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Good bye, a dedication to the best computer i've ever had.

K

ksolano

macrumors regular
Original poster
Oct 31, 2006
184
0
Last night my 5year old white imac core duo died. Maybe a logic board failure, or something else but either way the computer wont boot, turn on anymore.
Now for nearly 5years my trusted imac with its humble 1.83GHz processor and 1gig of ram saw me through the rise of Youtube, Skype, HTML5 to WoW. The little 20" imac held my hand through everything the computer world & the internet age created. The white stayed white, its airport wireless rocked on its whole life & worked flawlessly for such a long time.
Its amazing how a computer can last so long & do so much with modest capabilities & its a sad good bye to such a good friend for 5years. :(

Saying all that, hello new 21" core i5 3.60GHz iMac & i hope it serves me just as well. :D
 
ksolano said:
Last night my 5year old white imac core duo died. Maybe a logic board failure, or something else but either way the computer wont boot, turn on anymore.
Now for nearly 5years my trusted imac with its humble 1.83GHz processor and 1gig of ram saw me through the rise of Youtube, Skype, HTML5 to WoW. The little 20" imac held my hand through everything the computer world & the internet age created. The white stayed white, its airport wireless rocked on its whole life & worked flawlessly for such a long time.
Its amazing how a computer can last so long & do so much with modest capabilities & its a sad good bye to such a good friend for 5years. :(

Saying all that, hello new 21" core i5 3.60GHz iMac & i hope it serves me just as well. :D
Click to expand...

Is it normal and expected for an Apple computer to fail after just 5 years?

Tom B.
 
Btom said:
Is it normal and expected for an Apple computer to fail after just 5 years?

Tom B.
Click to expand...
I sold on a six year old iMac DV which last heard in 2008 was still going strong at 9 years old, and gave away a PB G4 which is now 7 years old and still working (although with a new Hard Disk). Both were made prior to the Intel migration of course.
 
I'm typing this on my CD iMac from January of '06 that has always run flawlessly. I'd say failure after 5 years is a fluke.

That being said, I still make backups regularly. ;)
 
Btom said:
Is it normal and expected for an Apple computer to fail after just 5 years?

Tom B.
Click to expand...

I will ask you a question...
Is "normal" for any computer to have SOME sort of failure after "just" 5 years? Actually... I'll even answer it for you. Yes.

That being said, our 2002 17" lamp arm iMac is still running.
Our Biondi Blue iMac still ran fine after 10 years.
My G4 still runs fine, and it is 10+ years.

Have I replaced things on them, and on my 5 year old white 24" iMac as well
(a video card), on the others I have replaced a power supply, a logic board, a hard drive, etc.. Some of that was covered under AppleCare, and some was on my dime. Does that mean they were a bad buy? No.

My 24" is becoming a family computer, and it is being replaced by a new 27" i7. I expect it to go for another 3-4 years.

Here is what you are missing, after a certain period of time you will WANT/need to upgrade, whether your computer is still functioning or not. Hard drives get bigger, computers get faster, RAM limits go up, and your new software may be constrained by your older hardware specs.

To the OP, sorry to see your trusty friend go. You might want to take it in to an Apple store and see what it takes to bring it back. For $200-300 it might be worth it to get an extra computer that you might be able to get another few good years out out, if the cost is higher though it might not be worth it. Enjoy your new iMac!
cheers,
michael
 
Btom said:
Is it normal and expected for an Apple computer to fail after just 5 years?

Tom B.
Click to expand...

Probably as likely as a PC going out. I had a PC desktop that went out after five years (closer to six though). On the other hand I still have a IBM Pentium 2 that sits and I had it running in a closet as a simple test serve till about '08. It's probably...hell 12 years old. Just needed a new fan on the CPU because the stock one burnt out. Still works as far as I know.

128mb of ram, wooo!
 
The longest I'd expect of a Macbook Pro is four years. A Mac Pro more like ten years. I think your iMac is just about right.
 
Jakelshark said:
Probably as likely as a PC going out. I had a PC desktop that went out after five years (closer to six though). On the other hand I still have a IBM Pentium 2 that sits and I had it running in a closet as a simple test serve till about '08. It's probably...hell 12 years old. Just needed a new fan on the CPU because the stock one burnt out. Still works as far as I know.

128mb of ram, wooo!
Click to expand...

The same here. My PC is ~12 years and still going strong (OK, I upgraded RAM to 1GB and HD to 120GB). 5 years is definitely not good IMHO.

Tom B.
 
ksolano said:
Last night my 5year old white imac core duo died. Maybe a logic board failure, or something else but either way the computer wont boot, turn on anymore.
Now for nearly 5years my trusted imac with its humble 1.83GHz processor and 1gig of ram saw me through the rise of Youtube, Skype, HTML5 to WoW. The little 20" imac held my hand through everything the computer world & the internet age created. The white stayed white, its airport wireless rocked on its whole life & worked flawlessly for such a long time.
Its amazing how a computer can last so long & do so much with modest capabilities & its a sad good bye to such a good friend for 5years. :(

Saying all that, hello new 21" core i5 3.60GHz iMac & i hope it serves me just as well. :D
Click to expand...

Ah man I went through the same thing. I said goodbye to my 5 year girlfriend, she had a logic failure as well. She just wouldn't make sense anymore. She had humble processing power and a small cup size, but she stuck with me through my rises and venereal advancements. She also stayed white, and worked flawlessly for such a long time (rocking away). Its amazing how a female can last so long and perform so greatly with modest capabilities, and its a sad goodbye to her because of her failure.

Saying all that, hello new bustier and more explorative processing power female. Hope you serve me just as well.
 
Salacion said:
Ah man I went through the same thing. I said goodbye to my 5 year girlfriend, she had a logic failure as well. She just wouldn't make sense anymore. She had humble processing power and a small cup size, but she stuck with me through my rises and venereal advancements. She also stayed white, and worked flawlessly for such a long time (rocking away). Its amazing how a female can last so long and perform so greatly with modest capabilities, and its a sad goodbye to her because of her failure.

Saying all that, hello new bustier and more explorative processing power female. Hope you serve me just as well.
Click to expand...

LOL!
 
what a great story

mlblacy said:
I will ask you a question...
Is "normal" for any computer to have SOME sort of failure after "just" 5 years? Actually... I'll even answer it for you. Yes.

That being said, our 2002 17" lamp arm iMac is still running.
Our Biondi Blue iMac still ran fine after 10 years.
My G4 still runs fine, and it is 10+ years.

Have I replaced things on them, and on my 5 year old white 24" iMac as well
(a video card), on the others I have replaced a power supply, a logic board, a hard drive, etc.. Some of that was covered under AppleCare, and some was on my dime. Does that mean they were a bad buy? No.

My 24" is becoming a family computer, and it is being replaced by a new 27" i7. I expect it to go for another 3-4 years.

Here is what you are missing, after a certain period of time you will WANT/need to upgrade, whether your computer is still functioning or not. Hard drives get bigger, computers get faster, RAM limits go up, and your new software may be constrained by your older hardware specs.

To the OP, sorry to see your trusty friend go. You might want to take it in to an Apple store and see what it takes to bring it back. For $200-300 it might be worth it to get an extra computer that you might be able to get another few good years out out, if the cost is higher though it might not be worth it. Enjoy your new iMac!
cheers,
michael
Click to expand...

Michael

how great that your iMacs last so long. I hope my new one will last at least 4 years (hopefully whatever issues I'm having now keep being software issues).

I would love to have an iMac last 5 years. And I hope the OP's new iMac lasts as long as his recently departed 5 year old iMac.
 
Salacion said:
Ah man I went through the same thing. I said goodbye to my 5 year girlfriend, she had a logic failure as well. She just wouldn't make sense anymore. She had humble processing power and a small cup size, but she stuck with me through my rises and venereal advancements. She also stayed white, and worked flawlessly for such a long time (rocking away). Its amazing how a female can last so long and perform so greatly with modest capabilities, and its a sad goodbye to her because of her failure.

Saying all that, hello new bustier and more explorative processing power female. Hope you serve me just as well.
Click to expand...

THE best post EVER!!!!
 
the pc i built myself just crashed maybe a month ago after 8 years of loyal service, however, I am now converting to a 27" iMac, cause I remember as a child my step dad always had the macs, I loved them, but this was like 14 years ago, Haha.
 
Btom said:
Is it normal and expected for an Apple computer to fail after just 5 years?
Click to expand...

Personally, I wouldn't know since I've never owned one for that long. I've been selling used and buying new on a 2 to 3 year cycle. Macs really hold their resale value, especially here in Japan. :)

Stirring eulogy from the OP though. I had a 20" Core Duo iMac too. Great machine!
 
5 years is not a lot. I am typing on a 4 years old MBP and I hope to get it working at least 2 or 3 years more... So a desktop computer should me a lot more.
 
Salacion said:
Ah man I went through the same thing. I said goodbye to my 5 year girlfriend, she had a logic failure as well. She just wouldn't make sense anymore. She had humble processing power and a small cup size, but she stuck with me through my rises and venereal advancements. She also stayed white, and worked flawlessly for such a long time (rocking away). Its amazing how a female can last so long and perform so greatly with modest capabilities, and its a sad goodbye to her because of her failure.

Saying all that, hello new bustier and more explorative processing power female. Hope you serve me just as well.
Click to expand...

Y-you win... that is the most epic one I have read in the past few weeks at least.
 
After switching from PCs with an average life of 2-3 years, I would be stoked to get 5 years from my iMac. I have one down and would love it if it lasted even longer. The consensus I had received was that 5 years would be a good estimate. It sounds as if some of you long time users have gotten quite a bit of time from your past endeavors. Do you think the smaller the units are getting, the less time they will last in the effort to reduce size over functionality?
 
All of my Macs (check sig) run flawlessly. I never had a single hardware issue in any of them besides my X800XT in my PowerMac G5 dying but I blame ATI for that.
 
My Early 2008(May 2008 to be exact) just failed last week. I took it in two the apple store, and is currently either getting a logic board,video card, display screen replacement, or all of the above. The DVD drive failed less then a year ago. Luckily it has all been replaced under applecare. I purchased it new from apple.com and am shocked it only lasted 2 years and 4 months...

I hope after getting all of this fixed, I will have a computer that will last for another 5 years or so....
 
Our G4 iMac runs fine. It never had a problem. The video ram is just too limited now with so much video and picture content on the web. Otherwise, it runs all the programs fine. I love the floating monitor.
 
Btom said:
The same here. My PC is ~12 years and still going strong (OK, I upgraded RAM to 1GB and HD to 120GB). 5 years is definitely not good IMHO.

Tom B.
Click to expand...

Your using a 300 mhz computer? /doubt

If you hadn't upgraded the HD, I think it would be safe to say by now it would have failed.

At this point I have no use for a 5 year old computer. So a 5 year life span is perfectly fine with me. The current trend for me is that I donate it to my parents and they browse the net with it.
 
I have the following:
Commodore 64: 25 years old, and still works.
No name 486 tower: given away after 3 years, working.
NeXT Cube & Turbocolor NeXT Station: 17 years old, still working.
Gateway PII Tower, 12 years old, still working.
2001 iBook, 2001 Dual G4 Powermac (donated to school), still working.
2002 G4 iMac flowerpot. Still working.
2005 (or so) G5 iMac: powersupply blows out on annual basis. Currently dead.
2007, 2008, mid-2010 iMacs: all running strong.

Based on this experience, I damn well expect computers that make it past the first few months to live forever - replacing the odd part or HD that fails, of course. The G5 iMac was the bitter pill out of the bunch, considering it was a fantastic machine otherwise, but my overall Apple experience is overwhelmingly positive.
 
Salacion said:
Ah man I went through the same thing. I said goodbye to my 5 year girlfriend, she had a logic failure as well. She just wouldn't make sense anymore. She had humble processing power and a small cup size, but she stuck with me through my rises and venereal advancements. She also stayed white, and worked flawlessly for such a long time (rocking away). Its amazing how a female can last so long and perform so greatly with modest capabilities, and its a sad goodbye to her because of her failure.

Saying all that, hello new bustier and more explorative processing power female. Hope you serve me just as well.
Click to expand...

This post made my day.
 
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