Macs are even more expensive than I thought
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When I got back from Europe my black MacBook wouldn't boot, it just sat there with a disk icon and a flashing question mark. So I made an appointment at the Apple store in Emeryville to have it looked at. When I got there, there was no wait, they were calling my name. The repair guy opened the Mac, took out the disk, went into the back room, and came back saying the disk was bad, I'd need a new one. How much? $160. How large? 80GB. I've been buying disks lately, I bought a 500GB disk for $150 a few weeks ago, and just bought a 1TB disk for $280. So I knew that $160 for 80GB, even in a portable form factor, was probably a ripoff, but I figured here I am now, I can get the computer working, so I said OK and shrugged it off. The new disk went in, I signed a form, and was about to leave and asked for the old disk and the clerk said it was his not mine. They were going to send it back to the manufacturer. I figured it would be refurbished and sold cheap to someone in a third world country. Little did I suspect.  He got his supervisor. She insisted that the drive belonged to Apple, even though I had paid an inflated price to buy a new one. She showed me the language on the reverse side of the form I signed. It was even worse than she had said. There was no guarantee that the drive they had just put in my Mac was new! It might have been someone else's defective drive. I said it was outrageous. I grabbed a copy of the agreement and left.  I scanned the agreement, highlighting section 4, the part the store manager cited. Now there are a lot of speeches I could give. Here are a few. 1. I buy Macs knowing they're more expensive, but I expect to be treated better. I drive a BMW for the same reason. Luckily there's Mercedes, Audi, Lexus, et al to keep BMW customer service in top form (which it has been so far, I'm on my fourth BMW). I always say this -- Apple service is outstanding when you buy something, but it falls down, often, when you need it fixed. Not always, but often. 2. There are consumer protection laws that require auto repair shops to offer you the old parts. Why doesn't that apply to computer repairs? Or maybe it does. 3. Apple prices are ripoffs, but this is an unusually heinous ripoff. To charge such inflated prices for used parts, they should have some shame. 4. They don't seem to have any fallback when there's a dissatisfied customer. As an Apple shareholder, I think it would work better if store personnel felt they were guardians of the company's reputation. Consider for a moment that you are ripping off the customer. What tools can you offer the sales person to make good with the customer? Could you let the customers who object take their drives home? Could you offer a discount coupon on the next purchase, or free premium support for a year? That they let me walk out of the store, a person who spends thousands of dollars with Apple, feeling like I had been abused, says they haven't got all the glitches out of their retail process.  5. Falling back on the fine print is really lame. I think they should tell you up front, before they do the work, that you're not getting the old drive back. What if the data on the drive can be recovered? What if there are credit card numbers and other personal information on the drive? Source code? Trade secrets? Does Apple really want to treat their customers privacy so shabbily? For what? Don't they already make enough money off the $160 price for the new disk? It's amazing that a company can make it this far, having such special customers, and rarely if ever acknowledging it.
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After a âswift and easyâ installation, Mark Kellner (Washington Times) found Mac OS X Leopard âsomething any Mac user will want to have.â âOffering better integration of e-mail with syndicated Internet news updates, a new backup feature likely to decrease the impact of hardware failures, and snazzy display features by the bushel, the $129 Apple Mac OS X Leopard upgrade is more than a reasonable purchase.â
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âWith the Intel Macs,â explains Brian Allen, director of technical support at Bemidji State University in Minnesota, âstudents now have the potential to have both systems on their machines, so they can run both Windows and Macintosh applications. They can easily switch between Appleâs iLife suite and AutoCad. Itâs the best of both worlds; theyâll really have two computers for the price of one.â In addition to offering students more flexibility, Allen and his team discovered that âWindows applications run faster on the Mac.â Best of all, dual-booting Mac computers offer BSU âthe potential to save $150,000 to $200,000 a year in lab hardware purchases.â Whatâs next for Boot Camp at BSU?
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Looking at the data collected in their latest PC buying survey, ChangeWave paints a picture of âextraordinary momentumâ for the Mac. âNot only do new Mac buyers report sky high satisfaction with their desktops and laptops, but planned Apple purchases for the next 90 days also look exceptionally robust,â report Jim Woods and Paul Carton . In fact, 24% of survey respondents say that Leopard âhas made them more likely to buy a Mac in the future.â
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&#147;It has been a good year for Apple,&#148; writes Wilson Rothman in naming the iMac G5 TIME Gadget of the Week. &#147;Since the beginning of 2004, I&#146;ve discussed GarageBand, AirPort Express and the latest iPod. If you go back 12 months, you can probably even throw in iTunes Music Store, the original G5 and the official release of iChat AV. This isn&#146;t favoritism, I&#146;m just impressed. Rather than spend money on its silly &#145;Switch&#146; ad campaign, the company has spent it inventing actual reasons for people to switch from Windows to Mac, not least of all personal style. The iMac G5 is super suave, but it&#146;s also a pretty good deal.&#148; [Sep 22]
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Editor's note: This story was reprinted from Computerworld. For more of Computerworld's coverage of the Mac, visit its Mac Knowledge Center.
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Dec. 30, 2004. Apple enthusiast and rumor site Think Secret reported this week that in January Apple will unveil a sub-$500 Mac designed to entice Windows users who own iPods to make the computer switch.
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Yes friends, you read correctly. Inside:  I find it very hard to get a good coffee Chinos are more versatile than I previously thought I discover the mother of all MacBook mods
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Apple has given the iBook a much needed speed boost, announcing new souped-up models with prices starting at $999 USD. Exactly one year ago, Apple transitioned the iBook to same G4 processer found in its PowerBook line.
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Leopard, the latest update of the Apple Mac operating system OSX, goes on sale worldwide from 1800 BST.
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Apple Computer&#39;s new line of iMacs, which goes on sale later this month, gives the company&#39;s diehard fans several reasons to upgrade, including a big speed boost and more affordable prices.
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That controversial price cut on the iPhone paid off in big numbers for Apple in the quarter ending Sept. 29. The company announced as well that it set a new sales record for the Macintosh, wowing analysts.
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Early reactions show wide and varied purchasing interest in newly unveiled Mac Mini.  Photos: Mac Mini
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For one, âMac hardware is beautifully designed,â explains Ed Baig (USA Today). And âthe underlying software is polished, robust and secure.â For example, new Macs âcome with iLife â08, a slick multimedia software suite for handling pictures (iPhoto), video editing (iMovie), making music (GarageBand) and websites (iWeb).â And Mac OS X Leopard  âhas standout features of its own, including Time Machine (dirt-simple backup) and iChat (way cool video chat).â Whatâs more, Macs âhave been immune from the scourge of viruses and malware that have long plagued Windows.â  Mac customers âheap lavish praise on Macs for good reason,â Baig concludes.
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com. Apple Computerâs stock price continues to set post-Power Macintosh G4 Cube records, most recently last week with a closing price of $68.44 per share on Monday, November 29.
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Mac fans, known for their devotion to buying the latest and greatest from Apple Computer, are also apparently interested in themselves as well.
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Gary Krakow writes for MSNBC, âOverall, I found that the new MacBook is just like the old MacBook â only better.Â It seems faster and has some new bells and whistles â all for the same price.â