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On My 5th Alu Macbook in 3 days!!!
- Thread starter Jambosive
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Hmm, you're right. I never stopped to think that "Quality Control" doesn't necessarily mean good quality.
Gee, it sure is a shame that 1 out of 1,024 million pixels was stuck... Go anywhere else and they'd just laugh you out the door.
QED.
The trackpad button on my (white) Macbook isn't quite aligned with the edge of the tracking surface, as if the button has been rotated anticlockwise about half a degree. Do I really care? No. When I got it there were a few scuffs on the top casing. I don't care, because I am well aware that that sort of plastic gets light scratches very easily, it's now covered in very minor scratches.
Nothing is perfect. Dead pixels are common. Apple uses 3rd party hardware for hard drives, displays, etc. No matter what you buy, there's always a chance of getting a dud, and if you've just bought it, you have a right to return it. Stop holding Apple to such a high standard that their QC should be 100%, because manufacturers such as Dell definitely aren't revered.
The unlucky minority such as you is always much more vocal than the very satisfied majority.
Apple is #1 when it comes to this type of customer. They really do want you to be happy... thats why I wouldn't consider buying my Apple products anywhere but the Apple store. None of the Big Box stores would have cared about this guys macbook.
My new alu macbook's quality is exceptional and I think I'm about as picky as the OP.
I am probably a little too obsessed with this thing at the moment. I bought it on 10/15 and I still haven't gotten over it. The last plastic macbook I had didn't last in my house for more than 2 days it felt so cheap. I had to take it back for the Pro. They took care of it for me with a smile and no restocking fee. Then gave me the full refund on that one to a gift card so I could buy the new rumored laptop which turned out to be the Air. All with no resistance and with a smile.
I loved my Macbook Air (exceptional quality on mine as well) almost as much but always had the lingering thought that I will likely never be able to install a SSD and definitely won't be upgrading any RAM.
Other laptop mfg's have a very high bar to beat to get my money. I honestly don't ever see it happening.
My new alu macbook's quality is exceptional and I think I'm about as picky as the OP.
I am probably a little too obsessed with this thing at the moment. I bought it on 10/15 and I still haven't gotten over it. The last plastic macbook I had didn't last in my house for more than 2 days it felt so cheap. I had to take it back for the Pro. They took care of it for me with a smile and no restocking fee. Then gave me the full refund on that one to a gift card so I could buy the new rumored laptop which turned out to be the Air. All with no resistance and with a smile.
I loved my Macbook Air (exceptional quality on mine as well) almost as much but always had the lingering thought that I will likely never be able to install a SSD and definitely won't be upgrading any RAM.
Other laptop mfg's have a very high bar to beat to get my money. I honestly don't ever see it happening.
If it wasn't for OS X I most likely would go buy a Sony or Lenovo. Apple's QC has gone down in the last few years. Granted I love my Blackbook (I have had 4 Macs before this current one),but I know others who have had big problems with the hardware (actually many). I love the cheap, plastic, Blackbook (insert sarcasm) and after seeing my friends new 2.0 alu Macbook and the problems he has had with it, I will wait until next year to buy one or get the Air or Pro. There is nothing wrong with demanding Apple to have good QC especially after spending a high premium for it.
Jambosive - Don't pay any attention to the people that are getting on your case. You did the right thing. You paid alot of money for a quality computer and just insisted that it be quality.
Those that are saying you should've been happy with what you got - they just don't have the courage to stand up for themselves, or don't mind the little blemishes. That's fine for them. But good for you for doing what's right for you.
Those that are saying you should've been happy with what you got - they just don't have the courage to stand up for themselves, or don't mind the little blemishes. That's fine for them. But good for you for doing what's right for you.
Agreed. Besides, it's not like I haven't seen plenty of Dells, HPs and Thinkpads out there with a dead pixel or two as well. It's certainly not exclusive to MacBooks or Apple products by any stretch. It just goes with the territory and most people wouldn't return any brand of notebook due to something as minor as a solitary dead pixel anyway.
I too have had some bad luck with apple computers...
My first two macbook pros (last year) had dead pixels which I returned for a refund and then waited to buy the new macbooks...
1st macbook with hdd cover issue worst apple store had seen (they sent it into engineering to see it) and now my computer has the slanted keys which is not so bad but it a little annoying.
Here's the thing, I love os x and apple but you spend $1000 more for a computer than it is worth for the parts alone from dell. If this is all going toward the OS then I think the "it just works" thing would be worth it, but it doesn't always "just work." My ethernet card flakes out whenever it wants to and my airport card forgets my wireless network sporadically. These have not caused too many problems, but it goes against the idea that it "just works." However, I would not trade my mac for a pc anyday. Just wanted to make the point.
My first two macbook pros (last year) had dead pixels which I returned for a refund and then waited to buy the new macbooks...
1st macbook with hdd cover issue worst apple store had seen (they sent it into engineering to see it) and now my computer has the slanted keys which is not so bad but it a little annoying.
Here's the thing, I love os x and apple but you spend $1000 more for a computer than it is worth for the parts alone from dell. If this is all going toward the OS then I think the "it just works" thing would be worth it, but it doesn't always "just work." My ethernet card flakes out whenever it wants to and my airport card forgets my wireless network sporadically. These have not caused too many problems, but it goes against the idea that it "just works." However, I would not trade my mac for a pc anyday. Just wanted to make the point.
I've had 4 apple laptops, numerous iPods of all iterations, as well as airport express, and other assorted apple peripherals (keyboards and mice etc). I've never had any quality control problems at all. They all worked 100% and continue to do so - some even approaching 10 years on. I'm very happy. Never had a single return except for a battery replacement for my 12" under a recall (it was working fine). You guys are incredibly unlucky from my POV.
Right?! I was thinking to myself "WTF?! Am I the only one who had a perfect one first time around?!" There have to be more people like us..
Name one other store that would allow you to open up four cases until you found a perfect laptop.
Not that it justifies Apple cutting back on QC, but at least they are handling the situation well.
Not that it justifies Apple cutting back on QC, but at least they are handling the situation well.
The thing is people with perfect ones don't post about it. Generally speaking most people who post are the ones with something to complain about, so when you browse a forum like MR you'd think that the majority of Macbook are flawed but in reality it's a very small percentage.
Just for the record, i bought my Macbook Alu on eBay and it is flawless.
My white MacBook has several issues with cracking. This is unacceptable in a less than two year old computer.
I still love my Apple products, but it is going to be a while before I buy anotherproduct based on some of the horror stories I read about here at MR.
Jude
I had an issue with my black macbook cracking, but only after I removed the padding palm rest. It was almost a year out of waranty and Apple replaced it for free. The repair took less than two hours. There is no other computer company who can even begin to compete with Apples after care.
I think most of these "horror stories" can be attributed to "the teller and the tale". People get themselves worked into a frenzy when Apple is about to release a new product then run out and buy immediately, only to find it doesnt fit their bloated expectations.
I have 7 apple computers currently at home. The reason I have seven is because they just keep working. I bought a g3 imac snow for my nephew who still has it. It has outlasted 4 PCs from various makers.
While these issues are common, there isn't anything wrong with getting a flawed product replaced.
Dead pixels, well dead pixels are common, there was 1 in my old Samsung monitor, it developed after a few months use though.
As for the hardware issues, I am sure that they will be addressed by either a revision or silently at some point once they tweak their production scheme. Its a rev a product, and it won't be perfect, but there ARE some that are perfect, to the best of my ability to examine my new MacBook alu there are no scratches, no dead pixels, no slanty keys, no double M's, no loose battery cover and no misaligned trackpad. I think that those of us who received perfect MacBooks need to create a thread, so that new buyers hear more than horror stories and negative feedback, so they know that there ARE those of us without any issues.
Dead pixels, well dead pixels are common, there was 1 in my old Samsung monitor, it developed after a few months use though.
As for the hardware issues, I am sure that they will be addressed by either a revision or silently at some point once they tweak their production scheme. Its a rev a product, and it won't be perfect, but there ARE some that are perfect, to the best of my ability to examine my new MacBook alu there are no scratches, no dead pixels, no slanty keys, no double M's, no loose battery cover and no misaligned trackpad. I think that those of us who received perfect MacBooks need to create a thread, so that new buyers hear more than horror stories and negative feedback, so they know that there ARE those of us without any issues.
Im sure there are good MacBooks out there. I never had a problem before with any of my older Macbooks or Airs. Just with the new MacBook. I just dont remember as many problems like these (dead pixels, dents, and scratches) on any previous Apple product?
I just want to add that the Apple aluminum wireless keyboard that I'm typing on right now has a small scuff below the down arrow key that was there when I first bought it. Does this affect the function of the keyboard? No. Do I care? I did for awhile, but it works without a hitch and is very hard to see; you literally need a strong light source and a big magnifying glass to see it.
I hope the rest of your Mac experience will not be this "bad". It's not really bad, since they replaced it for you 4 times and let you open 5 cases. Other vendors like Toshiba, HP, Dell, etc will make replacements much more difficult. Needless to say, my dad's company bought a few of these, and all of them were perfect. Apple's QC is pretty good, but if you just look at the defects, it will be 100% bad. Look at it as a whole, many people bought these in perfect condition but never bother to post about how perfect it is. The people who have problems post here.
I hope the rest of your Mac experience will not be this "bad". It's not really bad, since they replaced it for you 4 times and let you open 5 cases. Other vendors like Toshiba, HP, Dell, etc will make replacements much more difficult. Needless to say, my dad's company bought a few of these, and all of them were perfect. Apple's QC is pretty good, but if you just look at the defects, it will be 100% bad. Look at it as a whole, many people bought these in perfect condition but never bother to post about how perfect it is. The people who have problems post here.
I think you are very unlucky. I've owned four Apple laptops since 1999 and not one had a dead pixel, ethernet or airport problems. I had the iBook G3 logic board problem of 2003-2004 but nothing else. My 333MHz G3 Lombard still works, runs 10.3, has a wireless PC card (Netgear) that never drops connection. And my one week old refurb blackbook is flawless. Maybe the case will crack in a few months (I hope not!), but so far it just works.
I would suggest to Apple that they need to revise the final inspection process before a product leaves the factory. It would appear that process is non-existant or the workers are lazy and/or incompetent
Hope my macbook will be perfect... I am currently running a HP business notebook so the bar has been set high
Hope my macbook will be perfect... I am currently running a HP business notebook so the bar has been set high
Agreed. Maybe someone should look it over for visible dents, dings, and possibly even turn the screen on to see if there are multiple dead pixels on it?
I would think the computers with visible defects could be refinished but maybe I am mistaken?
Thanks for all your replies as I state I am very happy with the, so far "flawless" Macbook I now have and I hope this will last many years!
I cant stand people telling me to "put up with it!" its £950 for god sake I'm not putting up with anything. At the end of the day I'm a consumer and I have a right to return faulty or damaged goods.
Dead pixels are damn annoying perhaps apple want to rethink the white start up screen
Yes I do expect them to open 4 or 5 boxes if they are all damaged. It's not my honour or privilege to buy a product. Its the companies fortune that I choose to spend my hard earned money on they're product.
This bloody well would happen if I bought a Dell or HP or Compaq or whatever because it's against consumer rights to not exchange or refund a damaged product... at least in England it is.
Yeh it's true that it's only the negative experiences get publicised so i'll finish on a positive note....
To anyone thinking of buying a new macbook...do it!! they are absolutely ace!
Just make sure you get what you pay for and dont be afraid to return it if you are not happy. Apple are a corporation making billions of dollars of profits, nobody is losing out only yourself if you put up with faulty products.
I cant stand people telling me to "put up with it!" its £950 for god sake I'm not putting up with anything. At the end of the day I'm a consumer and I have a right to return faulty or damaged goods.
Dead pixels are damn annoying perhaps apple want to rethink the white start up screen
Yes I do expect them to open 4 or 5 boxes if they are all damaged. It's not my honour or privilege to buy a product. Its the companies fortune that I choose to spend my hard earned money on they're product.
This bloody well would happen if I bought a Dell or HP or Compaq or whatever because it's against consumer rights to not exchange or refund a damaged product... at least in England it is.
Yeh it's true that it's only the negative experiences get publicised so i'll finish on a positive note....
To anyone thinking of buying a new macbook...do it!! they are absolutely ace!
Just make sure you get what you pay for and dont be afraid to return it if you are not happy. Apple are a corporation making billions of dollars of profits, nobody is losing out only yourself if you put up with faulty products.
I agree with you on all of you posts Jambosive - if it were me buying the new macbook then I would want to have it as perfect as they advertise it.
Luckily I had decided to wait until the next update of specs on the macbook or macbook pros before I buy a new one. I currently have a 15month old white macbook (the better one) and I haven't had a single problem with it (touch wood!).
Unfortunately though I feel a little guilty as I had hyped macbooks up so much that a good friend of mine recently purchased the new alu macbook 2ghz - the one he received had slanty keys on the media buttons (so 4 or so?), which I noticed but didnt say anything as he didnt mention it or seem to care....however I got a call from him yesterday saying that his screen just won't turn on. I went to look at it and he's right - there is no way of getting the screen to turn on anymore...it seems to have just died or lost its connection somewhere! So he is obviously sending it back. We are both annoyed as: I set his macbook up with all the programs he needs and with window xp to dual boot and run over vmware etc (which took 5 hours overall), and he waited 12 days for it to finally deliver and now he has to send it back!
I do hope for his sake that his next one is flawless.
Luckily I had decided to wait until the next update of specs on the macbook or macbook pros before I buy a new one. I currently have a 15month old white macbook (the better one) and I haven't had a single problem with it (touch wood!).
Unfortunately though I feel a little guilty as I had hyped macbooks up so much that a good friend of mine recently purchased the new alu macbook 2ghz - the one he received had slanty keys on the media buttons (so 4 or so?), which I noticed but didnt say anything as he didnt mention it or seem to care....however I got a call from him yesterday saying that his screen just won't turn on. I went to look at it and he's right - there is no way of getting the screen to turn on anymore...it seems to have just died or lost its connection somewhere! So he is obviously sending it back. We are both annoyed as: I set his macbook up with all the programs he needs and with window xp to dual boot and run over vmware etc (which took 5 hours overall), and he waited 12 days for it to finally deliver and now he has to send it back!
I do hope for his sake that his next one is flawless.
I have had to send my macbook in 3 times to get repaired and need to again cause the stupid hinge is bad... again but im not complaining. They fix it for free in 3 days. I love my mac and would rather have this computer have to be repaired all the time than a stupid PC. i hate you PC