MacBook Pro Teardown Reveals 'Quality Concerns'

Status
Not open for further replies.

Frag Mortuus

Distinguished
Sep 18, 2009
58
0
18,640
Ive been saying this for a while now, but, i fear Apple is going to slowly start lowering their quality standards in order to maximize their profits.

This instance isnt one that they would benefit from, however they may start cutting corners with lower grade components in order to make more money off of each unit sold.

Also, I think they are going to flood the market with too many products.
 

jprahman

Distinguished
May 17, 2010
775
0
19,060
Frag, you realize that Apple has some of the largest cash reserves of any company on the planet, and yet like you said they are starting to skimp on the components to make more money. They also don't have their products produced by a company here in the US or somewhere else where the workers are treated better, and I don't want to hear about it being too expensive, with the prices Apple charges they can more than afford doing so.

It's funny that so many Apple fans rip on Microsoft for being greedy and corporate, Apple is no better if not worse.
 

mister g

Distinguished
Mar 6, 2010
1,469
0
19,360
For me I think that mistakes happen, you can bet if Apple sent iFixit the unit there wouldn't have been these issues. However since they acquired one from the general pool it makes this a little disturbing (though all the haters would probably start cheering when failures start to show up a lot more in the coming months if what the previous posters are correct). Still I'm thinking that the stress Apple is putting on Foxconn for new iEverything is starting to show.
 

PudgyChicken

Distinguished
May 17, 2010
532
0
19,010
I love it when you show somebody a $600 laptop with Ubuntu on it and they're amazed that it's just as fast as their $1600 MacBook. Seriously, this POS only costs $1800 because of the brand. Apple= extortion.
 

frostyfireball

Distinguished
Mar 31, 2010
67
0
18,630
Why would they put that much thermal paste anyway, it costs more and it negatively affects cooling. Plus if it has some metal base to it the board could short circuit down the road. They are getting lazy in that aspect.
That said I am impressed with how well designed the interior of the MBP is. Everything is fit in such a tight and organized manner that no other manufacturer seems to be able to replicate. ipad vs Xoom is another example, the ipad is much better designed inside allowing for a battery that takes up a larger percentage of the inside, thus allowing for the exceptional battery endurance.
 
G

Guest

Guest
It's all apples fault. They've become so over-bloated and power hungry. I've never really cared for Macs, but ever since the iPad, Apple has slowly gone down hill. At least when it comes to windows you can avoid the crappy oems. But in Apple's case they are THE oem for macs. If they put out a crappy product, the consumer is just supposed to eat it, or even choke on it.
 

fyend

Distinguished
Oct 16, 2008
155
0
18,690
[citation][nom]frostyfireball[/nom]That said I am impressed with how well designed the interior of the MBP is. Everything is fit in such a tight and organized manner that no other manufacturer seems to be able to replicate.[/citation]

... or choose not to replicate due to not wanting to burn their customers' laps. Have you ever tried to use a Macbook Pro on your lap? They get insanely hot on top and bottom to the point of being unusable unless you wear an oven mit and asbestos pants.
 
G

Guest

Guest
Well unfortunately, mine overheated just as stated..i was running 2 programs..utorrent for mac and safari surfing...I was using 15 inch 2.3 GHZ model..when it froze on me...keyboard..mouse froze and I couldnt do anything but reboot..interesting note..the fans kicked in immediately after the freeze...and then i felt the bottom of the unit and it felt burning hot....not good....means that some will overheat...I decided i am going to wait until..they fix this problem and returned machine to apple for full refund....I was appalled and this article now makes sense as to what happened to me.....
 

sinsear

Distinguished
Nov 27, 2009
62
0
18,630
[citation][nom]Fyend[/nom]Have you ever tried to use a Macbook Pro on your lap? They get insanely hot on top and bottom to the point of being unusable unless you wear an oven mit and asbestos pants.[/citation]
Yes, actually, I use it on my lap all the time; in fact, it's on my lap all day during classes. And so do many of my classmates. I'll go ahead and ask the campus medical center how many lap burns they have seen from Macbook Pros.

Perhaps you should actually use a Macbook Pro before making ridiculous comments like these.
 

molo9000

Distinguished
Aug 14, 2010
646
0
18,990
I think it's pretty clear that the reduced battery life is down to Apple using a new measuring system.
They also reduced the battery life estimate for the basic MacBook even though the hardware is exactly the same as before.
(7-8hour battery life is pretty realistic for web surfing at low-medium brightness)

Apple should really be careful when cutting costs. A few cents saved on manufacturing and quality control could be enough to kill Apple's reputation of delivering high quality goods. Even my last gen MacBook Pro has some slight light-bleed on the lower edge of the screen. Not enough to make me return it (u only notice it slightly when the screen is black), but it's still there.
But these days even some of the really expensive Lenovo Thinkpads feel cheap...


I don't subscribe to the whole "Apple is overpriced" ranting. The newest MacBook Pro generation is a disappointment and I will no longer recommend them to friends, but u can't actually get laptops this sexy and well designed from other manufacturers for less money.
 

Ragnar-Kon

Distinguished
Apr 13, 2010
517
0
18,990
I share the same quality concerns. I've owned 3 Macbook Pros, and each of them I've torn apart the day after the standard warranty expired to reapply the thermal paste. All three of them had too much thermal paste applied. One had SO much thermal paste I'm surprised that my laptop never overheated.

Don't get me wrong, I love my Macbook Pros. Great laptops, great design, and good software. but Apple needs to get their act together and start doing some quality checks at the assembly plants.

Although I should note that I've seen similar assembly issues with Dell and HP laptops. Come to think of it, the only laptop that I haven't found any glaring issues was Lenovo's/IBM's Thinkpad line.
 

damianrobertjones

Distinguished
Aug 14, 2010
587
1
18,995
I'm glad that Apple reduced their battery life claims as the owners can now stop going on about the silly battery life times that were less than 'honest' in the first place. Now all thats left is 'the build quality is so good' excuse for purchase.

Then again, I'm glad apple lied, as the oems are now making that bit more effort in upping battery life. New Elitebooks = 32 hours battery life.

P.s. Dear Toms, LET ME post using Opera.
 

sinsear

Distinguished
Nov 27, 2009
62
0
18,630
[citation][nom]damianrobertjones[/nom]Then again, I'm glad apple lied, as the oems are now making that bit more effort in upping battery life. New Elitebooks = 32 hours battery life.P.s. Dear Toms, LET ME post using Opera.[/citation]
It's not just Apple who was making unrealistic claims about the battery life; my friend owns an Elitebook (less than 6 months old) and he struggles to get through the day on a single charge with the brightness set to lowest and doing minimally intensive things such as checking email, browsing the web, or word processing. I have no idea how manufacturers such as HP can claim 32 hours of battery life; I can maybe see it happening if they turn off the screen completely, turn off the wireless, set low power mode to the USB ports, and just idle at the desktop. Hardly an accurate measure of battery life IMO.
 

bv90andy

Distinguished
Apr 2, 2009
599
0
18,990
[citation][nom]frostyfireball[/nom]Why would they put that much thermal paste anyway, it costs more and it negatively affects cooling[/citation]
YOu imply that the person who does that knows anything about computers and about how much it costs, and does not want to hurt the bastards who keep him/her 12h/day 6days/week on minimum wage.
 
not surprising at all. If you have ever worked on a pc/laptop production line (i have) you will know most of the people are monkeys (i am not a monkey though). We used to get paid per machine we built, so you do it as fast as possible and sometimes cut corners. I have also built Alienware PC's/laptops back before they got bought by dell, and i have to say they were in fact very strict on who they let touch them, quality control was near perfect.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.