No longer a fan of Apple computers - Am I off base here?

Tommydigi wrote in post #11339514
Either way I think this is the last time I purchase an expensive laptop. My last ( 17 inch macbook pro ) failed after about 3 years of heavy use. This one did get very hot, felt like a toaster over, if I am allowed a new one I am almost thinking I should try to get one that is a little less power packed. Maybe an I5, I wonder if there is only so much a laptop can handle. I have an older core duo at work and while not super fast it does seem to work well and its about 3 or 4 years old.

I have a contact at Apple who I am working with directly after my email to steve jobs and she is out until Monday. At this point I want a new machine, if they would have tested this machine properly when I first took it in ( they said it worked fine ) I would have never gotten to this point and the countless hours of useless trouble shooting just to find out most everything inside needed to be replaced.

Three years out of your last MacBook ? Wow I wish I could get that out of my PC laptops ..... I usually replace every 18 months I have had multiple HP's, Toshibas and now am trying an ASUS for the last nine months so far so good .... But i am about to jump to Mac with both a Macbook 15.4" and a Mac Pro 6 core and a MBP 13.3 for the fiancee so if we can get three years out of the laptops I will be a happy guy.

Jeffro250 wrote in post #11339465
My macs dont run hot... My MBP is barely warm to the touch after an intensive CS5/LR3 editing session...my MB Air stays cold as ice. All the PC laptops I see do get smoking hot though, so ill agree with you there.

And I think your "1 in 3 laptops fail within the first year" is a total line of manure...

Sorry, it was early. I should have stated that "nearly" 1 in 3 laptops fail in the first three years (study). And, you do know that CS5 hardly touches a computer's potential, right? Adobe has been nagged for their lack of multithread support for some time now.

If you really want to test a machine, use software that actually pushes the hardware to it's fullest. My 2010 i7 MBP and even my 2008 octo Mac Pro get so hot that the room they are in will actually drop a degree when I'm doing video. I set Compressor to use 3 threads on the laptop, leaving one open so I can surf or whatever without hangs and set the MP to use 7 threads for the same reason. After an hour of this, I can barely touch the aluminum case's, they're so hot. Putting the MBP on my lap is NOT an option. I purchased a lap cooler just to keep temps down a few degrees!

The three main reasons for extended hardware failure are heat, bad power and physical damage and I try to address all three as best as I can. I recommend a laptop cooler for everyone. If nothing else, heat destroys battery's and if you can keep it a little cooler, it will extend it's life a bit.

If you want to push your devices, go download Aperture 3 and set up a batch job doing a hundred or so HDRs, with blurs and resizing while in full screen mode and try to keep your laptop on your lap. If you don't want to go through the trouble, then run Apple's hardware diagnostics (App disk in computer and hold "D" key while booting) and do the extended hardware test. It doesn't push everything at once, but it will really warm things up There's a reason so many people call Apple's laptops hot.

Tommydigi wrote in post #11339514
Either way I think this is the last time I purchase an expensive laptop. My last ( 17 inch macbook pro ) failed after about 3 years of heavy use. This one did get very hot, felt like a toaster over, if I am allowed a new one I am almost thinking I should try to get one that is a little less power packed. Maybe an I5, I wonder if there is only so much a laptop can handle. I have an older core duo at work and while not super fast it does seem to work well and its about 3 or 4 years old.

I have a contact at Apple who I am working with directly after my email to steve jobs and she is out until Monday. At this point I want a new machine, if they would have tested this machine properly when I first took it in ( they said it worked fine ) I would have never gotten to this point and the countless hours of useless trouble shooting just to find out most everything inside needed to be replaced.

Something is seriously odd with your situation. I will admit that I have not read all seven pages of this thread but I did read the first few and the last.

I have three Apple systems in my house and work for a company that has several hundred. Many of my co-workers (all software developers) have new MBP i7's. No issues.

I have AppleCare on an iMac 27 and I had a hard drive crash last summer. I called AppleCare and they dispatched a repair tech to my house with a new system board and a new hard drive. I asked why the board and they responded, "Just in case. We don't want to do this twice." With a new system board and drive, I would essentially have a new system (minus display and peripherals).

That was excellent service IMO. It is their standard. I don't know why you are having such issues but I have never known Apple to shirk on their maintenance duties to their customers.

As for my MBP - I get poor battery life when I have some disk/cpu intensive process that is running continually. Sometimes as little as 2 hours. When I run normal things, I get 6-8 hours.

As far as reliable - I rarely have ever crashed my MBP. I can run weeks without ever rebooting. I can open and close the lid, dock and undock, all without issue.

dlpasco wrote in post #11340660
Something is seriously odd with your situation. I will admit that I have not read all seven pages of this thread but I did read the first few and the last.

I have three Apple systems in my house and work for a company that has several hundred. Many of my co-workers (all software developers) have new MBP i7's. No issues.

I have AppleCare on an iMac 27 and I had a hard drive crash last summer. I called AppleCare and they dispatched a repair tech to my house with a new system board and a new hard drive. I asked why the board and they responded, "Just in case. We don't want to do this twice." With a new system board and drive, I would essentially have a new system (minus display and peripherals).

That was excellent service IMO. It is their standard. I don't know why you are having such issues but I have never known Apple to shirk on their maintenance duties to their customers.

As for my MBP - I get poor battery life when I have some disk/cpu intensive process that is running continually. Sometimes as little as 2 hours. When I run normal things, I get 6-8 hours.

As far as reliable - I rarely have ever crashed my MBP. I can run weeks without ever rebooting. I can open and close the lid, dock and undock, all without issue.

There's a reason Apple is #1 in customer support and satisfaction

That said, bad things happen from time to time. His current situation (screen colors) could have been that someone dropped it in shipping or, more likely, when the tech was sealing it up he accidentally knocked loose the monitor cable so it's not snug or it's pinched somewhere. If it were me, I would have opened it up and looked for crimps or a loose wire.

There are just some people/devices that are cursed though I actually know a person that is on his third laptop and second computer in two years. I even put a multimeter on him to see if he was putting out something

Apple is terrible. I get it back with more problems ( now the display does not work ) they still will not replace this computer. I am done with them

Ok finally a replacement. They actually gave me a slight upgrade too

Tommydigi wrote in post #11365407
Ok finally a replacement. They actually gave me a slight upgrade too

So I guess that means your not "done" with them just yet...?

Glad to hear that you finally got it sorted out.

It was a frustrating experience mainly because when I first purchased the machine it seemed to run slow. It would hang and spin a lot doing just simple things so I called apple care they had me do some tests etc and said it all seemed fine. The battery also only lasted about 2 hours so after doing tests ( they said it was fine ) I finally had enough and just took it in. They ran tests again and found the battery was bad but everything else was fine ( as they say) months of poor performance and crashes followed.

All this time I am making countless calls and re-installing the system 2 times to still have the same issues. Took it in again and they claimed all was fine. This time I did not accept that and had them take it and inspect it in detail. Sure enough I get it back and most all of the insides where replaced ( logic board, ram ) . Turn it on the first time and the display does not work not to mention it was still crashing.

On my last trip in the first tech I spoke to told me it even feel strange like something is humming that is not right. The manager at first does not want to offer a replacement they said they will only fix it which obviously frustrated me further, I mean you get something back after a week and there are now new problems and the response is "well it needs to be repaired".

An hour of talking ( arguing my case ) and they finally agreed to replace it. I guess all's well but still this would not have come to this years ago and my confidence in apple is not at all the same. I will never spend this amount of money on a laptop from them again. They did make it right giving me a slight upgrade but it should not have come to this. I do understand they can't just replace every machine with a problem but this just went on far to long.

My advice when you buy an apple computer give it a really good test in the first month when it can be returned. Any issues ( not what apple techs say ) but issues you feel you experience. RETURN IT ASAP while you still can.

Actually, everyone should teat new equipment no matter the maker or cost.

What I don't understand is what difference does the cost make? If you go through the same crap with a $800 laptop, would that have made you feel better about it? Or would you have written it off? According to stats every major PC company has worse numbers than Apple. Some almost twice as bad. That means people have a higher chance of going through what you did everywhere else - sometimes almost twice the chance. You have to fight for yourself. No company is going to replace a major brand on the first visit and no company is going to accept your word at face value. Document, document, document goes right next to the backup, backup, backup rule.

I'm not saying you didn't have a case, but it's rare that Apple gives people the run around. Either you're extremely unlucky or there was mitigating circumstances.

I did test it and when I claimed it was running slow they had me do some tests and said it was up to par so I thought my expectations where just to high. As time went on it got worse and worse crashing and running even slower.

I did say I understand they cannot give a refund to everyone who asks but the support in my particular case was poor and often incorrect. Most of the time the support people where just having me do things to check various issues and twice having me re-install the system. Even when I took it in everything checked out according to the tech and only when I insisted they look deeper did they find the problems. Problems they did not only NOT fix but caused more upon getting the machine back.

I understand there is always a certain percentage of computers that break but in the past Apple offered better customer support, at least in my case and yes price does come into play. If I pay a premium I expect a good product with good service. I like apple products and I use many of them but this was not a good experience.