Apple has changed the way we look at new computers.

[mikethebigo]

About 30 minutes ago, the title of this thread was going to be, "Apple's quality control has totally gone to *****." Then I started thinking about it.

I have been to the Apple store numerous times in the last 4 weeks. I've returned both Macbook Pros and Macbook Airs due to a number of small manufacturing defects such as:

- keyboard keys all being slanted (not just function keys)
- dark splotches on the screen of the Macbook Air series (both the new 11 and 13 inch models suffer from poor backlight design at the bottom of the screen)
- backlight bleed/faulty screen LEDs
- dust under the screen

However, what I've never returned a laptop to Apple for has included: hard drive failures, logic board failures, or other significant hardware problems.

I thought back to the good old days, when I used to get the cheapest desktops available, and then went through a phase with Dell laptops (I've owned 3). My first computer, a Zenon (yeah, not surprised they're not a household name) was advertised as a Pentium 100, but when we played around in the BIOS, found out it was actually an overclocked Pentium 75. Just dealt with it.

With the Dell laptops, you ordered the system, and waited for Dell to build it and ship it to you. After a couple weeks of eager waiting, it would finally arrive. You didn't look for tiny little defects or obsess about those things. This is because, if you felt the computer was defective, you'd have to ship it back to Dell, wait for them to evaluate it, and maybe they'd send it back with that one part repaired, eventually.

Nowadays, you just walk back in to the Apple Store, and for no great reason at all, the computer will be totally replaced for you. For free. And the specialists are trained to say "I would want mine to be perfect too."

With a system like that, why wouldn't you obsess over every little thing? It's just funny, because back in the day, I would deal with stuck pixels, poor build quality, flexible keyboards, poorly backlit screens, overheating, bad case designs, etc, and I just dealt with it because it wasn't worth the hassle of making an exchange.

Does anyone feel like they've gotten a LOT more obsessive over the small visual details of their MacBooks? Have you guys returned systems that were fully functional but had some aesthetic issue that bothered you? And if so, would you have done that 15 years ago?

Just a funny thing to think about

 

[yusukeaoki]

You must be very unlucky to have such defects lol

I am a Apple user since 1999.
Yes, 1999 where the Apple Typewriter was out.
And it still works great.

I have many many Apple product since then.
Apple PDA, iPhones, iPods, many many Mac, apple keyboards, mouse, etc!
Never ever had problem with any of them.

With the OS, yes but update covered it all.
None of them had defects so I never went to repair nor return my apple product. The only repair I have done was because I dropped my old PBG4.

But other than that never had any problems.

 

[satchow]

Yup, you're pretty lucky. I've been a MacBook user since 2010 and I've had to have a Logic Board replaced and now a TrackPad. Pretty significant.

 

[Demosthenes X]

Just read these forums for a couple days and notice the amount of complaints over minor issues, and you'll find that your spot on.

That said, I can understand spending $2000 and wanting things to be perfect, too.

 

[Prodo123]

I think it's more of the price point that drives people to go obsessive-compulsive on the MBP.
I mean, if you paid $2000+ for a laptop, you would expect every little thing to be perfect and to stay perfect. Especially when delicate materials such as glass and aluminum are involved.
From that standpoint, I think Apple Geniuses are being genuine when they say they would want their MBPs to be perfect too, since they shelled out quite a lot of money for it.

 

[mikethebigo]

I think it's more of the price point that drives people to go obsessive-compulsive on the MBP.
I mean, if you paid $2000+ for a laptop, you would expect every little thing to be perfect and to stay perfect. Especially when delicate materials such as glass and aluminum are involved.

I spent $3600 on a maxed out Dell XPS for school, and had no feelings of the sort. I didn't even notice certain screen issues with it until I bought my first Macbook and then compared... I only cared if the underlying hardware worked.

 

[rockyroad55]

I spent $3600 on a maxed out Dell XPS for school, and had no feelings of the sort. I didn't even notice certain screen issues with it until I bought my first Macbook and then compared... I only cared if the underlying hardware worked.

Maybe because we are used to Apple products being so perfect looking that we are "forced" to care about it in that manner?

 

[danpass]

I think it's more of the price point that drives people to go obsessive-compulsive on the MBP.
I mean, if you paid $2000+ for a laptop, you would expect every little thing to be perfect and to stay perfect. Especially when delicate materials such as glass and aluminum are involved.
From that standpoint, I think Apple Geniuses are being genuine when they say they would want their MBPs to be perfect too, since they shelled out quite a lot of money for it.

agreed