Did I make a "career limiting decision" by going with a MBP?

[miles01110]

It is an interesting question, for all of the non-Apple PC HW, laptops and server, the service is performed on-site under the supposedly watchful eyes of either the server admin or the owner of the laptop. I am assuming that it is the expectation that such a monitored repair is not a data risk. Give that HP is now headed down the encrypted file system route, that would be a next step in data security. Apple does seem to do on-site for servers, but not for laptops.

Ah, I see. That makes a little more sense... at least being watched by the sysadmin. I wouldn't trust the typical end user to watch and comprehend what was going on even if everyone in the company is supposedly knowledgeable.

 

[dernhelm]

The support I've received at an Apple store has ALWAYS been stellar. But I've only used it for problems with computers I own for my personal use. I never have anything on there that matters to me if anyone should happen to "steal" it, and so I never have a real issue when I've needed to drop off my computer in the morning and pick it up again (fixed) in the evening. For me that was near-zero down time, because my personal systems don't get used when I'm at work.

At the end of the day, comparing what kind of service I need for personal use and what I need for my professional systems isn't really fair. When the fan died on my Dell laptop I use at work, it took almost 2 weeks to get an appointment scheduled, but once it was, Dell showed up on site and I was only down for 1/2 an hour. She disassembled my system right at my desk, replaced the fan, reassembled everything and I was on my way. Even though the total time to fix took much longer than anything I had taken to the Apple store, it was perfect for me, because my total _down_ time was only 30 minutes. If I had to drop it off at a repair shop in the morning, and pick it up in the evening, I would have lost all day.

It is for those reasons, that Apple really should look into providing on-site service for professionals who are willing to pay for it. If I were more enterprising, I might start up a service business for just that purpose...

 

[belvdr]

NDAs are a step in the right direction, but don't get to the root of the problem. NDAs only work with honest employees, and do nothing to prevent someone intent on breaking your security policy from doing so. Third party liability always turns into a huge mess, which is why sensible organizations with important data to protect don't do it.

True, the NDA is a legal barrier, not a technical one. That said, NDAs are a valuable part of working with 3rd parties. I have never seen an organization that can sustain itself without third party assistance, such as evaluation products or technical help on security products.

 

[miles01110]

True, the NDA is a legal barrier, not a technical one. That said, NDAs are a valuable part of working with 3rd parties. I have never seen an organization that can sustain itself without third party assistance, such as evaluation products or technical help on security products.

Oh- certainly. I didn't mean to downplay the importance of NDAs or third parties; you have to have both to some extent if only to have someone to blame if things hit the fan ( ). It'll certainly depend on the industry, the nature of the information you want to protect, and the budget. I work for the government; in the rare cases when my branch has to resort to an outside contractor we don't even consider organizations in which every employee has lower than a Top Secret security clearance. Clearances are a convenient way to "rank" how "trustworthy" an organization is, but in private industry there's not such a convenient benchmark. At least none that I've come across that's implemented in a uniform way.

 

[CTechKid]

Sounds to me like the OP rolled the dice and made a bunch of unfounded assumptions regarding available support for Apple devices and was subsequently bitten. The next question is, why are you even using a Mac in the work environment you've depicted?

 

[panzer06]

Sounds to me like the OP rolled the dice and made a bunch of unfounded assumptions regarding available support for Apple devices and was subsequently bitten. The next question is, why are you even using a Mac in the work environment you've depicted?

This is true. I started the Mac migration at our company but even now with about 10% converted there is no support and we buy our own equipment and support ourselves (I should say we engineers support ourselves and the sales reps convince us to help them). If our Macs break we have to go back to using the company provided windows laptop while we get our Macs serviced. An annoying but effective solution.

Even so, it is a testament to the ease of use and immense flexibility of the Mac that so many of us are willing to spend our own money to use a Mac at work even if we must rely on less than stellar corporate support.

Cheers,

 

[srexy]

If you've got your data on an external drive from a CCC backup, assuming you have a monitor/kb/mouse in your house you could always plug that into your Mac Mini and boot from it without disturbing your HTPC setup.

More of a workaround than a solution I grant you...

You should certainly pen an email to sjobs@apple.com regarding your predicament.