All you tree killers just need to face it: your beloved newspapers and magazines are going the way of the dodo. Magazines and newspapers are going out of business right and left – or switching to electronic only distribution. After reading this, the writing is on the wall, or on the Kindle as it may be.
Saw a fellow developer with this tweet:
Getting an object lesson in why relying on web apps can be a bad idea.
So true… so true…
So, the keynote is over, and it was pretty unexciting. Phil just doesn’t have the RDF (reality distortion field) working for him. Probably good that this was the last keynote: no Mac Minis, no Apple Cinema Displays, no updated Mac Pros or iMacs, and no mention of Snow Leopard. Some of that hardware hasn’t been updated in years, and really needs to be. iWork and iLife both look awesome as usual, but spending almost 75% of a two hour keynote demoing them?
But, the real travesty… a laptop with non-serviceable battery? Are you kidding me? I don’t care if it is supposed to last for 1000 charges and 3+ years! It’s supposed to last 3x current batteries. I’ve had some current batteries only last 3-6 months. Going to meetings twice a day, I may have 3 charge cycles a day – that would be less than a year. What do you do when it’s dead? It sounds like you have to exchange your laptop for a new one. Even if it is depot-replaceable part, you’re going to be out a computer for some period of time… not to mention going through the frustrating technical support process that Apple has foisted upon us.
Apologizing in advance, but this is rant worthy… Apple support is HORRIBLE for equipment repair and service. I grimace every time I have a failure because I know it means — signing up for an appointment at the Genius Bar, generally during an inopportune time, fighting crowds at the mall to get to the Apple store, waiting an hour or more with a bunch of other pissed off and frustrated customers because they’re behind and understaffed, then having a Genius ask me a bunch of questions like I’m an idiot then tell me that he’ll have to send it off for repair and I’ll get it back in a few days (which often ends up being a week). I don’t know if it’s just bad luck or what, but I’ve had to do this with almost every laptop both my wife and I have owned from Apple and one desktop. With practically every “real” PC vendor, I’ll have a repair or replacement in 24 hours and I don’t have to go anywhere (and that’s not BS. That is the type of service I received when I purchased Dell). I would even pay a premium for that service (even though I feel like I’m already paying a premium for Apple hardware and the laughable AppleCare). If Apple had real service plans or reasonable exchange programs, then the thought of a non-customer serviceable battery might not be that bad.
I (usually) really like Apple hardware, but it’s frustrating as a Mac user to wish that Dell sold equipment with Mac OS X on it… (or Dell sold Apple equipment with Dell’s service plan). It’s even more frustrating when you’re trying to push Mac OS X in the enterprise… How do you think the above flies with IT departments? It doesn’t. Apple’s response? You need to have your IT staff certified as Apple techs so you can order / warehouse replacement parts and do the repairs yourself. What do we do? Keep spare laptops on hand and have a constant train of repairs going back to an Apple Service Center (that is not an Apple store, so you can drop it off and pick it up a week later without a scheduled appointment and wasting a half hour with a Genius).
Ridiculous. How I hope Apple wakes up to the needs of professionals, enterprise users, and normal everyday people who don’t want to be treated like cattle… By the way, of all the time I’ve spent in an Apple store (which is quite a bit) – including Apple Stores in London, San Francisco, Atlanta, etc, I’ve never seen someone leaving a Genius Bar satisfied. Never. Never. I’ve never left a Genius Bar satisfied. I’ve never spoken to someone who has left a Genius Bar satisfied. I always see displays of frustration. I always see unhappy, upset customers (not to say that all customers are nice / happy people). No matter, nice, knowledgeable Genius Bar folks don’t make up for the fact that this process is broken and is more fitted to broken B&W TVs in the 1960s than modern, expensive computers – nearly boutique computers. Aren’t Apple Computers the BMWs or Mercedes of the computer world? Not by the way they treat their customers in respect to hardware repair.
Rant over… Guess I’ll be heading to the Apple Store soon to pick up my iLife / iWork…
Update: The battery is “supposedly” replaceable by an Apple service center for $179. The price is fine, although it better be a 5 minute Genius Bar appt. The big question now – it appears that the memory and hard drive are not user-serviceable either, meaning your stuck buying memory from Apple (at 6x the current price everywhere else) and not able to flip in and out hard drives as you like – which I find indispensable on my new Macbook Pro. These are huge steps backward if true. Still trying to find out…
Update 2: …representatives who Ars spoke with on the Macworld Expo floor went with an “anywhere between one or two hours, up to a week.” Still no word on memory and HD.