Tight relationship at every step of the product experience => almost forcing the customer for paying a fucking premium for every little service you need for a device you have already paid for and own. Too bad educated people on HN still justify that kind of BS.
Should the price, quality of the product, quality of the service, or simply the way a company does business not jive with your principles... don't do business with that company.
No. You are criticizing a company's products under the assumption that everyone has the same needs as you. Weight, form factor, battery life and reliability are all more important to me than serviceability. I'm not alone in feeling this way.
If you value the ability to service a product more than the qualities I mentioned, you should choose to buy from a company other than Apple.
> We are criticizing the way the company does business.
I love the way Apple does business. They focuses on creating products that almost perfectly fit my needs.
>> I love the way Apple does business. They focuses on creating products that almost perfectly fit my needs.
This can also be interpreted as: I don't care if they make products that are not as environment friendly as some of the others in the market because their products are shiny and cool. Thanks for caring for the planet.
If the statements made are true, then there really is a problem with epeat. Just cause a company has many products certified, it doesn't mean that company is more green than Apple.
Interesting quotes:
"Companies like Dell have 171 products listed on EPEAT, but yet if you look on Dell’s Web site, none of their computers are even Energy Star Compliant."
"By its own admission, the EPEAT certifications are old.
“Part of it is expanding EPEAT’s global reach through the multiple certification [process]; as well as moving into new, additional products; as well as updating the EPEAT [certifications], because they’re a little long in the tooth. [Each of those] is a huge project on its own,” Christine Ervin, an EPEAT board member told GreenBiz in March."
"The hubbub over Apple pulling out of EPEAT is interesting because the products that were listed as gold products by the environmental organization are the same ones Apple is currently selling."
> Apple outsources manufacture, so presumably you are claiming that Apple's suppliers, rather than Apple, are the greenest manufacturers in the world.
You are operating on the assumption that Apple (or Dell, Lenovo, etc) have no say in the materials used, methods of construction or the materials not used in manufacturing their goods. They do—they don't just hand over a spec sheet and tell the supplier to get to work. They supply a detailed specification and set of drawings and likely engage their manufacturer to ensure their requests are feasible and/or meet particular national standards.
Uh no - I didn't criticize the products. Where did you get that from? And why should serviceability be sacrificed for qualities like weight, form factor, etc?
And why should serviceability be sacrificed for qualities like weight, form factor, etc?
Because I will "service" my laptop maybe once, if even that many times, during its operational life. Meanwhile, I will enjoy its "weight, form factor, etc." every single time I use it.
Not everybody is going to prioritize environmental issues over all others. Those who have a problem with that can deal with it and get over it.
>And why should serviceability be sacrificed for qualities like weight, form factor, etc?
Because serviceability is a one-off process you do when the product fails or when you want to update it, whereas weight, form factor are things that make you buy a product specifically in the first place, and things you deal with every day.
FREE is not a "fucking premium" you have to "pay" to get your device serviced! And this is for the lifetime of the product!
Not that Apple products require service, but when they do Apple provides a premium service- a global network of stores that will replace even motherboards in 30 minutes. (Something no other manufacturer does, and very important for travelers who don't want to send their computer back tot he continent where it was bought.)
Sure, I'm including the cost of Applecare in the price here, and calling the service free, but Applecare is cheap and very, very often Apple will replace things out of warranty, again, for free, because most of the time something does go wrong it is due to an actual defect (e.g.: the NVIDIA chips that were failing a few years back after being used for a couple years.)
3 years is the lifetime of the product for me. And these days after 4 years the product is generally obsolete.
There is no "premium" you have to pay-- you just get premiums service at the minor cost of the extended warranty (which I'm sure has nice margins, but still is the best deal out there.)
So how can you say Apple is overcharging when nobody else offers as good a deal?
EDIT: Of course pointing out hat Apple offers a free global service network - something others don't offer at any price- being a statement of fact, is being down voted by the apple hating hordes at HN. I know, I'm not allowed to point out facts that disagree with the predominant ideology. This just proves to me that this is not a place where intelligent discussion can take place, and you guy are just a waste of time.
have you tried using that "free global network" outside of the usa? at least here in chile, things that you would get replaced for free (like those damn frayed power supply cords) just don't get replaced. you have to buy new ones. i haven't had any free service here for macs (my partner uses them and i get to fix them) - am reduced to buying bits on ebay and doing it myself (and am proud owner of a diverse collection of obscure driver bits as a consequence).
I've tried in a second-tier country (Germany) and in an obscure country (Taiwan). While I have never entered an Apple Store, at least I have received solid and free service by all authorized resellers so far.
I forgot to add - I'm a poor grad student. So whatever you are calling cheap, ain't cheap for me. If Applecare is cheap and 3 years is a lifetime of a product for you, then arguing with you about cost issues is simply pointless.
And I'm from a poor country, with a tired economy, so it's even more expensive for me (not to mention Apple stuff costs around 40% more here, when the price is translated back to dollars).
But even I find the argument somewhat silly. If you are a "poor student" then don't buy it. It's like saying that a Porsche is too expensive for you. Well, then get something else.
Free aint cheap for you? Well, then you're just penny wise and pound foolish. Like I said, the vast majority of the time you might need some service, Apple does it for free. If you think you're going to buy some other companies machine and keep it for more than 3 years with better success, then, well, you're simply not educated about the state of affairs in the industry.
Your premise is based on falsehoods, and you make assertions and then claim others are "uneducated" because they don't agree with your denial of reality?
