Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Apple's QC is going way downhill...

B

Bhennies

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Mar 20, 2004
435
0
NYC & Baltimore
Hi everybody,

has anyone else noticed that apple's QC is through the floor?

First of all, the first two 23" displays I received were defective. A 2000 purchase BTW. Makes me very nervous that I only have a one year warranty on it.

Then, I bought a 12" powerbook for a friend to set up her network at home. The first one was defective out of the box. I returned it, and then the second one had a defective power adapter, which they replaced at the store.

Then, my BT mouse was defective.

The whole reason I felt compelled to post this, was just a few minutes ago (as frequently happens), the BT driver went crazy and the keyboard (I suppose the delete key kept activating) erased most of a carefully thought out business email I was in the middle of typing. Thank God I was able to click on the finder and avert the entire thing from being erased but jesus christ!!!!

All in all I've made probably about 15-20 trips to the apple store just dealing with these few products.

Anyway, anyone else notice the trend?
 
Bhennies said:
Hi everybody,

has anyone else noticed that apple's QC is through the floor?

First of all, the first two 23" displays I received were defective. A 2000 purchase BTW. Makes me very nervous that I only have a one year warranty on it.

Then, I bought a 12" powerbook for a friend to set up her network at home. The first one was defective out of the box. I returned it, and then the second one had a defective power adapter, which they replaced at the store.

Then, my BT mouse was defective.

The whole reason I felt compelled to post this, was just a few minutes ago (as frequently happens), the BT driver went crazy and the keyboard (I suppose the delete key kept activating) erased most of a carefully thought out business email I was in the middle of typing. Thank God I was able to click on the finder and avert the entire thing from being erased but jesus christ!!!!

All in all I've made probably about 15-20 trips to the apple store just dealing with these few products.

Anyway, anyone else notice the trend?
Click to expand...
I had a weird problem with my iMac crashing constantly when I bought it - this was due to corrupt power manager settings, which the folks at the Apple Store fixed for me by opening up the iMac and resetting the power management unit (PMU). Other than that, I haven't noticed any QC issues.
 
I'm not sure about the quality control in general (I've been quite happy with all of my apple products), but I also had some initial problems with my wireless keyboard.

But, since the last bluetooth and keyboard firmware updates (these were a while back, sometime in the spring, I think) I haven't had any problems at all with my wireless keyboard (no wierd stuck keys/crazy typing situations). I'm also on the latest OS update. Is all of your stuff up to date? (That's probably a stupid question, but it's worth a shot if you've somehow missed out on those updates.)
 
No my powerbook is just fine.
(the only thing i've bought from them the last 3 years)
The ipod i bought nearly 3 years ago is fine..
Hopefully the iMac i've waiting to recieve soon will be fine aswell.

But the keyboard i bought (apple wired) with the pwoerbook isn't good...
Have used it since august (yeah, i type alot). The Sawtooth G4 keyboard lasted allmost two years, before I replaced it with a QS/MDD style (the black one).
(still miss the apple extende II keyborad from 1989, best ever made, used it daily from 1990 to 2002, now my brother uses it..)

The only apple computer that have died on me is a powerbook 100...
 
Yeah, I have noticed and increase in problems too.

My mom's 1.6Ghz iMac that was recieved yesturday had one stuck pixel and one dead pixel to start. The dead pixel came back to life on its own but the other is still stuck on bright white and rubbing it hasn't worked. Other than the one pixel, I haven't found any problems with it yet.

This is the only product that my family has that isn't absolutly perfect. All the rest are below. But I have seen the whole fan, and pixel problems on here, and it seems to be happening more often now.
 
telecomm said:
Is all of your stuff up to date? (That's probably a stupid question, but it's worth a shot if you've somehow missed out on those updates.)
Click to expand...
yeah, I'm on 10.3.5 with all the latest updates for bluetooth, etc. My first mac, a dual 500 g4 was an amazing machine and never had any problems with it- had it for 4 years and still sold it for 700 bucks on ebay. Just the newer stuff I've been buying I guess.
 
no problems for me with my pb, bt keybord, bt mouse, 15gig ipod, isight, airport extreme, nor has my ex fiance, who has most of the same stuff, i guess that there will always be lemons in production and im sorry to hear that you have had problems, but hey at least apple is being cooperative and is helping you get all the things fixed without too much hassle right?
 
I hope there hasn't been a trend toward decreased quality in Apple products. I say this because I hope to move to a dual G5 sometime in the next year :D. I've always counted on the 'Apple' name being synonymous with 'quality.' I've never had any problems with anything Apple.

- After using my first Mac (Performa 600 :p) for several years, I gave it to my nephews. Only problem I ever had was the PRAM battery running out after a few years (I only noticed because Quicken alerted me about a date in a new transaction being out of sync) and the system time was off.

- I replaced that with a PowerMac G3 (beige, 233MHz) and a 17" CRT display. Never any trouble, and I gave that one to my nieces when I replaced it with my current system.

- I also bought a 400MHz G3 Powerbook when it first became available that still works and has had no problems.

- My current system (Dual 1GHz G4 with a 17" flat display) has performed flawlessly since I bought it (spring '02 I think? It had just become available). The display is flawless too.

- My 2nd gen. iPod has presented no problems whatsoever and the battery life seems to be more than enough for the way I use it.

- My most recent addition was the wireless keyboard and mouse. Once again, I've experienced no problems with them.

This is one of the reasons I LOVE Apple products and while I realize any manufacturer can turn out a "lemon" now and then, I hope there isn't a trend here.
 
In a word: No.

In the past year, I have had a new iBook, a 3G 15GB iPod, a 12" PowerBook, and a new 4G 20GB iPod (long story). But I have had ZERO. Problems with any of them. Prior to that, I had a Lime iMac DV which performed flawlessly for 3.5 years. With friends & family, you can add on another new iBook and two eMacs. All of them have had zero problems. So I dont' think it's fair to say that Apple's QC as a whole is going downhill, you just got a few bad apples from the bunch. :)
 
I've purchased four Apple products within the last six months -- my first ever as a switcher.

G4 iMac -- DOA, got a refund
G4 PowerBook -- Flawless
G4 eMac -- Flawless
G5 iMac -- TOTAL DISASTER (pending)

I guess for some people a .500 success rate is okay. For the amount I spend (add those four lines up) I expect better.

So, as a newcomer to Apple products, I am VERY underwhelmed. I haven't fully decided if I want my G5 iMac replaced or refunded and just run away screaming. :(
 
In the last two-ish years:

17" iMac G4 800MHz
Flawless

17" PowerBook G4 1.33GHz
Bad battery, replaced at Santa Monica Apple Store

12" PowerBook G4 1.0GHz
Flawless

17" PowerBook G4 1.5GHz
Flawless

2G 10GB iPod
Flawless

iPod mini (green)
Flawless

17" iMac G5 SuperDrive
Flawless (well, so far at least)

BT Mouse & Keyboard
Flawless

iSight
Flawless

AirPort Extreme
Flawless

So I'd say I've had a pretty good run of luck with Apple. And the bad battery might have been my fault: I was charging the 17" (which has a 65W power supply) with my 12" PB's 45W supply. Regardless, Apple just swapped out batteries.

I'd say you just have a little bad karma built up or something ;)

-Drew
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back