iBook and PowerBook Reliability Our survey spanned every laptop capable of running Mac OS X, encompassing 41 models sold over seven and a half years. A challenge in ascertaining the reliability of any device is that more time gives them more opportunity to break, so new devices should always look more reliable at first glance. Our survey asked participants when their laptop first needed a repair — "first year", "second or third year", and "fourth year or later." ibooklaptopmacpowerbookreliability with ibookpowerbookreliabilityrepairsby 2 users