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Apple just has never gotten any wireless protocols to work consistently.

A few off the top of my head... Pre-unibody MacBook Pro wifi issues, iPhone 4 Bluetooth issues (even addressed in keynotes!), random disconnects on iMacs/MacBook Pros etc, signal attenuation issues with iPhone 4 etc. The list is endless, but my memory is going - so that's all you get. :)

Do you think it's coincidence that all of those products have metal cases?
 
There had to be something, there always is. Apple will investigate and fix it.

I agree. My ipod touch 4 and iphone 5 always have issues staying connected while macbook pro has excellent wifi connection.
 
What I find funny is how there is no attention spent to all those wifi issues that Windows users have - from dealing with crapware third party wifi connection controllers from their OEM through to updates from Microsoft failing to install because of butchering to the base installation of Windows by OEM's (experienced that first hand trying to update via 'Windows Update' on Windows 7 when running a Lenovo X1 Carbon from out of the box). Funny how an Apple product has an issue then all hell breaks loose but not a single thing said about the crapfeast of hell that the average user faces when running a Windows laptop or desktop.

For the same spec, when one product sells for $1000 and another sells for $600, you sure expect a much less problem with the expensive one. As to the cheaper one, the buyer already set up his expectation low and is willing to look for workarounds for small glitches.
 
What I find funny is how there is no attention spent to all those wifi issues that Windows users have - from dealing with crapware third party wifi connection controllers from their OEM through to updates from Microsoft failing to install because of butchering to the base installation of Windows by OEM's (experienced that first hand trying to update via 'Windows Update' on Windows 7 when running a Lenovo X1 Carbon from out of the box). Funny how an Apple product has an issue then all hell breaks loose but not a single thing said about the crapfeast of hell that the average user faces when running a Windows laptop or desktop.

Yes I agree. People seem to just accept that windows users have to deal with the occasional issue. But OS X users shouldn't have to. Hence when any tiny thing crops up it's like "oh my has Cupertino failed you OS X users?"

Apple is a victim of it's own success here a little. Apple deliver quality most times so people expect Apple to be perfect. And when it's only 99% people make a stink about it. And those who hate Apple (like gizmodo obviously do) publish these little issues.
 
For the same spec, when one product sells for $1000 and another sells for $600, you sure expect a much less problem with the expensive one. As to the cheaper one, the buyer already set up his expectation low and is willing to look for workarounds for small glitches.

Maybe I'm crazy, but if I buy something I expect it to work whatever the price :)
At least on a windows machine (from an oem), you (as someone that posts on a tech site) can very easily reimage a machine and remove any pointless, buggy, quirky software that they decided to install that day.
 
Do you think it's coincidence that all of those products have metal cases?

Yes. My 2012 iMac has no wifi issues, my iPhone 5 and iPad 4 have no wifi issues. My wife's MacBook Air has no wifi issues. All are metal devices.

No question Apple's wireless "behaviors" have improved, but they're still not perfect, clearly!

Oh, let me add one more to the list. On my 2009 iMac and my wife's MacBook Pro + Apple Cinema display setup, our Apple Bluetooth keyboards would randomly disconnect and reconnect. That's been fixed since then, but it drove us nuts on a daily basis.
 
They can't because of secrecy. Let MBA connect to network before official announcement and the secret will be out :D

Hah! And before you know it, someone's left an MBA in a bar, and someone sells it to a technology website...

But seriously, you are right. Secrecy has contributed to QA issues in the past. I remember back in the G3 days, the CD/DVD tray wouldn't close due to a lip on the underside of the tray catching on the case. It wasn't caught in QA because QA didn't test with the final enclosure, just prototype cases. I've no doubt it's not the only time that's happened.
 
Same *****, different day. If its perfect right out of the box, then it's not an MBA.

Still, you'd think wifi connectivity would be something Apple would ensure no bugs would slip through on, especially when they've just fanfared the new "wide beam" a/c protocol.

Ball well and truly dropped.

----------

Butthurt over what?

http://bit.ly/11Pp1LR
 
Maybe I'm crazy, but if I buy something I expect it to work whatever the price :)
At least on a windows machine (from an oem), you (as someone that posts on a tech site) can very easily reimage a machine and remove any pointless, buggy, quirky software that they decided to install that day.

I think if I'm paying more for an Apple product, I want to know that the money is going towards better and more thoughtful designs, better construction of their hardware as well as higher reliability of both the hardware and the software. This is why we hold Apple to a higher standard (and are willing to pay higher prices).
 
I heard the new Mac Pro is having the same issues. Could it be in the software?

Well, since the Mac Pro is running very beta software (Mavericks), it's quite possible. Since the Air is the first Mac with Gigabit Ethernet!!!, it's possible that some bug exists in software there too, usually in different setups, and a different mix of Wi-Fi routers, etc. Or, it could be that it's draft 802.11.ac, not the final version, it could be there. Or it could be only when used in conjunction with another company's routers, or with a an even-numbered number of machines on the network -- the possibilities are endless. Leave it to Gizmodo to highlight this, because no other computer company has problems implementing or setting up wi-fi!
 
sounds like some sort of power-saving feature that is not working correctly. Probably fixable in a software patch.
 
this is not new, my old (last years) has the same issue. you don't need to turn it off, you just need to go into your router settings and change the channel from auto to a free channel. read up about it, is been happening since 2010

Yep. I bought last year's 11 inch and sent it back after 4 days for this reason.

This is such a widely experienced issue, it's an embarrassment that Apple has failed to fix it over the years - and seemingly has again released a model with WiFi problems.
 
Apple just has never gotten any wireless protocols to work consistently.

A few off the top of my head... Pre-unibody MacBook Pro wifi issues, iPhone 4 Bluetooth issues (even addressed in keynotes!), random disconnects on iMacs/MacBook Pros etc, signal attenuation issues with iPhone 4 etc. The list is endless, but my memory is going - so that's all you get. :)

One bright moment is Apple's Time Capsule/Airport Extreme, though. They are super-solid products now.

Speak for yourself mine kept connecting and disconnecting from my network and then none of my devices could it, sometimes just one device would see it - if then end I ended up using time machine with a normal external HDD
 
I think if I'm paying more for an Apple product, I want to know that the money is going towards better and more thoughtful designs, better construction of their hardware as well as higher reliability of both the hardware and the software. This is why we hold Apple to a higher standard (and are willing to pay higher prices).

And marketing hehe? :) I disagree with most of what you said - They're just machines that suit some and not others. Im interested in the hardware, not bundled software, image or advertising blurbs. Vanilla windows is perfectly stable, 3rd party hardware and (mainly) drivers can introduce issues into osx/windows equally.

I love most of their designs, but much prefer thinkpads over MacBooks for example (keyboard, trackpoint, build quality etc). I'd prefer it if they dropped all the silver, ditched the huge tacky logos, kept everything minimalist and....matte black (with rainbow coloured options for all I care).

The iMac is quite reasonably priced and my dual CPU'd pro was the cheapest workstation I could purchase at the time. High-end smart phones are all similarily priced while their little arm box is again, comparatively priced compared to the competition - it's not an exclusive club, they're pretty much the biggest firm on the planet
 
No matter who releases a new device, be it Apple, HTC, Asus, Samsung or anybody else. Within a week of releasing there is invariably an article saying it has WiFi issues and within a week or two of that an article talking about a software update that fixes the WiFi issues.

Why is that? Because everybody and their mom makes WiFi routers. They are all different. And these manufacturers simply do not test with every single WiFi router on the planet.

If you buy Apple products and you want to avoid these issues, then you should probably also buy the WiFi routers that they are sure to test with (namely the ones that Apple produces).
 
No matter who releases a new device, be it Apple, HTC, Asus, Samsung or anybody else. Within a week of releasing there is invariably an article saying it has WiFi issues and within a week or two of that an article talking about a software update that fixes the WiFi issues.

Why is that? Because everybody and their mom makes WiFi routers. They are all different. And these manufacturers simply do not test with every single WiFi router on the planet.

If you buy Apple products and you want to avoid these issues, then you should probably also buy the WiFi routers that they are sure to test with (namely the ones that Apple produces).

A lot of people are under the mistaken impression that the Airport devices only work with Apple products. It's difficult combatting that level of misinformation, since they clearly aren't educating themselves in the first place...
 
I got the software update on my mac which was addressing the wifi issues today. Can anyone confirm and check as i am going to buy macbook air this week.
 
Has there ever been an Apple notebook that didn't have such issues at release?
 
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