Apple: The biggest scam in retail electronics?

[Jay.Money]

I'm really **** pissed right now.

About 14 months ago, I picked up a Mac Mini to act solely as a music server (hardly a workout for any computer). At the time, I was quite excited to become a Mac user as I'd heard many good things.

Immediately after setting it up (~5 days or so), the thing starts to emit a loud, audible distortion from the audio outs. I call the Assle support line, they tell me to go down to the local Assle store and they'll take care of it. I won't get in to the shitty attitude on the zit faced twerp working at the tech desk... anyway, they replace the "mainboard", I take it home and guess what: No change still ****. So, I pack it up, take it back, fight to get them to give me new machine (which they finally do).

Like I said, I'm excited to be a new Mac owner, so I overlook this initial bad experience.

Well, after setting back up, ripping a bunch of CDs, I notice that the wireless network reception is flakey. Sometimes its there, sometimes not. Sometimes, if the planets are aligned, the signal is great. But it's not consistent. So, I go out and replace my old, DLink router (which was cheap even 4 years ago) and get what is rated as the best wireless router known to man.

Not much change, all the while my work PC notebook has no problem gaining reception at the same spot in the house.

So again, I take the Mac back over to Zitface. Guess what? He's not able to do anything other than tell me "it's able to connect to our network in the store...".

So back home I go... Set it back up.... Things improve for a few weeks. I'm happy. Not sure what happened, but I'm happy none the less. Until one day, NO SIGNAL. Nuthin. Kaputz.

Reboots provide me one of two things. Either it comes back and the NIC is disabled (don't know why or how, just is), or it comes alive and I have network but only for a few mins (like 3), then nothing again.

As an experiment, I moved the router, so that I can be sure signal is strong. And it is.... For a few mins... immediately after boot up, for about 3 mins. Then nothing.

And guess what. No more warranty. I won't spend another $10 on this pile of ****. I'll UPGRADE to a PC in a heartbeat.

APPLE = JUNK. DON'T BELIEVE THE HYPE.

Oh yeah, I didn't even get in to the fact that the video out (although HDMI) doesn't scale to my HDTV properly... But a PC will.

Sorry for the long post.

 

[vinyldavid]

ummmm........IMHO they are only good for multimedia editing and photoshop.

NOTHING ELSE. Well...you can web surf on anything...

 

[Twenty20Man]

sorry, for your troubles

 

[Jay.Money]

ummmm........IMHO they are only good for multimedia editing and photoshop.

NOTHING ELSE. Well...you can web surf on anything...

Actually, I can't even surf the net on this thing, unless I wire it to the router.... FAT CHANCE OF THAT. I'm not putting holes in walls to keep this pile of dung around.

 

[willyrover]

What hype?

Unless you go to the MAC STORE (if such a store exists in Canada) I still only see 2 or 3 Mac models vs. 25-30 PC models in most big box stores. Where exactly are you hearing this "hype"?

 

[vinyldavid]

Actually, I can't even surf the net on this thing, unless I wire it to the router.... FAT CHANCE OF THAT. I'm not putting holes in walls to keep this pile of dung around.

Well....when they work........

I feel for ya, because those are NOT cheap!

 

[Clmrt]

Apple users I know = 2.

Both lawyers...

 

[rsfmotoman]

You definitely have had a bad experience but that doesn't mean all Macs are junk and impossible to work with. :nono:

I have been very happy with all my Macs. :yes:

I have bought cheap two $75 G3 iMacs (CL) and two Mac Minis (CL and Apple Store) and an eMac I scored at Goodwill.

I would never go back to a PeeCee.

But I do admit, it can be frustrating trying to work out computer problems whether you are working with a Mac or a PeeCee. I've been there.

 

[Nikko75]

I'd have to say the biggest scams in retail electronics would be dryers (heating coils are designed to last 2 years of normal frequent use), cell phones (since when does a circuit board cost hundreds of dollars, I make them for pennies), and home theaters.

 

[thedelihaus]

Apple was good to me- after a repair on an older G3 laptop that they failed to fix after 3 times, they humbly apologized and gave me a then brand-new G4 laptop for my troubles.

Thing would work for an hour on their bench, then I'd bring it home and it'd work for 2-4 hours, then croak.




Frustrating as heck when you pay a premium for an Apple product, and it doesn't work properly. And yes, some of the workers can get attitudes- I think a combo of both Apple arrogance and a thick skin dealing with some difficult public (I'm not saying that's you), similar to what some service writers for auto makers do, or Ikea workers dealing with customer returns.



In your situation, I think I'd be pretty angry too. Sounds like you got a lemon there and of course the frustration of it rearing it's head after warranty is just salt in the wound.

 

[Cadillac Kid]

Mac has been good to me. Never had a problem with my G4 or G5. My G5 is used 12 hours a day with ProTools and Final Cut. It is an incredibly reliable machine. I have had problems with PCs that I had to throw out, FU Gateway... FU.

Not really a Mac vs. PC issue, but a case of getting a lemon, like Deli said..

 

[onepixel]

Jay,
Sorry that your experience with Apple has been a bad one. I've been using MACs and Apple products for 20 years and the one problem I had with the power cord to a laptop was quickly resolved by giving me a new one.

I've been fortunate that all the Apple stores here in Silicon Valley are staffed by an excellent, very knowledgable, cheerfully and helpful people.

Good luck.

 

[KingBubba]

My supervisor has an apple laptop the burner was replaced three times the motherboard was replaced three times, they finally gave him a new laptop and the motherboard had to be replaced on that one too. I'll stick with my Thinkpads.

 

[jcmjrt]

In the 20 years I've owned Macs, I've never experienced a single hardware failure. In the same years at work using PCs, I've experienced many hardware issues.

 

[spartanmanor]

Apples or Oranges all computers can be a pain in the ass at times. I use both and really have no preference as long as I can get the job done.

 

[John in MA]

The last new ThinkPad I set a client up with went through two motherboards and probably five trips to the factory depot in a few months. Every time it came back something else was wrong or it was missing parts. Lenovo corporate eventually upgraded him to a much better model after I complained enough. Not doing that again. Had a similar experience with Dell.

I haven't found most Apple hardware to be any more or less reliable than other brands overall. Some of their stuff is built quite solidly, usually the pro machines. They've also made some stinkers, like the iMac DVs with power boards made by Goldstar. Software-wise I'd take a Mac over a PC any day. I rarely have any trouble with that end of a Mac.

Everyone produces a few lemons. Especially now that everything's being churned out by Chinese factories without as much quality control.

Only reason I use a PC for daily work is that it's much easier to mix and match desktop parts and get obscure software. Like right now I'm building a new one that'll be going in an 11-bay server case. I use a couple Macs for DTP type stuff. For laptops I use both Mac and PC--if I ever get a newer one it'll be an Intel Mac I can dual-boot OSX and Windows XP.

 

[pmsummer]

In the 20 years I've owned Macs, I've never experienced a single hardware failure. In the same years at work using PCs, I've experienced many hardware issues.

Apples or Oranges all computers can be a pain in the ass at times.

I work with both platforms, and I can concur with both statements from my personal experience.

Now, lets talk Vista vs. Leopard (or even XP vs. Tiger).

 

[chebishev]

The one thing I will praise Apple for is there amazing marketing/sales. They manage to sell you more than you really need for twice as much as a PC (not that PC manufacturers are not trying to sell you more than you really need but atleast it is cheaper than MACs). By the way they took an opensource operating system (BSD unix) that is free to download and put their own front end and recompiled parts of it and charge you $200 (Mac OS X Leopard). How is that for a scam?

 

[Earlsays]

I've never liked macs, or apple products, period. To me, it was like comparing restaraunt grade kitchen appliances to consumer grade stuff...I just never liked anything about them...nothing against them, just opinion.

And I've always heard folks say that Apple is "better for graphics and multimedia and photoshop" I've never had anyone give me a difinitive reason as to WHY this is.

 

[JBN]

You used one of the millions of computers apple has built or sold over the years and came to this conclusion? Interesting!