Is Apple going down the drain?

Boji

Hi everyone,

Is it just me, or is the quality of Apple gone down the drains lately? Popping transistors on iMac G5s, hardware issues with single-CPU G5 towers, faulty iBook batteries and motherboards, noisy MacBook Pros, and assembly issues on iPod Hi-Fis, only to name a few out of memory.

Before you dismiss this post as the work of a Winblows zealot, I've been a loyal Mac user since the early 90s, and have owned nothing but Macs, since I've always considered them to be superior computers (hardware and the OS), but I'm a bit disillusioned by the recent products. Now, with Apple caring for their bottom line more than ever it seems, it's moving its call centre to India, where they don't have to pay the tech support agents as much as they do in the Canadian call centre.

Any thoughts?

Boji

Sorry, this should've gone in the Anything Mac/iPod section. Forum moderators, please move this thread wherever you believe appropriate.

JPL

Ah the realities of business. Lest we not forget it is a business and the shareholders want to make money. They (the shareholders) don't care if the product is wonderful or not, just sell as many as you can and sort out the problems later if needs be.

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iMac 20" Core Duo X & XP Pro

I backed up today (LaCies' SilverKeeper)....have you?

Bjornbro

Yeah, how come you didn't mention how many millions of Apple's products that are made and work perfectly straight out of the box? What is the product failure percentage rate for Apple? How about Apple versus the competion, are they the best or worst in this percentile? What would be acceptable for you?

Is the glass half full or half empty?

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MacDoc

Apple is around 13% problems in the first year - a bit better than industry standards.
First gen problems are to be expected.

Call centre - stick with ehmac

There ARE things about Apple to be disillusioned with - none that you've mentioned.

Tait Kahray

Now that's an enticing statement - what kind of disillusioning things are you referring to?

Boji

Thanks for the post, JPL and Bjornbro. I don't know the percentage of product failure vs. competitors--is that available anywhere?

This hardly accounts for what I believe to be valid data, and will be the first to admit that this is more of an emotional response, but friends who have Dells, HPs, etc., all seem to be doing very well with their computers, while a friend's 12" PB died on him, another had his iBook's motherboard replaced twice. Another friend, who bought a single 1.8 G5 tower, had nothing but problems, and I've seen reports of the MBP being very noisy and, in one case, the power supply made the MagSafe connector melt. These may very well be isolated cases, but it seems to me that, years ago, you just didn't hear about anyone having problems with their Macs. Now it seems far more common.

MacDoc

http://www.tellonapple.org/

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There have ALWAYS been various problems with Macs - I've been there since the very beginning.
The 1.8 G5 was indeed a real issue but it was mostly Apple firmware team that dropped the ball on it.

Apple has been reasonable about covering design problems - the only one outstanding it the ram slot issue for Powerbook 15".

I think Gartner or JD Power have stats.
That magsafe story is a bit suspect - cats were involved.

MBPs are certainly not noisy tho there is some issue with a bit of hiss from one of the speakers.

ALL machines can fail - Apple does okay

Boji

LOL! Yep, the gang on ehMac is by far the best. Who needs a stinkin' call centre!!!

Boji

Maybe I have an answer--I despise the fact that Apple is choking small Apple retailers by opening up their glitzy Apple Stores in their vicinity. Yeah, I know, that's business for you, but it's nonetheless sad to see the small Apple retailers, which always stuck by with Apple (even in the Gil Amelio days), and now that Apple is high and mighty again, Apple gobbles them up by directly competing with them.