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Apple - Think Twice

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Re: Apple - Think Twice

#161

Post by intellegacy »

stcredzero wrote: post #155
burriko wrote: post #139

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 doi…

> Interesting. I've had the exact same problem, and yet what happened to me was the best customer service I've ever experienced. Not all geniuses are created equal. Some of them are horrible. Some are great. It's like any other population of human beings. I've gotten both kinds.

That's nonsensical. Apple is marketing these staff as "geniuses". They're supposed to operate on a higher standard than the stereotypical brain-dead tech support; thus we should hold them to that standard.

If Apple's standards are as low as those of other companies then they really don't deserve to earn the price premium they charge.

Re: Apple - Think Twice

#162

Post by Maascamp »

marknutter wrote: post #125
Apocryphon wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is evidence for you, personally, yes. However, in aggregate, for all consumers, it is anecdata. There are people who swear by the opposite experience, of years of bad issues with non-Apple tech until they switched over. The ultimate problem with this discussion is that yours is only one data point, when a full survey would be required to determine which manufacturer is best. At the same time, sympathies for your b…

surveys like this one: http://news.cnet.com/8301-13506_3-20108336-17/apple-tops-in-...

To rebut his claim though you'd need a survey asking people how many times they've had faulty components/hardware. Not how good they feel about the supplier.

Re: Apple - Think Twice

#163

Post by tubbo »

msy wrote: post #10

Revision A Apple projects have had issues for as long as Apple has been making products. Second gen Macbook Air's had Logic board issues, 2007 era RevA Macbook Pros had video card issues, dodgy graphics cards on the early Mac Pros, the iPhone4 antenna, the list is endless. Often it's taken years for the issues to be resolved and Apple to pay for repairs, if at all. It's simple, if you want the shiniest tech, buy what…

Gotta agree with this point. I was a 2006 MBP owner (1st-gen), and at one point a CD got stuck in the drive. Took it to an authorized reseller, but I was made to pay for not only the CD drive repair but also a case repair since apparently that was also dented. The reason for all this? The CD drive on the 2006 MBP was located underneath the area where one might rest their wrists on the laptop, so over time this force simply made the hollow CDR drive collapse.

Cost me over $600, after I already purchased AppleCare. It's all good now though, I've been pirating Logic and Final Cut for years so it's pretty much paid back. :)

Re: Apple - Think Twice

#164

Post by rozap »

eropple wrote: post #122
meaty wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

> I've never heard of a satisfied long term customer Four MBPs, including a retina MBP. Couldn't be happier. Two iPads and two iPhones, switched to Android largely because of a new job and because I wanted a local environment for running vim. See? Other people have anecdotes too. But I get that contrariness and the application of your own pet anecdotes over evidence is really fun, so continue, by all means.

I think what he's going for is that, had you kept your original MBP, you would be unsatisfied. Not saying he's right or wrong there.

However, I think it is fair to say that the majority of Apple fans often have a pretty frequent upgrade cycle. Consequently I don't think there are too many "long term customers" of Apple products in his sense of the word. I think Meaty is really going for "long term" customer as in - infrequent customer, keeping devices for long term.

Re: Apple - Think Twice

#165

Post by randomdata »

enraged_camel wrote: post #75

Apple haters have really come out of the woodwork today. The fact of the matter is that every first-gen product has had and will have issues regardless of the manufacturer. Apple just gets a lot of flak because they manufacture some of the best products out there and are very vocal about it. So the moment they make a slip, they get stoned by haters who were waiting in ambush. I, too, have had some bad experiences wit…

The fact of the matter is that every first-gen product has had and will have issues regardless of the manufacturer.

Not just first-gen. My second generation iPad has the same problem.

Re: Apple - Think Twice

#166

Post by rwhitman »

msy wrote: post #10

Revision A Apple projects have had issues for as long as Apple has been making products. Second gen Macbook Air's had Logic board issues, 2007 era RevA Macbook Pros had video card issues, dodgy graphics cards on the early Mac Pros, the iPhone4 antenna, the list is endless. Often it's taken years for the issues to be resolved and Apple to pay for repairs, if at all. It's simple, if you want the shiniest tech, buy what…

I don't see it as spam, I see it as a necessary part of getting the kinks worked out ahead of when we middle-adopters buy the 2nd or 3rd gen products. The more bloggers gripe about these problems the more likely Apple will have prioritized fixing them before the next generation comes out.

Re: Apple - Think Twice

#167

Post by w1ntermute »

dpark wrote: post #159
w1ntermute wrote: post #135

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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…

You come across as an Apple hater here. You're not making objective arguments or even providing personal anecdotes. You're just pushing your personal opinion as fact. > And with that statement you just exposed how ignorant you really are. The TrackPoint is far superior to any trackpad out there. When you call someone ignorant, you should typically follow up with a factual statement and not just your personal opinion.…

> When you call someone ignorant, you should typically follow up with a factual statement and not just your personal opinion.

Funny, this is what I would call "personal opinion":

> the TrackPoint is tedious and awkward

And this is what I would call a "factual statement":

> It's a simple matter of efficiency. When using a trackpad, you have to move your hand off of the keyboard and down several inches. When using the TrackPoint, you do not - the TrackPoint is accessible with your index finger from the keyboard's home row. All 3 mouse buttons are accessible with your thumbs while your fingers rest on the home row.

> When using a trackpad to scroll, you have to keep lifting your hand off the trackpad and moving it back to the other side of the trackpad to continue scrolling. With the TrackPoint, you just hold down the middle mouse button and push the TrackPoint in the direction you want to go, for as long as you want. How is this even comparable?

I would say that I have provided a much more factual basis for my argument than your explanation that it's "tedious and awkward".

> The TrackPoint is a third-level abstraction, because you're using a joystick to move the proxy, so your motions are no longer paralleled on the screen (i.e. the cursor moves but you didn't actually move the TrackPoint).

The fact that the TrackPoint doesn't move is an advantage, not a disadvantage. It allows you to scroll infinitely, never move your hand from the home row, etc.

Getting used to the TrackPoint is just a matter of time (a few days for me), but having to move your hands a lot when using a trackpad or mouse will never change - it's physical reality.

And if it's so difficult to use a joystick to control things, how is it that millions of people are able to play console video games without any problem? Many of the people who complain about the TrackPoint are the same people who play Wii, 360, or PS3 games that make extensive use of joysticks.

> This is just unadulterated Apple hate combined with some vacuous claims. This doesn't convince anyone that you're correct. It just makes you sound petty and bitter.

I'm sorry you feel that way, but I find no reason to return your ad hominem attack on me, so whatever.

Re: Apple - Think Twice

#168

Post by melvinmt »

ssmoot wrote: post #81
msy wrote: post #10

Revision A Apple projects have had issues for as long as Apple has been making products. Second gen Macbook Air's had Logic board issues, 2007 era RevA Macbook Pros had video card issues, dodgy graphics cards on the early Mac Pros, the iPhone4 antenna, the list is endless. Often it's taken years for the issues to be resolved and Apple to pay for repairs, if at all. It's simple, if you want the shiniest tech, buy what…

Just pointing out that for anyone I've ever met, the antennagate was just media sites drumming up page-views. I never had an issue, and despite everyone at my office having iPhone4s and 4Ss, the only time any of us were ever able to affect antenna-strength was having a wet hand, and then purposefully applying a lot of pressure to attempt to attenuate the case. It could be the signal-strength display "fix" was hiding…

I recently removed my iPhone 4 cover because I was sick of it and suddenly it was dropping calls and losing signal when I was holding it in my hand. I never had any of these issues back in Holland either (better signal perhaps?) but here in SF the problem is very real.

Re: Apple - Think Twice

#169

Post by grinich »

astrodust wrote: post #49
kmfrk wrote: post #21

Antenna causing problems? "You're holding it wrong." Camera artifacts? "You're holding it wrong." [1] Burn-in? "Does not compute." Scruffing on the iPhone 5 [2]? People don't even bother to write about it. Same for the poor performance on Retina devices. Unless you're someone like Anandtech who are so meticulous many don't bother to read the fint print. Maybe it's time we got some Apple-specific buyer's guides from p…

Why is it people get all frothing at the mouth angry about Apple's mistakes when they just shrug indifferently the mis-steps of other companies? I haven't heard people losing their shit because their $4,000 Sony laptop webcam isn't as amazing as Sony promised.

Temper tantrums only feel good if people are watching you.

Re: Apple - Think Twice

#170

Post by astrodust »

grinich wrote: post #169
astrodust wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why is it people get all frothing at the mouth angry about Apple's mistakes when they just shrug indifferently the mis-steps of other companies? I haven't heard people losing their shit because their $4,000 Sony laptop webcam isn't as amazing as Sony promised.

Temper tantrums only feel good if people are watching you.

This is a good point.
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