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Why First Generation Apple Products Suck
mmAPP writes "CoolTechZone.com has an article up that pleads with Apple to focus on its quality assurance before releasing new products. From the article: 'If anything, I think Apple should do a better job at quality assurance than Dell, HP or other OEMs that deal with more units than Apple. The benefit of being a considerably small company (in comparison to other OEMs) is to focus on delivering quality products. There's no denying that Apple is perhaps one of the most innovative companies when it comes to consumer electronics, but ignoring quality as a result is not something it needs to ignore.'"
I got a custom-build intel mac mini from their education discount hotline here in the UK, took a few days to arrive, and OMG, no problems whatsoever. You see when you buy a computer and it works jsut fine, you don't usually go on the internet to talk about it alot. Whereas if my mac mini was broken, you'd be damn right i'd moan about it till the cows came home/apple fixed it.
I notice this problem mainly with small devices (notebooks and nanos). I got the first generation G5 and it chugging along with no problems. I also got the first g4 and it is working OK. But the first Titanium notebooks was a problem. The DVD failed, the screen has vertical lines, and and the case cracked. The nano get scratched easily. A general rule of thumb with those devices is to purchase an extended warranty. I really do wish Apple will settle on a design and focus their attention on quality control akin to the IBM with Thinkpad line.
You don't have to be smart to use a Mac, you just have to be smart enough to buy one
I have a first-gen MacBook Pro so I can attest to Apple's first-gen foibles. I got a MacBook Pro 2 months ago. Before I downloaded 10.4.6 it was slow, clunky and crashy as hell, and my iSight and FrontRow didn't work.
I think it's due to the rapid innovation cycle Apple operates on. If Gateway takes an extra 6 months to ship some beige box, who cares? But Apple, as a niche operator, is much more conscious of staying up on trends and must constantly put out improved and upgraded product. Hell, my 1.83 Ghz MBP isn't even made any more.
The good news is that Apple continually sends out fixes and OS updates, both software and firmware, and its user base is an active and (generally) technically savvy bunch who love sharing what they learn. Being an early adopter isn't always easy, but it's very rewarding.
He could of been more expressive but that's not the point. the Nano's screen is a new design. It wasn't a tested plastic for consumer electronics. Apple innovates because they don't choose to use the exact same plastic as dell does, or the exact same LCD's, or hinge suppliers.
A year or so after Apple successfully(failures seldom make it) uses a new type of screen, or other componet you can see it showing up in other competitiors products.
By the way I know of one Nano user(m brother) who drops his nano, puts it in a jacket pocket and snow boards down hills, has seen it go flying face down across ice, and it has less scratches on it than most others. But that's my only personal point of reference on the topic.
i thought once I was found, but it was only a dream.
It's so funny that the biggest complainers about Apple products are people that generally don't even own an Apple product. When these people post to the Apple message boards, if you ask them simple Apple-centric questions to try and help them with their supposed problems they don't respond or when they do, they respond with things that clearly indicate that they aren't using, and never have used, any Apple products.
I've had four first gen Apple Desktops with zero incidents. I own a first gen iPod that still runs great, yes the battery still works just fine. I have a first gen nano with zero scratches on it, but I also don't carry it around in my pocket with my friggin' keys. I'm on my second first gen Apple laptop with no issues.
Granted personal experience isn't going to define a company, but my experience has never run into any of the problems complained about.
Sometimes you just have to wonder.
All that Consumer Report's quality survey shows is that people using Apple's products are happy having made the "alternative" choice. Choosing Apple's products represents a lifestyle choice ("I am going to be different"), whereas choosing a PC does not. It would be harder for an Apple person to admit they made a lifestyle choice than for a PC user to admit they bought from the wrong PC company.
For an analogy, around the Bay Area, people are buying new and old diesel cars and converting them to run on used cooking oil. Now, regardless of how their cars run vis-á-vis gasoline engines, how will they respond to the question "Are you happy with how well your car is running?"
We have 25 dual processor G5 DDL (AGP GeForce 6800s with 2 dual link DVI to drive 2 30" Apple Cinema Displays), 17 2.7 GHz and 8 2.5 GHz. Of these, 10 of the 17 2.7 GHz have blown up (I saw sparks and heard loud popping the one time I was in the lab to witness this) due to their out of the box liquid cooling failing. While Apple has repaired all of these w/out charge, it's still a very scary percentage of failure. Also several of the machines will get aqua blue pixels randomly distributed around the screen as the video cards get too hot (even while just running idle for a long period) and have to be restarted. This is clearly a case of a new technology (Dual Core G5s with DDL video technology) which did not receive propper QA. Also we bought one of the new shiny core dual laptops because it can drive a single 30" Apple Cinema Display. That has similar problems with the video colors getting distorted after non-intensive use. It also died earlier this week and Apple had to replace the battery (which, consistent with their good customer support, they replaced w/out hassle). So, from my experience thus far with new Apple technology I can say this...yes, they have a staggeringly high rate of failure of new devices, which is balanced by their mostly hassle free customer support. BUT, the real question is whether or not it's worth the risk/hassle/downtime of a temporarily broken product. Personally, I'm leaning towards NO.
... at least that's my personal experience -- anecdotal & unscientific, but here goes:
I've bought numerous Macs since 1994 (about 50 or so, small graphic-design firm). During this time we've had four real "1st-Generation-Lemons" (one PM 6100/60, two G4/400, and one iBook/500).
In each of the four cases Apple was extremely helpful and fair. Yes, each of those machines did cost me time & nerves (and my coworkers learned many colourful new words), but the way Apple handeled these issues are one of the reasons why I'll stick with Apple for the forseeable future.
sig? Oh, that sig...