Up until almost 5 years ago, before switching to a Macbook Pro, I used to have various laptops with both Windows and Ubuntu. Here's my belief: A non-Apple laptop that lasts 2+ years, without having to be regularly formatted, without improving the hardware, without giving up performance or needing who knows what kind of tweaking/cleaning, upgrade after upgrade, is a myth. It doesn't exist.

Sure, I know plenty of people who've had the same Lenovo/HP/whatever laptop for 5, even 10 years but every single time I personally used their laptop I was embarassed at how bad the experience was. Sluggish, ugly, with fans spinning like they needed to put out a fire.

After almost 5 years the 13" 2015 Macbook Pro I'm currently writing on hasn't lost one beat. It's as snappy and as usable as the very first day. I haven't formatted once, I've easily kept it up to date, I only replaced the battery because it was lasting 4 hours instead of the original 6-7. I can still edit videos, run VMs, play not-too-demanding games, do Photoshop, like the first day I bought it. And everything makes me think I'll be able to do so for the next 2-3 years, at least.

I've travelled with it to 10 countries and dropped it 5 or 6 times. There are multiple dents on the corners but, damn, this thing is tough!

Experiences vary, some people have had bad experiences but I have a 13" late-2013 MacBook Pro that I take everywhere. The one concession to its comfort is a soft neoprene case but otherwise it gets shoved into bags and moved about constantly.

The thing is a rock. The keyboard still looks (and works) like new with no visible wear on the trackpad. There are a few scuffs and tiny dents on the outer case but nothing noticeable from any distance. One of the rubber feet on the base has fallen off in the last few months but that doesn't bother me too much.

One problem that has developed is that the glass at the top of the bezel has what looks like air behind it. This is cosmetic except that it interferes with the camera, which now is permanently blurry. I replaced the original battery ($49) recently - it lasted almost 6 years and still held 60 minutes of charge.

I figure I can get at least another 12 months out of this thing since it runs Catalina just fine. My next laptop will also be a Mac.

I am using a 7 year old 2012 Retina MacBook Pro, it even got the update for Catalina. My wife is using an even older 11 year old 13" MacBook.

I’ve been using the same 2012 rMBP day in day out since I bought it. I carry it everywhere with me, even on a sailboat when I went on a few months sailing trip in 2015. The thing still runs everything i need for work and non-work (webdev + Final Cut Pro mostly) I have had to do some surgery on it though (resolder some chip related to the GPU power because I missed the recall window), the battery only lasts about two hours and the screen has a few dead pixels. Pretty happy about my purchase to be honest.

I have a 2015 rMBP (base model 15") that used to bike commute to work with me every day for 2 years. Now it's just used daily around the house and is still 100% as good as the day I bought it. I'm glad I worked out a way to keep the laptop from that company.

I'm at a different job now and have a 2018 MBP (usb-c only, 15" base model), less than a year old, that is used on a daily car commute (much gentler than the old bike commute) and the keyboard is giving me lots of grief. I will happily turn this one back into the company.

Well with the older models you absolutely didn't have to worry about things breaking. I used and abused a 13" late 2012 model for about 4 years:

* Used it under direct sunlight (and I live in Singapore so it's both hot and humid) multiple times

* Took it out to sea on boats multiple times for testing robotics

* Dropped it on concrete accidentally

* Left it in dusty labs etc

It's display finally died after being splashed with rain water but the machine itself still boots to this day. Apple made them really well but I can't say the same about the newer models.

My wife is still using 2011 Macbook Pro. I did upgrade it to 16GB RAM (not officially supported but works fine), replaced the original HDD with SSD and installed HDD instead of DVD reader so it ended up with 1.5TB of storage. Works fine so far.

I have a 5.5 year old MacBook Pro that has been used full time. It still works perfectly. I did replace the battery at around 5 years for $199.

My 2012 macbook lasted me 6 years. Probably would have gone later if a water bottle hadn't leaked in my bag and ruined my logic board.

I used a 2011 MacBook Pro for about 6 years, carrying it in a backpack on a bike every day.