Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
What is your longest lasting Apple product?
- Thread starter MacBH928
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
I have a 2013 11" MacBook Air that is still going strong. A couple years ago I opened it up, dusted it out and put in a new battery. It's more of a backup machine than anything else right now, and is currently running the Big Sur beta.
This is the second 11" MBA I've owned, and each one has performed beautifully. I've owned easily a dozen Mac laptops, going back to the "Wall Street" G3 back in like 2001, and I think the second generation of MacBook Air (pre butterfly nonsense) are some of the best Macs Apple has ever made. Honestly if this 2013 just had a better display it would be the ideal Mac laptop for me.
I'm also using an AirPort Extreme that's been in service 24/7 since 2014. I have it connected by Ethernet to an AirPort Express of the same vintage. I guess I "should" update at some point, but frankly it's been a set-it-and-forget it experience and my internet is running quite nicely.
This is the second 11" MBA I've owned, and each one has performed beautifully. I've owned easily a dozen Mac laptops, going back to the "Wall Street" G3 back in like 2001, and I think the second generation of MacBook Air (pre butterfly nonsense) are some of the best Macs Apple has ever made. Honestly if this 2013 just had a better display it would be the ideal Mac laptop for me.
I'm also using an AirPort Extreme that's been in service 24/7 since 2014. I have it connected by Ethernet to an AirPort Express of the same vintage. I guess I "should" update at some point, but frankly it's been a set-it-and-forget it experience and my internet is running quite nicely.
Last edited:
This thread makes me realize that our house is in some ways the "Old Mac Tech" museum...
Our house phone is an iPhone 4s (Frankenstein'ed repair of white and black models that used to belong to each of our daughters; one had a cracked screen, the other had no wifi, so I combined the working parts).
Our wifi is still provided by a Time Capsule 1TB, circa 2008?
My daily driver is a 2010 Mac Pro (upgraded ram/SSD/GPU, but no motherboard replacement). There's a backup cMP in the basement for the day the main one croaks.
Up until quite recently I was using a 23" Cinema display with the Mac Pro, but a UPS incident recently took it out (don't ever buy CyberPower, crap UPS). Still using the 24" LED Cinema display.
I keep a PowerMac G4 Mirror Drive Door model in the basement for occasional use (mostly as a system to run extended SMART tests on rotational drive media).
I love those little square 6th gen iPod Nanos; I've got four of 'em! Right now two are in use (one for podcasts, one for music), and the other two I'm in the process of repairing.
The iMac in the kitchen is a 2009 model, running unsupported Sierra or High Sierra (can't remember, it doesn't see much use other than youtube while cooking or doing dishes).
Our house phone is an iPhone 4s (Frankenstein'ed repair of white and black models that used to belong to each of our daughters; one had a cracked screen, the other had no wifi, so I combined the working parts).
Our wifi is still provided by a Time Capsule 1TB, circa 2008?
My daily driver is a 2010 Mac Pro (upgraded ram/SSD/GPU, but no motherboard replacement). There's a backup cMP in the basement for the day the main one croaks.
Up until quite recently I was using a 23" Cinema display with the Mac Pro, but a UPS incident recently took it out (don't ever buy CyberPower, crap UPS). Still using the 24" LED Cinema display.
I keep a PowerMac G4 Mirror Drive Door model in the basement for occasional use (mostly as a system to run extended SMART tests on rotational drive media).
I love those little square 6th gen iPod Nanos; I've got four of 'em! Right now two are in use (one for podcasts, one for music), and the other two I'm in the process of repairing.
The iMac in the kitchen is a 2009 model, running unsupported Sierra or High Sierra (can't remember, it doesn't see much use other than youtube while cooking or doing dishes).
I have nothing but good experience with Cyberpower UPS’s.
Whenever they kick in, everything continues to function as normal.
Maybe it’s that American Electricity.....
I have nothing but good experience with Cyberpower UPS’s.
Whenever they kick in, everything continues to function as normal.
Maybe it’s that American Electricity.....
Well, I'll tell the story and see if you think a different conclusion is warranted. One day about a year ago I was using my Mac Pro, and realized that the power supply for the backup disk that I wanted to use wouldn't fit on the power strip, because the orientation of the pins would interfere with an adjacent power plug. "No problem," I thought, "I'll just re-arrange the plugs on the fly because my Mac and its monitor are powered through the CyberPower UPS. The display shows five bars of capacity, so it certainly should be able to supply the juice for the ten seconds it will require to unplug the CyberPower's plug and move it to accommodate the backup disk's power supply." So I unplug the CyberPower UPS, it starts beeping as expected, but to my horror I look up at it and see that the battery level on the display is now showing completely depleted - zero bars! And then before I can even get it plugged in again I hear a longer, strangled beep and all of the devices plugged into the UPS shut off abruptly. The UPS was about two years old at that point.
So I move the power plugs as needed, reboot the Mac, and now the 23" Cinema display won't come up - it shows a dark screen and the funny blinking sequence on the status LED. My 24" LED Cinema display still works, so I limp along with that. After searching the Internet I find that the likely cause is that the 3.3 voltage regulator is blown on the 23" display.
So, the only adverse electrical event between the period when the display worked five minutes before, and its current non-functional condition is that the CyberPower UPS tried to bridge a power outage with a dead battery. My guess is that the unit lost AC output regulation in that last gasp of trying to power the load with the dead battery, and sent a spike of voltage into the loads. It's worth noting that the reason that CyberPower units are cheaper than the competing APC units is because they don't offer over-voltage regulation - with an APC unit (or at least some APC units) if the incoming AC is above line level the APC UPS will down-regulate it to an acceptable output voltage.
To be fair, there were other instances of short power outages where the CyberPower unit carried the load across the outage without incident. But it's unforgivable that the unit would cause damage as a result of the fairly common experience of battery depletion - all batteries eventually die, and since the unit doesn't provide any advance warning about the true state of the battery, one runs a substantial risk in continuing to use a CyberPower UPS.
Yes, but that was irrelevant (the state of the battery was such that there was no time for the computer to react). Moreover, even if the computer had reacted swiftly to a warning from the UPS via the USB cable and was starting to shut down (and the computer have thrown a shutdown warning dialog up on screen, I was on my knees behind the computer and wouldn't have seen it), that would not have influenced what happened to the display. The display was plugged into the CyberPower UPS and wasn't getting a shutdown command.
Edit: you appear to have edited your response above, so I will address that. There was no external, outside-the-house generated power outage that damaged the display separately. It was me, unplugging a CyberPower UPS that had a Mac and a display plugged into the UPS. Any over-voltage event that occurred had to come from the UPS, both from the point of view of coincidence in time, and what was plugged into what. Perhaps some people would find it acceptable that equipment gets damaged when a UPS shuts off abruptly, but I don't. I expect equipment to fail safe, hence my harsh judgement of CyberPower.
Last edited:
I have two 2008 iMac 24" C2Ds that I've had from new, both are still used daily (because they're just too reliable to bin), one of which has been left permanently switched on since day one and both are performing as if they are straight out of the box. But I also have, although retired from active service many moons ago, a 1st gen G4 PowerBook, bought new in 2002 which, again, still works as it properly should.
I agree wholeheartedly with you. I am so happy at my 11" MBA for 2012. Still running, if not better than my MacBook Pro 13" (2019).
2001 original iPod 10gb. Used every night, all night for light music using a pillow speaker (about 30 different ones). So, 19 years and counting.
My mom still uses my 2010 white Macbook.
It still runs like a champ (I replaced the battery, put a new SSD and added RAM about 1 year ago).
MacBook Pro 15”, mid 2012, (non Retina). That thing was a workhorse, it was like Duracell bunny, it just kept going and going. Sold it last year, I am sure it still serves its current owner well.
Sold it last year, I am sure it still serves its current owner well.I received an Ebay order this week. A PowerBook G4 12" a machine that I've always wanted since 2003 when it was introduced and I went to Uni and ending up with its poor brother as a substitute the iBook G4 12". Now I just need to find a battery replacement but it seems that it's harder this side of the pond in the UK.
Still after 17 years, I love this machine.
Still after 17 years, I love this machine.
While I haven't had it that long, I was given a PowerBook G4 Titanium back in 2014 (it didn't power on, the PRAM battery was dead shorted) and looking at the bottom it's copyright Apple Computer Inc, 2000. That makes it now 20 years old and still working on most modern sites (through hacks). The battery that was in it also works (although it only lasts for an hour or hour and a half. the latter playing music the other just sitting with the screen on). My second oldest is an iPhone 4 I found discarded at a junkyard. It worked last time I tried putting a SIM into it, sadly it's on iOS 7 (which i despise) and cannot be downgraded. I found it in 2018. It's in bad shape but still works.
This experience is why I still own Apple products. I don't support e-waste or disposability so I buy Apple to ensure long lasting items. I know many have 'laughed' at posts of me saying it but I seeing as I baby all my stuff, and don't abuse it, I expect my 2019 MBP to last 20 years like my PowerBook. The PowerBook is at the disadvantage given its archaic OS, 20 year old NiMH battery pack, dying SuperDrive (it will destroy discs if you use it too much), and a spinning hard disk that's been clicking and freezing the system doing anything intensive for a few years now. My MBP has the upper hand with more RAM, me disabling updates, an SSD, and Li-Ion battery.
This experience is why I still own Apple products. I don't support e-waste or disposability so I buy Apple to ensure long lasting items. I know many have 'laughed' at posts of me saying it but I seeing as I baby all my stuff, and don't abuse it, I expect my 2019 MBP to last 20 years like my PowerBook. The PowerBook is at the disadvantage given its archaic OS, 20 year old NiMH battery pack, dying SuperDrive (it will destroy discs if you use it too much), and a spinning hard disk that's been clicking and freezing the system doing anything intensive for a few years now. My MBP has the upper hand with more RAM, me disabling updates, an SSD, and Li-Ion battery.
iphone6 was the longest i have ever had an apple device. i have bought and other iphones before but this iphone6 was the one i was going to give it the "old college try" and so i had that phone for about 6 months before getting rid of it. back then there was so many things it didn't do that my android phones did. and so i had to adios to it.
The oldest daily-used Apple product has been a December 1999-vintage G4 PowerMac, which remained in use until April 2017, when it was finally retired (still in working order). It had seen a couple of HD replacements, RAM upgrades, a replacement optical drive and a CPU upgrade, but was otherwise perfectly serviceable.
My actual older Apple gear however is a bit older. 1984 and 1986 Apple IIc computers - the elder one with a Z-RAM 1Mb memory board which are used for Appleworks and Visicalc, and a PowerBook 1400cs, which I think dates to 1996, has had no work done on it, and runs system 9. The LCD is rather dimmer than it once was, but otherwise it too works perfectly.
The benefit of these old systems (to me at least) is that they allow me to focus on work, not the distractions posed by more modern systems that have internet things and email.
I do have much later systems though, because sometimes the internet is useful.
My actual older Apple gear however is a bit older. 1984 and 1986 Apple IIc computers - the elder one with a Z-RAM 1Mb memory board which are used for Appleworks and Visicalc, and a PowerBook 1400cs, which I think dates to 1996, has had no work done on it, and runs system 9. The LCD is rather dimmer than it once was, but otherwise it too works perfectly.
The benefit of these old systems (to me at least) is that they allow me to focus on work, not the distractions posed by more modern systems that have internet things and email.
I do have much later systems though, because sometimes the internet is useful.
Mac mini 2012.
Bought the quad-core model at almost 20% off retail price in late 2012. Greatest value-for-money purchase of a Mac I've made. Used as my primary Mac for 6 to 7 years. Only surpassed in performance 6 years after release by the late 2018 successor. Even did 4K30 over DisplayPort (although not officially supported and with a few - though just minor - glitches).
Bought the quad-core model at almost 20% off retail price in late 2012. Greatest value-for-money purchase of a Mac I've made. Used as my primary Mac for 6 to 7 years. Only surpassed in performance 6 years after release by the late 2018 successor. Even did 4K30 over DisplayPort (although not officially supported and with a few - though just minor - glitches).
Just wanted to add that before my dad passed in 2016, he was still using the original iPhone from 2007 via T-Mobile (somehow compatible). He never really got into smartphones, but his RAZR VIII from Cingular died when AT&T shut down GPRS, so his friend gave him the iPhone. He only called, texted and used Safari. By 2015, the display was at max brightness yet barely visible, the camera app just tried to load but booted you back to the home screen, and battery was a few hours at best.
iPhone 4 in iOS 7 as a glorified iPod. And although I replace my iPad 2 cellular with an iPad 7th gen...the iPad 2 is still good for streaming and watching TV
Our Goodwills are stacked to the brim with the older 30-pin style iHome speaker docks lately. Maybe I should pick up one just to use my old iPhone 4 as an iPod? It's still got like 650 MP3s on it.