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Apple - Think Twice

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Re: Apple - Think Twice

#131

Post by astrodust »

meaty wrote: post #88
Breakthrough wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"The new Dell Ubuntu laptop is the only thing I can think of as a reasonable alternative to what Apple's doing." Maybe you should get your head out of the gutter and realize a laptop isn't deemed "good" because it's an alternative to "what Apple's doing". Edit : And to whoever downvoted this, thank you for proving my point.

You nailed it. The pretty factor is not at all important, neither is blindly copying a vendor.

I guess I should be wearing shoes made from truck tires and old seatbelts, shirts made from recycled canvas bags, and underpants made from old rags because who cares about appearances.

Re: Apple - Think Twice

#132

Post by astrodust »

bitwize wrote: post #99
piyush_soni wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sure! Though I'd love if people would ask this question before giving negative votes. Anyway, before you read these, just try to be a bit impartial towards any side, which is generally difficult for Apple fans. (Tell me very honestly, if you think the logo of this small coffee shop in Germany has really any similarity with Apple's logo, except the fact that both of them are derived from the fruit apple!) http://www.m…

Apple is using trademark law to ensure that no one can do to Apple what Apple did to the Beatles.

You mean what Apple Records did to Apple Inc?

Re: Apple - Think Twice

#133

Post by ComputerGuru »

There is a new MacBook Retina clamshell that was pushed out a month before the 13" MBPr hit the shelves.

I had mine replaced due to pretty intense ghosting after just 2 minutes, and when I went in to the Genius Bar, they found the clamshell part had a new model number (vs the one they had seen a week before). This one does not ghost.

Re: Apple - Think Twice

#134

Post by icarus_drowning »

meaty wrote: post #69
michael_miller wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It sounds like you had some bad experiences, but do you really think that Apple makes products with "no engineering applied past experience"? Surely Apple's products have had faults, and it sounds like you've been bitten more than once. I don't blame you for not liking the company or its products. However, there are lots of satisfied customers, and I think you'd be hard pressed to find someone who believed that their…

Yes I do - they are shit, so is their engineering and I'm not afraid to go against the grain and say it. I've never heard of a satisfied long term customer i.e. most of the praise comes from new users with shiny toys. My father has just been screwed by his 1st gen iPad because some of the apps will no longer install and IOS6 is not available (to the trash it goes), his white iPhone 4S has proximity sensor issues to t…

Just to add to the anecdotal evidence bandwagon, I'm another very happy long term customer, with almost a decade of happy purchases. I've never had a problem nor experienced anything but excellent service. I've had iPhones replaced for free (without Apple Care), free repairs for faulty components in 2 MacBook Pro's (performed immediately and at no cost).

I don't blame you for you dislike of the Apple brand given how you've apparently been treated, but realize that your experience seems to be somewhat anomalous.

Re: Apple - Think Twice

#135

Post by w1ntermute »

astrodust wrote: post #68
meaty wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ahh yes the unibody which is basically a fucking big short circuit, hence why mine caught fire. It's engineering, but it's not SOUND ENGINEERING. I stand by my expensive trinket comment. Buy a Lenovo T-series and you'll understand.

You're essentially saying that any computer with a metal case, or extensive metal shielding inside could suffer the same problem. HP makes a number of metal laptops, for instance, in an effort to make them more recyclable, the same reasoning behind Apple's materials decision. Why would I buy a Lenovo T-series? It looks virtually indistinguishable from any laptop made in the late 1990s and still has that absurd red jo…

> Why would I buy a Lenovo T-series? It looks virtually indistinguishable from any laptop made in the late 1990s and still has that absurd red joystick.

And with that statement you just exposed how ignorant you really are. The TrackPoint is far superior to any trackpad out there. In fact, I don't even use a mouse with my desktop - I have a USB version of the ThinkPad keyboard[0]. With the TrackPoint, you can use the mouse without ever moving your hand from the home position on the keyboard. It's more efficient than a mouse, and much, much more efficient than a trackpad.

And instead of the stupid "two-finger scrolling" you see on Macs these days, you can hold the middle mouse button and push up or down with the TrackPoint to scroll infinitely.

And the reason why the ThinkPad design has stayed the same since the 90s is because ThinkPad users aren't chasing after the latest shiny bauble - they want a device on which they can get their work done. The ThinkPad design is timeless in that it gets out of your way so that you can focus on what is important.

Apple has to make sure they regularly have shiny new product designs to keep their customer base happy because their customers are more interested in looks than functionality.

> I know there's Lenovo fans, ThinkPad fanatics, but they look like junk and feel even crappier.

You really need to stop drinking the Apple Kool-aid and realize that there are far superior laptops to the MacBooks.

0: http://i.imgur.com/oVKgB.jpg

Re: Apple - Think Twice

#136

Post by meaty »

manmal wrote: post #109
meaty wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No I'm not. I'm saying that there is no acceptable insulation in the device. The chassis for example uses air gap between the board and the base for insulation. Even condensation can bridge it, which is the theory why mine exploded. Regarding appearance, and? Does that really matter? Why you pick a ThinkPad: http://appel.hu/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/rollcage.jpg That and you can throw the damn thing across the…

Boards usually have a transparent coating, I doubt that it's only air separating the board from the chassis. For this very reason - laptops are thrown into the water as a test, they must not explode after that. I have never had a problem with a unibody Macbook. Please don't be ridiculous.

It's called solder mask and it doesn't cover the entire board...

Compressing the bottom of the case will short.

It's badly designed.

Re: Apple - Think Twice

#137

Post by astrodust »

piyush_soni wrote: post #78
lazerwalker wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can you substantiate this claim at all? I'd love to hear how Apple is trying to extort money from coffee shops and grocery stores.

Sure! Though I'd love if people would ask this question before giving negative votes. Anyway, before you read these, just try to be a bit impartial towards any side, which is generally difficult for Apple fans. (Tell me very honestly, if you think the logo of this small coffee shop in Germany has really any similarity with Apple's logo, except the fact that both of them are derived from the fruit apple!) http://www.m…

These lawsuits are an unfortunate business practice, but Apple is not alone here. I'm not a big fan of them, but that's the way the game is played.

Other corporations do this all the time, but apart from the Olympic Committee, which sues anyone and anything with "Olympic" in their name, most don't have a regular English word as their name. This leads to more conflict in practice, and Apple must, according to the law, work harder to "defend" their brand or have it weakened.

Re: Apple - Think Twice

#138

Post by biot »

piyush_soni wrote: post #78
lazerwalker wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can you substantiate this claim at all? I'd love to hear how Apple is trying to extort money from coffee shops and grocery stores.

Sure! Though I'd love if people would ask this question before giving negative votes. Anyway, before you read these, just try to be a bit impartial towards any side, which is generally difficult for Apple fans. (Tell me very honestly, if you think the logo of this small coffee shop in Germany has really any similarity with Apple's logo, except the fact that both of them are derived from the fruit apple!) http://www.m…

You should read this article:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trademark_dilution

Different standards apply to famous marks vs. regular trademarks. Imagine if a company which made heavy mining equipment had a logo of a swoosh with a hardhat inside. Would Nike be justified in claiming trademark dilution? Absolutely. Or if that same heavy mining equipment manufacturer had a logo of a big rounded arching M with a hardhat on it. McDonalds would legitimately claim dilution there as well, even though the restaurant has no plans to get into the mining industry. These situations would not be dissimilar to an apple logo with a child's head inside.

It's easy to say "poor woman" but the cafe owner must comply with trademark law, imperfect as it is. I hope she prevails actually. However, the process must be allowed to continue. She filed for a trademark application. Apple has apparently contested the trademark registration and sent the cafe owner a cease & desist letter on the side, hoping she'll voluntarily withdraw the application. She doesn't want to withdraw, so now it's in the hands of the German trademark office to sort out.

Re: Apple - Think Twice

#139

Post by burriko »

Interesting. I've had the exact same problem, and yet what happened to me was the best customer service I've ever experienced.

I had bought a 15" retina MBP at launch, but only noticed the ghosting last month. After booking an appointment with a 'genius' online I arrived ready to argue my case. What actually happened was that the 'genius' agreed with me straight away that the ghosting was intolerable, and without doing any testing besides what I'd shown him recommended that they replace the screen. I left my MBP at the Apple Store and 3 hours later received a phone call to say that the repair had been completed and my machine was ready for collection.

I don't think there's another computer supplier that:-

A. I could book an appointment online to get my laptop looked at the same day.

B. Actually has a local store with support staff.

C. Could carry out the repair at said store, the very same day.

Re: Apple - Think Twice

#140

Post by nilsbunger »

I use Apple products everywhere, partially because of the awesome retail and support experience -- in-person and by phone. If they screw that up, they will lose a big part of their "special-ness".

It is so great to walk into an apple store when you have an issue and have someone who actually cares take a look and try to help you. And when you call them for order or tech support, you get someone clearly intelligent, caring, and who speaks English well.

Where else can you get that great service and retail experience? Does a MSFT store do this?

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