Comments for Apple's Unfixable Gadgets...Made to Break? at http://www.ecogeek.org , comment 1 to 40 out of 20 comments http://www.ecogeek.org Sun, 26 May 2013 00:35:21 +0100 FeedCreator 1.7.3 http://www.ecogeek.org/computing-and-gadgets/1306#comment-41978 Ofcourse apple woulden't have that! why would they!? - FreebieJeebies Mon, 29 Nov 2010 20:51:34 +0100 http://www.ecogeek.org/computing-and-gadgets/1306#comment-24019 I went to a school where every student received a mac on entering. I myself have had several macs over the years as well as a couple of Ipods. The thing is Apple is a company that both makes it's computers and it's OS. PC's are made by many different companies and quality ranges from one to the next. In all my experience with apple products, Apple has almost repeatedly shown it's self to choose "looks" over quality of material. Mac OS is a great operating system, but Apples hardware to match is another story. With Apple you usually can't build your own or even can't upgrade your equipment then run Mac OS. That's what makes me dislike apple. They are very controlling in a lot of ways. Far from the free spirit image they project. If you could match up the hardware of the PC with the Mac OS it would be great, but apple won't have that. - Daniel Wallker Sat, 07 Feb 2009 20:03:37 +0100 http://www.ecogeek.org/computing-and-gadgets/1306#comment-21199 I'm laughing hard, very hard, I think my OJ is coming out of my nose. Wow. I'm not a fan boy of either camp. I did however read ALL the comments. To the guy who says his $1000 iMac is worthless after a few years, tell that to the G3 iMac running Tiger (yes Tiger, grow a brain non believers). It sits on my garage, plays music, and my iPhone is its remote. Rain, or snow, it always runs. Its 20F here, and it still runs, my car needs work, and thanks to the G3 I will have it done, while listening to the latest Tool album. To the whomever says the iPhone isn't repairable. I have reapired several. Its not my fault or Apples fault that the average Jackass can't use a $10 15W iron from radio shack and replace a battery. I have replaced displays, digitizers, and batterys in several iPhones. Never have I damaged the AU case, maybe the Ant cover, but thats a cheap part. Regarding the new MacBook and "Being just as sturdy as the plastic MacBook". You sir, are a retard, a handicapped child. I have had my Macbook replaced several times for the cracked plastic case, thats why I now have the all Aluminum MacBook, and all it cost me was the gas to get to the Apple store. You can argue that a "PC" would not have the done the same, and you are probably right. None of my Gatewas/Dell/Compaq/HP/SOny (and I have had them all) laptops have cracked. But what if they had? I would have had a mail in repair, that lasted WEEKS. Not only that, but they replaced my OUT OF WARRANTY MacBook with the new model. So my point is, customer service, customer service, Apple has it aplenty. Call and Apple store and speak to one of the 6-8 managers they have next time you have a problem. This being said, I'm not a "FanBoy" either way. Just very happy with my Apple products. I will always own a MacBook for Travel, and a windows PC for gaming. As a matter of fact I am typing this on my "Hackint0sh". A "Black Friday", $299 Compaq, with upgraded ram and video card, running OSX, and yes, I have purchased a copy of leopard for this machine. And yes it does run nearly as fast as my MacBook. - Christopher Whaley Sun, 23 Nov 2008 15:01:44 +0100 http://www.ecogeek.org/computing-and-gadgets/1306#comment-20840 I fix iPods for extra money and I have found that the only ones that are difficult to fix are the nanos, do to the size and almost everything being soldered to the board itself. As far as taking them apart, the first one of a model I take apart I will break, after that they are easy. - Chaz Wed, 12 Nov 2008 13:59:01 +0100 http://www.ecogeek.org/computing-and-gadgets/1306#comment-20311 @Jeff: Your PCs may be doing well, but that doesn't mean that PCs in general are perfect. My friend's Toshiba Satellite laptop has been in the repair shop almost constantly for about a year now. We got it back a couple of weeks ago and it kept dying due to a loose power connection (we think). It died about every ten minutes. Remember that it has been undergoing repairs for quite a while, and some of the best computer experts in the city have looked at it. @Jack: Remember that Apple "led the industry" (their words) in environmental matters. They switched to green technologies well before they were regulated. Apple phased out lead in plastics, paints, and packaging long before RoHS came into effect. Their products are designed with recycling in mind. The aluminium and glass used in the iMac, MacBook, and MacBook Pro are highly recyclable. @Free iPod Touch: Apple offers extended warranties for all of its products. @NatureGeek: I agree that locking oneself to a particular manufacturer is strange. I use Macs at home, Dell PCs with WinXP at school, and I have some extra PCs at home. I got them from the school when they upgraded. I have Ubuntu installed on one, but I haven't gotten around to hooking it up to the network yet because my other computers serve me just fine. My iPod is a 4th Generation Classic, from July 2004. It still works just fine, and the battery lasts long enough. @Angelo: You do realize that Macs come with software, and for PCs it usually costs extra unless it would be free anyway (e.g. Dell shipping PCs with Ubuntu). About Final Cut, you should try porting a piece of software that complex to another operating system. If you really want to run it on your PC, just install Mac OS X. I don't think someone like you would do enough research to have heard of this, so yes, it is possible. You can use something called a search engine, e.g. Google, to find it. There's probably a little bar in the top right of your browser with the word "Google" in it. Type what you want to know about in there. About that iMac, you could probably turn it into a wired network server. Install Linux if you want. - Ian Mon, 27 Oct 2008 19:23:57 +0100 http://www.ecogeek.org/computing-and-gadgets/1306#comment-17962 I have owned more than 10 PC's (own a small business) and now 2 apples plus 5 ipods. I can tell you that both apple laptops have totally crashed and needed repair...one of them twice. 2 of 5 iPods have broken though more due to negligence than anything else. The 10 PC's have really never broken ALTHOUGH they all virtually become unusable due to Microsoft and all of it's sloppy/junky programming. The dream is PC quality with an apple OS. As much as I LOVE my MacBook Pro, I'd have to recommend a PC. It slows down and breaks over time but in my experience it has never completely broken on me. - Jeff Thu, 21 Aug 2008 10:14:43 +0100 http://www.ecogeek.org/computing-and-gadgets/1306#comment-11976 If you believe apple is made up of earth loving people who want to save the planet more than they want to make a bunch of money you're nuts. If there wasn't this whole "green" buzzword and image branding opportunity for them they wouldn't give a hoot about it. It just happens to fit with their whole "wow were so unique and hip and cool and fresh" image. Obviously they want ipods to be disposable things that go bad and need to be replaced, there's no money in something that lasts forever and can be repaired by anyone, that doesn't generate any revenue for them. - Jack Sat, 12 Apr 2008 22:41:31 +0100 http://www.ecogeek.org/computing-and-gadgets/1306#comment-10590 Anyway, repairing some broken electronic telecomunication devices, can increase the level of radiations, so t will be more dangerous than ever. - Horia Sat, 08 Mar 2008 06:31:59 +0100 http://www.ecogeek.org/computing-and-gadgets/1306#comment-10589 Some of should spend time reading, eventually surfing, or playing, or walking. Why ts everybody so in loved with some objects. I have a phone that ts ringing, and ts enough. A computer that ts working enough time to do my job. If you like to be cool you have to pay. Else don't buy - Horia Sat, 08 Mar 2008 06:28:18 +0100 http://www.ecogeek.org/computing-and-gadgets/1306#comment-10234 So first they make it likely to die on you in the first year or so and now they make it so that if it does die on you, you can't get a simple repair? Seems Apple is causing unnecessary grief amongst their ipod lovers. - Free iPod Touch Tue, 26 Feb 2008 08:46:30 +0100 http://www.ecogeek.org/computing-and-gadgets/1306#comment-9393 I agree with Leonard, as I am also "bi-platform" and I think the whole brand loyalty to the point of cultish identification with your products is pretty stupid (and kind of creepy, when you think about it!) They are just machines, and we love them when they do our bidding, hate them when they refuse, or break. I think the problems of durability, usability over the long haul, repairability and upgradability have been seen industry-wide. OTOH, how many old PCs of the vintage of my still-working old Macs have I seen out there? Not many. Of course build-it-yourself geeks out there can upgrade and repair and do all sorts of fun stuff like overclocking and the like, but we are talking about typical consumer wares here. Even self-built computers have a shelf life - hard disks die, fans fail, upgrades are needed. That said, I do like Apple products, or business class HP... My favorite Apple laptop was the Titanium - I LOVED the easily removed keyboard so I could clean out stray crumbs and dust, and also access the innards. I loved how easy it was to take apart and upgrade or fix - I put a new hard drive in it myself, and of course, stuff like memory was easy. It seems they've been making it harder and harder for do it yourselfers. I really wish they'd bring back that keyboard - way better than compressed air. (and less waste, too.) It seems the nature of the computer business to make your older models obsolete with newer models - different memory configuration so you can never use your extra memory in your new machine, different everything. And they keep making new software that is better and better in some ways, but if you keep your old machines running, after a while, you can't run any of it any more. (I've seen the "Story of Stuff" video mentioned previously, and it really fits with the computer industry, especially). I kept, for the longest time, a copy of Wordperfect 1.0 - on a small floppy disk (remember those?) with all my files on there, too! Can you imagine? And you know what? It still did most of what you "need" a word processing program to do today. I've been able to pass my old computers, including the ancient little classic Mac I started with, on to folks who can use them - Freecycle is great for that! I gave Titania (my old TiBook) to a friend who needed it and she LOVES it. Now I'm thinking of getting a new MacBook, since mine is a PowerBook... I shouldn't give in, but I want the 250GB hard drive! I don't own a desktop computer, so my laptop has to substitute for one. Which is why I won't be getting the new "Air." Long-lasting, durable, upgradable, and fixable are just as, maybe more important than recyclable. All the energy of production and transport and packaging contributes to how "green" a product is - a less recyclable machine with a longer "shelf life" and more accessible repairs and upgrades would, in the end, be much greener than a "merely" recyclable machine. Maybe someday... :-\ :) - NatureGeek Wed, 30 Jan 2008 14:39:18 +0100 http://www.ecogeek.org/computing-and-gadgets/1306#comment-9275 There have been many pro and con comments on this thread about the Ipod and the Zune, Mac vs PC etc.. I am neutral in the these wars. I own many products of each type. I appreciate and admire quality wherever I find it. I also hate poor workmanship whenever consumers are the victim of such. I think Microsoft is a great, great [b][i]software [/i][/b]company that continues to excel most of the time (Vista is the notable exception) with its software products--see the brilliant Ribbon Interface in Office 2007, one of the best new software products of our time or ever. However, as much as I like the software company, Microsoft has a long established history of poor quality workmanship in its [i][b]hardware [/b][/i]division--just Google the many thousands of painful real life reports associated with the XBOX and the original Zune. The XBOX, including the 360, is a case history of how [i][b]not [/b][/i]to make a consumer product. Think of how many non-functioning XBOXes populate the land fills in the USA. Ditto for the original Zune. This reputation has been deservedly earned over years of producing poorly designed low quality units. Apple, on the other hand, along with Sony, Panasonic, Pioneer, Toyota, Honda, John Deere and Caterpillar, have all earned well established reputations for producing high quality [b][i]hard good [/i][/b]products because of well thought out designs and first class quality control systems. Food for thought for anyone considering a Microsoft [i][b]hardware [/b][/i]product. - Leonard Sat, 26 Jan 2008 09:08:06 +0100 http://www.ecogeek.org/computing-and-gadgets/1306#comment-9274 I own 1 Ipod Nano, 1 Ipod Touch , 5 Macs (including some old vintage collector laptop models that still work perfectly to this day) and an iPhone. I can easily open all of them without damage to upgrade RAM, HDs or change batteries--it's easy to find the simple tools needed and "how-to" explanations or videos on the opening process. Google, as always, is your best friend here. I also own 5 PC laptops which are also relatively easy to open and upgrade (though not nearly as easy as the Macs). I think everyone is missing the real issue though. This is not a Mac vs PC issue. The big picture is [b]"how to properly dispose of or re-cycle electronic gadgets"[/b]. All manufactures should, in their own best interests (Read the Great Book "Green to Gold"), prominently describe to their customers how to do this easily and effectively. Apple's website displays on it's main page, bottom center, how to re-cycle [b][i]any [/i][/b]MP3, computer or mobile phone [b]for free[/b]. Universal awareness of gadget re-cycling is more important than petty Mac vs PC kaka. - Leonard Sat, 26 Jan 2008 08:27:19 +0100 http://www.ecogeek.org/computing-and-gadgets/1306#comment-9223 except nobody started the war until you opened your fat gob. the other guy with the home made PC was stating his opinion (which you both support and snub in your comment). and a homemade model is meant to be upgraded, so it "being the same one you started with" bears no matter :P - DC Fri, 25 Jan 2008 00:15:26 +0100 http://www.ecogeek.org/computing-and-gadgets/1306#comment-9211 Hmm that'll make me think twice before buying another Ipod. I have heard reports that the Zune is better anyway. Mac is actually going further and further down on my scale of like-ability. www.clovercrusade.blogspot.com - Brynn Thu, 24 Jan 2008 13:12:52 +0100 http://www.ecogeek.org/computing-and-gadgets/1306#comment-9208 Why does every comment forum about anything apple-related spiral downward into a stupid pro vs. anti mac war? JUST TALK ABOUT THE FACTS!! Anyway, I work at an electronics repair shop, and we repair lots of gadgets, including iPhones and Nanos... The iPhone is simple to open up (I have no idea what this article is talking about) -- the nano is a bit more tough. We still do it, however, it just takes more time. I've also witnessed the same process at an apple store, so I can assure you they can open up both of these products without damaging the back plate. I agree that the new Zune is much easier to open and repair, but that's largely due to its plastic shell, which isn't readily recyclable like the iPod/iPhone's aluminum anyway, and can occasionally crack... each has it's ups and downs on case manufacturing. And to everyone's point: we'll replace your iPhone battery for $30. No new case required. FYI, iPhone disassembly video that describes the process... They don't show how to pop off the black case at the bottom, which is the most time consuming process, but it's good: http://www.5min.com/Video/How-to-disassemble-iPhone-7373 Final word: I have repaired literally hundreds of music players, and I don't believe I've ever damaged a case, iPhone, iPod Nano, or Zune. This story smells fishy. - marcos Thu, 24 Jan 2008 10:21:18 +0100 http://www.ecogeek.org/computing-and-gadgets/1306#comment-9207 Girlfriends iMac: no DVD. Start up in target mode, do software install from another Mac. Works fine, I do this for a laptop with a broken DVD. (Also, the existence of a new OS does not diminish your old one in any way.) iPod Batteries: All battery technologies used in portable electronics are consumable. Every electron you push in and pull back out diminishes the capacity a bit. When you wear the battery out to the point it doesn't last long enough for your replace the battery. If you aren't comfortable doing it yourself then google 'ipod battery replacement', look at the paid spots at the top of the page and fix it. The service is cheap. For example, a gen2 nano which requires soldering is $5 to have them do the swap plus the $20 for the battery. - jims Thu, 24 Jan 2008 09:42:50 +0100 http://www.ecogeek.org/computing-and-gadgets/1306#comment-9202 So far so good. If you don't own gadgets like this you do not have to get them fixed, recycled, maintained. You save money, create less pollution, use fewer resources. And best of all you do not encourage the production of more crap. The less you buy the more you save. The less you buy the less you pollute. Feeling pretty smug here. At least until something breaks that cannot be fixed. Karsten -- http://www.polluteless.com Practical Advice to Pollute Less - Karsten Thu, 24 Jan 2008 05:36:40 +0100 http://www.ecogeek.org/computing-and-gadgets/1306#comment-9192 shameful... - toast Wed, 23 Jan 2008 13:51:50 +0100 http://www.ecogeek.org/computing-and-gadgets/1306#comment-9190 Bad policy of mac Earn money by clicking ads in : http://bux.to/?r=cceura - MAXPOWer Wed, 23 Jan 2008 13:14:12 +0100