What will you do if the QC really is dropping?

[0dev]

I'm not sure I buy it myself, but with a few bugs cropping up in Apple stuff recently, a lot of people are claiming that Apple's QC is starting to slip up.

I'm interested to know: if this trend continues, will you move away from Apple products? If so, what will you jump to?

 

[S.B.G]

Wirelessly posted (iPhone 4S: Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 5_0_1 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/534.46 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.1 Mobile/9A405 Safari/7534.48.3)

I don't see any Apple product getting so bad that it would be unusable and thus cause me to go back to Windows or Linux.

My update to 10.7.3 was flawless and I used the combo update. Lion has been always working well for me.

 

[aristobrat]

I'm not sure I buy it myself, but with a few bugs cropping up in Apple stuff recently, a lot of people are claiming that Apple's QC is starting to slip up.

IMO, Apple's never had a super-long run of excellent QC. You can go back to the early 2000's and see great QC examples like PowerBooks with aluminum that would pit from contact with sweat, titanium PowerBooks with hinges that would snap, masses of iMac G5s made with bad capacitors that would just pop and kill the system, the first generation nanos with that back that would scratch if you just looked at it wrong, the last generation PowerBook with the "hi-res" screen that had the horizontal color banding, the first generation MacBook Pros with the excess heat, CPU whine, the first generation MacBook's with the random shutdown issue when a component got too hot, the MacBook Pros with the LEDs with the yellow tint, the iMacs with the LEDs with the yellow tint.

I wouldn't be surprised that some folks here find software QC issues the least of the QC concerns!

 

[Mackilroy]

People have been claiming for over a decade that Apple's quality control is slipping – yet each year somehow they manage to sell more and more Macs. As for myself, I'm fine with both Windows and OS X – I run Windows for CAD software, so if for some reason Apple spends five years building machines that explode, I'll build myself a PC and keep using my Macs that I have now.

Otherwise, I'll stick with Macs, as mine have always been extremely reliable.

 

[ChristianVirtual]

For the time beeing I stick with Apple; it would need to get much more worst. But if it really would be time I still have my LINUX preference. But I don't see that happen in the next years.

 

[applefan289]

For the time beeing I stick with Apple; it would need to get much more worst. But if it really would be time I still have my LINUX preference. But I don't see that happen in the next years.

But under NO circumstances Windows.

 

[ChristianVirtual]

But under NO circumstances Windows.

I get my daily Windows dose at work; I like diversity at home ... Windows XP and Windows 8 only as virtual instance under Fusion

 

[coolspot18]

But under NO circumstances Windows.

Windows 7 is a pretty good operation system ... it's not like the Windows 95 days anymore.

 

[SuperCachetes]

I'm not sure I buy it myself, but with a few bugs cropping up in Apple stuff recently, a lot of people are claiming that Apple's QC is starting to slip up.

I'm interested to know: if this trend continues, will you move away from Apple products? If so, what will you jump to?

An interesting, and probably unintentionally loaded post... It sounds like you are skeptical that there is a real series of significant issues, but then you throw out the word "trend."

Is it a trend, that is the question?

I say "no." I think it is the amount of attention Apple is getting (from the iOS device frenzy, to Jobs' passing, to their stock price, etc) and their customer base having grown SO much. These slips are a lot more publicized now, and more people hear about it, but I'm not sure there are any more issues than in the past.

Anyway, to answer the poll, I'll stay on OSX because I prefer it, and because I prefer the hardware. Windows 7 is a fine OS though, and I'd have no trouble continuing to use that at both home and work, too.

 

[aristobrat]

I get my daily Windows dose at work; I like diversity at home ...

That's me in a nutshell. My career is Windows (and some Linux). I enjoy coming home to something different. For me, that's OS X.

 

[ljonesj]

Windows 8 is a piece crap ive used its tech release and other releases i hate the way it works now

 

[ECUpirate44]

At this point, I have too much invested in Mac only software so I can't even change if Apple pulls a Vista.

 

[Macman45]

I'm pretty loyal, but since my upgrade path is done for the next 2 years (iPad 3 notwithstanding) I'm going to watch with interest what happens over the coming months.

I would not want to return to a Windows platform ever, so I guess an Unix based system would be my second choice. For now I'm hoping recent events are simply a lapse, and that Apple will return to it's previous state.

 

[ixodes]

Apples slide is somewhat understandable, given their obsession with mass marketing millions of iGadgets at a break neck pace. Using the excuse that they sell as fast as they are built is irrelevant. The Americans especially, will buy nearly anything with an Apple logo.

That said, I'm not too concerned just yet, since some fluctuation is bound to happen at this time in Apples growth. The real test will be what, if anything, Apple chooses to do about the flagging quality & growing inconsistency.

If not for Apples past high quality standard, it wouldn't be as noticeable.

 

[thekev]

IMO, Apple's never had a super-long run of excellent QC. You can go back to the early 2000's and see great QC examples like PowerBooks with aluminum that would pit from contact with sweat, titanium PowerBooks with hinges that would snap, masses of iMac G5s made with bad capacitors that would just pop and kill the system, the first generation nanos with that back that would scratch if you just looked at it wrong, the last generation PowerBook with the "hi-res" screen that had the horizontal color banding, the first generation MacBook Pros with the excess heat, CPU whine, the first generation MacBook's with the random shutdown issue when a component got too hot, the MacBook Pros with the LEDs with the yellow tint, the iMacs with the LEDs with the yellow tint.

I wouldn't be surprised that some folks here find software QC issues the least of the QC concerns!

The late PowerPC stuff seemed to have more in the way of absolute failure issues than most of the Intel models. The first generation macbooks did run absurdly hot.

People have been claiming for over a decade that Apple's quality control is slipping – yet each year somehow they manage to sell more and more Macs. As for myself, I'm fine with both Windows and OS X – I run Windows for CAD software, so if for some reason Apple spends five years building machines that explode, I'll build myself a PC and keep using my Macs that I have now.

Otherwise, I'll stick with Macs, as mine have always been extremely reliable.

The G5s were produced from 2003 to mid 2006, and the Intel models weren't fully supported with native code until some time in 2007. By 2008 the G5s were basically devoid of any further support. Every generation of them during that period had some significant issue, and the speed gains over that time weren't very good aside from the quad core. Even in the final generation, the dual core 2.0 had an absurdly high failure rate. I knew dozens of people who owned G5s. Some owned multiple macs. Every one of them had to take a G5 into the shop during that time period.

They've had other problems since then, but that generation was probably the worst.

Apples slide is somewhat understandable, given their obsession with mass marketing millions of iGadgets at a break neck pace. Using the excuse that they sell as fast as they are built is irrelevant. The Americans especially, will buy nearly anything with an Apple logo.

That said, I'm not too concerned just yet, since some fluctuation is bound to happen at this time in Apples growth. The real test will be what, if anything, Apple chooses to do about the flagging quality & growing inconsistency.

If not for Apples past high quality standard, it wouldn't be as noticeable.

Electronics are basically trash products these days. The quality control isn't there at a component level, and it's really difficult to maintain any kind of QC with the volume of something like the iphone.

 

[0dev]

An interesting, and probably unintentionally loaded post... It sounds like you are skeptical that there is a real series of significant issues, but then you throw out the word "trend."

Is it a trend, that is the question?

I say "no." I think it is the amount of attention Apple is getting (from the iOS device frenzy, to Jobs' passing, to their stock price, etc) and their customer base having grown SO much. These slips are a lot more publicized now, and more people hear about it, but I'm not sure there are any more issues than in the past.

Anyway, to answer the poll, I'll stay on OSX because I prefer it, and because I prefer the hardware. Windows 7 is a fine OS though, and I'd have no trouble continuing to use that at both home and work, too.

I think there are real issues, but just like you said, I think the big fuss is just because of all the publicity. I don't think there are currently any more issues than there normally are, and I think that for the majority of users, there's not much to be concerned about.

That said, we could be wrong, and Apple could be starting to slip up, which is why I started the thread.

I'm quite surprised that more people would switch to Windows than to Linux. I know Windows 7 is an improved OS but surely Linux is a more natural departure from OS X?

 

[wonderspark]

I use both, and will keep using both. I modded my Mac and only build PCs these days, so I'll stay on 10.6 as long as possible, build a new Win7 PC and proceed with caution as always.

 

[apolloa]

Electronics are basically trash products these days. The quality control isn't there at a component level, and it's really difficult to maintain any kind of QC with the volume of something like the iphone.

Maybe the iPhone hardware but Apple really have no excuse at all in regards to the software, for instance it's a well known fact bluetooth support is terrible on the iPhone. With my Ford, like many others, it plays music for a few minutes then cuts out, it's a well known fault. Ford released an update to try and fix it but said if it didn't, it's down to Apple to fix when ever they do.....

And I don't accept this, Ford is not exactly a tiny company, yet the iPhone bluetooth won't work with several Ford models.

 

[Mackilroy]

They've had other problems since then, but that generation was probably the worst.

Yes, I recall reading many stories about the liquid cooling of some of the G5s – there goes a system!