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mac repair

MacInTouch recently released the results of its Apple laptop reliability study, which collected problem and repair survey data about some 10,000 machines sold in the past seven years:

The Titanium PowerBook G4s, which were quite popular, were more broadly troublesome than most models, with optical drive problems and case/latch/hinge problems being the most common issues.

But by affected percentage of models, the G3 iBooks were the worst by far, with more than half requiring logic board replacements. Apple created a warranty extension program for some versions, but not all. (MacInTouch readers are still reporting newly failed iBook G3s, and the warranty extension program has ended.)

The white 12” iBook G3 series became much less reliable through its first five revisions, reaching a 73% failure percentage! The last revision dropped to a 49% failure percentage — much improved over the previous model, but still unconscionably high. The problems appear to have been solved, for the most part, in the newer iBook G4 series.

By contrast, 17” and 15” Aluminum PowerBooks, PowerBook G3, and iBook G4 12” models all appear to have become more reliable as new versions were introduced. This may indicate that Apple engineers were able to learn from early problems and fix them.

The single most reliable Apple laptop in our survey is the original Blueberry, Tangerine and Graphite series iBook, with a low 8-11% repair percentage.

I knew, anecdotally, that the Titanium Powerbooks had had a lot of problems since their release, but it’s interesting to see actual numbers behind that statement. (Granted, these are all self-reported, so the results of this study aren’t necessarily representative of the computers that have been taken into Apple for repair. But it’s still interesting — particularly with this many respondents.)

(Link found via Slashdot.)