Four reasons on why I won't be buying Apple again

[quink]

The CrackBook

There's been an endemic problems with the polycarbonate MacBooks, before the unibody ones. They crack. Lots. My wife took hers in for a repair to the people who sold it to. It was on the wrong panel for the repair to be acknowledged as a manufacturing defect, so they just sent her on the way. Meanwhile, after the warranty period was over, cracks are appearing right next to the trackpad and keyboard and they're sporadically not working any longer. I'm pretty sure it's the cracks that are responsible. Apple aren't going to fix it, because it wasn't reported or repaired during the warranty period. The reason those cracks didn't appear during the warranty period, of course, was because my wife was extra extra careful with the hardware - even the foam packing that was used between the screen and the keyboard every single damn time.

So now we have a MacBook with cracks and keyboard and mouse sometimes not working. And we reported it within the warranty period, but tough luck.

The iTunes Store

One day I get a call from my credit card company saying that $1200 in unauthorised charges were made on the debit card. I used this debit card for three things. Transactions with goverment departments, to pay my phone and Internet bills and the iTunes Store. Said $1200 in unauthorised charges were, of course, from the iTunes Store. My account wasn't used, but someone else bought lots of stuff, probably to promote their app ranking. It'd be nice if Apple would have been able to detect this kind of behaviour and not let these transactions go through, but that'd be too much to ask for. Oh no, instead I ask for a refund, which wouldn't be too much to demand, right? It would be. Ultimately, I had to cancel my debit card. Apple actually blocked my iTunes account after that.

So now I have a new debit card and am still outstanding hours of running around, and a month without a debit card and $1200's worth of interest less. And had to chase up Apple after they punished me for Apple stealing $1200 of my money when some basic fraud detection system or common sense could have stopped that.

iOS 5.0

Said iTunes Store account was used with an iPad. This iPad developed a broken home button. But thanks to a feature in iOS 4.3, I just had to tick a box in XCode and enable multi-touch gestures. Now, you may see on the Apple website that multi-touch gestures are available on iOS 5.0, without the disclaimer 'iPad 2 only'. Well, that's a bit misleading. Those are iPad 2 only. So, now I have a plethora of choices. Get the iPad replaced with another iPad 1 ($300 to Apple), risk going with a third-party repair place or have an expensive paperweight. Considering that I wouldn't have to choose if Apple would have kept a feature that works 100% in a newer version of iOS and that they advertise as working on iPad 1 on their iOS 5.0 page, that's a bit of a pickle. I know that the reason it's not on iPad 1 is because of the app-switching gesture, but I don't use that anyway.

So now I have a timebomb that will become a paperweight next time a reinstall is required, because something I don't use doesn't run well on it and Apple made an executive decision.

The PowerMac G5

I bought a PowerMac G5. In early 2005. That should be enough of a reason. It still works OK, but it's not getting that many security updates or even working software these days. It wasn't nice to be abandoned like this. It's alright when it's a product that's got a lifecycle of three years or so, but this thing doesn't. It's like a tank. Anyway, I digress.

So now we have a computer that runs just fine, but feels about 10 times more abandoned than the average 6 year old PC, which can run Windows 7 just fine.


I am only one person, but to be this unlucky with Apple, I think I'm cursed and I think it best for me not to buy Apple again. If you're a PC user with an iPhone and are thinking "Hey, let's buy an iMac next time", given my experience and my experience only, stay the hell away. I've never had this many problems with anyone else.

 

[boss.king]

The bit about iTunes seems really messed up, I'd be taking legal action if I was you (or at least looking into it).

 

[Sanveann]

Ugh -- I'm sorry.

I love my iPhone and iPad, but our MacBook experience was a disaster. I've stuck to Windows since then and have been very happy with my $400 Toshiba laptop.

 

[Abstract]

The Macbooks suuuuucked. I owned 2 of them, and they did have a problem with tiny little cracks/micro-fractures in weird areas, especially near the speakers. I doubt the laptop was any less rigid because of them, but it is an indication of the quality of the plastic used.

It's weird though, because if you were a MacRumours member in the early 2000s, people would have told you that the polycarbonate iBooks (particularly the 12") were THE Mac laptops to get for students because they were so sturdy ("just put it in a sleeve and throw it in a backpack"), lightweight, and their battery life was >5 hours for the 12", and 7 hours for the 14" model (almost unheard of at the time). It seems that once they were redesigned and re-branded as MacBooks, quality went downhill. The same type of plastic was used, but I'm not sure what happened.

 

[MacHamster68]

the MacBooks and other products from Apple i would never buy new today !
Most problems appear after the warranty and Apple Care ends , only rarely Apple does repairs after that period..often exuse is oh sorry yours has the wrong serial number and doesnt qualify for the repair scheme or even better sorry but we stopped the repair scheme a couple month ago.


Just look on ebay many PPC Mac's sold who are already 6 or more years old and still working fine like on their first day , but many modern intel Mac's with all sorts of problems are sold and many just over the 1 year warranty , owners did not bother with Apple care because they thought they bought a premium high quality product , then they found out how much it will cost them to get it repaired and sell it as working but with some little problem( line on display or yellow tint and such ) and in the add a line that reads "never bothered me hardly noticable"


My eMac's (last generation 1.42's) even play youtube fine some videos even at 480p.
My PowerMac G5 2.3 dual core has no problems with 720p videos from youtube with original GPU , but i upgraded the GPU and now it plays happy without frameloss even 1080p youtube videos and the whole thing is build like a tank .
I had a iMac G5 1.8 who too could play 720p videos fine , unlucky for me developed the capacitor problem , there was a reapir scheme for it but Apple stopped it
had a core duo iMac , thrown it away as it broke after installing windows via bootcamp to expensive to repair ..

What Apple does not understand is quiet a lot of Mac owners build up a relation with their Mac's and see them as little buddies and dont want to throw them away after Apple thinks they are old enough to be dumped and dont deserve updates any more
I for example would even pay for updates of Tiger
The first intel core duo Mac's shipped with Tiger too , so if you have a intel core duo iMac which was not cheap and the last ones sold by Apple as refurbished had been sold in 2007 ,so in between 2006 and 2011 (5 years or even only 4 years if you bought one of the refurbished ones )
you did need to buy first Leopard , then Snow Leopard to be up to date then Apple wants you to buy a new Mac if you want Lion because officially intel core duos are not supported , so you might have a perfectly working iMac but its not upgradeble any more after 4 years , thats ridiculous and in my view a con

I keep my PPC Mac's they all run Tiger fine and i love them even buy all the time some more (have 17 by now ) .
But for modern computing i buy/build PC's with Microsoft Windows again , not only because of the OS , but i can use pretty much any hardware i want , and dont have to put up with constant OSX upgrades with the fear of having officially unsupported hardware within 4 years

 

[roadbloc]

One of the reasons why I'm reluctant to buy from Apple again is the lack of long term product support. I do however, have my eyes on a Mac Pro. It's getting pretty tempting, however, so is making a Hackintosh.

 

[MorphingDragon]

so is making a Hackintosh.

No, just no. Apple's hardware list is more updated than any of the so called stable product choices in the OSX86 Community.

 

[eric/]

Cool story bro. Nobody here cares about your sob story about things you don't like about Apple. If you have something to talk about, preferably objectively, than be all means be productive and post a thread about it. Otherwise, keep this QQing out of the forums.

 

[Abstract]

^^^Or what?

Funny, nobody here cares about how you feel about the OP's post.

 

[miles01110]

The CrackBook

Legitimate complaint.

The iTunes Store

Weak password on your iTunes account. Not Apple's fault.

iOS 5.0

The PowerMac G5

In other words, "technology moves forward." Nothing more than a sob story here, really.

 

[eric/]

^^^Or what?

Funny, nobody here cares about how you feel about the OP's post.

And nobody cares about what anybody posts, including you.

Why do you even bother posting?

As for the "or what". Well, nothing. I'm just going to ridicule somebody on the internet and feel smug that I owned somebody over an Internet argument.

 

[416049]

And nobody cares about what anybody posts, including you.

Why do you even bother posting?

As for the "or what". Well, nothing. I'm just going to ridicule somebody on the internet and feel smug that I owned somebody over an Internet argument.

wait... what?
People do care about posts because a lot of posts contain helpful information e.g. I spilled water on one of my ipods put it in a bag of rice and the ipod is still working. I found this info in a post here.

Same thing if somebody creates a thread talking about some problem and you noticed having the same problem with a lot of others posting aswell you know that you are not alone with it....

 

[Abstract]

And nobody cares about what anybody posts, including you.

Why do you even bother posting?

If "nobody cares what anybody posts", then you wouldn't have bothered giving the OP a hard time for posting about his negative experiences with his purchases. It obviously bothered you enough to get you to post a response.

But clearly, you enjoy posting without thinking first, so enjoy contradicting yourself.

 

[zap2]

I hope you enjoy your non-Apple products. I'm a fan of Acer and Dell PCs along with Sony if you're looking to spend a little bit more money.

I'd check out HTC Android phones. I also like LG Android phones as their Optimus lines are decent(I got the Optimus One from AT&T that was rebranded at the LG Thrive and it's been a great device for 150 off contract.) Samsung also gets great review, although I'm not a huge fan of their device as their seem very Apple inspired.

Good luck!

 

[ucfgrad93]

...

By all means, if you are not happy with Apple products go and find something else.

 

[Tsuchiya]

The whole Macbook case was a disaster, can't believe how awkward Apple could be about it. My cousin sister had one for university and it started developing cracks. They turned her away at the Genius Bar because they claimed that she had tampered with the casing. Bear in mind that she brought the laptop brand new, and would have absolutely no reason to open it up

I think her dad went back and had a go at them and they relented. I get that the customer isn't always right (a few years working in retail has taught me that ), but these "Geniuses" were being such jerks about it.

 

[Iphone3gs]

The CrackBook

There's been an endemic problems with the polycarbonate MacBooks, before the unibody ones. They crack. Lots. My wife took hers in for a repair to the people who sold it to. It was on the wrong panel for the repair to be acknowledged as a manufacturing defect, so they just sent her on the way. Meanwhile, after the warranty period was over, cracks are appearing right next to the trackpad and keyboard and they're sporadically not working any longer. I'm pretty sure it's the cracks that are responsible. Apple aren't going to fix it, because it wasn't reported or repaired during the warranty period. The reason those cracks didn't appear during the warranty period, of course, was because my wife was extra extra careful with the hardware - even the foam packing that was used between the screen and the keyboard every single damn time.

So now we have a MacBook with cracks and keyboard and mouse sometimes not working. And we reported it within the warranty period, but tough luck.

The iTunes Store

One day I get a call from my credit card company saying that $1200 in unauthorised charges were made on the debit card. I used this debit card for three things. Transactions with goverment departments, to pay my phone and Internet bills and the iTunes Store. Said $1200 in unauthorised charges were, of course, from the iTunes Store. My account wasn't used, but someone else bought lots of stuff, probably to promote their app ranking. It'd be nice if Apple would have been able to detect this kind of behaviour and not let these transactions go through, but that'd be too much to ask for. Oh no, instead I ask for a refund, which wouldn't be too much to demand, right? It would be. Ultimately, I had to cancel my debit card. Apple actually blocked my iTunes account after that.

So now I have a new debit card and am still outstanding hours of running around, and a month without a debit card and $1200's worth of interest less. And had to chase up Apple after they punished me for Apple stealing $1200 of my money when some basic fraud detection system or common sense could have stopped that.

iOS 5.0

Said iTunes Store account was used with an iPad. This iPad developed a broken home button. But thanks to a feature in iOS 4.3, I just had to tick a box in XCode and enable multi-touch gestures. Now, you may see on the Apple website that multi-touch gestures are available on iOS 5.0, without the disclaimer 'iPad 2 only'. Well, that's a bit misleading. Those are iPad 2 only. So, now I have a plethora of choices. Get the iPad replaced with another iPad 1 ($300 to Apple), risk going with a third-party repair place or have an expensive paperweight. Considering that I wouldn't have to choose if Apple would have kept a feature that works 100% in a newer version of iOS and that they advertise as working on iPad 1 on their iOS 5.0 page, that's a bit of a pickle. I know that the reason it's not on iPad 1 is because of the app-switching gesture, but I don't use that anyway.

So now I have a timebomb that will become a paperweight next time a reinstall is required, because something I don't use doesn't run well on it and Apple made an executive decision.

The PowerMac G5

I bought a PowerMac G5. In early 2005. That should be enough of a reason. It still works OK, but it's not getting that many security updates or even working software these days. It wasn't nice to be abandoned like this. It's alright when it's a product that's got a lifecycle of three years or so, but this thing doesn't. It's like a tank. Anyway, I digress.

So now we have a computer that runs just fine, but feels about 10 times more abandoned than the average 6 year old PC, which can run Windows 7 just fine.


I am only one person, but to be this unlucky with Apple, I think I'm cursed and I think it best for me not to buy Apple again. If you're a PC user with an iPhone and are thinking "Hey, let's buy an iMac next time", given my experience and my experience only, stay the hell away. I've never had this many problems with anyone else.

well your loss mate- you had an plastic macbook - its now discontinued.

Try the macbook pro and air - you wont be disappointed