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San Francisco to Block Most Municipal Mac Purchases Following Apple's EPEAT Withdrawal
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What the world needs is more standards and compliance bodies that limit our behavior and decisions, even in how we design our products.
Apple could be accused of many things, but never have they 'tried to play well with everyone.'
Really? Where can I find this magical $400 all-in-one PC that has all the same features as the iMac?
What an appropriate name for a San Fransisco official, especially the Department of Environment. Maybe Apple should give out little plastic children's toys with their products to further endear them with the SF city fathers.
Well considering Apple product suck to maintain in the IT world not a really issue.
Apple Enterprise/IT support makes crap look good.
Well Apple is not doing much to help any of that. If anything they are making it worse as their entire line is throw away products. No upgrading to extend their life. It is throw them away. It always better to extend the life of a product over recycling and throwing away. Apple fails to that.
You can expect Apple to loose a lot of their government contracts over this.
No. The computers themselves are less expensive, but here's just a few of the fallouts that will cause their expenses to go up:
1 - Workers will end up wasting time with one or more of the following:
- Learning a new computer system.
- Dealing with Windows (because even once you've learned it, you still have to deal with the fact that it's going to have days when it doesn't feel like working.)
- Filling out the additional paperwork to get a new Mac.
2 - They'll need to buy computers more frequently, because the PCs won't last as long as the Macs. Honestly, I use my Macs for 7+ years. I don't stop using them because I want to stop using them, I stop using them because I decide there are enough new features to warrant getting a new one. (It seems like PC's get replaced within 5 years on account of them becoming unusable. Thus PCs are upgraded by force rather than choice.)
you could use a little pinch to zoom and figure out that Hollywood is actually located in the LA metropolitan area, a mere 380 miles away
EPEAT and governments need to get on with the time with changing technology.
It used to be that you can invest in a Mercedes Benz and it'd be the only car you would ever need in your lifetime. Now all cars are throwaways.
It used to be that you can invest in a Mercedes Benz and it'd be the only car you would ever need in your lifetime. Now all cars are throwaways.
IT departments will rejoice. Pretty much all intranets are Windows based and IT departments usually don't like Macs because they complicate things for them, mainly support.
This is most certainly the case here since only a small portion of the PC's used are Macs
You forget one key part. A lot of those extra features go unused and are unneeded by the end user. So those features are extra crap that has to be paid for. It could be argue that it is a waste of money having to buy all that extra crap a cheaper computer to cover just fine.
It's fairly obvious there is an attempt to bully Apple into changing their designs by telling them they are going to be painted as anti-environment unless they change up their product lines.
Personally...I'm glad Apple told EPEAT to f-off.
Despite ifixit's somewhat inflammatory article on the subject I imagine this will all die down when cooler heads realize that user upgradability does not necessarily equate to recyclability. I presume Apple will continue with it's efforts to eliminate harmful compounds from their factory processes and may get EPEAT to adjust it's requirements in time. Government agencies aren't known for their quick reaction times...
Rose colored glasses are fun.
For 1-2% of the systems. Did you read the article ? In the end, this changes nothing for the workers, except probably a few fringe ones.
Dealing with Windows and OS X is no different. Both OSes have bugs and issues.
Corporate/Enterprise purchases are made using lifecycles. Macs don't last longer than PCs in such a setting, they have the same lifecycles regardless of the vendor of the laptop/desktop system.
San Francisco e-waste is recycled in the US. It doesn't go to China. Same with most other municipalities in the Bay Area.
Good Guys vs Bad Buys
Ever notice how in most movies the Good Guys use Macs and the Bad Guys use Windoze computers? So SF just moves further to the dark side.
Frankly, EPEAT is dated and not useful. When they improve and update the standards Apple will probably rejoin. Functionality and durability are far more important to me than the fake green EPEAT disassembly criteria. I'm glad Apple dumped EPEAT. I'm also sure they warned EPEAT.
Ever notice how in most movies the Good Guys use Macs and the Bad Guys use Windoze computers? So SF just moves further to the dark side.
Frankly, EPEAT is dated and not useful. When they improve and update the standards Apple will probably rejoin. Functionality and durability are far more important to me than the fake green EPEAT disassembly criteria. I'm glad Apple dumped EPEAT. I'm also sure they warned EPEAT.
No one is painting them as anything. The rules are to buy EPEAT certified stuff, Apple decided not to certify their stuff, hence they should expect purchases from agencies that need to respect this rule to stop.
Notice how Apple isn't the one that's pissing and moaning here, it's some unknowns on the Internet. Apple was probably quite aware of the impact of their decision and are ready to live with the consequences.
autrefois
macrumors 65816
No, unfortunately they aren't guaranteed that Apple will recycle everything properly because of the way the new retina MBPs are put together. For one thing, the battery is literally glued onto the motherboard and cannot be safely removed. More info at iFixIt and this thread on Macrumors.
It would be annoying and petty if Apple just wanted to keep the recycling and servicing to themselves. Instead, they are making it so that more of the computer can no longer be recycled or serviced safely. But at least they gained a couple millimeters of space so they can brag that it's smaller...
Regarding the "3x" claim, there's still the fact that you cannot find an all-in-one PC that matches even the core specs of CPU, RAM, graphics, etc for $400.
More broadly, many features don't show up in spec sheets but are part of the product. The footprint and weight. The aesthetics. How easy it is to tilt the monitor.
What value do you assign to the audio jack that's compatible with iPhone earbud controls? $50? If you use it all the time it's certainly worth that much.
I sure hope the San Francisco government blocks all tablet and smartphone purchases too, since they wouldn't be able to pass EPEAT rules.
Oh, wait. EPEAT specifically excludes tablets and smart phones from their list of non-approved devices since they have no chance of passing? Not being able to pass is apparently a reason to give it a pass? Cool.
So when a laptop can't be taken apart it's a problem, but when a tablet can't be taken apart is all ok because those are different words.
Just making sure I'm clear. So, San Francisco government, all your Blackberries, iPhones, and Android phones are safe just because "laptop" and "cell phone" sound different when you say them. Close call, San Francisco government!
Oh, wait. EPEAT specifically excludes tablets and smart phones from their list of non-approved devices since they have no chance of passing? Not being able to pass is apparently a reason to give it a pass? Cool.
So when a laptop can't be taken apart it's a problem, but when a tablet can't be taken apart is all ok because those are different words.
Just making sure I'm clear. So, San Francisco government, all your Blackberries, iPhones, and Android phones are safe just because "laptop" and "cell phone" sound different when you say them. Close call, San Francisco government!
hey moan and groaners, recycle your crap at the apple store and they'll do it responsibly. how about the tons of broken dells, hp's, asus' that I see in the dumpsters? So much for standards at that point hu???
Edit: The point is, any electronic device can be responsibly recycled... it's up to the owner to do so. No "guidelines" can do this.
Edit: The point is, any electronic device can be responsibly recycled... it's up to the owner to do so. No "guidelines" can do this.