An apple fanboys tale of woe [long rant and OT]

[arctic ranger]

http://www.storyofstuff.com/

A very good 20 minute video. Pay particular close attention to the part about "planned obsolescence".

[crumhorn]

Check if it's covered by your home/contents insurance. You could always "accidentally" spill your drink in it or drop it down the stairs. or if your car insurances is comprehensive you could "accidentally" reverse over it.

But spending $800 to fix a 15 month old computer is not the way to go. That $800 will buy a lot more computer at today's prices.

[hoffman2k]

Check if it's covered by your home/contents insurance. You could always "accidentally" spill your drink in it or drop it down the stairs. or if your car insurances is comprehensive you could "accidentally" reverse over it.

But spending $800 to fix a 15 month old computer is not the way to go. That $800 will buy a lot more computer at today's prices.

Because nothing says quality like a laptop keyboard that is one single piece of molded plastic. Break a key, break the keyboard.

I'm definitely in the camp of people who might consider using their money to buy a pc that is technically better than a mac. But there is always a trade off.
Either the trackpad is crap or the keyboard feels like a srpingboard. Or it came with some realtek stuff that'll fuck with any audio application in any OS.

Turns out, the technical issue I had with my mac mini where the built-in audio just vanished could be fixed by installing a driver.
I'm never that lucky with PC's that seem to physically break over time when I use one.

That being said. If you think Apple is bad, try comparing it to the current console world. 50% of every Xbox built will break down over time. You'll have to buy a new one if you want to keep playing your games. Sony will service the PS3 (ie. apply thermal paste) and charge you 2/3rds the price of a PS3.

[Emissary]

that sux dude , sorry to hear it. in the uk we have a 2 year manufactures guarantee as standard and a 6 year guarantee if we can prove it was a manufacturing problem and not wear and tear, all for free. Not many people know about such things though. So anybody who lives in the UK and has an xbox 360, your guaranteed for 6 years from date of purchase as microsoft have already admitted its a manufacturing problem, fail!

[djsynchro]

All these big American companies are after the same thing: World domination and as much $$$$$ as they can cheat the world out of.
Apple is a acting more and more like Micro$uck anyway.
Here:http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/07/27/ap ... tts-fault/
Stifling technology's progress so AT&T can charge you old school inflated prices, they're now being investigated for it.

I just bough a channel strip from ma German company the warranty is 24 months plus another 12 upon registration. That's more like it! What's up with 12 months warranty anyway? It's too short! I bought an HP laptop, very lightly used it, a while ago the lid's hinges went floppy. Out of warranty of course I'm not even going to ask how much to repair.

Blech! That's why I build my own PCs if some part goes faulty I yank it out and replace it. "SynchroCare" next Laptop is going to be something Taiwanese they make all the parts anyway.

[Machinesworking]

a] not getting the extended warranty is a rookie mistake

Honestly, fuck extended warrantees. They usually cost as much as the average fix, if you look into other options besides Apple/OEM servicing.
I've replaced optical drives, RAM HDs, etc. on powerbooks in the past. None of the items cost over $200 which is what an extended warranty will run you.
Honestly, I never buy Apple Care, Bought it this time trying to be "safe", and it wasn't cheap. I woke up the other day to what looked like a golf ball sized black hole on the Macbook Pros LCD, looked like someone took a golf ball to it. Apple care is refusing it, partially due to a few minor dents and scrapes on the laptop.
Even worse than your story, I actually have Apple Care, and they just consider all screen breaks to be accidental damage.
I was quoted $1200 for Apple to fix it, and $280 is what it's going to end up costing me third party. Fuck extended warrantees, the only good coverage is full coverage in this case, and that would be far too expensive on the chance something goes wrong.
Even the freaking motherboard on this thing is only $470 on ebay, So say that goes, paying them in advance would save me $130. You're basically gambling that something will go wrong, if it doesn't, you're giving them money.

b] *corporation-of-your-choice* are assholes

+666


Smutek look around, there are people who will fix it for much less. Just not freaking Apple. You can buy the screen on ebay like this one!!

That would put a replacement around $300 if you hire some local non apple mac shop to instal it for you.

PS: The LCDs change a lot so make dammed sure you're buying the one for your model!

[esky]

Smutek look around, there are people who will fix it for much less. Just not freaking Apple. You can buy the screen on ebay like this one!!

That would put a replacement around $300 if you hire some local non apple mac shop to instal it for you.

PS: The LCDs change a lot so make dammed sure you're buying the one for your model!

+1 on this. Try to find a good independent computer service and double check your problem. Apple Service lie to their customers to sell those shitty overpriced spareparts. I had such a problem with Gravis and M&M Trading here in Berlin (to name those w******), both wanted to sell me a new G5 motherboard for 800.-Euros. Later it came out the cpu had just disconnected from the board.

[8O]

+1 on this. Try to find a good independent computer service and double check your problem. Apple Service lie to their customers to sell those shitty overpriced spareparts. I had such a problem with Gravis and M&M Trading here in Berlin (to name those w******), both wanted to sell me a new G5 motherboard for 800.-Euros. Later it came out the cpu had just disconnected from the board.

Have you tried Julien Kwan (http://www.macgician.de/joomla/) - I found him extremely competent and recommended the most practical solution, rather than the one which would earn him the most money. Recommended.

[esky]

+1 on this. Try to find a good independent computer service and double check your problem. Apple Service lie to their customers to sell those shitty overpriced spareparts. I had such a problem with Gravis and M&M Trading here in Berlin (to name those w******), both wanted to sell me a new G5 motherboard for 800.-Euros. Later it came out the cpu had just disconnected from the board.

Have you tried Julien Kwan (http://www.macgician.de/joomla/) - I found him extremely competent and recommended the most practical solution, rather than the one which would earn him the most money. Recommended.

Thanks man, but meanwhile i switched to a Q6600 pc and never looked back. I'm not gonna buy an Apple product again...once and for all.

[Zygi]

I don't get one thing.

Do you all actually buy hardware and expect it to break nearly instantly? Geez that's bad. <stroking his thinkpad>

What's so big about apple if it fails sooner or later? The OS? Logic? It's all replacable...

[SubFunk]

+1 on this. Try to find a good independent computer service and double check your problem. Apple Service lie to their customers to sell those shitty overpriced spareparts. I had such a problem with Gravis and M&M Trading here in Berlin (to name those w******), both wanted to sell me a new G5 motherboard for 800.-Euros. Later it came out the cpu had just disconnected from the board.

Have you tried Julien Kwan (http://www.macgician.de/joomla/) - I found him extremely competent and recommended the most practical solution, rather than the one which would earn him the most money. Recommended.

thanks for that, good to know in general.

@ OP, i am sorry to hear... guess no one is secure of being unlucky to grab a monday model... i have total opposite experience with them and the hardware...

[dazzer]

I don't get one thing.

Do you all actually buy hardware and expect it to break nearly instantly? Geez that's bad. <stroking his thinkpad>

Absolutely, I once bought an Apple laptop that broke before it was even released.

BTW what does "stroking his thinkpad" mean, is it a euphemism?

[BDS]

i've been talking pc construction with a co-worker (specifically to run multiple OSs) and he pointed me towards a page that lists the problems and work-arounds for a bunch of different motherboards/chipsets & OS X. typical problems seemed to be things like: sleep doesn't always work, etc.

i can't remember the page (and you may already be familiar with it) but i'll forward it along if you're interested. the folks running the site assume that you're 3/4 legit as you need to buy your own copy of OS X.

i'll see what i can turn up.

[hoffman2k]

I don't get one thing.

Do you all actually buy hardware and expect it to break nearly instantly? Geez that's bad. <stroking his thinkpad>

Absolutely, I once bought an Apple laptop that broke before it was even released.

BTW what does "stroking his thinkpad" mean, is it a euphemism?

It gets even more complicated if you take into account the most awesome feature on a thinkpad: the nipple!

[d-track]

hmm-hmmm.... this one will be long:)

i havbe been using pcs (desk+lap) for everything. and i do everythin with pcs. video editing, software dev, mixing, music making, installations,gaming etc etc...

and i have to say i am fucking bored of pc problems (almost all of them related to any windows version.., not really the hw).

so i decided ill throw all them to trash can and just get a macbook pro for everything.
i knew the hype is too high and macs also have problems but i still believed it reduces the suffer...and save time and energy goes to sort the problems out.

but at one point i said no way.
allof my frieds who have hyped their apple products gets even and even more disappointed. hdd fails, display fails, annyoing OS bugs, even freezes (which usually was the trademark of microsoft products and pcs) etc etc.
and some told me this: spending 3x the money for a thing which is the same or worse than a windows based pc is a mistakeand they are not proud of it. and they dont start whining around apple is crap when they realized they are consumer stupids. so fanboys spreads the hype along...

at the university we use imacs and my personal experience is about the same.
so i am in a dilemma, but now more on the stay with pc side...

i am sorry for hearing such stories and i never had one like this in the past 20 years i use pcs.
but my opinion is:
dfinitely the lesson is not that you should pay even more for an already high priced and hyped product just for an extended warranty. the main problem for me is not that the service will cost less or more but that the product are not as responsible as advertised... so the big question is...why should i pay 3x more for a stupid "i am artist" statement illuminating white apple logo..?

i also hve read very good reviews about windows 7 and ill wait till next year to decide.
any comments (even fanboys:) are welcome to help me decide.
thanks!