In this week’s Mossberg’s Mailbox, Walter S. Mossberg answers a few questions you may or may not have wanted to ask about computers. The most notable of the three is the question regarding whether or not Macs last longer than Windows PCs. It’s a pretty dumb question if you stop to think about it. We all know the main difference between PCs and Macs is the OS and not hardware. For example, my brother’s had a Dell laptop for the last three or four years and it’s in great shape. I had my MacBook for about a year and half when the palm rest started to crack. The last sentence in Mossberg’s answer is the most relevant.
Q. Do Macs last longer than Windows PCs? I am willing to pay the additional cost for a Mac if it will last significantly longer, but if it has approximately the same lifespan as a PC from a reputable manufacturer, I will stay with PCs.
A. In my years of using both types of computers daily, I have never noticed a significant difference in when Macs and Windows PCs become unfit to use, and I have never seen claims from Apple that its computers last longer than competing models. Obviously, on the Windows side, there’s a much greater variety of manufacturers and of quality levels, while Apple makes all Macs, and receives generally high marks in well-known surveys of reliability. But so do some Windows PC makers. All computer makers turn out the occasional lemon, and how long a computer “lasts” depends tremendously on how you use it and how you judge its usefulness over time.
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