grad student and other certifications), and running an e-comm business. Since I am a web designer with her own firm - I NEED A RELIABLE SYSTEM!

Windows is trash. I should not have to purchase a new laptop every 6-8 months. I used to spend over $2,000 on Windows at each purchase but lately I realize there is NO reason to do so. Lifes rule in general is you get what you paid for. This rule does not seem to apply with Windows. Pay $500 or $5,000 -- same system, same lagging, same crashing, same screen of death.

My Mac did not fail me in 4 years (AND STILL GOING STRONG)!!! I am VERY excited to spend $3,000 next week and be done with it for a few years. I used to have laptops for so long that I would develop a relationship (of sorts...). Lately I can barely get used to the USB port spots before it's time to lay the new laptop to rest under my bed (laptop graveyard).

Yes, Mac is expensive but it is a worthy investment. Consider how much money I have spent in the past 3 years versus a Mac.

WINDOWS: (3 years) Aprox. $4500 (plus a huge headache, screaming, loss of files, time, and had to go shopping five times--- 2 of which were emergencies and I had to locate a store open late at night)

MAC: (4 years and still going strong) -- $3,000

Apple is not stupid. They price their systems high because they realize you won't have to replace your system as often as Windows. Consider WHY it is possible to buy a laptop at the same price (or lower) than an iPad.... The lifespan of a Mac is nearly 4-5x that of a Windows system.

All I know is that I have been a ****ed off woman for the past few years and cannot wait to get my beautiful new Mac. I use my laptop for nearly 12 hours a day and Windows just can't keep up. I was unable to purchase a Mac because I was pregnant than unemployed due to discrimination on the job.... but hey - that settlement check and other factors are now making it possible to pour $3k into a laptop and I'll NEVER EVER EVER go back to windows. I'd rather go out of business than use Windows again.

I promise anyone with doubts ..... once you go Mac, you'll never go back (and if you do because of money issues - you will find yourself choosing Mac over food shopping one day).

don't know what kind of PC cost you 4500$ lol. but i paid 1500$ for mine including a 22" monitor, about 3 years ago. i do photoshop, i do web design, i do gaming, i do a lot of stuff and my pc has not crashed more than 5 times since i built it. and the only thing that cost me more money was that i purchased another hdd to add to it. never had lost files, never had to replace parts on it, never had headaches about it. the problem that you faces seemed more like an user error rather than the operating system. and its nice to see that you signed up just to post that lol.

[DeadEndAccount]

I have a nice PowerPC G4 @ 1.33 GHz system at home with 1.5 Gigs RAM (also running 10.4.11).

Unfortunately, 2010 seemed like when PowerPC really died. Updates and software stopped coming out, and World of Warcraft finally removed/dropped PowerPC support.

Even so, 5 years of support after a product had killed off is pretty good in the world of IT. At some point businesses have to ask themselves whether there is a business case to keep supporting a platform that has been EOL'ed and for many 2010 was marked as the end of the line for PowerPC users when it came to new products coming out still supporting it. Mind you the flip side is Adobe used to complain about how annoying it was to specifically optimise code for PowerPC so now there is no excuse for Adobe not deliver a high optimised product given that both Windows and Mac OS X both share the same platform but I won't hold my breath waiting for things to change - more likely than not they'll come up with a whole new litany of excuses as to why Creative Suite performs worse on Mac OS X than Windows :)

[treemonster]

Even so, 5 years of support after a product had killed off is pretty good in the world of IT. At some point businesses have to ask themselves whether there is a business case to keep supporting a platform that has been EOL'ed and for many 2010 was marked as the end of the line for PowerPC users when it came to new products coming out still supporting it. Mind you the flip side is Adobe used to complain about how annoying it was to specifically optimise code for PowerPC so now there is no excuse for Adobe not deliver a high optimised product given that both Windows and Mac OS X both share the same platform but I won't hold my breath waiting for things to change - more likely than not they'll come up with a whole new litany of excuses as to why Creative Suite performs worse on Mac OS X than Windows :)

you do know that ms gives adobe alot of support for windows where as apple seems to hate adobe right?

[carson2255]

Hardware wise both platforms are the same, so it depends on what you want to use in terms of software. The upgrade cycle shouldnt be any different assuming you use the same software. Although you should keep in mind the cost will be a lot different.

[DeadEndAccount]

<please delete post>

[treemonster]

judging by your join date i'm guessing you missed many, many front page reports here on apple and flash/adobe and microsoft. nevermind that's it's fairly well known that hardware drivers from nvidia and amd have much better performance under windows in both dx and opengl modes than osx, especially if you dualbooted both osx and windows and are a gamer and compared performance and possible IQ settings on your mac between games that could now be run on both. drivers and game performance has improved a bit under osx, but have no illusions that any given windows version of a program that also has an osx version is not going to run better on windows.

[DeadEndAccount]

judging by your join date i'm guessing you missed many, many front page reports here on apple and flash/adobe and microsoft. nevermind that's it's fairly well known that hardware drivers from nvidia and amd have much better performance under windows in both dx and opengl modes than osx, especially if you dualbooted both osx and windows and are a gamer and compared performance and possible IQ settings on your mac between games that could now be run on both. drivers and game performance has improved a bit under osx, but have no illusions that any given windows version of a program that also has an osx version is not going to run better on windows.

I'm well aware of the discussion - Neowin isn't the only place I obtain news from. I deleted my previous post because I really can't be bothered getting into a flame war - even if I bought a truck load of evidence the discussion would lead no where. I'm not apologising for Apple but just pointing out that it has as much to do with Apple as it has with Adobe (It took Apple until recently to finally provide 'Pepper Extensions' to NPAPI so that Adobe could implement hardware acceleration using 'Core Animation' but at the same time Adobe is also guilty of failing to make its code as efficient as its Windows counter part).

As for the performance of drivers - Microsoft and Apple handle these issues differently. In the Apple world Apple provides a generic non-hardware specific implementation of OpenGL which doesn't use very low level tweaks in its code for specific hardware when compared to OpenGL as delivered on Windows where it is the vendors themselves who provide the OpenGL stack. One provides a relatively ok performance that is consistent across the board and the other allows greater optimisation for specific GPU's given OpenGL is left up to the hardware vendor but it makes game writers work more difficult as they trip over vendor specific bugs. In the case of DirectX versus OpenGL performance numbers, Microsoft is in a stronger position when compared to Apple as well - Microsoft is able to flex a lot more muscle to ensure that they're able to optimise DirectX performance to the max.

[treemonster]

my point is that ms provides a truckload of support for devs on it's platform, apple seems to tell one of their biggest supporters to go **** themselves. strange considering almost everyone i have ever met buys their mac for photoshop or "creative design"

[DeadEndAccount]

my point is that ms provides a truckload of support for devs on it's platform, apple seems to tell one of their biggest supporters to go **** themselves. strange considering almost everyone i have ever met buys their mac for photoshop or "creative design".

No the point is you've provided no evidence - that is the problem. Simply making a statement and expecting it to stand without any evidence to back it up or at least some sort of ontological argument demonstrates a complete lack of form when it comes to discussing a given matter. I've provided an example where Apple has let down developers and explained the situation regarding the drivers however you keep repeating something repeatedly believing that it is some sort of truism, a self evident statement that needn't require any sort of evidence or argument to back it up hence the reason I said previously that this discussion will ultimately lead no where.

[treemonster]

brb digging up all the front page news post from 2010 on the subject... :rolleyes:

i don't see you posting any links or sourced quotes so that's a pretty moot point.

[DeadEndAccount]

brb digging up all the front page news post from 2010 on the subject... :rolleyes:

i don't see you posting any links or sourced quotes so that's a pretty moot point.

It is hardly my fault that you ignore this point: "or at least some sort of ontological argument" which I noted above - in lieu of evidence provide an ontological argument instead.

Edit: and when I mean 'sort of' I mean, "here is a problem, this problem causes this, and here are examples".

For example, "Apple doesn't care about third parties to the same degree as Microsoft - for example, if one observes when Firefox started to move from GDI to Direct2D they found some bugs and performance issues. The Mozilla developers got in contact with Microsoft and Microsoft worked with them to sort out the bug in Direct2D with the result being a hotfix released through 'Windows Update' to address the matter. This can be compared to Apple for example where Mozilla developers have found bugs in AppKit but when reported to Apple the only response was that they acknowledge the bug but they aren't going to fix it."

That would be a coherent argument - you've identified a problem, you've given an example, you've compared it and thus your post has gone beyond a quick statement but something that has 'meat on the bone'.

[treemonster]

this getting off topic, but just to be sure i looked up ontological

Ontology (from the Greek ὄν, genitive ὄντος: "of being" (neuter participle of εἶναι: "to be") and -λογία, -logia: science, study, theory) is the philosophical study of the nature of being, existence or reality as such, as well as the basic categories of being and their relations. Traditionally listed as a part of the major branch of philosophy known as metaphysics, ontology deals with questions concerning what entities exist or can be said to exist, and how such entities can be grouped, related within a hierarchy, and subdivided according to similarities and differences.

from wiki.

:blink: :blink: :blink: :blink: :blink: :blink: :blink:

i dunno where you've been that you missed the whole steam coming to osx thing where mac users immediately noticed that games on steam under osx ran much worse on lower iq settings than they did after booting into windows on the exact same machine.

EDIT:if you'd like to discuss reasonable discussion, the itnernet and you, that might make for an interesting thread. speaking of which, deleting your post is lame.

[Dinggus]

I can see myself keeping my Mac for awhile. Only reason I didn't keep my laptop was due to it going to Iraq and sucking up alot of sand. But, I had that for 4 years.

[Guest]

My 3 year old MacBook is still going strong, just with somebody else

Intend to keep my new 27" i7 for 4-5 years.

[Shadrack]

Such a question is completely unrelated to whether it is a Mac or PC. It all depends on what you use your computer for.

This. What is the measure for "requiring" an upgrade is entirely up to the user (and their pocket books). Comparing PC to Mac hardware is currently comparing apples to apples. Apple refreshes their hardware often enough that if you want to upgrade every year you can.

[.Neo]

my point is that ms provides a truckload of support for devs on it's platform, apple seems to tell one of their biggest supporters to go **** themselves. strange considering almost everyone i have ever met buys their mac for photoshop or "creative design"

Adobe, Microsoft and Steam mentioned on several occasions that they are closely working together with Apple to work on problems. So where exactly do you get your information from?

[Miuku]

Adobe, Microsoft and Steam mentioned on several occasions that they are closely working together with Apple to work on problems. So where exactly do you get your information from?

Where do you think? Where do you think many of the news commenter or the Apple haters get their information from?

Yeah, that dark place.

[REM2000]

I have found that Mac hardware tends to stay around longer and keep it's price well. Although im sure that higher end PC/Windows equipment will still remain around, stuff like the ThinkPad, old Compaq/HP (Business Class) never seem to run out of steam.

As for usuability i also find that you can stretch mac's for a bit longer. I have a 2005 PowerBook G4 1.67GHZ 1GB RAM on Leopard and it can run pretty much anything i throw at it and it runs it well. It's only hamstring is the 1GB RAM however it doesn't effect it that much, it's pretty good with memory.

Due to the big gap between XP and Vista/7 it's sort of created a reprieve, as Microsoft pretty much had the 3 year OS cycle going which would push out older hardware. However with XP still being around and fully supported it means that older computers can still run the old OS without a problem from support point of view and take advantage of the lower specifications needed to get XP going.

One thing i will say is that for many in the PC field, myself included, is that we do get surrounded by the cheaper PC's so its hard to remember the higher end hardware. For example i purchased a set of Lenovo's, great price and great performance for what they were intended to do (Microsoft Office + Surf + Network Logon etc). However when it came to performance compared to my 4 year old MacBook, the Lenovo's were choking on HD content whilst the MacBook played it without a problem, however if a little more money was to be put into the Lenovo's then im sure they would have lasted a little longer and had better performance, however they would still not keep their money as well as a Mac.

[Quillz]

My "BlackBook" from late 2007 needed a new battery less than six months after purchase, and the screen completely died just a few months ago, less than two years of total ownership. I have a Dell from around the same time frame that continues to work just fine.

[nub]

Such a question is completely unrelated to whether it is a Mac or PC. It all depends on what you use your computer for.

Pretty much this. Hardware is going to advance at the same pace whether its in a mac box or a pc box.

[rajputwarrior]

last i checked my ibook that i sold over 4 years ago is still working without a problem and that thing has to be 7 years old by now (sold it to a friend). I sold my last macbook to a guy i used to work with and that was 3 years ago and it's still working (though i did have the casing replaced and LCD replaced on it).

[nub]

I don't understand people. Mac hardware still works 5 years later. Yes. Its amazing it doesn't explode after a certain time limit. Mac hardware must be special...

[inactive]

The Mac upgrade cycle is little longer than the average PC, and with the exception of a possible RAm upgrade I would imagine that you could get a good 3 years out of your machine.

Having said that, if the list is also what you did on your PC, you could have done it on at worst a 2 year upgrade cycle, and I struggle to see what you were upgrading every 6-12 months. I have had my PC for close to 18 months, and whilst it isn't as fast as the latest and greatest, I reckon I will keep it until at least mid-end 2009.

i think anyone who don't do nothing to extreme on a PC could easily last 3 years on a PC for 'general use'. i don't see 4GB of ram being 'slow' (as in not enough) for a EASY 3-5 years because for general use 4GB is a lot considering the OS might burn MAYBE 1GB-ish. ( i got 2GB myself and that's still decent enough for general use on Win7. although nowadays i would not go less than 2GB otherwise you could start to take a big hit in overall performance i would suspect especially users on Vista/7 although i am sure XP could get by with 1GB or so.)

my PC is basically going on 5 years this upcoming March and it's still respectable for general use. (sure, a newer PC would be noticeably quicker for general use but nothing night and day)