More than four years later, it still looks brand new despite hours of use daily. I need to clean the screen now and then and wipe the rest of it with a damp cloth once in a while but it pretty much looks as new as the day I bought it.
I only had one issue with it. A few months ago, the display started crapping out, forcing me to reboot. Eventually, I couldn't see the screen at all.
So I made an appointment with the Apple store to have it looked at with the full expectation that they would recommend I purchase a new one, which I was fully prepared to do. I figured four years was time. I don't think any of the other laptops I ever had lasted four years.
But the unexpected happened. They ran some diagnostics and informed me that the issue I had was a "known issue" and that their was an FOC (free of charge) program for it. They offered to take it and have it repaired and returned to me in a couple of days. Two or three days later, I went back and picked it up and it's been working great since. I could very well be using this laptop for another three or four years.
I've never experienced a computer product that was so durable. I use this machine as a server for home audio system so I have it on constantly and use it for most of my computer tasks at home. In fact, I just leave my work laptop in the car and rarely bother to bring it in so when I'm home, I get my work done on it also.
So yes, the laptop was expensive but the use I got out of it has actually made it cheaper in terms of utility. Since then, I've purchased an Apple Air 2 tablet and iPhone 5s (soon to upgrade to a 6). All these devices seamlessly tie together. I am certainly not leaving the Apple ecosystem anytime soon.
I also have a collection of iPods from the early days (when those were the only things I bought from Apple). All of them still functional. One iPod sits in my car, one is at the office for when I want to go take a walk and the other one is connected to a portable speaker that I use outside in the summertime. My earliest iPod dates back to 2003 and it's only 40MB (the one I use outside) but it just won't die.
I had a couple of IBM ThinkPad later Lenovo Think Pads for about a dozen years — they performed bulletproof for me.
Business work kept me on Windows but I did not like the home usage for my wife. Systems needed updating etc plus browsing problems. Bought two MacAirs and never looked back for home usage.
You have to almost abuse them to get the slightest hiccup and even then a re-boot solves anything I can do to it. As I am now retired, I will probably only buy Apple.