Do Macs degrade slower than an average PC

[Maikiki]

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[Drak3]

No. Theoretically, Macs degrade faster due to running considerably hotter than many PCs.

[Guest]

depends on the PC, but they are supported better for longer. 

[Razor Blade]

Macs aren't made of magic. If anything Apple may deem your Mac computer "vintage" and eventually drop support for it.

 

https://www.newyorkcomputerhelp.com/blog/2017/03/10/apple-wont-fix-vintage-macbook-now-what/

[dizmo]

Why would they degrade slower? Do you have any thoughts to rationalize that statement?

6 minutes ago, Razor Blade said:

Macs aren't made of magic. If anything Apple may deem your Mac computer "vintage" and eventually drop support for it.

 

https://www.newyorkcomputerhelp.com/blog/2017/03/10/apple-wont-fix-vintage-macbook-now-what/

Eh, honestly that doesn't even bother me. Eventually you don't bother producing replacement parts and repairs to go third parties. That's normal. Not sure how long they support their products, but 3ish years would be more than understandable.

[Drak3]

8 minutes ago, RorzNZ said:

they are supported better for longer. 

XP was supported for 13 years.

Vista was supported for 11 years.

7 will be supported for 11 years unless you shell out cash.

8.1 will be supported for 10 years.

 

And every one of these operating systems supports any and all hardware that has drivers available to it, even 10+ year old hardware.

 

 

Whereas Sierra will be supported 3 years, and only hardware no older than 9 years is supported.

High Siera, again, 3 years. Only supports hardware no older than 9 years.

Mojave only supports hardware no older than 6 years.

 

Hell, LTS updates to Linux are typically supported for 4+ years. Canonical started 5 year support with the LTS distros with 12.04LTS. And most maintainers support all hardware that meets the minimum requirements of the OS.

 

[Guest]

Depends on your definition of "degrade".

 

Please note: I am a Windows "fanboy" as you'd call it, in the sense that I personally don't like using Macs.

 

Now, I have noticed in my line of field that if I pick up a 7 year old Mac and sit it next to a 7 year old Windows machine, the Mac is still very snappy and very usable, whereas the Win machine is a bit more sluggish.

 

However as @Drak3 has mentioned, the OS support is unparalleled compared to OSX.

 

If I were to choose one however, I'd choose windows because if the 7 year machine gets sluggish, I can pop an SSD in and it would work fine too.

 

 

[Guest]

1 hour ago, Drak3 said:

XP was supported for 13 years.

Vista was supported for 11 years.

7 will be supported for 11 years unless you shell out cash.

8.1 will be supported for 10 years.

 

And every one of these operating systems supports any and all hardware that has drivers available to it, even 10+ year old hardware.

 

 

Whereas Sierra will be supported 3 years, and only hardware no older than 9 years is supported.

High Siera, again, 3 years. Only supports hardware no older than 9 years.

Mojave only supports hardware no older than 6 years.

 

Hell, LTS updates to Linux are typically supported for 4+ years. Canonical started 5 year support with the LTS distros with 12.04LTS. And most maintainers support all hardware that meets the minimum requirements of the OS.

 

Whilst it is supported, will it give the same user experience as when it was purchased? Perhaps, or maybe not. It is quite hardware dependent. Degradation in quality of user experience is different to being supported. 

[TahoeDust]

I am using a Late 2013 MacBook Pro right now.  It has been used 6-10 hours a day since new.  Everything still works, and the battery still lasts hours.

 

I will replace this MacBook Pro with another one eventually.

[Drak3]

7 hours ago, RorzNZ said:

will it give the same user experience as when it was purchased?

If you don't load it down with bloatware, yes.

 

Whereas the hardware Apple uses is still theoretically more likely to degrade faster, if not die prematurely, due to the thermal profile they deem acceptable.

[Jtalk4456]

9 hours ago, Drak3 said:

XP was supported for 13 years.

Vista was supported for 11 years.

7 will be supported for 11 years unless you shell out cash.

8.1 will be supported for 10 years.

 

And every one of these operating systems supports any and all hardware that has drivers available to it, even 10+ year old hardware.

 

 

Whereas Sierra will be supported 3 years, and only hardware no older than 9 years is supported.

High Siera, again, 3 years. Only supports hardware no older than 9 years.

Mojave only supports hardware no older than 6 years.

 

Hell, LTS updates to Linux are typically supported for 4+ years. Canonical started 5 year support with the LTS distros with 12.04LTS. And most maintainers support all hardware that meets the minimum requirements of the OS.

 

@DrMacintosh care to jump in? I thought Apple OS'es were supported a lot longer than this

[Drak3]

1 minute ago, Jtalk4456 said:

I thought Apple OS'es were supported a lot longer than this

As per Wikipedia, 3 years per OS version and that's it.

[DrMacintosh]

2 hours ago, Jtalk4456 said:

@DrMacintosh care to jump in? I thought Apple OS'es were supported a lot longer than this

For macOS it’s true. But support is not indicative of the usability. The machines still work and can sometimes be given software updates. It’s not like the machine is useless and nothing works anymore, lol. 

 

Apple makes a lot of architectural changes that tend to leave old technology behind, the best example is macOS Mojave which switched away from OpenGL almost entirely and as a result only machines post 2012 have GPUs capable of running the API. 

 

 

 

 

[DrMacintosh]

12 hours ago, Drak3 said:

Whereas Sierra will be supported 3 years, and only hardware no older than 9 years is supported.

High Siera, again, 3 years. Only supports hardware no older than 9 years.

Mojave only supports hardware no older than 6 years.

This is true, each macOS version is only supported for a relatively small period of time because Apple makes a whole new version every year that you’ free to upgrade to. 

 

Apple doesnt just make one OS and then sits on ass for 11 years. 

[Drak3]

19 minutes ago, DrMacintosh said:

Apple doesnt just make one OS and then sits on ass for 11 years. 

Neither does Microsoft. But up until 10, Microsoft didn't need to push a "new" version  every year.

[DrMacintosh]

19 minutes ago, Drak3 said:

Neither does Microsoft. But up until 10, Microsoft didn't need to push a "new" version  every year.

Apple is a hardware company, not a software company like Microsoft is. Their bread and butter is hardware sales, and I think almost a decade of support for any high end computer is pretty reasonable. 

 

Microsft is dependent on people buying licenses, the two companies have such different corporate strategies that it’s almost impossible to compare them together. The only reason you can is Apple happens to make a desktop operating system. 

[Drak3]

10 minutes ago, DrMacintosh said:

Apple is a hardware company, not a software company like Microsoft is. Their bread and butter is hardware sales, and I think almost a decade of support for any high end computer is pretty reasonable. 

 

Microsft is dependent on people buying licenses, the two companies have such different corporate strategies that it’s almost impossible to compare them together. The only reason you can is Apple happens to make a desktop operating system. 

So then you really have nothing to say. Apple support is, at best, average.

[kokakolia]

Here’s my 2 cents from watching Linux/Free BSD ramble videos half awake: 

 

- MAC OS is based on the Unix shell which supposedly has a better file storage system (according to some FreeBSD guru)

- What that means to my puny little brain: MAC OS doesn’t slow down like Windows when you jam the computer with lots and lots of files

 

Further, MAC doesn’t update in the background constantly like Windows. So it may appear snappier. 

[Blademaster91]

43 minutes ago, Drak3 said:

So then you really have nothing to say. Apple support is, at best, average.

The support used to better, and as far as repair, not just opening up a laptop have a look at the moisture sensor which shouldn't be on a laptop that isn't airtight and telling you buy a new one. Personally I would rather have a decent PC that is going to last longer when the storage and ram can be upgraded along with being able to install Linux, rather than a locked down config that can only run Apple's OS. Kinda ironic though if Microsoft does nothing and ''sits ass on an operating systems'' yet Windows 10 runs better on some old macs and ones that Apple chooses to no longer support.

[DrMacintosh]

25 minutes ago, Blademaster91 said:

Windows 10 runs better on some old macs and ones that Apple chooses to no longer support.

Yes, because Windows is a fundamentally basic OS written for the lowest common denominator. macOS loves RAM caching and GPU usage and isn’t written with a crap task scheduler. Once it gets going has more than 4GB of RAM it runs much better than Windows does. 

[Drak3]

14 minutes ago, DrMacintosh said:

Once it gets going has more than 4GB of RAM it runs much better than Windows does.

No, it doesn't. I've got a 2017 16GB/Pro 555 MBP and clean install for clean install, it runs just as well as Windows 10 on my i5/4GB Surface Pro 4.

 

44 minutes ago, Blademaster91 said:

The support used to better, 

But not as near good as the paid alternatives, and still behind some of the free ones as well.

[mrchow19910319]

define  "DEGRADE"

 

I promise you a macbook pro will likely last you longer than your average PC laptop.

[Drak3]

4 minutes ago, mrchow19910319 said:

define  "DEGRADE"

 

I promise you a macbook pro will likely last you longer than your average PC laptop.

You shouldn't make promises you can't keep.

[Guest]

6 hours ago, Drak3 said:

If you don't load it down with bloatware, yes.

 

Whereas the hardware Apple uses is still theoretically more likely to degrade faster, if not die prematurely, due to the thermal profile they deem acceptable.

With a PC you will need better specs over time, whilst it is much easier to do, with a Mac its all good from the get go. You can't really use a PC from 10 years ago today for a useable experience and be able to have an enjoyable experience. The difference I'm trying to explain is like the recommended vs required specs. You're gonna have a lot better experience with recommended specs and can do a lot more stuff. With both machines you're probably going to want to upgrade after 5 years, however you can still use them, but unless they are a kick-ass machine from when they were built, you might not be able to do much at all. 

 

I would way the degradation in user experience is proportional to the demand for hardware specs that you need, i.e. the ridiculous recommended spec of BFV of a Ryzen 2700, chances are you won't run it well on a 1st Gen i7, but it'll run. 

 

Hope you get what I mean, I'm not denying that Microsoft technically will support more PCs, they are great at that, you just might not get the same user experience as when you bought the product. With a Mac however, at least from my experience, you can run a Mac just fine until you want a new device in 5 or so years. There just isn't that demanding software available for Mac that isn't for productivity, i.e. Photoshop. I barely use the i7 I have at all. 

 

6 hours ago, Jtalk4456 said:

@DrMacintosh care to jump in? I thought Apple OS'es were supported a lot longer than this

Its true for support but they may continue to provide security updates. Technically they are supported for a bit longer, but don't expect any large updates. Not to mention an OS upgrade is so free and easy - and usually supported on the machine itself. It's just a different rollout to Microsoft. You can have a Mac from 2009 (9yo) fully upgraded on Mojave for free. 

 

As for MacOS I should say

- You do not need to Defrag the disk

- Most maintenance tasks are done for you

- MacOS is a lot more stable - that's due to many things but in general, although bugs can occur, its more stable. 

- You don't need as much RAM as a PC or graphics power to do the same tasks - obviously that depends on the tasks. 

 

For a PC

- You are supported for longer

- Your drivers will be more optimised in most cases

- More compatibility with modern applications - You're pretty much guaranteed to run Chrome for as long as you like at the latest version

 

[Blademaster91]

16 minutes ago, mrchow19910319 said:

define  "DEGRADE"

 

I promise you a macbook pro will likely last you longer than your average PC laptop.

Define ''average pc laptop'' first.

Some low end laptop maybe but most laptops in a similar price range are going to last just as long if not longer when ram and ssd's can be swapped and batteries or keyboards replaced.