1/27/15 3:38 PM

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Jeeze, what capacity are these SSD ?

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1/27/15 3:56 PM

I doubt that parts sold thru the Apple parts/service department have little connection with reality.

1/27/15 7:43 PM

My MBA has a 256G SSD. No idea the cost.

1/27/15 8:29 PM

...money.

http://www.newser.com/story/201888/apple-breaks-corporate-profit-record.html

Apple Breaks Corporate Profit Record
Net quarterly profit of $18B tops Gazprom's $16.2B in 2011

1/27/15 9:51 PM

quote:

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Jeeze, what capacity are these SSD ?

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1/28/15 5:20 AM

I think the MBA uses a proprietary SSDs because of the size. A full size MB should not because they have standard size spinning drives in them.

1/28/15 7:16 AM

IIRC, the MBA SSD (gotta love TLAs) doesn't have an external housing, as do most SATA SSDs. It's just wrapped up in something like HST.

QED.

1/28/15 7:43 PM

Apple profits equal $556 for every American if they paid it out like that. AMAZING profits for any company, worth more than M$ now.

They are making money selling IT products to the end user in every facet of the market. All top tier products that cost top tier and people are willing to pay for them.

My sister's business only uses Apple computers and has for years, it saves tons for her because they don't need a dedicated IT person to upkeep the machines. As a small business, the fact that she has one or two less employees on the payroll more than pays for the added machine costs on the front end.

1/29/15 1:22 AM

One reason for Apple's profitability is that it outsources just about all their manufacturing to China and yet manages to keep quality high.

The other reason is that they have made a convincing case for ordinary consumers to pay more for cool design and perceived quality.

Customer service is also better than the competition with convenient Apple stores. Microsoft have tried to copy some of this but I hear it's not successful.

Of course, they still source Intel processors etc. but they're preparing for the day to move away from Intel.

Sandiway

1/29/15 4:27 AM

There's a difference between perceived quality, on the one hand, and actual quality, on the other.

As to cool design, there's no doubt that Apple's design has great appeal. A big part of that is that it's timeless , minimal design. Unlike the various ugly (but influential) designs of the 80s/90s/early 2000s, the current Mac and Macbook look like they've always looked that way and always will (questions arise w/r/t the Mac Pro "trash can," but it's not in the mainstream of Apple's line). Contrast this stable, simple design with some of the ugliness with which PCs have been adorned: Chrome strips. Faux carbon fiber. Ridiculous colors. But then, the problem for PC manufacturers is precisely differentiation, given the huge number of hardware manufacturers.

Perception is important. It's a major factor in why people make the decision they do. However, perception and reality don't always coincide.

Here's an example. My notebook is a Wintel (actually, WinAMD) box that I bought slightly used for $200. It would have been $400 had I purchased it new. I put in an SSD for $150. So let's call this a $600 computer. This machine travels with me daily regardless of weather and was on my back in 2012 when I was hit by a car, crashed badly, and had a hip replaced. It booted right up in the hospital. It's also where I play with new software and has had Win 7/8/8.1 installed. Aside from the crash, the greatest physical stress it encountered was a year and a half ago when I was taking a bar exam. I was running a special driver to regulate fan speed, and the Examsoft program I had to use for the exam killed the driver, which meant the fan didn't run at all during either of the 3-hour essay sections. The machine got very hot, but never blinked.

Expenses to maintain the system since purchase/SSD installation: The original battery lost capacity a couple of months ago and was replaced (does not require opening the case or any tools) for $30. Spare power supply purchased for $10 a while back (mainly because the original PS came with a 3-prong plug, and I wanted a 2-prong for flexibility).

Downtime since April 3, 2012 (the day I installed the SSD): 0 days. Uptime: 1,031 days.

Nor is this situation unique. I have an Acer '260 netbook (now my spouse's secondary machine) that I purchased brand new c. 2010. In 2012 I also put an SSD (64GB) in that device, and earlier this year I replaced the battery for it for $20, no tools required.

The larger (and immobile) Dell Vostros that I use at my "day" job are approaching three years old now, and neither has ever glitched. My boss is the kind of person who should never be allowed near a computer, but his desktop Wintel machine has lasted more than four years without any problems (other than the Trojans he occasionally downloads). Granted, he has managed to kill a couple of notebooks by dropping them during that same time, but it's his money, so.

These are some of the reason that I think perceived quality may not be the same as actual quality. And while it's nice to have a reputation for good service. It's even nicer not to need it.

1/29/15 8:00 AM

VW has some of the highest customer-satisfaction ratings, but their actual measured quality-issue ratings are middling at best. but they have such a positive perception they engender tons of free goodwill with their buyers. same goes for audi, mercedes, bmw, etc.

i think erik knows first hand what living with a VW can be like, but he never got infected with the VW fahrvergnügen to keep smiling. for whatever reason, the reverse has happened for erik and alot of people that buy apple -- freely paying premium prices for a premium product and cut apple alot of slack for quality issues that would lead them to crucify a wintel OEM.

many people bitch and whine about wintel problems/flakiness, but that's an OLD perception based on OLD technology. that's like saying a 2015 cadillac CTS is crap because your dad's 1976 eldorado was crap. if you buy a modern wintel machine, it is 98% as easy to live with as a mac. IMO that 2% gap will always be there due to a different philosophy (simple vs. flexible, there is no free lunch...hence 2%).

Last edited by walter on 1/29/15 8:59 AM; edited 1 time in total

1/29/15 8:59 AM

One of the things that got me going on the topic this morning was Sandiway's FaceBook comment about Apple Service not getting his machine back to him quite as fast as he needs it, because of the SSD replacement.

In all fairness, had he owned a PC and shipped it off to be fixed, it's unlikely he'd be seeing it for a month or more.

That's in part a product of the times--price is king in the PC marketplace, so service has fallen by the wayside. (Years ago I bought a CompuAdd 386sx system and noticed a small issue with the CRT monitor. I called them and they said they'd send a replacement. The next day I had a brand-new upgraded monitor worth $200 or so more than I had paid sitting in my office, and a prepaid return label for the original unit. Don't see service like that anymore, I'm afraid.)

The flip side is that PC hardware is generally interchangeable, so nearly any doofus can fix a problem that isn't a bad motherboard. And the flip side of that is that a lot of PC repair people are doofuses.

I'm agnostic on computer manufacturers. I've seen lots of good devices, lots of bad ones, and I know from experience--my own and others'--that they all can (and do) fail.

I grew up with SVS and MVS, CP/M, MS-DOS, and Windows. My son works for Apple. It's all good.

1/29/15 2:08 PM

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the problem for PC manufacturers is precisely differentiation

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1/29/15 2:20 PM

The problem is that what constitutes "cool" varies with taste. Personally, I like the Vader Black of the Lenovo machines, but some people like their chrome and swirly designs. Because you can get Windows on a wide variety of machines, everyone tries to outpaint the other. Apple not only has cool designs, it has pretty uniform cool designs and if you like the Apple OS, that's what you're going to get.

Apple has built an image of cool that's hard to beat. That, and Apple's early placement of its machines in schools, have done wonders for the company--though most of its revenues are now coming from phone, IIRC.

PC designs have been much more experimental and varied, and so you get (what to my mind is) cool stuff, like Lenovo, along with (what to my mind are) abominations like Alienware.



It's all commodifed ,as you say.

1/29/15 3:10 PM

apple has done it with really timeless and classic design. i love the way macbooks and iphones look and feel. and that came straight from jobs.

back when sculley was running apple, their stuff was much less design-savvy and the company had alot less going for it.

apples greatness, in terms of product design, came right from jobs...ever since the beginning. he may not have designed it, but he visualized (or stole) it and inspired (or brow-beat) his people to perfect it.

Last edited by walter on 1/29/15 3:16 PM; edited 1 time in total

1/29/15 3:16 PM

I think Jobs had a sense for what would go down well, and what wouldn't. It had to feel right TO HIM (I once listened to him talk about his experiences with typography before Apple, and the influence that had on him).

Apple does seem to have become a little more "experimental" since his passing, such as with the iPhone 5c (which harks back to the very influential color blobs of the Mac in the late '90s). Those and the trash can, which for the life me I can't see fitting Apple's aesthetic.

We shall see.

1/29/15 8:25 PM

VW. Yep. Piece of shit cars. Plain and simple.

One broken MBA that was properly repaired under warranty. I won't right Apple off for one issue. I will say I was not initially happy with the CS I got when I first contacted them. After communications began with a real tech it got much better. In store CS was very good and the turn time was fantastic.

I REALLY like the OS and hardware intergration that Apple provides. The fact that build the product and OS together makes things work so much better.

I so wanted to use my MBA today at work when a laptop would not work without drivers when connected to a projector. My MBA would have just worked. Alas, .mil won't allow it. So my work laptop won't work with a projector we have and I am required to use tech guys to fix it. Good thing I won't need it for 2 weeks.

1/29/15 8:31 PM

" I won't right Apple off for one issue."

Nor write off...


Just to be clear, my snarky 'you looked back' is really just kind of a response to the bullet proof / buy and forget Apple fanboying I have endured for decades. ;)

Last edited by Sparky on 1/29/15 8:52 PM; edited 1 time in total

1/29/15 8:44 PM

I'd much rather have a failure that gets repaired and the device works fine, ala Apple, than the 4 windows machines I had, all of which were a PITA everyday I ever used them.

I don't like paying more for Apple, but my experience with windows machines makes me willing to do it. It seems a lot of people are just fed up with dealing with PC problems, so they are willing to pay more for Apple.

On paper, its seems that Apple should not be able to sell a computer at their prices, but their increasing market share indicates a lot of unhappy PC users.

I suspect the new Windows 10 will be a downgrade for some time until they debug it. I had 2 OS from MS when they were released, both were garbage.

1/29/15 8:59 PM

"I'd much rather have a failure that gets repaired and the device works fine"

Me too, especially when I can fix it myself. ;)

I do wish I had bought some Apple stock early on. Which sez you are not the only one who either does not mind, or does and spends anyway for the product. ;O

1/29/15 9:29 PM

And the religious debate continues...

quote:

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On paper, its seems that Apple should not be able to sell a computer at their prices, but their increasing market share indicates a lot of unhappy PC users.

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1/30/15 3:42 AM

My alleged car is aY2K VW New Beetle.

But most of time, I ride my bike.

1/30/15 12:05 PM

We had a New Beetle for 29 Mo. So not really long enough to say what might be etc.

One thing that sticks in m mind was the interior trim seemed a bit too perishable.

The handle you grab on the door for example had a coating instead of a solid colored thru and thru plastic, which was coming off by end of year one.

I don't know if beyond the cosmetic issue of this the mechanical attribute stayed sound for the long term.. But the interior got looking tacky quick I recall..

Great car to drive though, we talk about one day maybe getting another, maybe a Turbo convertible. But ELaine want's no part of a standard shift on another. And I feel that the stick is exactly what made the thing fun to drive.

1/30/15 12:20 PM

I can not like any vehicle with an automatic. I've tried, but I just enjoy driving a manual. Traffic is so congested in my town now that you can't actually drive your car- you go from light to light and wait, but I can't tolerate an automatic even in these conditions.

1/30/15 12:41 PM

The main reason I love driving the Del Sol. I actually feel like a pilot and not just navigating. ;)


Both my kids won't drove an automatic either. Wonder where they got that from. ;)

Elaine got real clutch lazy that last year of the VW lease. I thought we were going to have to pay for a new clutch when we gave it back, we did not. To me, anyone that can trash a clutch in 39 months should drive and automatic. She did fine with it for the first two years, and then terrible... And we liver in NJ then, and the last year was living more rural in TN, go figure...