Apple quality control?

[AllenG]

Has Apple's quality control fallen?
So far this year I've replaced the hard drive in my Air Book (second time--it's three years old) and the mother board is starting to flake out. And this evening my iPad just went belly up. The volume keeps turning down and the volume icon won't go away. I got the iPad at Christmas.

 

[DC_MPA]

Dang that's weird! I hope you have the AppleCare to cover the devices?

 

[mdunn]

That sucks. I've had the odd issue with apple products. At least your iPad is still under warranty

 

[AllenG]

I just checked the serial number and the iPad is under warranty.
I'm out of pocket on the air book though. I think if may be replaced with a mini mac.

 

[mretzloff]

I have never had a problem with an Apple product. I think their quality control is as good as it gets, but clearly YMMV.

 

[Neognosis]

That's disappointing. My macbook is 4 years old and my iphone is 3 years old and both have proven to be nearly bulletproof.

I hope your issues get resolved, and that they are not a sign of what is coming.

 

[maxman]

Apple products fail about the same as everything else.
we have a pile of broken apple stuff at work.
my macbook pro fizzled out after about 4 years.

My ipod touch is slowly dying after about 3years.

We've had Dell computers that have never been in for repair in 4 years

 

[Neognosis]

Apple products fail about the same as everything else.

Not in my experience.
I guess there's a lot of variability going on.

 

[Rustonrazor]

bought an IMac years ago. Only issue we had was our surge protector didn't protect and it got fried and lost everything. New Op system and no issues in over 5 years. Also have external memory now just in case of power surge again.

 

[BigBull]

Apple products fail about the same as everything else.
we have a pile of broken apple stuff at work.
my macbook pro fizzled out after about 4 years.

My ipod touch is slowly dying after about 3years.

We've had Dell computers that have never been in for repair in 4 years

Interesting! I have 2 Dell computers that didn't last 2 years and sit in my garage.
I have a pile of Windows programs, driver disks and harddrives that aren't worth anything anymore.
I had an HP laptop that was sooo thick and heavy, not to mention the terrible battery life, that I sold it for 10% of its value simply because it didn't hold any.

I have an iPhone 4 that's exactly 2 years old and still works better than any cell phone on the market. I have 2 iPod's that are more than 3 years old and the battery still works like the day I bought them. AppleTV? Got that too, and it was not only cutting edge when I got it - but every company out there is still trying to emmulate it and hasn't.

My iMac purchased in 2007 works better than any windows machine I've used in the last 10 years. Fresh out of the box, or with multiple years of use.

YMMV of course! It's unfortuante your having trouble with your machines.

 

[maxman]

I suppose I should have mentioned that I work at a College that has about 1500 computers onsite (that's a conservative estimate).
I fix computers for a living and see a lot of broken stuff every day.
Apple, Dell, HP, whatever. They all come to see me at some point or another.

 

[BigBull]

I suppose I should have mentioned that I work at a College that has about 1500 computers onsite (that's a conservative estimate).
I fix computers for a living and see a lot of broken stuff every day.
Apple, Dell, HP, whatever. They all come to see me at some point or another.

I agree totally! I didn't mention I was a network admin in my last career...
just that in my personal life since switching to Mac its much more hassle free.

**So we can be in 100% agreeance on something, your PSA is 100% spot on. It's definitely a pet peave!

 

[nannahill]

I've had a couple of HD's fail in my Toshiba laptop, due mainly to old age. I figure that's what external HD's are for (back ups).

I'd walk in to an Apple store with your Mac and see if you get a friendly Genius who may be willing to help you out. It's worth a try.

 

[Trey76]

I don't like a machine I cannot inspect for quality myself. This is why I build my own machines with parts proven to be reliable. My cases, PSUs, cables, HDDs, etc. are carefully selected and arranged to provide six years of heavy use or more. All computer assemblers require their customers to keep buying from them. Their livelihood depends on it. Apple leans on providing the newest style coupled with a need for more memory. Dell builds baseline machines which are designed to be worthless in two years whether through breakdown or applicability. I have my own best interests at heart and build to that requirement. Putting together a computer nowadays is almost foolproof. Look into it and teach yourself. You will end up updating single components every once in a while instead of dumping $500 on a gadget of which you already own the previous version.

 

[Patman27]

I had 2 dell pc's that both required new hard drives 2-3 years in. After the second crashed, I switched to a macbook pro in 2006. Going on 8 years now and despite a battery wearing out and a failed charger wire needing replacement, no serious issues yet. I hope the OP has better luck in the future and gets good customer service. I would probably call them or go to the nearest mac store to see if they can work with you.

Also, I realize this is just personal experience. If I worked in an IT dept I'm sure I would have a different opinion of nearly all tech products.

 

[Neognosis]

I build my own machines with parts proven to be reliable. My cases, PSUs, cables, HDDs, etc. are carefully selected and arranged to provide six years of heavy use or more. All computer assemblers require their customers to keep buying from them.

I admire that, and I think it is great that you do this.

I can't be bothered though, I have too many other things to do. I just want to buy an apple and use it until it breaks or isn't supported any longer and then buy another one, hopefully in about a decade.

 

[Bobtrumpet]

My son just changed majors and is going into computer science. He has a MacBook (on it's second HD, but Apple doesn't make HDs) but wanted to dig into our old Mac Plus (1986) and try his hand at learning assembly language for grins. I managed to find the cables for it, and we fired it up with our old 50MB (yes, you read that right) SCSI HD. The old girl beeped, the HD spun, and the nice, bright (!) Welcome to Macintosh screen came up. Everything ran. I am still amazed to this day how easy to read that old B&W screen is. I haven't heard if he's been able to find any of the programming software for it yet (there's stuff out on the 'net; I think getting it onto the HD will be tougher than finding it).

AFAIK, our original Bondi iMac still runs (I haven't fired to up in about a year). Our sunflower iMac no longer boots, but I think the PRAM battery failed after a year of non-use; replacing the battery should fix the issue. We also had an old Centris 650 that ran fine when we finally got rid of it (just no room). The only Apple product we've had problems with was the iBook; we had three fail (one G3 and 2 G4's) in the couple years we had them (granted, they were used and several years old when we bought them on eBay).

 

[bmathe02]

Luck of the draw. My MacBook pro had 3 logic board replacements. After 2 replacements went bad immediately they said they are just going to ship it to china and have the factory over there fix it. Works flawlessly now. And with fed ex shipping quick turn around time at no cost to me. A previous PowerBook had the all too common cd drive fail but was fixed promptly. Always get apple care to be certain.

 

[bmathe02]

Forgot to mention never bought warranty on iPods or iPads but never had an issue with those.

 

[_JP_]

My first iPhone developed problems ten days after I got it. Went to the Genius Bar and after a diagnostic it was replaced on the spot.