"The report aims to provide unbiased data on big name computers by taking into account both market share and the amount of repair and service calls RESCUECOM had to handle."
Gets me to seriously question how accurate ANY of the data they released is.
For one thing why would ANY user go to RESCUECOM when most likely their machine is covered at worst by the 1 year manufacturers warentie.
I'm shocked to see Asus so high after I gave up on trying to make use of their motherboards. I guess they had more design flaws than defects though.
I'm not surprised Apple suffers though, given the rate of defects on their previous generation of Macbooks. They're nice computers when they work, and they do address issues when they are discovered, but there are certainly issues with them!
I've owned an EeePC 701, followed by an EeePC 900HA. Both are great machines and neither my old 701 nor my current 900HA has given my any trouble. Go ASUS!
Oh I get it, so because people call the manufacturer rather than 1-800-Let-Us-Rape-You-For-Repairs it affects their ratings as far as reliablity?
Because, you know, people would call them first instead of say, Apple, or Lenovo, or Asus... They're obviously the defacto standard when it comes to judging overall reliability.
(And no this isn't irritation at Apple's support numbers dropping, I don't think the current line of products is as reliable as it should be for what one pays.)
And, you know, since Lenovo mostly sells to businesses rather than consumers. Businesses that quite possibly already have either support staff or a local consultant on retainer...
@Nick: I actually did a mobo replacement on a Dell that had been peed on.
Fortunately I found a deal on ebay for an equivalent mobo that came with all of the base plastics + touch pad + keyboard.
So I basically just did a screen/RAM/CPU/Wifi-card swap.
And all together it cost about 40% of what Dell would have charged him for the same service (and that includes my profit of ~20% of what I spent on replacement hardware)...
Last I heard from the guy that comp was still going strong.
Reports like this make my job harder as an Apple salesman. I like to believe that I'm selling (and purchasing) quality-built computers, but how can I not trip up on reports like this?
Would it be that crazy for Apple to just sell MacOS independently from hardware like MS does? Seems like their OS gets consistently rave reviews and merits genuine user loyalty but their hardware is getting worse and worse.
@Eauboy: There's no real indication that Apple's hardware has taken that greatly a decline. Also, selling the OS independently of the hardware was tried before, and it didn't work out. Apple carved out a model for itself and paid for it dearly when they tried to turn around and pull a Microsoft, of sorts.
After the bag of hurt Apple got during the clone era, I don't see them trying again, unless something/someone really works hard to convince them that it can be more profitable than what they're currently doing.
if they stopped bundling hardware with software the quality might go down because of the variety of hardware setups they would have to account for. multiple drivers, issues, etc. The Mac OS works well partially BECAUSE it only runs on limited hardware configs.
@Kaiser 'Won't Play Crisis' Machead: "After the bag of hurt Apple got during the clone era, I don't see them trying again, unless something/someone really works hard to convince them that it can be more profitable than what they're currently doing."
So Apple is like the Jedi's seeing how the whole clone thing didn't work out too well for them either..
@ilves: Now that's actually debatable. Apple alone wouldn't be charged with the task of creating drivers for all of the different hardware configs, though at first, it would be a rough time, and possibly long enough a rough spot to do some irreparable damage to Apple.
At the same time, IF OS X were to be ported for the PC, a lot of the Windows problems would probably settle into a place where general users would not have as big an issue. It would vary greatly amongst vendors as well, since some are better at integrating the third-party software, like, for example, Lenovo/IBM. MSI already writes drivers so that their Wind laptop can be Hackintoshed without much issue.
I'm willing to bet that there's a considerable opening for OS X in the PC world, and would be more than willing to develop tons of drivers for it upon entry.
The issue, to me, is not so much the experience of using the OS on third-party hardware, but rather the massive loss of profits Apple would experience if they tried this.
@Eauboy: Apple's way of building a full product of hardware and software seems to be working pretty good for them so far.
Microsoft sells you their brand of fruit punch in a plain, white or beige plastic bottle. Apple does the same thing except they package theirs in a fancy lead crystal bottle. It all comes down to which one you'd rather drink from..
@bpapa9013: "Wow, that is easily the most pointlessly biased comment I have read in a while..."
Biased in what way? Apple products have a signature style. I don't think me pointing that out is news to anyone here. I said it's up to the individual to choose what he or she wants.
Re-read what I said a little s..l..o...w..e...r next time.
why am i not surprised? (i write using my cracked, plastic mac book with a bum airport that cuts out intermittently for no reason and no explanation from apple who erroneously blames the problem on my ISP, the same macbook that has had the battery replaced 3X)
@colddoseofsumthin: If it's cracked on the top case where the display bezel bumps come in contact with the top case, then it's covered under warranty if you're still in it.
Everyone makes mistakes, shit happens, yadda yadda.
If that's not the case, I'd like to see your amazing self-cracking laptop.
This is news to me. I had already been under the assumption that Lenovo/IBM were on the top spot. Still, being third amongst the top 6 is always good, albeit it always bad if it drops a spot.
@Kaiser 'Won't Play Crisis' Machead: Seriously though, after years of faithful service from a G4 powerbook (8 years) and a G5 powermac (3 years), my nVidia card basically melted down my 4 month-old Mac Pro last week.
Everyone has good experiences, everyone has bad ones. Some people, only shitty things happen to them, others win the lottery three times in a row.
You can't be an internet idiot all the time and just accept what they are telling you. First of all...
"RESCUECOM services everything from home computers to super computers, wireless Internet to global networks, hardware to software, e-mail to enterprise resource planning (ERP)."
How many people are calling in because their iTunes won't open, or FireFox isn't loading YouTube properly? Also, how old are these computers? Obviously most of them are out of warranty, but who's having these problems, G4 owners? G3's?
Do they coun't Windows OS problems with the ASUS and Lenovo or does that count as a Microsoft problem? If so, then you can already see that score going up for Apple as they probably count all hardware and software problems. If they cover eMail, do they count a customer using the wrong port with Mac Mail an Apple problem? Do iPod problems count as well?
You have to ask yourself these questions until you just accept it as gospel.
08/19/09
08/19/09
08/19/09
"The report aims to provide unbiased data on big name computers by taking into account both market share and the amount of repair and service calls RESCUECOM had to handle."
Gets me to seriously question how accurate ANY of the data they released is.
For one thing why would ANY user go to RESCUECOM when most likely their machine is covered at worst by the 1 year manufacturers warentie.
08/19/09
08/19/09
08/19/09
03/24/09
I'm not surprised Apple suffers though, given the rate of defects on their previous generation of Macbooks. They're nice computers when they work, and they do address issues when they are discovered, but there are certainly issues with them!
[www.appledefects.com]
03/24/09
03/24/09
Because, you know, people would call them first instead of say, Apple, or Lenovo, or Asus... They're obviously the defacto standard when it comes to judging overall reliability.
(And no this isn't irritation at Apple's support numbers dropping, I don't think the current line of products is as reliable as it should be for what one pays.)
And, you know, since Lenovo mostly sells to businesses rather than consumers. Businesses that quite possibly already have either support staff or a local consultant on retainer...
03/24/09
03/24/09
03/24/09
Fortunately I found a deal on ebay for an equivalent mobo that came with all of the base plastics + touch pad + keyboard.
So I basically just did a screen/RAM/CPU/Wifi-card swap.
And all together it cost about 40% of what Dell would have charged him for the same service (and that includes my profit of ~20% of what I spent on replacement hardware)...
Last I heard from the guy that comp was still going strong.
03/24/09
03/24/09
03/24/09
03/24/09
03/24/09
After the bag of hurt Apple got during the clone era, I don't see them trying again, unless something/someone really works hard to convince them that it can be more profitable than what they're currently doing.
03/24/09
if they stopped bundling hardware with software the quality might go down because of the variety of hardware setups they would have to account for. multiple drivers, issues, etc. The Mac OS works well partially BECAUSE it only runs on limited hardware configs.
03/24/09
So Apple is like the Jedi's seeing how the whole clone thing didn't work out too well for them either..
03/24/09
At the same time, IF OS X were to be ported for the PC, a lot of the Windows problems would probably settle into a place where general users would not have as big an issue. It would vary greatly amongst vendors as well, since some are better at integrating the third-party software, like, for example, Lenovo/IBM. MSI already writes drivers so that their Wind laptop can be Hackintoshed without much issue.
I'm willing to bet that there's a considerable opening for OS X in the PC world, and would be more than willing to develop tons of drivers for it upon entry.
The issue, to me, is not so much the experience of using the OS on third-party hardware, but rather the massive loss of profits Apple would experience if they tried this.
03/24/09
Microsoft sells you their brand of fruit punch in a plain, white or beige plastic bottle. Apple does the same thing except they package theirs in a fancy lead crystal bottle. It all comes down to which one you'd rather drink from..
03/24/09
Because, clearly, EVERYONE should prefer Mac case designs over any of that other crap that is out there on the market...
GTFO.
03/24/09
03/24/09
Biased in what way? Apple products have a signature style. I don't think me pointing that out is news to anyone here. I said it's up to the individual to choose what he or she wants.
Re-read what I said a little s..l..o...w..e...r next time.
03/24/09
03/24/09
03/24/09
03/24/09
03/24/09
03/24/09
Everyone makes mistakes, shit happens, yadda yadda.
If that's not the case, I'd like to see your amazing self-cracking laptop.
03/24/09
Damn you NVidia, damn you all to hell!
03/24/09
03/24/09
03/24/09
03/24/09
You can't be an internet idiot all the time and just accept what they are telling you. First of all...
"RESCUECOM services everything from home computers to super computers, wireless Internet to global networks, hardware to software, e-mail to enterprise resource planning (ERP)."
How many people are calling in because their iTunes won't open, or FireFox isn't loading YouTube properly? Also, how old are these computers? Obviously most of them are out of warranty, but who's having these problems, G4 owners? G3's?
Do they coun't Windows OS problems with the ASUS and Lenovo or does that count as a Microsoft problem? If so, then you can already see that score going up for Apple as they probably count all hardware and software problems. If they cover eMail, do they count a customer using the wrong port with Mac Mail an Apple problem? Do iPod problems count as well?
You have to ask yourself these questions until you just accept it as gospel.
03/24/09