Losing Faith in Apple

[greenmac]

When ever she has a watch that uses a battery, it will eventually not work anymore because of some electrical issue.

I've heard of this before, but a computer doing the same thing!

My run has been good, however I've only had 2 Macs in past 6 yrs. Everyone I know has an iPod, and only 1 had to be replaced by apple(I cant believe they did though) it was dropped while the person was riding a bike, then the back wheel went over it.

 

[Sesshi]

2 Macbooks - first took two weeks to repair so purchased a spare. Thereafter a number of minor issues on both units but nevertheless issues requiring RTB.
3 iMacs - 1 arrived DOA, have made regular use of Applecare for few minor/ major issues on all 3 thereafter.
MBP 17 - two power supplies blown, unit is developing a warp on both the top and bottom halves (in different directions).

1 iPod failure (USB issue) of 5G, no other iPod failures which weren't my fault
Intel Mac Mini has been faultless so far.

Replaced Macbooks with Sony SZ2XP. Replaced 2 iMacs with Dell Precision 690's instead of the Mac Pros I was thinking about. Currently negotiating to return both Macbooks and all 3 iMacs.

Love the board, love the OS, but hardware and support is hopeless.

 

[JackSYi]

Every company has its ups and downs. Overall, Apple is doing a fine job during this major, major transition.

 

[California]

Let's see if I can do this list again w/out looking it up

1 powerbook 100 (ex has it somewhere, it still works)
1 powerbook 145b (friend has it, it still works)
1 Tibook 400mhz (friend bought it, CPU daystar upgrade to 550, still under warranty working GREAT)
1 Tibook 500mhz (friend bought it, CPU daystar upgrade to 550, still under warranty working Great)
1 Tibook 550mhz (sold it last week -- working perfectly)
1 Tibook 667mhz VGA (on it now!)
1 Tibook 667mhz DVI (sold it but working fine when left my hands!)
1 Tibook 1ghz (sold it, working great)
1 Powerbook g4 12" 867mhz (mom's current)
1 Powerbook g4 12" 1.5mhz combo/60gb (sold it today, working GREAT)
1 Powerbook g4 12" 1.5mhz superdrive/80gb (current)
1 iBook G3 500mzh 12" (current)
1 iBook g3 700mhz 14" (ex still has it, was working fine, deskqueen)
1 iBook G4 1ghz 12" (sold it to a Mac tech, working GREAT)
1 iBook G4 1.2ghz 12" (friend got it from me, working EXCELLENT)
1 iBook g4 1.33ghz 12" (Friend got it, excellent)
1 iBook G4 1.2ghz 14" (sold it, WORKING GREAT)
1 iBook G4 1.33ghz 14" (sold it working great)
1 iBook G4 1.42ghz 14" (wish I still had it)
1 Mac Classic (Sold it back in the day to a friend, working great up until 2002)
1 LCII (current, still working)
1 iMac G3 233mzh (friend got it, working GREAT)
1 iMac G3 266mhz (friend got it working great)
1 iMac G3 400mzh (friend got it working great)
2 iMac G3s 500mhz (sister has it SUPERB)
1 iMac G3 600mhz (I want to find a iMac G3 700mhz someday - this one still burning cds workign great)
1 iMac G5 2.0ghz (mom's current)
1 iPod Shuffle 1gb (current)
2 iPod 20gb 4gs (current)
1 iPod video 30gbs (current)

AND I NEVER HAD A PROBLEM WITH ANY OF THESE MACHINES except on the iPod 20gb has a bad battery (under warranty, I'm too slow to take it in) and, as I recall, the first Powerbook 100 had a 1gb hard drive that failed. I still have the hd. Fixed in one day, back in the day, but that was, again a REV A machine. Oh and the Tibook 400's Fujistu hd failed after THREE YEARS. 10gb. Apple replaced it under warranty.

SO I have no idea why that OP has had such bad luck but I'm sticking with PPC until the bugs are worked out. Same with switch to Leopard. I didn't go Tiger until 10.4.4 or 5.

My only beef with Apple is when they use OEM Fujistu hds in their machines. Will have to switch out on the new PB asap.

 

[Sesshi]

I'm willing to excuse any company some failures. In fact I have to acknowledge that one of the Dell 690's developed a fault shortly after it arrived. The difference though is in the support. Dell engineer turned up the next day to solve it. When the power brick went out on my Latitude I received a replacement the following day. When the power bricks went out on the MBP, I was asked for my credit card number before they would send out a replacement, and despite being told I would not be charged in advance, one of the bricks was charged to my card due apparently to confusion over the two failures in a short period of time. Not only that, it took half a week in both cases for the replacement power bricks to arrive. (the first time around, I went and bought two spares myself due to the abysmal response)

I don't have to keep my shipping boxes with non-Apples these days because they don't have to be sent back for lengthy repairs. Apple is the only company I have experienced this with in recent years. The final decision over whether to keep Macs in my setup will depend on how Apple deals with the repair of my MBP, which I'm not in a hurry to have done right now.

 

[dmw007]

Sorry to hear about your misfortune ncook06, your case is very rare- Apple usually makes very good, reliable products.


Out of all the Macs that I have owned, only one has ever died on me, and that was a PowerBook 165c from like 1993 that just stopped working a couple of months ago (it was heavily used before I got it). The rest of my Macs (Power Mac G5, iBook G4, PowerBook 5300cs, MacBook Pro) and all of my iPods (iPod Mini, iPod Nano, iPod 5G) have all been *knock on wood* problem free.

 

[SteveRichardson]

Some people, no matter what they do, just have horrible luck with certain electronics. In your case, it's Apple computers.

For me, it's external hard drives.

 

[brikeh]

I got three dodgy g5 iMacs in a row...oh yeah it happens.
My powerbook however is working just fine.

 

[spicyapple]

My Apple product history:

1 PowerMac G4 400Mhz ("supercomputer" with velocity engine, my first Mac ever! Will always have a special place in my heart. )
1 PowerMac G4 867Mhz Quicksilver (introduced me to DVD authoring, sold to Mac-lover)
1 iPod 20GB 1G (still own and still rockin')
1 iPod mini (sold after 2 years of keeping me company on my 5 a.m. jogs)
1 20" Apple Cinema Display (still as beautiful now as in 2004)
1 PowerMac Dual G5 1.8Ghz (my main machine, keeps me well fed)
1 12" PowerBook G4 1.33Ghz (a sexy companion in bed, still own her)
1 iPod nano (my latest love to keep me company)

All of them working flawlessly in the time that I've owned them. Not one product was ever defective.

 

[pink-pony115]

Apple products are not for everybody.
You can choose when to give up.
If you feel its right just switch back to windows.
It might save you some hassels.

 

[crazycat]

Where do you buy your apple products? i have had 0 problems from apple products thou my friend did have some problems with the 15" PB battery last year.

 

[yellow]

Wow.. sorry to say it but you and your girlfriend should probably break up, I hope that your stellar lack of luck doesn't trickle over into the rest of your lives.

 

[CaptainCaveMann]

As of today, my girlfriend and I have owned 9 Apple products. 8 of the 9 have failed.

3 15" MBPs - all DOA
2 MacBooks - 2 faulty logic boards
4 iPods - 3 hard drive failures, one took 4 months, one 2 weeks, one took 1 day.

The two week old iPod had all of my backed up data from my MacBook on it (as the Genius suggested) when it failed.

I called Apple today and talked to a supervisor, who said if I have any more problems to call him. That was before the replacement iPod I got this morning failed tonight. I am really struggling with not switching back right now. I don't want to put up with Windows ever again, but it may make work easier and I can't afford to have my computer and data gone again during school.

Yes, there are so many arguments for buying a Mac - I've gotten 3 of my friends to switch. However, most of those arguments are software and I am coming to realize that if my computer doesn't work, all that software means nothing.

EDIT: The only iPod that hasn't failed is a week-old replacement for another iPod.

Get an apple desktop, they dont have as many problems.

 

[MacRy]

I feel your pain my friend. I've had the following hardware from Apple and all but one shipped faulty in some way:

12" G4 iBook - Logic board failure, Screen connector faulty, keyboard faulty, shipped with bad RAM.

15" G4 PowerBook - Faulty keyboard, faulty power supply.

2nd Gen 10Gb iPod - Faulty headphone connector

iPod Mini - Faulty battery.

4th Gen 30Gb iPod - Nothing wrong with it at all

QC sucks big time for me at least. Considering how much you pay for these things it's not unreasonable to expect them to bloody well work out of the box.

Edit: I competely forgot about my G4 Luxor lamp style iMac that also had a faulty superdrive and screen connector. That was my first Apple product which would have put me off if it hadn't been for the OS and the great design of the product.

 

[Fotograffiti]

Who desn't know that Macs can run Windows now?

You have friends that use programs only available on Windows? I don't see the problem when you can run Windows on a Mac now. It doesn't seem like a very hard obstacle to overcome.

I would say yes, I agree with you on this bit, I have some friends that shouldn't switch because they need programs that can only run on windows. The mac isn't for everyone.

I terms of all you failures! I'm sorry to hear it, all I can say is, I think apple products are getting worst in the sense of quality. May be you live near electrical lines that fry any apple product you own?

 

[LoveMacMini]

i trust mac desktops, that's it

i've heard too many horror stories about apple laptops and ipods that i just stick with thinkpads and creative or iriver players. haven't been let down since

 

[Chundles]

i trust mac desktops, that's it

i've heard too many horror stories about apple laptops and ipods that i just stick with thinkpads and creative or iriver players. haven't been let down since

Nor have I, four iPods and a two year old iBook, no horror stories.

You do realise that airing your grievances (no matter how valid they are) on this forum will accomplish sweet F.A. in terms of getting something fixed.

If you care that much you should take it up with Apple.

 

[brepublican]

That sucks man, thats quite some bad luck!!

But to be fair, seems you've been getting all the new 'Rev A' stuff. And the problems with these new MacBooks and their Pro counterparts are storied. If you had even a couple of PPC 'Books thrown in there... well, then, that'd be hard to accept.

If you want a 'Pod that will last you, and then some more, get a refurb. I recommend the mini

 

[ncook06]

Well, my MacBook has arrived safely home!

Applecare did an INCREDIBLE job. They did NOT wipe my HD or replace it - so I still have all of my data. They did, however replace just about everything else. Processor, logic board, heat sink, battery, even the keyboard and grey part of the clamshell (around the screen and keyboard). When I first got the computer, there was a small crack in the bevel next to the iSight. I ignored it because that's not too important to me, but they fixed it.

I had a picture of my girlfriend taped next to the trackpad - it serves as a reminder that work is not so important that I can forget her. They even stuck that back on, a little crooked, but it's there.


Now I just have to sort out this iPod mess, but at least I'm happy with Apple again.

 

[brepublican]

Wow.. sorry to say it but you and your girlfriend should probably break up, I hope that your stellar lack of luck doesn't trickle over into the rest of your lives.

HAHAHA!!1 Classic

 

[plinden]

ONLY 20%?

Not to be taking a jab at you by any means, but 1 out of every 5 of the computers shipped having to be repaired does not seem good to me.

That's pretty standard for laptops. 20-25% repair rate is common across the industry. I can't find any primary sources, but this is an interesting summary from early 2004 - http://forums.maccentral.com/wwwthreads/showflat.php?Cat=&Board=general&Number=618987

If the MBP repair rate really is 20%, it's not bad for a first generation product and is no worse than Apple's figures for 1999-2003.

I have my own issues with the recent quality control of Apple, but a case of bad luck like this is amazing. I would start looking for other possible reasons for such a failure rate.

Not so amazing. 20% makes it very likely for large numbers of people to get 3 bad ones in a row - 1/5x1/5x1/5 = 1/125, i.e 1 in 125 people would get 3 bad MBPs in a row.

 

[LoveMacMini]

20% is common for the industry?! where are you getting these numbers?

 

[weg]

Such a run of bad luck is likely to be balanced by great luck for the next 20 years, right?

He didn't say he's not going to buy Apple products for the next 20 years, did he? ;-)

 

[plinden]

20% is common for the industry?! where are you getting these numbers?

Did you follow the link in my post?

Frequency of "repairs and serious problems":
Apple best (16%), followed closely by Toshiba and Sony (both about 17%).
Worst: IBM, HP, Dell (more than 1/4 more likely to fail than Apple), and at the very bottom, Compaq and Gateway (50% more likely to fail than Apple).

It's also enlightening to put it into perspective with historical data on Apple laptop repair rates:
http://www.macintouch.com/reliability/laptops.html

 

[Jedi128]

Well, my MacBook has arrived safely home!

Applecare did an INCREDIBLE job. They did NOT wipe my HD or replace it - so I still have all of my data. They did, however replace just about everything else. Processor, logic board, heat sink, battery, even the keyboard and grey part of the clamshell (around the screen and keyboard). When I first got the computer, there was a small crack in the bevel next to the iSight. I ignored it because that's not too important to me, but they fixed it.

I had a picture of my girlfriend taped next to the trackpad - it serves as a reminder that work is not so important that I can forget her. They even stuck that back on, a little crooked, but it's there.


Now I just have to sort out this iPod mess, but at least I'm happy with Apple again.

That's good to hear. At first I thought you might be lieing, becuase it doesn't seem possible to me that you can get three DOA's in a row (with the MBP's). All my Apple stuff since 1994 has been working just great, although I don't feel like making a list right now.

Well, I'm just happy you like Apple again...