Fanbois: We paid $2000 for full satisfaction but now we have SPREADING STAINS Apple consumers are complaining that the company is ignoring their complaints about the anti-reflective MacBook coating peeling off in whacking great ugly patches. Ever-eager to embrace now-meaningless suffixes and lazy journalistic shorthand, the upset Apple boys and girls have dubbed this issue "Staingate", with a domain for …
If I bought a monitor from reputable vendor (NEC, for example) I would expect my complaint regarding picture quality to be taken seriously and covered by the guarantee. I very much doubt NEC or other serious monitor vendor would claim that permament stains in the active portion of the monitor are "cosmetic damage".
And yet Apple claims that these are cosmetic damage and thus are not covered by the guarantee - even when in the middle of the screen. Even more interestingly, the product is marketed and sold on the basis of its looks. When the looks are gone, what remains?
That is one to watch, I will grab my popcorn.
It was very different with Sony. I had a then expensive Sony Trinitron and that started to peel in the same way but not to the same extent. I sent them a picture they sent me a return pack to have it collected and sorted out. Perhaps one should check the OEM's history carefully to see if they stand behind their products once they stagger out of the showroom. I wonder who makes Apple screens?
Until an Apple gnome recognises it as a manufacturing problem they won't admit anything. When they finally do then guarantees will be silently extended for this problem on this model but they still won't admit anything. That's the way it's been done for years (Airport problems, Time Capsule problems, GPU problems, overheating problems, etc...)
Once the threshold of complaining users is reached, Apple will quietly launch a remediation program. There will be no fanfare or publicity push. By doing so, Apple hopes that if enough time passes, only a percentage of affected users will come forward for the fix. Then they can say, "hey we listened!" while only putting a small financial effort into the program. Apple's SOP.
Is it me, or has anyone noticed a lot of autocracy in the post Steve Jobs Apple?
Again, like the MacBook overheat/CPU contact problems that previously surfaced, Apple remain mum on the issue and when the consumer pressure reaches boiling point, they react on the situation..
Being a "poor" Apple user, I have two generations of 13" MacBook Pros (Core2Duo & i5) and don't suffer from this ailment as it seems to be restricted to the "€/$ 2K+" models.. I breathe a pseudo sigh of relief, but..... I have been strongly considering a larger MacBook Pro... until this epic fail hit the news sites and forums...
This [so called] "cosmetic damage non-warranty issue" (as Apple term it) makes any future investment in an 'upmarket' MacBook Pro a definite no, even if Apple were 'resolving the issue' as the inconvenience of handing it to an Apple Repair Centre for a week for a screen replacement would also piss me off and I have to ask, will they resolve the symptom by replacing the screen with the same type that comes second best to a lint cloth or actually solve the problem by providing a replacement that can stand up to the "rigours of regular cleaning"?
Let's see how the fruit firm react to this, because whether they like this or not, issues like this do a little more than just harming the reputation of Apple, it affects sales, sure I am a once-off type end user buyer, but it's one less shiny MacBook that will be sold in the short to medium term until they sort this crap out.
So, I'll hang on to my money, put the coffee machine on and microwave some popcorn until the "Big A" shuffles its feet on what I don't quite see as a "cosmetic issue"
"... issues like this do a little more than just harming the reputation of Apple ..."
I'm not sure that they do. We've been here before with "Antennagate" and so on and Apple's sales just keep going up and up.
It seems that buying an Apple product is less about the actual thing and more into buying into the cult. Very subjective and not susceptible to argument of any kind.
Apple are now in the position that MS was a few years ago. They think that they can do no wrong, any criticism or difference of opinion seems to be ignored and/or dismissed. "You are holding it wrong." or in this case "You are cleaning it wrong."
I agree to disagree..
I've been a Mac user for decades and much prefer OS X to Windows' offerings at every level..
There are those of us who hail from the PowerPC era of Apple Mac offerings, Jobs' return to Apple, the migration to x86 processors was great for Mac users, it was a fantastic era and the products were [are still?] good..
For the record, I neither use an iPhone or iPad, I prefer Android offerings when it comes to the touchy/feely part of technology
But.. I've come across more people asking my opinion on Macs because they've bought the Jesus phone and/or fondleslab and now want a desktop or laptop to complete the set.
Many who have taken the plunge and bought a Mac of any kind tend to use them for Office, browsing and iTunes (synch & music) they don't really use their Macs to the full potential, so more of a "fashion accessory" IMO
And yes, Apple seem to have the Microsoft-centric attitude of "ship now, fix later" which is why I am now critical and wary of newer Apple product offerings, there certainly has been a paradigm shift in product QC and Apple's attitude towards the end user as Apple seem more focussed on appeasing the stockholders than the customers...
Cult is exactly right.
Pay large sums of cash for each level, get an electronic suppository to keep away the spiritual cruft, watched over by a supreme alien being who happens to be dead. Its scientology for hipsters, I move to call it appology, and again much like scientology when anyone speaks out against their "religion" the appologists mount campaigns of disinformation and FUD.
ALL HAIL ZENU!! err...JOBS!!
If its a cult, then I can still agree with some of the doctrines without being a paid up member, or an apologist, just as I can agree with some Old Testament advice such as separating the clean from the unclean in the kitchen without being Jewish.
Just some ideas:
-16:9 isn't great for desktop use
- Adobe Flash on mobile devices is a shit idea
- Blue LEDs are just shit, unless you are a bona fide member of the emergency services - they don't make kit look 'high tech'. The same goes for boy racers who have stuck them on their Renault Clios.
- DRM on musicis shit
- Desktop applications should retain menus, and not swap them out for some newfangled Ribbon interface.
- MagSafe
- Just stick a 3.5mm headphone socket in it (you wouldn't believe the variety of proprietary headphone sockets from Nokia, Sony Ericsson, LG and Samsung back in the pre-Android days)
Now, I don't own any Apple kit, but neither do I throw the baby out with the bathwater. Credit Apple when it is due, and your criticisms of their occasional engineering, customer service or manufacturing cock-ups, and of their industry strong-arming, will carry far more weight.
>My biggest issue, though, is environmental - how much of what's in there is easily recyclable, and how much is toxic - or potentially toxic…?
Valid questions.
First up, making laptops that are are reliable and more powerful than the user needs increases their life and reduces the amount of recycling required. The longer a laptop battery lasts on one charge reduces the number of charging cycles over a year, meaning that the lifetime of the battery will be longer. The same goes for repairing - although Macbooks are tricky for amateurs to repair, Apple can repair them and sell refurbished units. Not ideal for some owners, but better than nothing.
Secondly: The less material and components in a machine, the less recycling is required. SSDs contain less material than spinning rust HDDs, laptops without an optical drive contain less material than those with them, etc.
Okay, onto recycling: The cases are aluminium. Non toxic, easily recyclable. By using glue instead of screws, the human labour of reducing a laptop to its constituent parts is reduced - batch process in an oven, or continually process on a conveyor belt through an oven.
That said, here is a Wired.com opinion piece that disagrees with everything I have just said. Personally, I would be worried if a Wired article agreed with me. You can judge for yourself the validity of their arguments: http://www.wired.com/2012/10/apple-and-epeat-greenwashing/
Toxicity: These days toxic materials are more of an issue during the manufacture of laptops than they an hazard within a laptop - people have more experience of using lead-free solder, and screen backlights are no longer the CCFL type that contain mercury. Green Peace seem optimistic: http://greenpeaceblogs.org/2014/08/15/apple-takes-first-steps-detox-manufacturing-supply-chain/
You'll be waiting a while, Apple doesn't appear to make laptops anymore, just fashion accessories for the 'more bling than zing' generation.
I'm not sure about autocracy but arrogance, certainly; yes, I know Apple has always been arrogant to a certain extent, but remember when their USP was their upgradability…? I don't WANT a glorified iPad that I'll have to replace in a couple of years, I want a functioning machine, with ports, and a 3.5mm jack socket, and MagSafe.
My biggest issue, though, is environmental - how much of what's in there is easily recyclable, and how much is toxic - or potentially toxic…? Jobs used to be keen to stress Apple's green cred, and got pretty litigious when Greenpeace suggested otherwise (no, I'm not a fan of Greenpeace, either).
Seems that, at Apple, only one Cook is needed to spoil the soup; I'd like to see him gone, which is why I'm hoping the Watch (love to see 'em attempt to trademark THAT!) and the new MB(P)s will be abject failures, maybe give the Board the excuse they need, though I don't think they've got the guts to oust him.
And now, I must kip. G'night, fellow hominids…
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I had thought (and been told) the reason they could justify higher prices was because of the level of support afterwards. iPhone breaks? Walk into store and get a replacement, etc, etc.
To be this petty about something like this?...
Anyway - there's plenty of laws about Apple having to support 2 years warranty - and I can't see a judge accepting it's "cosmetic damage".
"Cosmetic damage that looks to be caused by the end user! Why the fuck should Apple (or anyone else for that matter) be liable for that?"
1) because there is nothing cosmetic about blocking the functional area of the screen, so "cosmetic" is a lie.
2) Because they might like a repeat customer.
"Complaints have been mounting in the Apple Support Communities forum for a while, but have often been dismissed as a result of improper cleaning attempts and responded to with a link to Apple's cleaning guide."
Ah, yes, I well remember when the antenna problems led to Steve Jobs dismissing the complaints as a result of improper holding attempts.
Oh, wait, it was "you're holding it wrong" - same thing, but more to the point. Apple today just have no class with their responses.
"A tablet device that can withstand being doused in chlorine has been developed to help doctors caring for patients with Ebola." (BBC website)
Similar note: The NHS once considered iPads for nurses' note-taking devices - the lack of keys and tight tolerances on the split lines made them fairly easy to disinfect. The iPads (or was it iPhones, I forget) were not adopted because of battery life concerns.
Sony make waterproof tablets, but the official advice is to rinse them with fresh water after they have been submerged in chlorinated swimming pools or sea water. Seems tome that a portable computer for medics would be best fitted with a wireless charging coil, and the whole thing sealed in epoxy or similar.
A link about the tablet Anonymous IV mentioned:
http://www.theverge.com/2015/3/20/8267259/google-tablet-ebola-chlorine
It's a big lump of polycarbonate. No mention of it be charged wirelessly. Maybe the remote parts of Africa that it is being used in they can't afford the inefficiency of wireless charging. That said, a chlorine-resistant contact-charging system isn't too hard to engineer.
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