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gr8tfly

macrumors 603
Oct 29, 2006
5,333
99
~119W 34N
17" PB G4 1.67MHz - built in China. Just a data point. No problems with it whatsoever, in almost 2 years. Just sold it to upgrade to C2D MBP.
 

carlos700

macrumors 6502
Dec 17, 2004
354
148
Omaha, NE
I do not think there should be a degrade in quality due to the use of the Intel processor. I believe first versions of Intel-based Macs may not be as reliable as their PowerPC predecessors because Apple is new to the x86 architecture and needs to learn how to perfect their designs in a similar fashion to their PowerPC machines. Look at history, the Macintosh PowerBook 5300, an absolute disaster and the first PowerPC Mac laptop. By the time they hit the Bronze Keyboard PowerBook G3s they were quite rock-solid.
 

bearbo

macrumors 68000
Jul 20, 2006
1,858
0
definately not - they are now being built in China, which explains it all :)

er... do i sense racial discrimination? just because workers in China aren't greedy doesn't mean they are incapable of build quality products.

there are way more high quality product built in China than anywhere else in this planet.
 

eXan

macrumors 601
Jan 10, 2005
4,738
134
Russia
er... do i sense racial discrimination? just because workers in China aren't greedy doesn't mean they are incapable of build quality products.

there are way more high quality product built in China than anywhere else in this planet.

Still, since Apple started to build its products in China, quality has decreased. Dont u agree?
 

thewhitehart

macrumors 65816
Jul 9, 2005
1,103
607
The town without George Bailey
Regardless of where they are built, I find my intel machine to be faster than my G4. Of course, this is obvious, but the G4 is far more stable. I've been having so many issues with my iMac Core Duo, my wireless woes cheif among them. I've never had any, any problems whatsoever with my G4 ibook, and it kind of makes me wish that Apple didn't switch architectures. I guess only time will tell if the intel machines will be just as reliable, as my iMac is a revision A. I should've waited. It's kind of disappointing, because my G4 ibook was my first mac, and its rock solid stability has given me the false impression that macs are invincible to problems. My intel iMac has debunked this.

As for the physical build quality, I don't see any difference.
 

jhu

macrumors 6502a
Apr 4, 2004
854
1
Still, since Apple started to build its products in China, quality has decreased. Dont u agree?

no. what other country has apple used for manufacturing and when did they start using china exclusively. i don't know the answer to the former, but apple was certainly outsourcing to china at about the same time that every other company was. quanta actually manufactures apple laptops right alongside dell, hp, etc. laptops.
 

deadpixels

macrumors 6502a
Oct 30, 2006
913
0
definately not - they are now being built in China, which explains it all
Still, since Apple started to build its products in China, quality has decreased. Dont u agree?
i feel racial discrimination too :mad: so APPLE get GREEDY and produce in china to MAKE more MONEY by using cheap labour and you blame it on the chinese??
i am quite sure you get EXACTLY what you pay for in china, so i guess apple just get delivered what they pay for. if you think some other brand has better quality than apple, they most likely produce in china TOO, they just pay more to get better quality :p
 

eXan

macrumors 601
Jan 10, 2005
4,738
134
Russia
no. what other country has apple used for manufacturing and when did they start using china exclusively. i don't know the answer to the former, but apple was certainly outsourcing to china at about the same time that every other company was. quanta actually manufactures apple laptops right alongside dell, hp, etc. laptops.

I think that this made Apple computers' quality pretty equal to other brands'.
I could be wrong, but look at all those recent issues with intel-Macs, err, MacBooks! Whine, moo, yeallowing, extensive heat, etc. Is this simply because of this is a rev. A products?
 

dpaanlka

macrumors 601
Nov 16, 2004
4,869
34
Illinois
Is this simply because of this is a rev. A products?

I think yes, because this is bigger than simply being a rev A product, this is a rev A product based on an architecture that Apple has never ever dealt with in the past. I think a ~1 transition from PowerPC to Intel is impressive, and a few teething problems should be expected. Also, I highly doubt the problems reported represent anything close to a majority. Remember, nobody posts about how their machine works exactly as expected on a Mac help forum.
 

eXan

macrumors 601
Jan 10, 2005
4,738
134
Russia
i feel racial discrimination too :mad: so APPLE get GREEDY and produce in china to MAKE more MONEY by using cheap labour and you blame it on the chinese??

No need to get mad :)

i am quite sure you get EXACTLY what you pay for in china, so i guess apple just get delivered what they pay for. if you think some other brand has better quality than apple, they most likely produce in china TOO, they just pay more to get better quality :p

I didnt say that other brands computers are higher quality than Apple's. No, but the quality of Apple's computers has lowered in the past couple of years. If in the G3/early G4 time you could be sure you Mac will be rock-solid, I cant say that its the same today.

BTW, Apple has started to want even more money. Look at iPod: at first, it came even witha case with belt clip, the Remote and the Dock (3G), next without it, next they got rid of FireWire, next printed manual and a CD with software. What will next? Will iPods come without a box?!
 

eXan

macrumors 601
Jan 10, 2005
4,738
134
Russia
Also, I highly doubt the problems reported represent anything close to a majority. Remember, nobody posts about how their machine works exactly as expected on a Mac help forum.

Hmm, this may be true, but I still find it hard to belive (I'm talking about yellowing on MacBooks). I never owned a MacBook myself, but I've seen it (used and touched :)) at my Apple rreseller and it seems to be very "vulnerable" to yellowing! :eek:
 

Chundles

macrumors G5
Jul 4, 2005
12,037
493
BTW, Apple has started to want even more money. Look at iPod: at first, it came even witha case with belt clip, the Remote and the Dock (3G), next without it, next they got rid of FireWire, next printed manual and a CD with software. What will next? Will iPods come without a box?!


Yeah, and look at prices.

1G iPod = ~$1000 for 5GB
5.5G iPod = $499 for 80GB.

Doesn't bother me at all they got rid of all the superfluous stuff.
 

eXan

macrumors 601
Jan 10, 2005
4,738
134
Russia
Yeah, and look at prices.

1G iPod = ~$1000 for 5GB
5.5G iPod = $499 for 80GB.

Doesn't bother me at all they got rid of all the superfluous stuff.

It was 400$ for 1g iPod I think.

But thats just the tech progress - drives get more capacity and get smaller physically, the prices go down.

Its not good to sell a player that only works with one kind of software without this software included, dont you think? Its not a problem if the buyer is on Mac, but if he's on a PC that doesnt have iTunes on it... the buyer thinks its lame to go online and download a 30 MB software just to make his iPod work!
 

Westside guy

macrumors 603
Oct 15, 2003
6,413
4,284
The soggy side of the Pacific NW
I didnt say that other brands computers are higher quality than Apple's. No, but the quality of Apple's computers has lowered in the past couple of years. If in the G3/early G4 time you could be sure you Mac will be rock-solid, I cant say that its the same today.

A few data points.

- My 3+ years old G4 Powerbook was made in Taiwan. It's unlikely that Taiwanese manufacturing quality is significantly different than what's available in Shanghai. Apple has been using Asian manufacturers for a LONG time, as have most all PC makers. I was happy with the Powerbook for the most part, and I imagine I'll be happy with my MacBook Pro three years from now as well.

- G3 era quality? Remember the fiasco regarding the G3 iBook's logic board?

- Remember the G4 TiBook paint flakiness and horrible wireless reception?

The reason people look back at old Macs and think they see longevity is pretty much the same thing that forced the switch to Intel - the processor speed improvement over time was dog slow to nonexistent. That meant Apple had to keep their operating system runnable on rather old computers, because the new computers weren't all that much faster!
 

eXan

macrumors 601
Jan 10, 2005
4,738
134
Russia
A few data points.

- My 3+ years old G4 Powerbook was made in Taiwan. It's unlikely that Taiwanese manufacturing quality is significantly different than what's available in Shanghai. Apple has been using Asian manufacturers for a LONG time, as have most all PC makers. I was happy with the Powerbook for the most part, and I imagine I'll be happy with my MacBook Pro three years from now as well.

- G3 era quality? Remember the fiasco regarding the G3 iBook's logic board?

- Remember the G4 TiBook paint flakiness and horrible wireless reception?

The reason people look back at old Macs and think they see longevity is pretty much the same thing that forced the switch to Intel - the processor speed improvement over time was dog slow to nonexistent. That meant Apple had to keep their operating system runnable on rather old computers, because the new computers weren't all that much faster!

Sorry, I was too young to be interested in Apple in the G3 era. I had a rock-solid G3 iMac (400 MHz) and an iBook 300 MHz. They were nice machines :eek:

My sisters 400 MHz iMac G3 is about 8 years old and runs perfect in OS9: no glitches, no reboots, no hardware problems. I dont think current Macs can last that long...
 

twoodcc

macrumors P6
Feb 3, 2005
15,307
26
Right side of wrong
i agree with what some have already said....most of the issues with the new intels is b/c Apple has just transitioned to a new type of processor, and will soon be back to being reliable, just like their PPC computers.

even though i've had a few problems with my intels, nothing that makes me think twice about my purchase
 

dpaanlka

macrumors 601
Nov 16, 2004
4,869
34
Illinois
My sisters 400 MHz iMac G3 is about 8 years old and runs perfect in OS9: no glitches, no reboots, no hardware problems. I dont think current Macs can last that long...

I'm confident they'll be fine. How can you come up with a conclusion like that when it was already pointed out that problems are A: always reported with everything and B: do not represent anything close to a majority of product in circulation?
 

eXan

macrumors 601
Jan 10, 2005
4,738
134
Russia
I'm confident they'll be fine. How can you come up with a conclusion like that when it was already pointed out that problems are A: always reported with everything and B: do not represent anything close to a majority of product in circulation?

Ok, ok, I give up :D It is only my opinion.

How stable intel-Macs are? We'll see in a couple of years :)
 

twoodcc

macrumors P6
Feb 3, 2005
15,307
26
Right side of wrong
Ok, ok, I give up :D It is only my opinion.

How stable intel-Macs are? We'll see in a couple of years :)

maybe so, but my mac pro has proven to me that it's pretty stable.

i haven't had it long, but out of the 3 months that i've had it, i've only restarted for updates, and that's only a few times.

and i've only got 1GB of ram right now
 

bearbo

macrumors 68000
Jul 20, 2006
1,858
0
you think apple's quality decrease is entirely china's fault? then you are horribly mistaken.
I think that this made Apple computers' quality pretty equal to other brands'.
I could be wrong, but look at all those recent issues with intel-Macs, err, MacBooks! Whine, moo, yeallowing, extensive heat, etc. Is this simply because of this is a rev. A products?
if whine/moo is due to faulty logic board, yellowing is due to wrong material, and heat issue is due to incorrect thermal paste application instruction.. then these are all design mistake, aka apple's mistake, and yes, because they are rev. A, so they have not been thoroughly tested on their design.

how is this chinese's fault?
 

eXan

macrumors 601
Jan 10, 2005
4,738
134
Russia
you think apple's quality decrease is entirely china's fault? then you are horribly mistaken.

if whine/moo is due to faulty logic board, yellowing is due to wrong material, and heat issue is due to incorrect thermal paste application instruction.. then these are all design mistake, aka apple's mistake, and yes, because they are rev. A, so they have not been thoroughly tested on their design.

how is this chinese's fault?

Its not a chinese fault. The fact that they now produce in China is part of the reason. Apple is now more interested in quantity than quality. Its not China that forced Apple to produce their products in it, its all Apple's decision.
 
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