Every Mac I've owned has failed also. But every laptop I've ever owned has also, similarly, failed. Maybe it's me.
My point is though: Apple treated me right when my machine fails, the other laptop manufacturers (Dell, Acer) do not, not by a long shot, and for that reason alone I'll keep buying Macs.
Your experience differs from mine :) I've always used PCs because they were cheap and I needed them for work, but last year I was working as a consultant (so integration wasn't such a big deal) and there was a tempting offer on MacBooks. I got one, I loved it.
After about a year, the bit of the case where you rest your palms started to crack. The intarwebs told me this was a known problem, and should be covered by warranty. I contacted on Apple service centre, to be told "no problem, just drop it in and we'll fix it." Of course, it would take two weeks, and there was no way to expedite things.
So I tried another Apple retailer, and was told to bring it in that afternoon. "Great," I thought, "this is why you pay a bit more for a Mac - service!" Unfortunately, when I got there they said the same thing - two weeks, no exceptions. After about 40 minutes of arguing and cajoling, the Genius agreed to do it there and then. Although I was pleased about this, it would have been better if they could have done it without the arguments.
I just bought a new Toshiba and passed the MacBook on to my daughter (she's a real Mac fanatic). The new PC is great, I'm surprised that I actually like Windows Vista, and it only cost UKP400. So if it goes wrong I could easily buy a replacement. I might even buy a Netbook with the cash I didn't spend getting another Mac.
Dell has a great Next Business Day warranty. It is worth to pay for it if it's not included with your Dell already.
My roommate spilled soup onto his Dell laptop. He immediately shut it down, tried to dry it up but the laptop didn't boot. So he called the support and on the next day a gentleman from Dell knocked on our door, replaced the motherboard and voila, the laptop was as good as new. It was interesting just to look at the man from Dell how skillfully he disassembled and reassembled the laptop.
One other friend exploits this package. When he thinks he should have a new MB or CPU or anything, he just calls them and tells it "squeaks". Next day, a man comes and replaces anything with a new piece. No questions asked.
And this package is valid throughout the world, no matter where you are. Dell rocks.
Also, AppleCare is there for a reason. And, they only offer it for 3 years for a reason.. that's how long these machines can reasonably be expected to last.
My Toshiba started dying long before its 3-year warranty was up. The cooling fans would make this god-awful grinding noise (bad bearings, I worked in a fan factory FFS), yet they refused repair, stating that cooling fans were part of normal wear and tear.
When my MBP died earlier this month I called Apple, and without any hassle whatsoever, they volunteered to replace it with a brand new unibody model.
What a world of difference in service. BTW, Toshiba charged more for the extended warranty than AppleCare.
One thing that Apple doesn't provide is the "overnight you a loner so you won't have any downtime" option that you could get with some of the higher-end support contracts from other vendors. Other than that, I agree that their support tends to be excellent.
Sorry dude. I've had a few Thinkpads that have failed on me (wireless died completely on one, screen on another). No manufacturer is immune to things dying after awhile.
Just anecdotal, but I had a Thinkpad 600 which lasted from 1998 till 2006. While all machines will fail eventually, it is nice to find the ones which last 8 years instead of 2. Similar to the decision making process for cars: getting one that lasts till 250k miles is generally preferred to one that'll last 50k miles. It would be nice to have a reliability database for laptops similar to that available for cars (http://autos.msn.com/home/reliability_ratings.aspx).
I have a Thinkpad from the last generation before the branding switched to Lenovo... pieces of plastic are falling off but the hardware is going strong.
You're quite right. I guess we could also say every thing we've ever owned, seen or ever known about has failed. Except the things that are going to fail shortly.
Some statistically small time after that, I'll fail as well. Bummer.