Three years is a long time as far as "staying current" in terms of CPU speed and such, but I think it's slightly shorter than the average in terms of needing repairs.

(1) I work for IT in an SAP shop. We tend to go 4-5 years between PC upgrades. The motherboard on my Dell laptop went about 2 months before the service contract expired last December - and Client Support decided to get me a new one. But I was the exception during the economic downturn.

(2) The extended Apple Care you only get three years, but my Macs always last longer. I usually purchase a new PowerBook/MacBook for other reasons. :-) This time around it should be interesting though - a year ago I bought a unibody 13 inch MacBook and loaded it up with CPU speed, RAM, and a large SSD drive. I won't part with it until one of us goes cold! With all I've heard about how QC has slipped since the Intel move, I'm going to find out firsthand if it's true.

If I were in your shoes I'd consider one last thing - non-replacible batteries are now in all MacBook Pro models. I primarily use my laptops with AC power, but two of my PowerBooks needed replacement batteries over the years. Sure, Apple says battery life is much better nowadays, but a few years will have to pass before we find out if this is true or just another Steve Jobs gimmick.

Hmmm, even if I had bought 3 year apple care it wouldn't have helped
in this case since it just passed the three year mark. Will try to
ignore conspiracy thoughts about hardware biting the dust with uncanny
timing. This mac was Intel; I haven't heard much about these Macs
being of lesser quality.

Good point about the battery. I did have to replace the battery on
this MacBook after about 2 years. But it seems the cost is reasonable
and can be done at a local apple store same-day : http://www.apple.com/support/macbookpro/service...

The mac unibody batteries are not non-replaceable. They are non-cru (customer Replaceable units). So if the customer replaces them, the customer takes responsiblity.

Take a look around, the unibody batteries are mounted with something like 13 or so screws, but that's it. See http://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/MacBook-Pro-17-I...

You lift off the cover, disconnect the battery, and remove the battery. The bigger question is will there be 3rd party batteries that are roughly comparable?

Nice to know the opening of the case is possible, but I'd likely just
go with letting the Apple Store take care of a battery replacement.

Sure, your old computers from twenty years ago lasted longer, but they weren't laptops. Laptops endure a lot more torture than desktop machines, even if you do baby them. All that heat compressed into such a small area is bound to take its toll.

I'm holding on to my current MacBook Pro past the one-year mark for the first time in a long time. While it will suck if it dies on me now that it's out of warranty, I have to agree with you that I wouldn't be too upset about it. Sure, it cost me over two grand, but I make my living with my computers, so it's paid for itself several times over already.

I've known people who keep their laptops for five years or more with no problems. I've known others who end up with bad logic boards after a year. It seems to be the luck of the draw, in many cases.

The reason you hear more about Apple computers failing than you used to is that Apple is selling a lot more computers these days. More customers = more issues. No way of getting around that.

I have yet to buy an iPod or an iPhone (and I've bought a LOT of them) that didn't need to be replaced under warranty at least once. Again, mobile devices are definitely more prone to failure.

Well you're one vote for 3 years being reasonable. I'd like to think I took
good care of this particular MacBook but on further thought I did take it
traveling a few times a year and even spilled water on it once.
Contrary to your experience I have had very good luck with iPods and
iPhones, the current 3G I have is still kicking at the 1 1/2 year mark and I
hope to upgrade next summer. Think there are some iPods lying around the
house we don't even use any more.

Three years for a logic board failure is bull. The machine should still run/boot up for a long time. That said three years is usually when I target a machine for replacement but that is because it has become too slow to run all the current software. I think the computer should actually run for a lot longer than that. How else would my Mom get a new PC if I didn't give her my old ones?

3 years has been the norm for me and what I've come to expect out. Purchased the iBook G3 (right before the G4s were introduced) in 2003, experienced 3 logic board failures within the extended warranty period and was given a Core Duo in 2006. It failed (logic board, no apple care) so I took the hard drive out and sold it for cheap. Bought the aluminum body MacBook in 2009 as it's replacement.