[X4U] Apple QC slipping?

[Nick Scalise]

On Dec 12, 2008, at 7:42 PM, Michael Winter wrote:

> On Dec 12, 2008, at 9:49 AM, zapcat wrote:
>
>> a friend of mine and I were comparing notes the other day and we  
>> concluded that apple's quality control seems to be slipping.
>>
>> neither of us expects any company to be perfect right out of the  
>> box, but we think that Apple's quality is not at the level we're  
>> accustomed to. Both of us have been Mac OS users in professional  
>> environments for 15+ years, so...that's going back to the days when  
>> the IIci was the killer Mac, and System 7 was cutting edge.
>
> They're following the some old trend as everything else...
>
> I still remember the most expensive personal computer I ever bought  
> for work -a Mac IIfx. It was $7000 around 1989(?). It was still  
> running as a print server until about 5 years ago. It still ran, we  
> just got to the point where it served no practical use. The Macs  
> today are much cheaper and mass produced at a much, much greater  
> rate using many more standardized parts that simply don't hold up as  
> well. For example, I don't think I ever had to replace a bad SCSI  
> hard drive (only replaced because I needed a bigger one). I've had  
> to replace a lot of ATA drives that have gone bad. I still have an  
> old 13" Apple brand monitor that still works (not that I'd want to  
> use it), while I've had more recent CRT and LED displays that died.
>
> Computers these days are built as cheaply as can reasonably be done,  
> and it shows. Though I think Apple is still better than its  
> competitors in that regard, that applies to them as well. I don't  
> expect a $2000 computer to have the quality I expect in a $10,000  
> computer.


Just a thought here, and I am joining this way late, but you say you  
have some equipment that still works but you have no use for it/do not  
want to use it.

If that is the case, why should a manufacturer make equipment last so  
long that no one will want to use it in it's old age?

Why not just make it good enough to last as long as someone wants to  
use it?

That way, you don't have to pay a higher price for equipment you no  
longer want.

To me the manufacturers help everyone win. They sell more stuff cause  
it's cheaper. Even though it's cheaper, it still probably lasts longer  
than anyone will use it.
--
Nick Scalise
nickscalise at cox.net