HarryTheSpider

Some of you know I love Apple products - I have several of them from late 2006 - very pleased with them etc etc etc, blah blah blah,

BUT...

Is there something 'not right in the State of Denmark', to quote the Great Bard, when a company such as Apple should seek to deny a customer appropriate service & compensation when the customer's $4,500 laptop goes futz after 3 yrs & 3 months...?

http://www.macrumors.com/2012/04/19/...-gpu-failures/

I wonder, is this an Apple culture thing or is it 'just' a couple of idiot individuals operating from a misinterpretation of how things should be? I can't help think it speaks to the wider culture...

I'd be very very pissed if I spent even $450, let alone $4,500 on a product that has some inherent faults, and then got this kind of run around...

I hope this does go to a class action suit and changes the way Apple and other suppliers/manufacturers operate in the future.

markwm

What is the law here regarding returns? Over 3 years sounds a long time - I thought warranties here were quite short and limited.

I do agree, however, that Apple's reaction was completely out of all proportion - I'll be canceling that iPad now... :-)

Weeze

I'm going with some evil apple people. I got a nice one who replaced my iPad with a new one for a quarter of the price when the scream smashed. I thought that was pretty good as it was out if warranty and must have been my adult anyway.

HarryTheSpider

My understanding is that the laptop failed due to a faulty component, known and admitted to being faulty by Apple. Apple offered a replacement - with the same laptop & same faulty component. I don't think this was seen as a warranty issue...

In the UK, possibly EU-wide, it's not enough for a manufacturer to say that the warranty period is ended and they are no longer liable... if it is reasonable for somebody to expect say, 5 years use from a product because that's what people typically get for that kind of product, and if they use it the same way as other people, i.e. all things being equal, then the consumer has some claim on the manufacturer... I'm not sure that remedy is readily available in the US...

Bob

It's not. They'd tell you to go shit, unfortunately :/

Mr Weeze

It's still a battle in the UK/Europe too. I owned an Audi RS6 in the UK (80,000 GBP car - I bought it secondhand after a lot of depreciation!) and the suspension system, which is about 2.5k GBP to change out, was notorious for failing and a known design fault. Audi would fit the redesigned part to prevent the fluid leak again, but would still charge for all the work. It happened to me, but I had an aftermarket warranty (it failed after about 4.5 years).

That's just one example I know of firsthand, I imagine there are more there too.

None of that detracts from the original point, just it's not guaranteed in the EU either.

Steerpike

There seem to be two issues in play here - Apple first refused to do anything, then under pressure offered a 'like for like' replacement, which the user still refused due to the claim of a fundamental design flaw in the model (something apparently admitted to by nVidia). The latter is a much bigger issue and has many more implications - if they agree to replace this user's model with a different model, are they now going to have to replace every single laptop of that particular design? That could be expensive to Apple.

I suspect there's a lot more to the story of the 'design flaw' than meets the eye here. Is this truly a design flaw affecting every model produced, or is it a more subtle issue affecting only certain configurations. This reminds me of automobile product recall situations; some recalls are 'mandatory', while others are 'only if you see a particular problem'.

Many companies fight allegations of product design flaws, for reasons I find hard to rationalize. Acura - a 'brand' claiming highest quality and user satisfaction - fought Consumer Reports tooth and nail over 'rollover' claims on their first ever SUV many years ago. They never admitted fault, even though the model completely died in the marketplace as a result, and lost a lot of good faith.

Tarkak9

typical Apple conceitedness, imo. (Jobs would probably give a firm thumb-up)
they have been littered with flaws. .. power supply issues, battery flaw which could lead to fires. fan failures... and so forth.

dakota44

Wouldn't own an Apple product. For many reasons.

rallybug

The first video I saw when the battery fires started up was either a Dell or a Sony, I don't recall which. All manufacturers have issues, it's how they deal with them that matters - in this case, Apple or their lawyers, whoever, appear to have been in the wrong, especially as the fix wouldn't have cost Apple (nVidia were covering the replacement logic board costs, IIRC).

Primula

Isn't that a heck of a price for a laptop? I love the one I have, but it cost only $1K (not Apple though).

HarryTheSpider

Well, of course, and sorry to be boring etc etc, but you'd have to compare like for like. It's not enough to compare processor specs & memory - you have to compare battery size AND quality, ditto for screen, keyboard, case, etc etc etc.

Does that make your $1K laptop 'cheap' or 'inferior' - no way - you already said you love it - customer is king - or queen!

I don't know what the spec of a $4,500 laptop would be either. I wouldn't pay that for a laptop, Apple or not. I don't need it.

Way back when, I had a Dell D800 series I think - it was expensive at the time, relative to other laptops, but I could take out the CD/DVD drive and drop in an extra battery pack - 8hrs on a single charge cycle with new batteries! It ran Win Xp and never crashed, always connected to the net etc etc etc - it was brilliant.

Primula

It's not boring to me. Naively, I had no idea laptops could cost as much $4,500. I love my Sony Vaio. What I like best about it (which was unexpected) is the sound quality when I play music. It sounds terrific. The battery life is two hours (fine for me) and it has a 2 inch larger screen than the $4,500 laptop.

Bob

I've seen plenty of work stations cost more than that, so I could easily see a laptop needing to be of similar power getting up there in cost too.

Laptop version of a Quadro FX 5600 graphics card is $3K alone.

This is definitely not in the realms of a home user though, but for serious high end 3D CAD work...and would need massive battery power to boot up, which would probably melt your balls off if you had it on your lap

HarryTheSpider

Apologies - the 'boring' comment was intended for others who, like me, often find themselves sucked in to comparisons of tech - we can't help it. Being blokes few of us matured beyond the age if 12 really.

Sony Vaio has a great reputation. I'm glad you enjoy the sound quality. What's it like to have a 19 inch screen - that's huge!!??