Popularity > quality control?

[macalf]

So, basically I’ve always been a Windows user, and never really paid attention to Mac or OSX, even claimed I hated it out of plain ignorance just by looking at the “lesser” specs they offer vs a highly tuned notebook. But in the last 2 years, allot has changed.

I’ve been living off an almost 4 year old Asus G1-S gaming notebook, had it upgraded to 4GB of ram and a 7200 HDD from the start, and runs on a 2.2 C2D which gave me allot of future proof time, and never ever really found big issues on Vista, and it isn’t giving me any on 7. Runs cs5 just fine, multitasking is ok. But them some things changed, been getting farther and farther into photography, been rendering allot of HD footage, and well… seems a C2D @ 2.2 isn’t cutting it anymore. I also used to be big into gaming, but games are requiring 512mb on the gpu now (minimum) and well, the 8600mGT only had 256. Battery life is still ok (for a windows notebook) but the main issue has become weight (I move up and down all day, camera bag, lighting bag, tripod etc etc etc etc, and sometimes a few grams off the notebook would be heaven, and the other main issue is the screen color calibration, it’s just awful, colors are all over the place (resolution is fine at 1680 x 1050).
So, in a nutshell, specs for HD video are bad, can’t keep up with gaming, lcd screen sucks for photography, and the weight is killing me, and would love for longer battery life.

So as you can see, it all aimed at the 15” MBP with Hi rez Anti-g, I usually don’t like being limited by the tech I use, and I’ve always seen Mac as a platform with its clear limitations, but the need to push my professional photography has pushed me to just look over that and to get what would be best for me.

So I’ve been scouting around mac users, mac forums, mac reviews, basically looking into what I’m getting into, and I’ve been slightly turned off by how many failed, malfunctioning, and broken MBP’s are running around, friends of mine have had severe issues with overheating, slow slow SLOW OS performance, battery chargers that won’t last a week, dead pixels, HD’s spinning like crazy… just an endless array of FAIL. Now, this could be just because what people post online is always just complaining and issues, and well, if as is well, why post… or no new is good news you may say.

My question is, is Apple getting lazy on quality control? Or have I just been looking in places where ppl just post problems?

And I’m not planning on getting the current generation, not moving a penny until SB is out, considering I’m willing to spend 2k max on my next notebook.

Last question, is it true that MBP pretty much have the best notebook LCD out there, because I’ve been told to look into the Vaio F series, which some people claim is king on the LCD department.

Any photographers that can share some experience w/ a MBP, would be great.

 

[alust2013]

Apple isn't getting lazy with their QC, it just appears that way, as people will typically only post if they have a problem. They then assume since they had a problem that QC is crap. Plus, the majority of the components that actually do fail when there is a problem are not made by Apple, so the bad GPUs, HDD failures, etc. reflect poorly on apple, even though they didn't make them.

 

[Bill Gates]

Apple's QC is actually very good.

http://www.pcworld.com/zoom?id=211402&page=1&zoomIdx=1

 

[Eddyisgreat]

So I’ve been scouting around mac users, mac forums, mac reviews, basically looking into what I’m getting into, and I’ve been slightly turned off by how many failed, malfunctioning, and broken MBP’s are running around, friends of mine have had severe issues with overheating, slow slow SLOW OS performance, battery chargers that won’t last a week, dead pixels, HD’s spinning like crazy… just an endless array of FAIL. Now, this could be just because what people post online is always just complaining and issues, and well, if as is well, why post… or no new is good news you may say.

Hi. My Macbook Pro is great. It's the best machine i've ever used, and better than the one's i've built myself.

See how boring that is? Around these parts, anyone who likes anything alot is oft referred to as a fanboy(i), hence you don't see it very much.

Griping and moaning is the hot new thing nowadays. Seriously, there are millions of macs sold every quarter. The MacRumors Boards/Apple Boards/Internet is not a good sample population. People only seek help when they need it. Only a select few sit on the sidelines and chat about how good their experience is.

 

[maflynn]

Apple QC hasn't changed but the numbers have.

For instance 3% of 100 is 3, and 3% of 1,000,000 is 30000. It would appear that the higher occurrence of defects would imply that apple's QC is degrading but in actuality, the percentages are the same, but the volume of sales has not.

 

[macalf]

Hi. My Macbook Pro is great. It's the best machine i've ever used, and better than the one's i've built myself.

See how boring that is? Around these parts, anyone who likes anything alot is oft referred to as a fanboy(i), hence you don't see it very much.

Griping and moaning is the hot new thing nowadays. Seriously, there are millions of macs sold every quarter. The MacRumors Boards/Apple Boards/Internet is not a good sample population. People only seek help when they need it. Only a select few sit on the sidelines and chat about how good their experience is.

Yep, pretty much expected to get something like that, ppl love to complaint just wanted to double check with more experienced useres. thx

 

[mrsir2009]

Hi. My Macbook Pro is great. It's the best machine i've ever used, and better than the one's i've built myself.

See how boring that is? Around these parts, anyone who likes anything alot is oft referred to as a fanboy(i), hence you don't see it very much.

Griping and moaning is the hot new thing nowadays. Seriously, there are millions of macs sold every quarter. The MacRumors Boards/Apple Boards/Internet is not a good sample population. People only seek help when they need it. Only a select few sit on the sidelines and chat about how good their experience is.

Nevertheless, its a small sample of the population who owns MacBook Pros.

 

[Richard1028]

Any photographers that can share some experience w/ a MBP, would be great.

I am a photographer but mainly use a Dell Quad for all my image processing. Images and specifically HD video.

Apple notebooks are not up to the task IMO. They'll get the job done but for those of us that earn a living rendering video and batch processing images time is indeed money. I'd love a mac pro but it's a bit too pricey.

 

[TopHatPlus]

Hey, i have a 15" macbook pro 2010 with the 2.66 ghz i7 with the nvidia GT 330m 512 MB gpu high res glossy, i moved up form a 2007 macbook 2.16 ghz c2d with 2 gb of ram and a 160 GB HDD, so it was a huge step for me. As far as quality is concerned? it has never been better, people will argue that but the i have had my new computer for almost 3 months and it is unbelievable still, the screen clarity? well i am running the 1680x1050 and it is 2nd to NONE sony can bite me. I spent SO much time shopping for this computer even though from day one i knew i was staying with apple i critiqued the hell out of everything and there was nothing that could just the brilliance of this screen. The anti glare is great but not nearly as WOW as the glossy. As you have seen people only tell bad news on here or complain about something and most of the time its just user error. I have heard SO many amazing applecare stories about apple really standing behind there products even years down the line not just on these forums but all around me. I hear you on the sandy bridge processor but it has not yet been released and full specs understood, and there is nothing stating that apple will use the chip. So i decided to bite the bullet and buy mine in august. I also enjoy my photography i just upgraded my nikon D60 to a D90 and purchased from telephoto lens's used. The power behind the new i7 is quite impressive it takes those large photo images and just toys with them. You will really enjoy it. You will get into it and i think you will really enjoy it, and you will see and not until you have had it for a bit all the little things that make the price worth every penny and why millions of people a year buy and love them =D

 

[Soop53]

I still own and use a PowerBook G3...no issues!!! As you can see in my sig, I have a Mac Pro at home and a Macbook Pro for work. No issues...notta!!! Well, I did have to replace a graphics card in my Mac Pro last year but no other issues. Applecare had a tech out to my house in two days!!!

I use to build PCs and owned company built ones...what a pain! Talk about constant issues! Oh, and yes, WINDOWS!!!

I do a lot of research/reading plus genealogy (reunion software is the best). I just want to turn on a computer and it works. Hence, MAC!!!

Our tech says he would be out of a job if we switched over to Macs at work!!!

 

[Stvwndr219]

GF still uses an iBook G4... no issues to report whatsoever minus the battery life woes (those darn new efficient mbps)

 

[jetblk328i]

Yea, Apple's QC and overall quality is still pretty tops in the laptop field. However, given all these new complicated systems/controls, the probability of failure tends to increase...take a look at HP lol

 

[Timur]

Apple's QC is actually very good.

http://www.pcworld.com/zoom?id=211402&page=1&zoomIdx=1

Maybe it is better then some other, but that does not make it good. Even worse, Apple's support is sub-standard, at least here in Europe/Germany.

 

[Fubar1977]

Maybe it is better then some other, but that does not make it good. Even worse, Apple's support is sub-standard, at least here in Europe/Germany.

Yep, better than SOME others, like: Dell,Sony,Compaq,HP,Asus,Toshiba,Lenevo,MSI,Acer,Alienware,Gateway,Samsung etc etc.

At least according to PC World.
Apples failure/return rate is considerably below the industry standard.
And no, I`m no fanboy but the figures and my own experience suggest that Apple is well above average in terms of quality, as it should be given their prices.

 

[revelated]

Yep, better than SOME others, like: Dell,Sony,Compaq,HP,Asus,Toshiba,Lenevo,MSI,Acer,Alienware,Gateway,Samsung etc etc.

At least according to PC World.
Apples failure/return rate is considerably below the industry standard.
And no, I`m no fanboy but the figures and my own experience suggest that Apple is well above average in terms of quality, as it should be given their prices.

Here's my issue with some of these types of quality reviews.

If it's a PC, people are more apt to get things fixed. Whether they rip themselves off taking it to Geek Squad or they send to the manufacturer, have a friend fix it or do it themselves they are just more likely to fix issues.

On the Apple side, for some reason, people are not as gungho about getting their stuff fixed even though they realize it's a defect; they might try to fix it themselves or they just live with it. For example, the hinge issue on the Air Rev A or the touchpad issue on the 13" MBP or the discoloring issue on the MB or the warping issue or the battery swell issue or the graphics switching/kernel panic issue or the logic board fail issue or the flimsy hinge issue of almost all of them. It's easy to say that Apple has less machines to fix if people don't actually try to get them fixed. There are some anal retentive types who freak about a single dead pixel in the lower left corner and take it back repeatedly for a "perfect" one. But generally I find that most just deal with the issues, which IMO skews reports like this.

 

[alust2013]

Here's my issue with some of these types of quality reviews.

If it's a PC, people are more apt to get things fixed. Whether they rip themselves off taking it to Geek Squad or they send to the manufacturer, have a friend fix it or do it themselves they are just more likely to fix issues.

On the Apple side, for some reason, people are not as gungho about getting their stuff fixed even though they realize it's a defect; they might try to fix it themselves or they just live with it. For example, the hinge issue on the Air Rev A or the touchpad issue on the 13" MBP or the discoloring issue on the MB or the warping issue or the battery swell issue or the graphics switching/kernel panic issue or the logic board fail issue or the flimsy hinge issue of almost all of them. It's easy to say that Apple has less machines to fix if people don't actually try to get them fixed. There are some anal retentive types who freak about a single dead pixel in the lower left corner and take it back repeatedly for a "perfect" one. But generally I find that most just deal with the issues, which IMO skews reports like this.

I have to disagree there. I don't think PC users are any more likely to go get their machine fixed than Mac users are. In fact, I know several PC users who have a couple issues with their computers that they just deal with. Not sure where you got that idea.

If I had something major wrong with my computer, I'd get that fixed, especially if it was a defect.

 

[Richard1028]

Here's my issue with some of these types of quality reviews.

If it's a PC, people are more apt to get things fixed...

On the Apple side, for some reason, people are not as gungho about getting their stuff fixed even though they realize it's a defect

Are you serious? I think you have that backwards.

Mac users are the biggest complainers on earth and do indeed lug their laptops to the Genius for the most ridiculous reasons. AppleCare actually promotes this kind of behavior.

The cost of Macs should tell you this.

 

[Timur]

I have to disagree there. I don't think PC users are any more likely to go get their machine fixed than Mac users are.

In the business field, yes. Why is that? Any 500 Euro business PC comes with *on-site* repair/exchange within 48h, extending that to 3 years with 24h response time usually costs less than 100 Euro. It's both easier and less expensive to have a brand name PC fixed compared to a Mac and more important you also have less down-time.

If I had something major wrong with my computer, I'd get that fixed, especially if it was a defect.

I'm personally trying to do that for exactly 2 years with a 2500 Euro expensive Macbook Pro. It took 22 months and the opening of an Apple Store in my area/town to even finally have it verified/acknowledged. After 5 weeks for verifying and Logic Board replacement it now already takes 4 weeks to get a current model replacement. And even when that finally arrives (which will take another 2-3 weeks) we still don't know if it will fix the issues.

 

[revelated]

Mac users are the biggest complainers on earth and do indeed lug their laptops to the Genius for the most ridiculous reasons.

Really?

For the 13" touchpad:
http://www.google.com/search?q=MacB...s=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a

Too many results to pick any one.

For the discoloration:
http://www.ofzenandcomputing.com/zanswers/746
http://digg.com/news/technology/MacBook_Discoloration_Solution_-_Nail_Polish_Remover_


For the hinge:
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&...k+hinge+fix&aq=f&aqi=g1g-v1&aql=&oq=&gs_rfai=

Again, too many hits to pick one.


These are not people who have taken their MacBooks to the Genius Bar. And I can't count how many "The Apple Store is too far!!" rants I've read over the years. 50 miles is NOT far. I have to go that far to get to my parent's house in the same city once a year and if it's what I had to do to get my $2000+ machine fixed I would do it.


And yes, as stated, business PC customers do not sit on known issues, they get them fixed ASAP.

 

[Timur]

Having to drive to an Apple Store to get proper support is a joke to begin with. Let me underline again what is standard service with even the cheapest business PC: On-site repair and exchange within 48h!

I have an early 2008 MacBook Pro and it has been in and out of repairs at Apple since.
...
Now it is currently at an Apple Store for repairs and it has been there for 12 days.
...
I have owned Apple computers and products since 2001 and never had a problem. This MBP has been a pain. To top it off I'm in school and NEED my computer. I've been without it for 12 days, during finals.
...
My AppleCare is up in April and I don't want to be worrying about an out of warranty MBP.