Apple hardware QC... Is it just bad luck?

[juanm]

Hi. Just a thought: since 2006, I've bought quite a few Apple devices, and now that I think about it, the failure rate is very high (most of the times Apple's taken care of it free of charge, so no complaints there)

First Generation MacBook -> Faulty logic board (it turned off for no reason)
Santa Rosa MacBook Pro -> Faulty Nvidia 8600GT
Mac Pro 1,1 -> Faulty X1900XT
iPod Nano -> Just got it replaced for a new one because of the battery issue.
iPhone 3G -> Faulty GPS
11" MacBook Air -> Perfect
20" white C2D iMac -> Perfect, so far, although I've read scary stories about GPU failure, but I'm not sure they apply to my computer.
iPhone 4 -> Faulty camera

I left out of the list my three ACD (20", 23", and 30" all three run fine) As I said, except for the iPhones, which were out of warranty (and I repaired the iPhone 4 camera myself for a few bucks) everything's been repaired/replaced free of charge by Apple... but still, now that I look back, it's a HUGE failure rate!

 

[miles01110]

Bad luck. Plenty of people have no issues with their Macs.

 

[Confuzzzed]

If you actually look at the accounting treatment of depreciation of IT equipment (3 years broadly speaking), then you have to ask yourself if, on average, you get your 3 years from your products. As a heavy user of Macs (pleasure) and PCs (work) I can categorically conclude that I get more life out of my Macs. And they retain a much higher re-sale value even after 4-5 years so overall I feel like I am beating the auditors on what I squeeze out of my apple equipment. I can't say that about my PCs though, which in general need replacing every 18-30 months on average.

 

[Macman45]

I often wonder as I read through post's here why I have only ever had one faulty Apple product (and that turned out to be an Apple server issue with an ATV unit that would not update) Ever!

Everything I have bought has been A1. I was wondering if there is a correlation between buying directly from Apple (I alway's have) and buying from other outlets. It's not like I'd settle for second best either....I'm fussy. It might be interesting to discover if those who purchase from Apple have more "Luck" than those who buy from other outlets / stores.

Perhaps the QC isn't as sharp?

 

[Confuzzzed]

I often wonder as I read through post's here why I have only ever had one faulty Apple product (and that turned out to be an Apple server issue with an ATV unit that would not update) Ever!

Perhaps the QC isn't as sharp?

I doubt if the two are linked. It's not like they are manufactured in different facilities or they have grade A and grade B products. the hassle factor to their exemplary customer service would prove to be a false economy if it was the case. People resources (largely in the West) is much more expensive than hardware components (largely from the East).

 

[Macman45]

I doubt if the two are linked. It's not like they are manufactured in different facilities or they have grade A and grade B products. the hassle factor to their exemplary customer service would prove to be a false economy if it was the case. People resources (largely in the West) is much more expensive than hardware components (largely from the East).

I was thinking more in terms of the way the goods are stored and handled by the other retail outlets rather than A or B grade products...Maybe Apple take more care?

 

[Confuzzzed]

I was thinking more in terms of the way the goods are stored and handled by the other retail outlets rather than A or B grade products...Maybe Apple take more care?

Yea, I can see how that may be possible. You can tell from the appearance of the store to tell you some retailers stack things high, sell them cheap whilst Apple stores seem to value every single one of their products. Also the distribution has something to do with it. If you have ever bought from apple.com, the transport packaging in itself seems to be well engineered. I remember buying a mac mini from amazon a while back and it arrived via courrier in its display box! No transport packaging whatsoever!