It says something to me as well. Those Mac's were in dire need of some TLCJ/K
But no, in all seriousness, we know that computers aren't 'supposed' to fail. But sometimes they just do. And from the looks of the latest independent reliability polls, it sounds like you got one of the few 'lemons' that managed to scrape through.
The more recent ones were most definitely they were lemons. The unfortunate part was Apple's refusal to admit that there was anything wrong with them and repair them. Sure, they finally did admit that some of the machines had some of the issues I had. And, they eventually agreed to fix some of them. But, after so many months of fighting with them over a dead computer, I finally gave up on the junk and got rid of it. Then, of course several months later they admit that there was an issue and decide to repair it for some machines (if it were in the right serial number range).
I later purchased a replacement system, but it was also in the shop constantly. So, I eventually sold it to someone else at a huge loss when they quit fixing it. The problem is that Apple directly was of no help. And, the local service center had so many machines in the shop to fix that he told me I would have to get back to him in a couple months and see if he was able to take it in then. Obviously, that doesn't do anything useful for the customer.
So, I sold the machine. And, went back to using a PC for a while. That $400 PC is still chugging along just fine. Never had an issue with it either.
It would be easier to dismiss the lemons from Apple (assuming that they were rare and all just came to me), if they would at least accept responsibility and fix or replace the machine in a reasonable timeframe. Shoving you to the side and denying service for a year, and then later admitting fault after the affected machines are already in a landfill is not great service.
As I said before, my Atari STFM still runs great. And so do most of my machines that I've gathered over the years. But none of the other machines I bought in the same price-bracket as the Mini have been reliable. And so far my Mini has. That says something to me...
I've no doubt that your Atari is still running strong. I would be willing to bet that even if your Mini lives a long and fruitful life, that the Atari will still outlive it.
I've had some good Macs as well. It just seems that I've had a lot of bad ones as well. They'd stand-out far less in my memory if Apple had been quick to resolve the problem instead of just trying to push me aside as much as they can.
At least there are independent shops to pick-up the slack. But, when they've picked-up all the slack, and have no room for additional repair order for the foreseeable future, that's not really great either. And, that kind of makes another statement about reliability.
We've finally gotten a second independent shop in my town though. So, perhaps between the two of them, they'll be able to keep up with the repairs out here (and this is a small town - very small).
