The problem is you get bad replacement parts...
If the repaired unit functions as new and has the same life cycle as a new one what's the difference. I praise Apple for not wasting resources on new parts when existing ones will do just fine. This is a perfectly good way to handle defective units and is environmentally sound.
This is exactly the problem. There's a reason there's a bad reputation behind "refurbished" - it's because refurbished products tend to have greatly reduced lifespan, because typically some defect resulted in them failing in the first place. I've found that a lot of the time, a part may have subtle defects that cause it to have frequent failures. So they fix it (briefly) then pass it on to an innocent customer and turn a good computer into a piece of junk. Sure - you could get lucky and get a good part. But that's far from the common case. Typically, you might go 3 years with no trouble, a part breaks, you fix it. Then it breaks just months later, you fix it again, etc, etc. And after the warranty is out, you only get a 90 day warranty on the replacement parts - not the 3 years of the original, which makes owning a used model unaffordable once it breaks. If they guaranteed a certain lifetime of a replacement part, everything would be cool. But they don't. And this leads to some bad consequences. In the worse case, a good part is replaced "just in case" with a bad part. Botton line - anything breaks, you roll the dice. Any time, your computer could become a lemon.
Environmental Point: People talk about landfills. Apple's refurbished parts approach leads to only one real solution - always buy new computers and sell them before 3 years is up. That's not good for landfills.
Didn't pay for new part point: the reason you deserve a new part if a failure happens early on is because you paid new prices! You can get a 2 year old model in mint condition for HALF the original new price. (I do this frequently.) So if you just bought a new computer, and Apple puts in 2 year old parts in it, then you just lost serious money. Plus, it's often "not as good as new" - but you bought a new item. Here's a fictitious example: You and your friend each buy a new iPad. Yours has a yellow screen. You send it back. They give you back one that had a yellow screen but was treated so it doesn't look all that bad. Do you deserve to be worse off than your friend?
But one commenter brought up the reverse point - why does a 3 year old Mac deserve to get a new part in it? Well said, touche. But here's an angle - what if your goal is to try to make everything so reliable that it goes to the end of the warranty without needing replacements? Then, if something happens to go wrong early, the customer gets the newer parts as compensation for his troubles - turning a bad event into good. And after the warranty ends, you can CHARGE the customer, so then why doesn't he deserve a newer part?
I prefer the used car model:
#1) Try to fix my OWN computer first - only go for a replacement part if my part can't be fixed. Then you avoid what happens to me where you turn a really good computer into a bad one with no recourse whatsoever. Yes, this might take longer, but at least it should be an option, so you're not always rolling the dice.
#2) Have the option of two price tiers: New parts or used parts. This solves the issue brought about getting cheaper, more liberal warrantee repairs. And warranty repairs should absolutely use new parts, because you're saying the part shouldn't fail early. Or at least how about a "no one left in hell" clause - if the same part fails twice under warranty, give them a new part.
Those defective refurbished parts won't go to land fills - they'll go for repairs down the line, eventually. If not, then they're just too broken and should be recycled as scrap metal. What about all those Mac's chucked into landfills because people currently won't risk them once the warranty ends? You could improve that with a better repair record. Which happens from using new replacement parts.
This thread wouldn't even exist if you folks experienced this problem, so here's some first hand accounts, so you know this isn't arm chair philosophizing...
At one point I replaced the logic board and had GOOD LUCK - it was awesome. Lasted 3 years. Then, out of warranty, I paid $400 for a replacement logic board. In one month, it started failing. By 3 months, more was wrong with this board than any motherboard I'd ever had, but when I went to return it, I was told I just missed the 90 day cutoff and would have to pay another $400 !!! Knowing that the next board might not last another 4 months, because it's also not new, it also broke.
Another concrete example: A good friend of mine, into high end computers, was eagerly and enthusiastically switching to his first Mac. He got unlucky - his Mac had some defect. So he got it fixed. It broke again. He got it fixed. It broke again. The same part broke three times in rapid succession. So my friend gave up on Macs forever. If Apple had instead put in a new part instead of one that had just failed, he'd've been highly unlikely to have two failures in a row. But you replace with refurbished parts, and a lemon is always a lemon. And I've seen this for other friends - once a part fails, it fails constantly - not the 3-5 years it took to fail the first time. Because a refurbished part isn't the same as a new part, even if it is temporarily fixed. There are exceptions - I've never had a problem with replaced body panels. I have had problems with replaced screens, and anything inside the computer.
Apple is a luxury brand. When you pay $2,500+ for a laptop, you expect it to work. You expect it to not have a lot of hassles. This isn't gonna happen with refurbished replacement parts. You don't have to be burned very many times from refurbished parts to know not to go there. But with an Apple repair, you have no control. And that's fine with Apple - because they want you to buy a new computer every 3 years.
Sorry this was such a ridiculously long post. It just really burns me up. I LOVE Applecare - I would NEVER go without it. I could go without needing constant repairs, though.
