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What's the life expectancy on a current iMac?

R

riker1384

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jun 29, 2007
198
20
West Coast
I have an iMac that's about a year old. I also have a new PC that's slightly faster. I'm trying to figure out which one to use and which to sell.

I had an eMac whose hard drive died after 5 years. The screen was pretty blurry and maybe a little dim by then as well. So, I'm wondering how long this one will last. If the previous white ones were built in a similar manner, how have they held up?
 
That's a real hard one to answer as a number of things will affect how long your computer will last and also the fact that the Apple is not 'user-serviceable' would be contributing factors to how much it may cost in the unlikely event that it will breakdown in the foreseeable future.

I too, like you, have an iMac that's just over a year old, but also got PC's which I'm quite comfortable tinkering with.

If you're savvy with the insides of a PC then it may not pose too much of a problem for you should it break down. Whereas the Mac may cost you a bit of dosh if it's innards were to be exposed by a 'professional'.

Ultimately, you have to ask what's driving your need for the Apple over the PC or vice versa. For me, it's the software and the decent screen. A screen is easy, but OSX and it's various installed Apps I have are not available on a PC so I'm staying with a Mac even if it does take a tumble.

I guess the main things that could affect how long your Mac, or PC for that matter will last are:

Power (surges and spikes)
Heat
Environmental factors such as dust etc etc

I would put heat as highest ranking nemesis on your list.

Should anything fail, the most likely thing to go will be the Hard Disk - being mechanical and rather hot running. These are not expensive to replace as they used to be and frankly, by the time your Mac needs a new one, you will probably get something with a lot bigger capacity for very little money. Just shop around at the time and you'll see what I mean. I'd never buy a Disc off Apple without first checking the price of other hard disks elsewhere. Obviously, a motherboard replacement is a completely different matter altogether.

Apologies if this hasn't answered your question, but thought I'd pop my 2c in.


Cheers



R
 
Nobody knows, but it should last a decade.

On the other hand, you'll probably want to sell it and get a new one after 3 or 4 years anyway - just because of the pace of technology.
 
Macs life is much, much longer than PCs. PCs dies becouse of too many viruses etc. Some people still uses iMac G3s as main computer, PCs can't stay so long. My latop's (what I'm using now) hard drive died 4 months after I bought it (I'm not saying that Macs HW can't die), propably becouse of too many viruses (I download lots of torrents).
 
I have a three year old iMac (one of the original Intel iMacs). I had to replace its hard drive when it failed after two years. It's about half the speed of the new MBP I got from work, in things like code compilation and Handbrake. But it has a few years left in it. It'll go to the kids in a year or two, or maybe sooner considering my six year old has started doing things on it.

My wife's MacBook (one of the original ones from May 2006) has had two hard drive failures. But then, her work PC has had three hard drive failures in the same time so maybe it's her ...

I also have a seven year old Dell (1.8GHz P4 - roughly equivalent to a single core of a C2D running at 1GHz, 1GB RAM) and an 10 year old HP laptop (350MHz, 256MB RAM). The Dell's usable for routine tasks, and for some older games like Civ 2 and MOH:AA. I have Linux on the HP and boot it up only maybe twice a year, but it still works even though it once had a cup of coffee spilled into it. Neither have yet had any hardware failing.

I use my Macs 99% of the time, but saying Macs last longer than PCs is a bit silly. It depends on your circumstances, what you do with them, and luck of the draw as to the hardware.
 
mastershakess said:
Who keeps a computer more than 1-2 years now-a-days? You have to keep buying new ones/updating them to keep up with all the new technology!
Click to expand...

You can keep same computer over 5 years if you just use it carefully. My parents have 3½ years old PC desktop which is much better than my 1.5 years old laptop.

Problem is that people buys cheap stuff, doesn't think about quality which is way more important than price. If we buy ~500$ computer every year, think about that waste what'll come? Spending 1000$ more and that computer can do our job for 5 years.
 
My graphite clamshell iBook 366MHz lasted for seven years, and still runs, just isn't used. Its useful life expired around 5 years, maybe 5.5. (speaker is dead, battery doesn't work, but hey it's running Panther)

I bought my Macbook assuming that I would be able to make it last for that long. I have a pile of money waiting for the new iMac, and I assume that I can make it last until 2015.

Contrast this with my years of Windows machines that need upgrade parts or replacement every year or two.

I don't know/care what riker1384 is going to do. Just giving you more data.
 
Hellhammer said:
Macs life is much, much longer than PCs. PCs dies becouse of too many viruses etc. Some people still uses iMac G3s as main computer, PCs can't stay so long. My latop's (what I'm using now) hard drive died 4 months after I bought it (I'm not saying that Macs HW can't die), propably becouse of too many viruses (I download lots of torrents).
Click to expand...

What the hell ? You know nothing about hardware, a PC can't die if it gets a virus dude, and for the record all PC hardware is covered for 3yrs warranty for free, up to 5yrs warranty on the hard drive, PC's last much longer then iMacs period. And they can be upgraded, if you do encounter issues with a PC you don't have to replace the whole thing.. You just replace a specific part and you back! Ive had to replace my Samsung monitor, I sent it to samsung, they covered shipping for both ways!! Your blinded by Apples ads, who the hell told you PC's die because of viruses =/
 
The difference between a mac and a PC isn't the hardware- it's the same. The difference isn't the operating system either- in both cases a clean install will result in smoothness.

The real difference is the type of software that you run. I find that over time, the Windows software is more bloated, and where I would never dream of using a Windows XP P4 PC with SDRAM as a main machine for any amount of time with current software (AIM, iTunes, etc), I could get by with a OS X 10.3 G4 with SDRAM for a limited amount of time using AIM and iTunes.
 
The iMac will last min. 3 years.

Yamcha said:
PC's last much longer then iMacs period.=/
Click to expand...

There's no way that PCs last longer than iMacs.
PCs just get slower and slower by themselves, less and less stable with time.
Unlike PCs, Macs just don't get slower because you uninstall an app, don't get registry corruptions (because fortunately there's no registry) and don't get malware (generally).
Oh, not to forget the ridiculous amount of RAM which is consumed and the terrible way which it is managed by Windows, unlike OS X.
 
mastershakess said:
Who keeps a computer more than 1-2 years now-a-days? You have to keep buying new ones/updating them to keep up with all the new technology!
Click to expand...

My MBP is over 2 years old now and I'm not looking to replace it (will be adding a Mac Pro over the summer I hope though)...
 
Yamcha said:
What the hell ? You know nothing about hardware, a PC can't die if it gets a virus dude, and for the record all PC hardware is covered for 3yrs warranty for free, up to 5yrs warranty on the hard drive, PC's last much longer then iMacs period. And they can be upgraded, if you do encounter issues with a PC you don't have to replace the whole thing.. You just replace a specific part and you back! Ive had to replace my Samsung monitor, I sent it to samsung, they covered shipping for both ways!! Your blinded by Apples ads, who the hell told you PC's die because of viruses =/
Click to expand...

2 of PCs have died for a virus. You know nothing about viruses, my uncle works for Lenowo and he knows how to make viruses. (he told me about a virus you download and your computer will never start up anymore.

When my laptop's (which I'm using now) HD died first time, I didn't have to pay anything but second time (a year and 2 months after bought) it didn't have warranty left. I had to pay 70e for new HD and send it with my laptop to Acer and pay all shippings and wait 3 weeks. And laptops are not upgradeable.

thejadedmonkey said:
The difference between a mac and a PC isn't the hardware- it's the same. The difference isn't the operating system either- in both cases a clean install will result in smoothness.

The real difference is the type of software that you run. I find that over time, the Windows software is more bloated, and where I would never dream of using a Windows XP P4 PC with SDRAM as a main machine for any amount of time with current software (AIM, iTunes, etc), I could get by with a OS X 10.3 G4 with SDRAM for a limited amount of time using AIM and iTunes.
Click to expand...

I know Macs and PCs use the same ****ing hardware! Reformating my PC didn't help me at all, only had to install everything again.

Problem is that in PCs you buy computer from one manufacturer and OS from other and anti-virus from 3rd party + all the other SWs you download/buy.

Only few laptops even has HW that passes Vistas recommended HW.

I'm not Apple fanboy, I'm just sick to crashing Windows!
 
Hellhammer said:
Macs life is much, much longer than PCs. PCs dies becouse of too many viruses etc. Some people still uses iMac G3s as main computer, PCs can't stay so long. My latop's (what I'm using now) hard drive died 4 months after I bought it (I'm not saying that Macs HW can't die), propably becouse of too many viruses (I download lots of torrents).
Click to expand...

what a shitbull.. stop downloading illegal stuff and you are fine

the guy is talking about hardware and not about software anyways, software can be reinstalled
 
Daim said:
what a shitbull.. stop downloading illegal stuff and you are fine

the guy is talking about hardware and not about software anyways, software can be reinstalled
Click to expand...

In one sentence I was talking about HW and that was about my HD.

Are you guys somekinda windows fanboys??
 
I have a Pentium II machine running Windows 95 that is still being used.

I have had to get my Mac fixed and replaced 5 times and 2 times respectively in the last year.
 
My current iMac replaced a Pentium III PC 800 Mhz, with 256Mb RAM and a 20Giga HD (plus an external 250 Gb HD) and, unbeliaevably, Windows ME and Linux RedHat.

The PC was still working after seven years (working.... well: it crashed every time I opened Firefox AND Openoffice AND any third application).

Seven years...
I expect my November 2007 iMac (4Gb RAM, Core 2 Duo 2.4 Ghz) to last at least until November 2014.
Maybe I'll add a further 2TB HD as soon as the 250 HD is full... Pics tend to be increasingly storage demanding...
 
Pc/Mac

My parents had an HP desktop that lasted 7 years no upgrades except adding countless amounts of software to prevent spyware, malware and viruses. It was incredibly slow especially at start up (10-15 minutes!).
 
longball11 said:
My parents had an HP desktop that lasted 7 years no upgrades except adding countless amounts of software to prevent spyware, malware and viruses. It was incredibly slow especially at start up (10-15 minutes!).
Click to expand...

My parents have had their HP desktop for 4 years now, and it actually loads xp faster than my brand new imac (about 12 seconds from pressing the button to getting online.) I find a computer can last as long as you want it to, as long as you treat it right. My family kept an emachines running for 8 years, and our first computer, a 33mhz beast from 1988 lasted up to 2003, but by that point it was too slow for the internet so we had to dump it..

Previous posts say pc's die fast because of virus' thats BS, a virus might slow you down, and in some very rare cases may attack the components, but 99.9% of the time a quick reformat will have your pc back up in no time. And saying that you should upgrade every 1-2 years is insane too. My old homemade pc with an AMD XP processor still works great and I built that like 5 years ago.
 
If you wait too long your current mac losses all its value so you sell it after 1-2 years and use that money to buy a new one! I've done this since I had a iMac G4 and I always have a fresh new mac every 1-2 years to play with :)
 
wawanarchist said:
Previous posts say pc's die fast because of virus' thats BS, a virus might slow you down, and in some very rare cases may attack the components, but 99.9% of the time a quick reformat will have your pc back up in no time.
Click to expand...

One virus can't do anything but when there is dozens, hudreds, thousands it start to really slow down. And usually there is more than 1 virus. Other issue is that I don't want that tracking cookie steals my credit card number.

And reformating is the most annoying thing to do
 
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