unhappy with Apple

[SteveP]

My kid has ( had ) a MacBook Pro issued by her University..
The thing is 1 1/2 years old.

Keyboard died requiring a $500 repair from Apple.
These things are a POS.

We just bought her a new machine as this thing is owned by her University and is thereby their problem but
these things should last years...

quality worse and cost up. Apple today.

[SlowPokePete]

No apple care?

SPP

[monadnocky]

Bought a new laptop for my office recently ... my first PC.
Macs are just too expensive now, not worth it anymore. I'm done with them. Not unhappy with Apple... just not worth the price.

Curious if you have apple care ... although this too, is barely worth the price IMO.

[SteveP]

Bought a new laptop for my office recently ... my first PC.
Macs are just too expensive now, not worth it anymore. I'm done with them. Not unhappy with Apple... just not worth the price.

Curious if you have apple care ... although this too, is barely worth the price IMO.

She did not have apple care...
the university owned the machine.

apple care itself is another scam, big deductible, etc...very expensive.

[marley]

These things are a POS.

We just bought her a new machine

was it another MacBook Pro.....

Albert Einstein: The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.

[robin3mj]

Was just thinking the same thing regarding my iPhone. Continues to get buggier with every software update, which now seem to come out weekly.
My battery life is still good, despite is being a 6 SE or whatever older model it is, but when it gives up the ghost, I may need to find something else.
Android UI looks like a mess to me though.
All I really want is email, text, and the ability to take quick photos.

[Saab2000]

Was just thinking the same thing regarding my iPhone. Continues to get buggier with every software update, which now seem to come out weekly.
My battery life is still good, despite is being a 6 SE or whatever older model it is, but when it gives up the ghost, I may need to find something else.
Android UI looks like a mess to me though.
All I really want is email, text, and the ability to take quick photos.

Agreed on the iPhone stuff. I have the iPhone X, their flagship model, and it is imperfect. Doesn't recognize when I change time zones and since I don't wear a watch, this is kind of a big deal to me. The sales people don't really understand as they're millennials who don't know what time zones are. I've also had it simply stop responding on the touch screen a few times, solvable with a reboot by turning it off. And once the screen was actually replaced, under warranty with no questions asked. But this is a $1000 device and their flagship product so these QC issues are inexcusable.

I'm not likely to move from Apple for the reason you mentioned: Android UI is a mess. I had one once and hated it from day 1. I don't think Android stuff is any better and the phones on which it operates don't inspire me at all.

My MacBook Air has been ultra reliable for almost 5 years now though. I am typing this on that machine and it's been a great product.

I'm not sure I hate Apple yet but the sheen of their quality and reliability has certainly been stained for me with my phone issues, that they don't care about when I've been in the store. Their eyes glaze over when I talk about time zones. This isn't a hard concept, is it?

When they release a new version of their entry level phone, the SE, I plan to get it and keep it for years. My iPhone 5S was superb for me for years but the battery life finally caused its retirement.

My two iPads and the one I got for my mother have been flawless.

[zachateseverything]

Was just thinking the same thing regarding my iPhone. Continues to get buggier with every software update, which now seem to come out weekly.
My battery life is still good, despite is being a 6 SE or whatever older model it is, but when it gives up the ghost, I may need to find something else.
Android UI looks like a mess to me though.
All I really want is email, text, and the ability to take quick photos.

Honestly, it depends on the device more so than the OS itself. Android is highly customizable so a lot of phone manufacturers and even carriers make less than great changes in order to differentiate their android phone from all the others. The vanilla android phones I've had the past few years have been great. The Pixel, Moto, and Nexus families are probably worth looking into.

The other bonus with going with one of those phones is that you can switch to Google's Project-Fi service which is great if you don't use a ton of data. I pay about $30 a month for my phone plan.

[XR2]

This is being typed on an 11 year old iMac that works as well as it ever has. Hardware failure on a laptop owned by a youngster is likely a hazardous duty death.

[monadnocky]

I don't hate Apple.... we have two very old macbook airs that just refuse to die. It's just that for new laptop/desktop purchases, I just can't justify paying twice the price for the same speed/memory what have you compared to a PC. And my needs are simple. I can understand if you're a graphic designer or need a Mac for some specific purpose.

Just doesn't make sense for me anymore, at least for new purchases. And my two phones- one is a S8, the other is a S6, actually never owned an iphone, no reason to switch as both of these have been perfect.

[SteveP]

was it another MacBook Pro.....

Albert Einstein: The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.

No,
we bought her an Air.
She had an air from Masters program through PHd and it was fine... 7 yrs... finally died.
never again a MacBook Pro. These things have issues.
The duty she gets from it is essentially word processing and planning for her classes.
She uses it hour upon hours essentially every day.

Would be a bridge too far to get her away from Apple.

[SteveP]

This is being typed on an 11 year old iMac that works as well as it ever has. Hardware failure on a laptop owned by a youngster is likely a hazardous duty death.

note... she is not really a youngster.
She is 33 and a professor at a University.
The computer has never had a game on it or been beat to hell.. just for reference.
It should stand up to years of use. It didn't and this issue is widespread on these machines.

[marley]

We are on our second mac book pro (each one has lasted for ~4 yrs, but has been rock solid, even tempted fate the last time - refurbished) For the other half who is consulting in the education field - academics and their Macs

[caleb]

I've wondered about the MacBook Pros that go out under university contracts. My first one had a terminal mouse/keyboard issue almost immediately. The second one was just clunky.

I went back to my personal Air, and now have an iMac on my desk. The Air is an amazing machine.

[GrantM]

I've had very good luck with my apple products over the last 15 years or so,
starting with an Ipod mini and a powerbook in 2004. First iphone was a 3S.
averaging a new phone every 3 years, laptop for 5.

I agree the products are overpriced, that's the apple tax. Also agree that feature
creep is making things more complicated then they need to be. I've basically
stopped using Itunes since i can't figure out how to use it anymore.

Like most folks, i probably use 10% of their capacity, and really just want great
batteries and shit that doesn't break. Seems like more and more updates,
and less battery life as time goes on.

-g

[monadnocky]

...I've basically stopped using Itunes since i can't figure out how to use it anymore.

Holy crap, what an utter hot mess that thing is.

[GrantM]

Holy crap, what an utter hot mess that thing is.

you can say that again.

i'm wondering if the solution to the complication of applications is to offer 3 levels,
like a lite, medium, and pro versions. it seems like there could be features to turn off
that would make a huge difference to usability. fuck i feel old, i can't figure out how
to use most of this stuff, and it's not a benefit to keep changing and reconfiguring
how it looks.

-g

[XR2]

note... she is not really a youngster.
She is 33 and a professor at a University.
The computer has never had a game on it or been beat to hell.. just for reference.
It should stand up to years of use. It didn't and this issue is widespread on these machines.

Forgive me but this is all I had to go on.

My kid has ( had ) a MacBook Pro issued by her University..

Then my Macs must be exceptional. My Macbook 2.1 is from late '06 and I replaced the hard drive 2 years ago and that's it. It's had a rough life being transported in a tank bag on a motorcycle on a 200 mile per day commute for a couple years. Your experience is counter to mine.

[GrantM]

Your experience is counter to mine.

Of course it is. If every Apple product had issues, they wouldn't be such a success.
My experience with the reliability of electronics has been it either works for a long time,
or is problematic almost from the get go. It's like there are duds, and if you get one,
there will be nothing but problems. That's why having a problem with a recent purchase
is so frustrating, since you're likely in for more hurt.

-g

[twowheels]

I switched to dell laptops a couple years ago after my macs became "classics" and stopped being able to accept software updates. I got many good years of use out of them but I don't feel they are worth the cost anymore. And, I really don't appreciate the planned obsolescence.

My iphones have been solid. But I do hate having to actually pay $800 for my last one.

My biggest beef with apple is all of the morons with their faces in their products everywhere when they should be paying attention to what they are doing. But I can't really blame that on apple.

No wonder apple has such a huge market cap.