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Do iMacs breakdown easily ?

zombierunner

zombierunner

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Jan 18, 2011
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I read a lot of posts here about people having some major issues with their iMacs like hard drives failing, logic boards, or iMac won't start up ... Boot issues .... Goes to sleep .. Won't wake up .. I am planning to buy my first iMac and it's made me wonder if it will last atleast 5 years .... Can't afford to replace my iMac every 2 years like some folks down here ... Please help me out here .... Are these failing iMacs uber old or iMacs do toast too long.
 
Some obviously fail but why might be important

Hello, I myself am considering an iMac and have a similar concerns. I know several iMac owners and 3 in the immediate family. one is 3 years old 24" and has just failed majorly for the second time. in the last was a rapid total failure after restarting without warning twice, It does not even show the dreaded blue screen of doom and does not start up at all or show any sign of life on the screen. A year ago a harddisk crash required an expensive repair. The two other 27" iMacs are 2 and 1 year old and have shown no problems at all. Also the 24" machine was subjected to several power failure abd was not protected by UPS - that of course might have caused the problem originally. This is also not a statistically representative number to base an conclusions on but if you are worried, try to find some stat if they exist...and tracable.

I love the iMacs but have a Mac Pro myself which also has advantages if something fails...

Good luck
 
ifvand said:
This is also not a statistically representative number to base an conclusions on but if you are worried, try to find some stat if they exist...and tracable.
Click to expand...

I think you are just awesome for pointing that out. I don't see that very often.
 
For the anecdote, I have an 21" that's into it's 4th year and it is in perfect condition, without any occurrence of hardware incident... But as ifvand rightly points out, individual examples are of no value for assessing the reliability of iMacs.

In the past, there seems to have been issues on a particular batch of iMac's due to a particular series of a third-party manufactured component (logic board, I believe), that gave way to higher failure rate.

Whatsoever, Apple is year after year the leader in the industry in terms of customer satisfaction, be it on the product itself or on the customer-care aspect. I don't think that would happen if iMacs were statistically as unreliable as the complaints you have seen make them to be. Bear in mind that people on the forum are more likely to report a problem (and seek advice to solve it) than to start a thread to say how satisfied they are with their purchase.
 
In the final analysis, an iMac, or any of Apple's other products is simply a piece of electronic equipment which has the ability to break down! There is no way anyone can guarantee the life of a computer.

As far as the so-called reports you have read, don't forget that forums such as this one are magnets to the moaners and wingers who, in my opinion, seem to find some sort of satisfaction in complaining about the most trivial of things! As has already been said, these represent an absolute minuscule percentage of the total ownership and for all intents and purposes they should be interpreted for what they are and should not influence your final purchasing decision.
 
your iMac won't last 5 years without a hdd replacement. Why do I type this? Most hdds don't last 5 years if they are used on a daily basis. Now on the good news side.

The new iMac will have T-Bolt. So if an extra wire does not drive you crazy an external hdd can be used over the internal hdd as a boot drive with better speed then the internal drive. The iMac's biggest flaw is the hdd is not accessible. The iMac's second biggest flaw is if the internal dies the fastest external is connected by fw800.

I own an iMac and I won't buy another if the T-bolt hookup is not bootable or if the hdd can't be simply swapped out.

I want this unit to be bootable:


http://www.lacie.com/us/technologies/technology.htm?id=10039


I will have no worries if it is.
 
iMacs may not break down more frequently but other types of computers can be easier to get into and replace parts.
 
John T said:
In the final analysis, an iMac, or any of Apple's other products is simply a piece of electronic equipment which has the ability to break down! There is no way anyone can guarantee the life of a computer.

As far as the so-called reports you have read, don't forget that forums such as this one are magnets to the moaners and wingers who, in my opinion, seem to find some sort of satisfaction in complaining about the most trivial of things! As has already been said, these represent an absolute minuscule percentage of the total ownership and for all intents and purposes they should be interpreted for what they are and should not influence your final purchasing decision.
Click to expand...

+84050483058093409

Forums rarely attract people with genuine problems, most are smart enough to call Apple if something real happens. Forums instead attract whiners, complainers, and trolls.

I've owned several macs since I had switched to them and have never had a single problem, same goes for people I know who have Macs. They are excellent, well built machines made with high quality components.

That being said there is always a chance for hardware to fail. It doesn't happen often but it can happen.
 
If you are concerned, buy the AppleCare protection plan - you have the entire 1st year to pick it up and, it buys you 2 extra years piece of mind for $149.

By the time the 3rd year ends, if you are still concerned, sell it used and get a good bit of $$$ back and buy a new one...

I built a PC 3.5 yrs ago and the mobo just failed...it isn't worth replacing because all the other components are 3.5 yrs old as well...it is like patching an old roof, yeah, the band-aid works for now but how long until another piece fails? I'm recouping my loss as best as I can and ebaying my processor, RAM and CPU cooler...more money to the iMac fund...

So no matter what platform you choose, you are a slave to made in China technology...but after two iPhones and seeing how well they have held up, I'm willing to give an iMac a chance.
 
I know a lot of imac owners that have no problems, ever.

I use a Pro tower and replace the main drive yearly. YEARLY, seriously. It's like clockwork. Naturally, the original drive was replaced long ago. The HD is the only part I would seriously worry about on an iMac... it can be replaced, tho, with a bit of cash for service. Get the 3 year plan, no matter what. AppleCare is excellent.
 
philipma1957 said:
your iMac won't last 5 years without a hdd replacement. Why do I type this? Most hdds don't last 5 years if they are used on a daily basis. Now on the good news side.
Click to expand...

Last year I retired a home server that had been running 24/7 since 2001 with 2 HDDs and never a problem.

I do like the idea of a T-Bolt external boot drive.
 
I have no experience from iMac, but my MacBook Pro is at least going strong since 2008, and I'd just like to say that it's easy to get the wrong impression about hardware when reading forums, since those having no problems at all rarely post that they are happy. Instead you see, say, 5 out of 10 posts about people having trouble, 4 out of 10 discussing their hardware or being curious, and 1 out of 10 telling how happy they are and how they have no problems. But this doesn't mean 50% of all that hardware is bad and only 10% is good! That would make huge headlines in the news if true. It's just that posting about problems is a major reason to participate in a forum - in order to ask for advice or feedback.

This isn't related to Apple, but applies to everything from Apple to speakers to Samsung monitors or ATI graphics cards. :) Hardware in general... So I wouldn't try to read all too much into it.

I usually use news as a filter for this. If problems start appearing in media like front page MacRumors news or elsewhere - then it's widespread and perhaps something to consider more before deciding for a purchase.
 
Most people that have issues with their mac are less likely to state so on this forum. I for one have never told my imac probs, I simply called Apple. Apple does indeed have quality issues and the sad thing is, their dishonest about it. It can take a lot of effort to get apple to come clean on a matter of concern and if they do, Apple will continue to sell the product. They have been caught many times.

The best weapon against this is, Apple Care.
 
Apple MBP is known to have more problems then an IMAC. This is partially due to the MBP mobility and abuse.
Apple makes a good machine and the percentge that fail are very small in comparison to the number sold.
AppleCare is a nice fail safe in the event your Imac does go bad. Its well worth the price.
 
philipma1957 said:
your iMac won't last 3 years without a hdd replacement. Why do I type this? Most hdds in Macs don't last 2 years if they are used on a daily basis.
.
Click to expand...

fixed that for ya...

iMac design is, yet again form over function and is an awful design for thermal dissipation.

Never had an HDD go in a tower PC, and the oldest one is 7 years old!!

Never had a HDD in a desktop Mac last more than 26 mths....mini and Imac.
 
archipellago said:
fixed that for ya...

iMac design is, yet again form over function and is an awful design for thermal dissipation.

Never had an HDD go in a tower PC, and the oldest one is 7 years old!!

Never had a HDD in a desktop Mac last more than 26 mths....mini and Imac.
Click to expand...

You've had bad luck, but that isn't going to be everyone's experience. My iMac is three years old and I've not had a problem with the hard drive. As far as I can tell hard drives in iMacs are no more likely to break than in any other computer, but it is harder to replace them when they do.
 
Oh seriously?
If you are worried about the new ones here's my advice.
Get yourself a polycarbonate one - but be careful. Here's which one you need to get. Get the last Intel plastic iMac BEFORE the aluminium ones came out. I have one, and apart from ONE kernel panic (my fault yes, I know) it has never failed me. Get one of those and then upgrade the RAM to 4GB. I've done that on my and is faster than any computer I ever used.

And for some people who say HDDs on iMacs don't last 2 years, mine has lasted about 5 1/2 years. I'm typing on it now, it works like a dream.

So don't have your doubts.

"Congratulations. You and your iMac were made for each other."
 
Never had a HDD in a desktop Mac last more than 26 mths....mini and Imac.
Click to expand...

Oh really? I've got an iMac HDD thats been used in a 2006 iMac for 4 years, and the iMac died before the HDD did. I pulled out that hard drive and am using it as an external HDD - Its still going today :)
 
philipma1957 said:
your iMac won't last 5 years without a hdd replacement. Why do I type this? Most hdds don't last 5 years if they are used on a daily basis. Now on the good news side.

I have two Macs (one iMac) that are 5 years old and they have the original HDD. No problem so far at all.
Click to expand...
 
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