I used to think like that, until my last purchase. It was in 2012, and I bought an iMac 21", customized with more RAM, a larger HD AND an i7.Rockatansky wrote: ↑Sat Nov 03, 2018 1:01 am All of these factors play an important role in my preference. None of them mean that Windows is bad, none of it means that macOS is generally better, none of it means that Windows users are broke idiots, consumers rather than creators, none of it means that Apple is holy and Windows is Satan. None of it means that you must share the same experience or preference.
It just means there are more important requirements to me than the flexibility of what damned USB3 chipset to put into my build. That's why I'll just bite down and pay the price of admittance every 7-8 years, if it gives me another 7-8 years of inner peace, that's money well spent. Plus, I won't have to stick to the TonyMac buyer's guide when I pick next year's PC upgrade.
A little past the two year warranty, my Mac simply "died". I could hear the fans quietly working, but the screen remained black. Bought it to the service, and the diagnosis was that the "logic board had to be replaced). The repair costed me like two thirds of the price I had paid to purchase it new.
Bought it home. It was working, but things didn't feel the same anymore. Since I had updated the OS in the meanwhile, I thought that it was the new OS. Then fans started to blow like crazy, every once in a while (this in a machine that was repaired - basically renewed - about a year before).
Stupidly, I decided to not to bring it back to the service facility, because I needed it to work. So, I searched on the Internet and found a control panel that would control the fans. Installed it, and got peace again.
It wasn't until last year (again, a couple of month AFTER the two years over the repair date), that I ran a utility (in Windows, because I know nothing alike in macOS) to check the hardware.
Much to my surprise, the CPU, which should be running at 2.5 GHz, was merely running at 1.6 GHz.
I brought the machine to service again, filing a complaint. The diagnosis was that the CPU sensor on the "logic board" was malfunctioning, and giving the OS bad readings. That was also the reason the fans started to work at full speed. This was in the second logic board.
So, I had one logic board death, and another, that I paid an arm and a leg to get replaced, malfunctioning. This is a time window of five years. Solution? Yep: Replace the "logic board" (I had to replace - and pay - an entire logic board because of a malfunctioning sensor). (????)
Apple neglected responsibility. So, I had two options:
1. Running the current iMac with a crippled CPU because of a stupid sensor which Apple refused to assume responsibility about;
2. Buy a new machine.
I chose to buy a new machine second hand (I was fortunate to find a good deal) and gave the old computer to my youngest daughter.
This is to show you that your 7-year time window may or may not be true. I have been using Macintosh for more than 25 tears. I never had this kind of problems before, The worst thing I had was a power supply in a Power Mac G5 Quad that had to be replaced. But current Macs aren't built as they used to be, anymore. So, counting on a 7-8 year lifespan for your Mac is a bet. You may win or you may lose. And the odds you have to win aren't that good anymore.