Where was my PowerBook built?

[Demon Hunter]

Apr 8, 2006 11:02 AM

Departed FedEx location

SACRAMENTO, CA

I ordered it with the 100GB option. I'm guessing it was just built because the shipping was 1-3 days instead of 24 hours. My last PowerBook came from China, but since it's a 12-inch, it was probably sourced to a smaller factory in the U.S.

 

[iSaint]

Check out Coconut Identity. It will give you the info you're looking for.

 

[MacHarne]

Where was my PowerBook built?

In China by people working for pennies per hour. FedEx is getting fast enough that they sometimes cut back the international location tracking when it takes only moments to get across the Pacific. I don't recall how quickly my PB came in after I ordered it, but a friend of mine bought an identical machine at the same time and I recall him telling me it was sent from Taiwan to Boston in 48 hours.

 

[Demon Hunter]

Check out Coconut Identity. It will give you the info you're looking for.

Nice! Thanks.

 

[Demon Hunter]

In China by people working for pennies per hour. FedEx is getting fast enough that they sometimes cut back the international location tracking when it takes only moments to get across the Pacific. I don't recall how quickly my PB came in after I ordered it, but a friend of mine bought an identical machine at the same time and I recall him telling me it was sent from Taiwan to Boston in 48 hours.

So that's how it works! According to that little program, it was built in China between 3/20 and 3/26. Cool. There must be a steady stream of 12-inch orders still.

On a side note, PBS had a special last night on Tiananmen Square and China's new economy. Mind-boggling stuff...

 

[calebjohnston]

Everything's made in China now. Low cost labor, low quality, and high profit for the company. It's sad.

 

[Demon Hunter]

Everything's made in China now. Low cost labor, low quality, and high profit for the company. It's sad.

Yeah, it is. It's also terribly ironic... the working situations which Marxism is supposed to fight against, is firmly established in a Communist nation-state.

 

[calebjohnston]

Ahhhh good old politics. I'm very bitter about the bad quality. I had an iBook with a titled display right off the bat and I just bought a PB and the same thing. Titled right off the bat. Ah well. Such is life.

 

[iMeowbot]

Custom machines often show shipment from California, even if they have "made in China" stamped on them. I'm assuming that the extra RAM, bigger disk etc. are added in the US to imported mostly-finished stock.

 

[xcalibur]

Correct me if I am wrong but I think most Apple products are made in Taiwan and sticking a "Made in China" is for political reasons. Taiwan products are generally regarded as in between China and Japan in terms of quality but when it comes to computers most of the top brands are from Taiwan and Asustek(widely regarded to be the top one), is known to supply most of Apple's laptops and is rumored to have the deal for the upcoming 13.3" Macbook.

 

[cnakeitaro]

I think my iMac Core Duo is a mystery. According to the Coconut Identity, it knows when it made made, but country is unknown. Same goes for my system temps and fans....nothing can pick them up.

 

[Sutekidane]

They're made in china. Can everyone stop bashing china quality? the quality of the product depends on how much is funded into it. A low funded item is going to be crap quality no matter where it's made. Its been stated, and proven many times.

 

[finalcoolman]

*Hugs Made in Japan VAIO*

 

[California]

They're made in china. Can everyone stop bashing china quality? the quality of the product depends on how much is funded into it. A low funded item is going to be crap quality no matter where it's made. Its been stated, and proven many times.

Okay i'll bash any company that does business with China, how's that? When you have slaves instead of workers, you are going to have an excellence problem. "Funding" in China means greasing more greedy local labor bosses' hands; it doesn't mean the workers who actually put together the iBooks get more money. They probably just get their backs whipped harder. It is our own greed and stupidity that makes us do business with China, while US manufacturing (and jobs) has come to a complete standstill. I guess the Chinese are also just "doing the jobs Americans don't want to do".

Not.

Just think about it if Apple paid any of the college students on MR 12 bucks an hour to make iBooks. How cool would that be?