Register Clicky

I agree, clicky for my blog post when my adaptor failed.

Yes though if you poke it in the eye it will still be unsafe.

Was this issue not dealt with.

Apple do have a replacement programme in place.

http://www.engadget.com/2008/08/20/appl ... pters-too/

Yes, look at the last-but-one paragraph of the article.

Clearly it hasn't.

So much for paying extra for quality.

It was fun pulling the brick apart and fixing it though...Felt very geeky

Sorry Gav which bit? The last three say this

I think he means that they aren't replacing them just because they are damaged, you have to either bring the associated Mac or at least its serial number.

I can see both sides here. If it is a general problem with the PSU and they are replacing it without a quibble, why do you need the bring the Mac or its serial number?

Although, for the repairs department, you probably need a valid serial number to register it on the system - and to keep track of problems with that "device", which could help identify generally faulty machines if the user tries to get the whole machine replaced in the future.

As to the "paying extra for quality" remark, I think he does have a point. Many* Apple users claim that the extra price of Apple kit is worth it, because of the quality of the kit and the components used. Given the amount of high-profile problems that Apple kit has suffered over the last 4-5 years, this clearly isn't the case - logic board failures, cases cracking, cases discolouring, battery recalls, graphics problems, heat issues, displays not being able to display "millions" of colours etc.

They probably don't have any more problems, per model, than any other manufacturer, but the extra price certainly doesn't seem to guarantee reliability of the components. Given the high profile of many of the faults which are reported, I think it gets on some peoples nerves when some people claim that Apple's cost more, because they use better quality components or that the extra price = extra reliability. As a user of both Apple and non-Apple kit on a daily basis, I haven't seen any grounds for such claims - that said, my iMac is only 2.5 years old, give it another 10 years in daily use and I'll be able to say whether they are more reliable... There is certainly a case for saying that the housing design is excellent for an Apple, but in terms of component quality or reliability (quality control), I haven't seen any justification for a higher price, yet.

So far, my iMac has been 100% reliable. That said, my FJS, which cost a third of what the iMac cost has also been 100% reliable, as has my 8 year old Evesham, my 11 year old Evesham, my 5 year old Acer laptop and my 9 year old Advent laptop and my 6 year old home build machine is also still running fine.

I can't comment on the after sales and warranty services for any of the manufacturers, as none of the machines has ever developed a fault.

* There have been a lot of comments in various forums over the years about how the extra price of Apple kit is worth it for the quality of components, I'm not pointing any fingers at member of this forum or suggesting people here fall into that category.

My colleague's iBook G4 has just died, 4 years old apparently. Started freezing randomly and now crashes completely within 5 minutes of it booting.
My guess is the hard disk is on it's way out, which requires a complete stripdown and rebuild to replace it Clicky and the local Apple shop have suggested a £500 repair cost. However the iBook wiki page has a few paragraphs on quality issues, so it could be anything. The one crash I saw was quite spectacular...the desktop started scrolling off the top of the screen, closely followed by a what resembled a bash prompt full of error messages.

Dead in 4 years. Not good.
Interestingly the Apple reseller suggested buying another laptop instead, and I quote "not necessarily a macbook"....

Says it all.

I can't fault Apple on support. I've had my MacBook overheat (or it thought it was overheating) and I had the battery die.
The overheating was dealt with very quickly and they guy on the end of the phone was very helpful and seemed to know his stuff.
When my battery died I couldn't get to an Apple store, and didn't have a credit/debit card that Apple accepted, the guy on the phone suggested several things (as a self test to see if it was the battery of if it was something to do with the Mac) and was again, very helpful, he called me back when he said he would to see what my results were, and was then happy to accept a friends card details so he could send me a battery (if I hadn't sent the old one back within X days the card would have been charged).
Overall the people I have spoken to know what they are talking about, and if they follow a script, it sounds very natural and makes them sound very knowledgeable. One thing I really like is that when I have called I have gotten someone from GB (usually Ireland), and not someone I have trouble communicating with.



That's not good...Given the price of repairs, it's probably better to go for another laptop, even if she wants another Mac, the bottom end MacBook isn't far away from that price!

*dons flame-retardent suit*

Isn't that right around the time they started using more Intel-based architecture?
It did feel like a lot of the QC was lacking when they dropped the PPC architecture, presumably due to changing their production lines.
Just my opinion.

A lot of the logic board failures were G4 'Books. And case failures (and the current MagSafe problem and the battery recalls, glass touchpads) have nothing to do with Intel architecture. It is a quality control issue, however. Whether it has something to do with using a different OEM is open to question...

But it is a problem and it does cast a shadow on the aspersions of a few, that Apple's higher pricing = better build quailty. Better case/layout design yes, better build quality, no. Does that mean they are worse than other manufacturers? No, but they also aren't anything special, when it comes to quality control and faults.

Can't add much to the discussion - I've had one issue with a Mac that I can recall and it was dealt with by Apple asap despite being abroad at the time.

But I do *love* the "foe" feature on here. It means I get to enjoy these threads once more without all the brain-dead and boring posters cluttering up the otherwise intelligent conversation.

Says the person who leads in with "Can't add much to the discussion".

My colleague's G4 ibook turned out to be a PMU issue. Came back from Apple still broken too.