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Is Apple Quality going down?

I have been a mac user since 2003. I've purchased 2 PowerBooks, 1 PowerMac G5, 1 MacPro, 3 MacBook Pros, 2 MacBook Airs, a few iPods, 2 iPhones, 2 iPads, an iPod Hi-Fi (some of you older people may know what that is), Apple TV, and maybe some other items I'm not thinking of.

To put this concisely, I believe apple's hardware reliability for the most part has improved. At the same time, their hardware ingenuity/innovation has become very stagnant- don't give me that iWatch BS, Apple. I believe their software quality/reliability has gone from superb to mediocre. Their software innovation has not been particularly impressive in recent time.
 
A.Goldberg said:
I have been a mac user since 2003. I've purchased 2 PowerBooks, 1 PowerMac G5, 1 MacPro, 3 MacBook Pros, 2 MacBook Airs, a few iPods, 2 iPhones, 2 iPads, an iPod Hi-Fi (some of you older people may know what that is), Apple TV, and maybe some other items I'm not thinking of.

To put this concisely, I believe apple's hardware reliability for the most part has improved. At the same time, their hardware ingenuity/innovation has become very stagnant- don't give me that iWatch BS, Apple. I believe their software quality/reliability has gone from superb to mediocre. Their software innovation has not been particularly impressive in recent time.
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I agree with everything here. The G4 and G5 era was superb, and the software was really good. I think it is just a profit issue, the only important thing right now is make more profit and keep the iphone gaining market share. Apple could completely be out of PC business, the iphone is their profit driver.
Anyway, PC manufacturers are getting really good, and if you use Linux, it's a viable option.
 
^
PC manufacturer quality is all over the map and even brands once considered to be high quality have gone down a lot. The Thinkpad series is one example of reduced quality.

Also this downgrade in quality is happening with everything we buy we're becoming a throw away society and all companies care about is profits.
 
i have mixed feelings on the matter.

1. while the quality of Apple's product has gone up and problems have gone down, the caliber of those problems is much more severe. you can chalk that up to the challenges of miniaturization.

2. apple's software is awful. awful, awful, awful stuff. most of the problems people talk about associated with Apple in the past few years have been with software and not hardware, and unfortunately the problem only seems to be getting worse. again, i dont know if I specifically chalk this up to Apple as the industry norm these days is for all intents and purposes to use the customer base as public beta testers.

3. i dont buy the argument that people on a forum dont represent a typical cross-section of users. While there are certainly bound to be a more vocal section of the user community, its a safe logical assumption that if you have an increased amount of dissenting voices that are complaining, there's an increased amount of dissenting voices complaining in the larger user base as a whole. Only an idiot would ignore those complaints, and while Apple may not acknowledge or respond to them, I can assure you they do pay close attention. the brand didnt get to where they are by routinely ignoring customer input.


so, in closing, I do think Apple's quality has dropped somewhat, but I dont think its any more than any other company has allowed their product to slip in this shareholder-above-all-else economy we exist within in 2015.
 
I just replaced (actually handed down) a 2009 iMac for a 2014 Retina iMac. I never would have expected I'd have kept using it for 5 years. And this would be representative of Apples lowered quality (OP was in 2010!). That 2009 replaced an earlier model that I'd say was lower quality, and the new iMac certain feels better (cooler and quieter). Hardware quality is going up, IMHO.

Software, on the other hand, seems to be suffering from too-fast upgrade cycles. They need two years between OS releases and not one year. They need to get the bugs out. Even so, the version that gave me most grief was Leopard (and my first was Jaguar so I've had most OS Xes.) But Apple saw the errors of their ways and released Snow Leopard with few new features but lots of bug fixes. This is certainly why Snow Leopard is still highly regarded.
 
The grass was greener back in the days. Those nostalgia-tinted glasses kill our objectivity. To suggest that Apple was infallible and made perfect products back in <insert your favourite era here> is silly.
 
A.Goldberg said:
I have been a mac user since 2003. I've purchased 2 PowerBooks, 1 PowerMac G5, 1 MacPro, 3 MacBook Pros, 2 MacBook Airs, a few iPods, 2 iPhones, 2 iPads, an iPod Hi-Fi (some of you older people may know what that is), Apple TV, and maybe some other items I'm not thinking of.

To put this concisely, I believe apple's hardware reliability for the most part has improved. At the same time, their hardware ingenuity/innovation has become very stagnant- don't give me that iWatch BS, Apple. I believe their software quality/reliability has gone from superb to mediocre. Their software innovation has not been particularly impressive in recent time.
Click to expand...

I also agree. Apple Watch, that's their innovation, compared to Samsung Gear VR and Microsoft HoloLens. About software, mediocre quality control and almost no innovation. And I've had issues with the App Store, iTunes, Safari and Mail. I guess it's enough. I keep using OS X because I love gestures built-in the OS, but I've been thinking to switch to another OS more than once. And I now use a Windows Phone, more than happy with that. Half the price of an iPhone and better camera, and so on and on.
 
I think part of the quality issue stems from implementing more eco-friendly steps, ie lead-free solder.

Some of it stems from the trend that electronics are outdated 2 years after release and often require an upgrade. I think Apple is now selling products that last 3 years, instead of 5.
 
The quality of their hardware... I don't think so. There are occasional issues with some models but other than the antenna blunder with the iPhone 4, I don't think there has been any major ones.

The quality of their software... regretfully, I find this to be most of my issues with Apple products today. I don't think their software is very good anymore.
 
I think the hardware has been solid. Their software is another matter.

iOS 8.0 and OSX 10.0 were half-baked. Apple needs to move away from this insane annual upgrade cycle and not release software until it is ready.
 
I gotta agree

Hardware wise, I have a $250 netbook (Aspire One D250) that outlasted a $1500 Macbook Pro (which had every board replaced in it after 30 months, died again 7 months later)

The OS software has been on steady decline since 10.6.8. Digilloyd.com has been covering the issues of "bit rot" for a few years now.

I really miss OS/2.
 
theSeb said:
The grass was greener back in the days. Those nostalgia-tinted glasses kill our objectivity. To suggest that Apple was infallible and made perfect products back in <insert your favourite era here> is silly.
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So is blind adherence to idea that Apple in its current form can do no wrong.
 
theSeb said:
The grass was greener back in the days. Those nostalgia-tinted glasses kill our objectivity. To suggest that Apple was infallible and made perfect products back in <insert your favourite era here> is silly.
Click to expand...

I disagree. There are people here who have used Apple products for decades and are able to make an assessment about the quality.

Some users came on board with a recent iPhone and feel Apple is infallible or close to it.

There is a difference between nostalgia and experience.
 
SusanK said:
I disagree. There are people here who have used Apple products for decades and are able to make an assessment about the quality.

Some users came on board with a recent iPhone and feel Apple is infallible or close to it.

There is a difference between nostalgia and experience.
Click to expand...

I disagree with your disagreement. Apple has never made perfect hardware, or software. They didn't then and they don't now, despite what your subjective experience that you gained over decades tells you.
 
quakertone said:
The old macbook white I am comparing it to has been through a lot more - and is 6 times the age - of the Pro.
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The white MacBooks are tanks. I bought my Dad one when they came out. The thing has millions of miles on it and lots of abuse. It is however 100% functional, aside from hard drive replacement after failure, and of course the occasional battery replacement.

B
 
theSeb said:
I disagree with your disagreement. Apple has never made perfect hardware, or software. They didn't then and they don't now, despite what your subjective experience that you gained over decades tells you.
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I don't remember saying anything about perfection. Thread is about quality.

We can disagree.
 
Apple user for over 26 years, definitely quality decline in hardware IMO.

While an argument can be made that apple hardware was never perfect or always had issues, traditionally the apple hardware of it's era was always pushing to be the best of it's era, and it shows in the longevity and serviceability of past models.

Modern technology and it's stability over past technology does not translate in my mind to better quality of hardware, it only represents advancement in technology and advancement in the capability of the apple OS albeit recently lacking in stability IMO.

Today Apple pushes soldered parts and glued monitors and batteries and non serviceable throw away china made components *in a beautiful design package* not by miniaturization needs but rather by policy of greed.

With the advancement of technology today and miniaturization, there is no reason to not being able to make notebooks that can be user serviceable or user upgraded.

Hardware quality decline by design, definitely, eco conscious definitely not, while marketing hype over the top..
 
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