# Ok..do MAC now consist of CHEAP QUALITY PARTS??????



## macmac (Oct 22, 2006)

I am a recent switcher to the mac world (last year, 17" PB, PPC chip). Before I switched though, I had always heard that mac's were superb machines, solidly built, and nobody I had talked to who had one, had ever had a problem. The 'myth' (that's what I like to call it) I think grew with the older mac's in the 80's and 90's of not having any problems. Even if you browse through the forums, most users who have older mac's will state that they haven't had any problems with their machine.

My mac performed great for exactly one year. After one year (thankfully i have applecare) my monitor started experiencing colour lines, first it was one line, then another...etc. It was replaced. After about two months, my second problem has arisen, a defective fan in the upper left corner of the machine. It is being replaced as we speak.

To parallel this, my old PC, purchased in 2001, has logged thousands of hours, and has virtually been on 80% of the time I had it, until I switched. After switching over, my mac has become my main computer. That said, my pc, has NEVER had any hardware problems at all. Granted, i've had tons of blue screens' and software mis-haps and crashes..but I have never had to change any hardware. ..the hardware functions and still functions as great as it did the day i bought it. All of this is being displayed on a 15" Goldstar Moniter purchased in 1989. 

So here is my question....with the recent popularity of macs, and increase in sales, have they reduced the quality of their products? It just seems the macs are 'breaking down' for more and more users. If you don't get applecare, you are F(*&#D. Most people I know who have clones or PC's, have had very lit hardware problems. Is it just me? What are your thoughts?


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## SINC (Feb 16, 2001)

I have been using Macs since 1984 and purchased thousands of them for a newspaper group over the years. It was rare to have a hardware failure among all those machines.

Personally I have had two SEs, two Performas, three iMacs, two eMacs, one Lombard, one iBook, one Powerbook and most recently a MacBook Pro.

I had a motherboard that fried on the Lombard and it was replaced at no charge by Apple.

From my experience, your situation is not the norm.


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## maccam (Jun 28, 2006)

As far as hardware goes, there's no separation anymore. They are all PC's now, only the OS is different. Granted there are some pretty crappy laptops out there, MDG branded crap, Acer. There are also a lot of crappy Mac laptops rolling off the line as well now because they have the same guts for the most part as say the Asus brand.

If you're buying a mac for superior hardware, better think again. Not anymore. 

Mac's still have better aesthetic qualities than say Dells for the most part. I think that is their only saving grace besides OS X. The day I can load OS X on my T42 that will great.


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## MannyP Design (Jun 8, 2000)

The people who have problems tend voice their displeasure much louder and more often than those who don't.

I've yet to have a problem with the last 3 Macs that I've owned over the last five years, yet I've never felt compelled to start a thread talking about well they work.



> you're buying a mac for superior hardware, better think again. Not anymore.


Macs and PCs generally, until now, have ALWAYS shared hardware with one exception--the processor. They use the same RAM, Hard drive, video card (more or less), etc. The components come from companies like Samsung, nVidia/ATI, Sony, and the like.


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## HowEver (Jan 11, 2005)

Although I'm not happy with having to cover up my laptop computer and music player so that they remain flawlessly unscratched, undented and stain-free, the actual build quality of the components I find superior to any other computers I have used.

Keep in mind though that our own anecdotal evidence is both just that, anecdotal, and not just that, i.e., evidence. It's a tremendously small sample. So my experience shows failure rates to be low, yet I type now on a bluetooth keyboard attached to a MacBook that Apple happily provided to replace a severally failed iBook G4 under warranty. Stuff still happens.

And while my work computers, which are Dell PCs, rarely fail, it takes substantial effort from the IT department to keep them that way, and keep them working, and that employs network specialists, virus specialists and scores of others who would not be working otherwise.


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## maccam (Jun 28, 2006)

> you're buying a mac for superior hardware, better think again. Not anymore.


Actually I should have been more specific there, worded that better. I meant hardware build quality as in the way they put all the pieces together so to speak. Apple used to do a way better job at that, even a few years ago. Now QC on assembly has really gone down hill, I think. 

As far as parts go Apple has always had proprietary hardware design, it's always been the big 'what if'. I guess it depends on how picky one wants to get on the hardware component side of things.


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## ErnstNL (Apr 12, 2003)

Even Toyota puts out a few lemons, on occasion.


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## JumboJones (Feb 21, 2001)

I read somewhere that 1 in 100 parts are defective, times that by the amount of parts that goes into a computer. The chances of a part in your computer to malfunction at some point in time are greater than you would think. Why do you think there are so many "refreshed" items available from manufacturers. If you are that worried buy applecare, or better yet, use your credit card, most double the original warrenty of items you purchase.

But to go back to your question, no manufacturer including Apple are able to create products free of defects.


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## Mississauga (Oct 27, 2001)

Since the release of the first generation G5, reliable sources (2 of them) have confirmed component and build quality declined a little. This is likely attributable to the goal of becoming more competitive in the general computer arena. Until the release of the G5, Apple products were obviously more expensive than their counterparts in spec for spec comparisons.

People wanted cheaper, so Apple responded. Too bad, really.


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## jhollington (Jan 29, 2007)

It also depends largely on how the device is used. I've now had my Powerbook G4 in twice for hard drive replacement (thank god for Super Duper), but again it's a _notebook_ computer and tends to travel with me just about _everywhere_, and that's going to put a strain on the parts as well. While irritating, I'm willing to accept that things like this happen sometimes (and this is also why I would never get a notebook _without_ AppleCare).

My previous notebooks (Win-based machines) did not get nearly as much use as my Powerbook does, which is both a testament to how much better I like using my Mac but at the same time the fact that any device that gets lugged around and used on-the-go that much is bound to develop problems with moving parts.

It's the same idea those folks who take their HD-based iPods to do aerobic workouts and then wonder why the hard drive dies prematurely.

My wife's iBook has been completely devoid of problems, however, and I've only ever had one iPod problem (out of a dozen or so that I've owned over the years), and one Mac Mini problem on a relatively new machine. 

I should also note that all issues have fixed very quickly and efficiently at the local Apple Store. It's the level of service that you pay for as much as the hardware itself, in my opinion, and my entire customer service experience with Apple in all areas has been nothing less than outstanding.


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## shoe (Apr 6, 2005)

maccam said:


> as in the way they put all the pieces together so to speak.


I dont know the insides of my mac look very well designed, snug fitting things, in the right spots, and nicely wired up as compared to any PC brand that Ive opened up.

Shoe


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## gordguide (Jan 13, 2001)

" ... Ok..do MAC now consist of CHEAP QUALITY PARTS?????? ..."

Umm, yes the do, compared to how things were built before computers came along.

The same quality parts every other established manufacturer in the computer industry uses; manufactured in the same factories that everyone else gets to manufacture their stuff.

If they didn't it wouldn't matter. You wouldn't be able to afford the stuff in the first place; it wouldn't cost twice as much, it would be ten times as much, or more.

The US Air Force's famous $700 Hammer wasn't special; they're made in the same factories as the other hammers from the same company that you can buy at Home Depot. They just have a lot of high paid help following them around, checking this and writing that down on clipboards, and every third one is pulled from the line and tested to destruction. And guess what: of the two that get through the line, some of them, not as many as the $12 hammers mind you, but some of them, will still break.

Buying any mass-produced product from any era has never meant that no-one, ever, had problems. Buying any custom made product from any era has never meant that no-one, ever, has had problems.

But, if you buy from companies that have the fewest problems and the better support when there is problems, you will lead a happier, if not entirely trouble free, life.


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## contoursvt (May 1, 2005)

Seems computers are not built to last anymore. In the past, high quality caps were used on the system boards, fans were all ball bearing..etc. Now they are built to last 2-3 years tops (or thats what I feel). Might explain some old beige computers outlasting new ones.


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## MacBookPro (Jun 22, 2006)

I would venture to say that yes, Apple quality is not what it used to be.

Reasons?

Well, there are probably myriad. One issue is QC at the supplier end. Look at the Sony laptop battery fiasco, and look at whoever supplied the capacitors for the 1.25 eMacs? Another issue is QC at the build stage - would you like double toppings of heat sink paste on your MBP logic board with that order sir?


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## macmac (Oct 22, 2006)

Interesting responses. I'll give Apple credit though, their customer service (as far as i've dealt with them) has been superb. I took my mac in yesterday for service and it was ready today. I was not expecting next day service, but moreover they told me they changed my sound board as well, and when I asked why, the tech said, well we had the parts available so decided to swap it anyways.

I'm not complaining though!!!!


Overal even with my skepticism about the loss of QC of macs, I would never go back to my pc...even having to use it for a day made me ask myself why on earth did I not switch earlier in the late 90's rather than 2006.


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## Stonehead (Jun 5, 2005)

Get use to it.....everything breaks!


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## contoursvt (May 1, 2005)

Stonehead said:


> Get use to it.....everything breaks!


nice answer. 

Anyway maybe all your stuff breaks but my stuff doesnt break. I end up giving my stuff away after 5-6 years when I'm bored with it. Apple quality has been going down steadily ever since the beige computers. Same goes for PC's. Older equipment had japanese capacitors, PSU's wth larger transformers and beefier components for their rated output. Heck most of the time, even the thickness of the board was greater in the older machines. Often, heat is dissapated into the board so thinner boards, thinner traces...etc. I have in front of me an old dual Pentium PRO mainboard and I can tell you that this was made to live for ever. Thse components are no longer chosen for newer stuff because computers are now considered disposable where as before they were making them to last because they were expensive items.


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## Stonehead (Jun 5, 2005)

Its true, everything breaks eventually. even your pentium pro board will eventually die. I repair motherboards from eletronic equipment (photocopiers, computers, network devices). older boards have bigger components that dissapate way more heat, newer boards have more high density surface mount components that are more reliable, dissapate less heat. The down side to this is they are harder to repair when they do break. We recently started repairing a older style NIC card made by IBM. within the last year we have seen the failure rate on these NIC's skyrocket.. the problem was 3 aluminum surface mount caps went off value and they were tied to the output side of a 3.3 VDC regulator. More todo with the design than the component. Just because something is big and old doesn't nessasaraly make it better. Apple is no different there are plenty of older busted macs out there as well as pc's, I do not find Apple to be any better or worse than most name brand PC's. Components in apple computers and PC motherboards can be found throughout the eletronics industry. The quality of the components are actually better but the mass manufacturing of these components make them cheaper.and when it comes down to it, it is really the quality of the engineers design of a curcuit that has to stand the test of time.


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## funkdoobi (Dec 21, 2004)

in replying to what the OP said. I got a 15 inch powerbook that had a few problems right after the 1 year mark. it's like they force you to get applecare knowing the machine will conk out in a year.

i had to get a motherboard replaced due to a defective ram slot. i had to get a failing HD replaced. and it's in the shop right now, because either the NEW hd or the NEW motherboard that were put in are dying. 1 of the 2 that is. maybe both if i hit the jackpot? haha


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## zoziw (Jul 7, 2006)

I can't comment on the quality after the switch to Intel, but I bought both an HP laptop and an iBook in the summer of 2005, both were the same price, the HP was worlds more powerful, but you could tell the iBook was a better built machine.

The keyboard, matte screen, slot loading dvd, motion sensing hard drive protection and solid case were all vastly superior to the HP.

Having said that, I still use both computers extensively and both still peform like new.


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## macmac (Oct 22, 2006)

Well..to add to my annoyance that this machine has caused (and I still love it mind you) my entire screen was replaced 2 months ago. Today I got my PB 17" back from apple where they replaced 

PCBA Sound board
Thermal Module Assembly
Hardware repair level 2 (whatever the hell that is)

Anyhow..I KNOW HAVE A F&*^ING SMALL WHITE GLOW or a blury dot in the middle of my screen.. like WTF... I just noticed it now...maybe it has been caused by the repairs they did in the past 24 hours..maybe it's a screen problem..either way, I now have to GO BACK to apple...and it is just a hastle more than anything else. I rely on my machine for work purposes, I use it all the time, and being apart from it is a pain in the but. I'm gonna finish burning a movie I have before I take it back in as I don't want to lose it. 

Applecare is an expected part of the cost of the machine...it's not even an option NOT to get it. With all the repairs i've done so far, I would have paid for the cost of a new machine. This will be 3 visits to apple in 3 months... i'm an annoyed customer. I would expect this with a $600 PC, NOT with a $3500 one

I expect my Harry Rosen jacket to last me more so than I do my Zellers jacket, but this is just the opposite. Who knows..maybe I just ended up with a lemon


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## ..........? (Dec 25, 2005)

Ok let think about why we buy MACs

1)We buy for looks (they are very sleek and sexy looking)
2)Mac OSX
3) things(os, apps) just seem to work very well
4) asus motherboard?? wasn't ibook built bu asus too? so ibook have asus mother board design for apple too.


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## green_ears (Feb 26, 2005)

All electronic parts manufacturing quality (PC, Mac, Stereo, DVD Player, Tv, etc.) has been going downhill for a long long time. It's all about maximizing profits. Seriously, how do you think all this gear's prices have been dropping over the years? How do you think all these companies make money? You should buy any electronic device with a MAXIMUM 3 year life span in mind. That way, you'll avoid the disappointment when they fail because of poor soldering or low quality parts. There's a reason why manufacturers include a ONE year warranty... And at best, THREE years of extended warranty.


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## MACinist (Nov 17, 2003)

JumboJones said:


> I read somewhere that 1 in 100 parts are defective, times that by the amount of parts that goes into a computer. The chances of a part in your computer to malfunction at some point in time are greater than you would think. Why do you think there are so many "refreshed" items available from manufacturers.


That's incorrect. Refreshed items also include retail returns that are more than 50% no fault found. As well, 1 in 100 parts are defective? I don't understand that comment, each computer has more then a 100 parts and that would mean every computer is defective. 

For a manufacturer to be profitable, returns (defectives and non defectives), usually have to be less then 5% of their total shippable inventory.


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## jhollington (Jan 29, 2007)

In fact, in Apple's case, at least with the Toronto Apple Stores, they differentiate between "refurbished" and "refreshed" items when they are selling them off. "Refreshed" is an item that was returned within the 14-day grace period, and generally has no faults (or at least none that were _reported_... It's certainly possible people bring items back for a refund within the 14 days but don't bother to mention that they aren't working).

On the other hand, "Refurbished" indicates an item that was returned for warranty repair, and has been repaired and tested. Ironically, refurbished items are often far less likely to have problems than new items, since a refurbished item has been repaired and _specifically_ tested, as opposed to an item that has just come off an assembly line.


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## gordguide (Jan 13, 2001)

Generally speaking I find Apples quality to be better than the industry average, but there are a few firms that are also above average; with computers I find Toshiba, IBM, Apple to be better and DELL to be acceptable while the Gateways and MDGs of the world bring up the rear. Astute readers will notice the price variance of perhaps 20% more or less accounts for the entire difference, in direct proportion.

This is nothing new, folks. They don't build anything like they used to. Mostly because they don't want to build them that way, but also party because they can't afford to build them that way. Metal, design wages and costs, and manufacturing efficiency go up while the necessary skill of assemblers (and therefore wages) go down.

Those of you who read the Weather thread in the last few days know I'm up in the middle of nowhere experiencing some cold temperatures (this morning, 10:00 AM, -42C, no wind). A nice, 2006 3/4 Ton Ford truck won't start, despite being plugged in all night. I had to boost it with my '77 GMC, whose primitive, carburator-equipped engine started despite not being plugged in at all.

Warm the world up a few degrees and few people would choose the Chevy. Heck, if they both would start, few people would choose the Chevy. But one won't, and that is so much the ordinary way of the world it's not even worth commenting on.

You can't break the old truck, but no-one would buy even a perfectly new copy in the showroom today. It cost $6,000 new in 1977 but if you put that much steel in a new truck in 2007, you would add more than $6,000 to the $35,000 price. A modern Hydroformed truck frame is considerably lighter than what went under a truck of even 20 years ago. And so on; every part is the same.

Same with Macs and everything else, and this has been going on for a couple hundred years. I'm sure a steam locomotive would last longer with less maintenance than a diesel-electric locomotive, but we don't want steam locomotives and we don't want Macs built like SE/30's. A new SE/30 was US$ 4,369.00, if you recall; at the time, around six grand Canadian.

Add a black-ink laser printer and for the same money you could choose between a new Mac and a new truck in 1989 (a laserwriter IISC, which was the printer beside the SE/30 in the Mac stores of the day, was $US 7,000.00). Of course the computers of today are cheaper. Is this some kind of surprise to anyone?

And if you do, well, Apple currently makes xServes and they _are_ built like tanks. And they cost what a computer built like a tank has to cost.

You want a solution? Pull out your chequebook.
You want low cost? Buy what everyone is selling and put up with the compromises saving another dollar entails.
You want severe duty construction, high quality parts, and the lowest price? Go ask your mother if there was something about the world she forgot to tell you.


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## SkyHook (Jan 23, 2001)

>


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## zen.state (Nov 29, 2005)

MACinist said:


> That's incorrect. Refreshed items also include retail returns that are more than 50% no fault found. As well, 1 in 100 parts are defective? I don't understand that comment, each computer has more then a 100 parts and that would mean every computer is defective.
> 
> For a manufacturer to be profitable, returns (defectives and non defectives), usually have to be less then 5% of their total shippable inventory.


hard drives have the worst failure rate of all hardware and they sit on average around 1 in 1000. with cpu's and such its more like 1 in 50,000 so yes 1 in 100 is totally wrong for any hardware these days.

all computer hardware now is much more reliable than ever in the past. in turn there is now also less bad hardware..


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## Macaholic (Jan 7, 2003)

..........? said:


> Ok let think about why we buy MACs
> 
> 1)We buy for looks (they are very sleek and sexy looking)
> 2)Mac OSX
> ...



Hey, speak for yourself. Using your numeration, my reasons are:

1) 2
2) 3
3) 1

In other words, the best operating system around (running some awesomely designed and functional software), giving the best dependability. And oh yeah; they're sexy, too.

The late G4 Powerbooks were a bad batch. That unfortunately does happen to the best of them. The G5 iMacs originally had heat [problems, too, and I have to wonder if that was on account of their unusual hardware designs challenging the laws of heat dissipation? let's face it, all these unusual hardware designs most pose unique cooling challenges compared to a typical tower design.


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## MACinist (Nov 17, 2003)

SkyHook said:


> I can't speak for large volume manufacturers, but we burn in 100% and would probably be out of business from the large distributors, with a 5% failure on delivery.


Not failures, total returns (doa's, fake doa's and satisfaction). Places like Staples, Best Buy, Wal-Mart have huge return allowances with manufacturers because they have a very loose return policy to the end user. Palm, as an example, gets 15% returns of their total sales from a major retailer which I can't really mention. Less then 20% of those returns are truly defective. I kinda deal with the testing of these units. Same goes for many other manufacturers as well that want a retail presence in the big stores. With Apple trying to penetrate Best Buy, Future Shop and now Staples, they may get hit as well.


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## Calgary Guru (Apr 25, 2006)

Well, at least in 1999 when my SAWTOOTH G4 tower (AGP graphics) was made, there must have been good parts going in and I think it was actually assembled in the US rather than overseas somewhere...

That's going on eight years now without a single warranty or repair incident! Well, yes and no... the power supply fan was starting to be a bit noisy, so I swapped in a replacement ball bearing fan... runs fine again now.

Unfortunately, its 66 MHz bus speed and 1.2 GHz G4 processor are starting to look a bit old... (I dropped in a GigaDesigns accel. at one point to improve over the original 400 MHz board)

Still, I figure I'll coast along until the 45 nm based CPUs start being installed in Macs! ;-)


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## Macaholic (Jan 7, 2003)

Calgary Guru, your post reminded me to make mention of my good old Sawtooth. it too is upgraded like nuts, and still serves quite well to this day. Although, the fans are a bit too loud, what with the upgrades in it. But the old baby keeps on truckin'!

My 1st gen G4 Mac Mini still works well... although the optical drive seems to be having trouble with some discs... my other two macs do not, however (dust?).

I had a problem with my MacBook's Magsafe connector, which got replaced, and also I JUST got a replacement for the power external supply, as the wire where it connects was getting loose. The guy at the Apple Store just swapped it on the spot.


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## Harvey (Oct 9, 2005)

Acording to Consumer Reports the repair rate (for 2002-2006) for Apple laptops is 18% best was Sony at 15% with the other 6 major brands at 17-18% (50,100 data points). Apple desktops ranked #1 with a repair rate of 11%. Next best was Sony at 15% with the other 6 major brands at 16-19% (77,700 data points). 

Regards
from Ottawa
Harvey


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## HowEver (Jan 11, 2005)

Clearly not factoring in the Sony battery recall...



Harvey said:


> Acording to Consumer Reports the repair rate (for 2002-2006) for Apple laptops is 18% best was Sony at 15% with the other 6 major brands at 17-18% (50,100 data points). Apple desktops ranked #1 with a repair rate of 11%. Next best was Sony at 15% with the other 6 major brands at 16-19% (77,700 data points).
> 
> Regards
> from Ottawa
> Harvey


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## mymacbookprosucks (Aug 4, 2008)

*My Macbook Pro 15" keyboard and trackpad has Failed!*

My Macbook Pro 15" keyboard and trackpad has Failed! I am now using a wireless keyboard and wireless mouse with my macbook pro. I took this piece of crap to i am not a genius bar and they quoted me $400! Apple you are sliding into the land of PC duds!


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## Mississauga (Oct 27, 2001)

mymacbookprosucks said:


> My Macbook Pro 15" keyboard and trackpad has Failed! I am now using a wireless keyboard and wireless mouse with my macbook pro. I took this piece of crap to i am not a genius bar and they quoted me $400! Apple you are sliding into the land of PC duds!


... odd that the quoted repair price is the same as the price for the extended Applecare, which every Mac laptop owner should have, in my opinion.


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## monokitty (Jan 26, 2002)

mymacbookprosucks said:


> My Macbook Pro 15" keyboard and trackpad has Failed! I am now using a wireless keyboard and wireless mouse with my macbook pro. I took this piece of crap to i am not a genius bar and they quoted me $400! Apple you are sliding into the land of PC duds!


It typically costed my customers a tad over half of what they quoted you. (A bit over $200.)


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## seymorerage (Feb 28, 2008)

Wow way to dig up a year and a half old thread.


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## chas_m (Dec 2, 2007)

There's a good lesson to learn here, and here it is:

Basing a broad conclusion on one isolated incident is asinine.


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## EvanPitts (Mar 9, 2007)

JumboJones said:


> But to go back to your question, no manufacturer including Apple are able to create products free of defects.


True for a number of reasons, though Apple as of late has been tripping up more than usual.

Anything electronic will go through an "infant mortality" stage, so unless a manufacturer puts their machines through a rigorous burn in process of at least 60 hours, there is always the chance of electronic failure (which would be entirely covered under warranty).

In another thread, I explained about the shortened lifespan of newer devices that have gone to "lead free" solders because of the EU RoHS regulations. The new solders melt at a much higher temperature, putting even more stress on components that have an ever decreasing geometry. As well, the new solders are not as flexible when mechanically stressed, and the joints will tend to break easier than with more resilient lead based solder. RoHS based boards are much harder to rework, so repairs tend to be of the "replace the whole board" kind of thing. A regular soldering iron will cost perhaps $30 or so, and a better workstation perhaps $300-400 - while a rework station for RoHS is on the order of $15,000 - so most shops just can't do the repair.

Also, everyone wants even more features jammed into a smaller casing, so the geometries need to shrink. Manufacturers resort to multi-layered circuit boards which can not be repaired, and it does not take much to destroy such a system. However, this is not as bad as it sounds because a smaller circuit board will be much more durable simply because it is smaller. It just means that a small part failure will mean scrapping the entire device, rather than being able to repair it.

As for Apple, they have been tripped up on a number of problems that affected the entire industry at large. Ones that come to mind are the capacitor plague (that sideswiped the G5 iMacs), the poor long term life of the ball grid array (that sideswiped newer G3 iBooks), the adoption of RoHS approved soldering (various logic board failures throughout the lineup), and battery fires (notably on G4 notebooks, but reported on new MacBooks as well). So one is left with the impression that Apple has somehow "slipped", when these very same problems also affected all of the other manufacturers as well. I think one is just more aware of it these days since there are more Apple machines now than in the past, and many of those machines are not just in schools where the technicians didn't get out into public forums and complain about various quality issues.


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## Adrian. (Nov 28, 2007)

Apple told me the life of a macbook is about 2 years. I used mine I would say about 8 hours a day (running) which I think is quite a bit for two years and 6 months. The HD died, the screen is failing but other than that it runs perfectly fine!

...and macbooks are supposed to be the junkers.:clap:


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## HowEver (Jan 11, 2005)

Adrian. said:


> Apple told me the life of a macbook is about 2 years. I used mine I would say about 8 hours a day (running) which I think is quite a bit for two years and 6 months. The HD died, the screen is failing but other than that it runs perfectly fine!
> 
> ...and macbooks are supposed to be the junkers.:clap:


Apple may have chosen that hard drive and LCD, but they don't manufacture them.

Both are AppleCare replaceable. AppleCare rules.

.


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## EvanPitts (Mar 9, 2007)

Adrian. said:


> The HD died, the screen is failing but other than that it runs perfectly fine!


Hard drives do die rather randomly. Some seem to go on forever, and others have a nasty, short life. At least they are replacible with off the shelf drives, and many people do like to up the capacity. As for the screen, it's too bad since the death of the screen makes an MB useless for portable work. Too bad they didn't use common parts across the industry, so one could replace a screen with an off the shelf version.

My iBooks are still going strong after all of these years, even though both have new hard drives (but the old ones are still running in external cases). Too bad I ran into a chair while I was carrying it through the house, because that busted the CD/DVD drive...


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