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My MacBook Pro had over 10k USD in repairs

pqvst.com

161–170 of 493 posts

Re: My MacBook Pro had over 10k USD in repairs

#161
post #52

It's absolutely ridiculous that Macs don't come with a 3 year warranty by default. I've bought maybe a dozen macs in the last 15 years (for myself and the family) and while some have lasted many years without issues, some have died on me on the second or third year. Because the initial investment is so high you're practically forced to add extra Apple Care to protect it because there's a 20-30% chance you will have p…

My experience with Dell laptops seems to match up with your experience on the MBP. If something is going to fail, it will usually fail immediately or last the "lifetime" of the device. Batteries being the main exception as those age out fast ..

I'm actually becoming a fan of factory refurbished for these same reasons. I'd rather have something that's been shaken down, repaired for the problems that appeared, recertified, and shipped back out.

Re: My MacBook Pro had over 10k USD in repairs

#162
Honestly I have a 2015 MacBook Pro and it’s still working very well. Previously I had a 2012 or 2013 (I forget) and it worked well up until a couple years ago.

I also have a 2012 iMac which i think still works ok, but i replaced the hard drive with an SSD. When it still had an HDD it was incredibly slow, like it took over 10min to start up and 1min to do simple things, I thought it was broken.

Re: My MacBook Pro had over 10k USD in repairs

#163

I looked at this person's homepage: https://pqvst.com/ Looks like they use their Mac a lot judging by all the projects they're working on. I have a strategy that is common to all hackers / nerds / technophiles and that is: having multiple devices for different things. It's common to see in hacker circles: This laptop is for gaming. This other laptop is for freelancing & business. My other laptop is for toying / tinke…

Yeah, you described my computing approach. Including a couple tiny PCs like Raspberry Pi, etc. there are currently 12 computers in the room I'm sitting in (only 3 are powered on), and this is just my "office" -- not the "computer museum" I have in another room which probably has 30+ computers of varying sorts. Each has a different purpose, different OS, different architecture, made in a different decade, etc. :)

Re: My MacBook Pro had over 10k USD in repairs

#164
I must have gotten lucky, or this thread is a concentration of the unlucky.

Used my 2004 12” PPC until 2013. My 2010 mini is still the brain of my recording studio. The 2018 MBP is use for work is fine. I’ve yet to take a machine into an apple store.

Part of why I’ve used apples for audio work is I get so many years out of them. The first studio I worked in had a 9 year old G3 in the B room.

I use Linux for recreational software development, so I wonder if dev work on a mac correlates with more issues.

Re: My MacBook Pro had over 10k USD in repairs

#165
post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It's absolutely ridiculous that Macs don't come with a 3 year warranty by default. Government should mandate that, as in does in other countries. But many american consumers don't believe in government rules about consumer protection, lest some of this "innovation" we've witnessed is discouraged...

I doubt everyone would want to pay the extra 20-30% more that Apple would charge to cover this.

They do offer 2 years in the EU (iirc 3 in the UK) and the prices for most of their products are pretty close to the ones in US (if you subtract VAT)

Re: My MacBook Pro had over 10k USD in repairs

#166
post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It's absolutely ridiculous that Macs don't come with a 3 year warranty by default. Government should mandate that, as in does in other countries. But many american consumers don't believe in government rules about consumer protection, lest some of this "innovation" we've witnessed is discouraged...

I doubt everyone would want to pay the extra 20-30% more that Apple would charge to cover this.

This is done for all items sold to consumers in New Zealand. A base MacBook is US $999 in the US and NZ $1749 in New Zealand, which is approximately US $1200. Your maths checks out. The tiny market, currency fluctuations and long shipping route probably factor in the price too, but our legislation is surely the prime reason for the cost.

I absolutely love the consumer guarantees act we have here, and the protection it gives.

Edit: NZ has 15% sales tax and this is missing from the above equation. It accounts for most the difference.

Re: My MacBook Pro had over 10k USD in repairs

#167
post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I doubt everyone would want to pay the extra 20-30% more that Apple would charge to cover this.

Thats why apple would eat most or all of the cost without passing it on to consumers or would make more reliable laptops. The laptops are already priced at what the market would bear and apple makes huge profits.

Nah. You're forgetting that that this is Apple. There would be an announcement that for new Macs you will be required to purchase 3 years of AppleCare+ to have the best possible experience. People will bitch for a few months but eventually it'll die down and Apple will get to market the current price as the base price while charing 30% more.

Re: My MacBook Pro had over 10k USD in repairs

#168
post #146

As long as we're having a big bitch-fest here, I'll throw in my $.02. Other than expanding batteries, my laptops have generally been trouble-free. But the problem I do have is that the older my MBP, the slower it becomes when I upgrade the OS. When I upgraded my 2015 to Big Sur last year, it essentially became unusable because it ran so slowly. It now sits in my closet. Apple should stop nagging you to upgrade the OS…

Apple is the master of planned obsolescence.

They do a pretty bad job of it if it's planned. My '12 MacBook Air works great (aside from needing a new battery) and I can still boot plenty of even older Macs, going back to a Quadra.

Re: My MacBook Pro had over 10k USD in repairs

#169

I looked at this person's homepage: https://pqvst.com/ Looks like they use their Mac a lot judging by all the projects they're working on. I have a strategy that is common to all hackers / nerds / technophiles and that is: having multiple devices for different things. It's common to see in hacker circles: This laptop is for gaming. This other laptop is for freelancing & business. My other laptop is for toying / tinke…

> I have a strategy [...]: having multiple devices for different things.

> I have long since used a single device [...]

I'm not sure which you're suggesting then?

I understand the desire to compartmentalise... I just think real life's too blurry, and then it gets annoying at the edges - oh I had this problem on my other one, how did I solve it again? etc.

Re: My MacBook Pro had over 10k USD in repairs

#170
post #42

I have a gripe with every Macbook Pro I've owned, and I've owned 4 of them over the last 10 years. They all lag when I type. I hit a key, and it takes a while before it shows up on screen. The effect is at its worst in Safari, but it shows up most everywhere else as well. Sometimes, I'll type a few letters or even words before they start showing up. Doesn't matter if I wipe the machine and reinstall, and Apple has ne…

Hmmm.. FWIW, I type at like 130wpm (I have won typing competitions), and have never experienced frequent text-input latency on my Macs (I've used Macs since the mid-80's). Only intermittent due to obvious things like CPU-intensive operations in progress.

Did you see it happening on really "simple" applications like Terminal? What's crazy to me is how you saw it happening on a fresh OS install... had you installed any other software? Or any kind of customization to settings, locale, stuff like that? Curious how that could be happening!

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