Quote:
Originally Posted by FanIn80
Ah. I didn't know they use the same plants. Weird that Apple would be able to get the level of secrecy that they do from that same plant that is making other brands.
How do we explain the differences in hardware reliability though? Why do so many more Acers go in for repairs than Apples?
Is that all just engineering?
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There is no real secrecy because there is nothing to hide. All these factories are under strict NDAs when it comes to products from different companies but all of this is mostly for the marketing department for competitive practices to keep upcoming products under wraps. Apple has no technological secrets to hide from the others. It's all the same stuff at heart, just engineered differently. Everything on an Apple board is off the shelf parts. Yes it's a proprietary design but every chip and component on there is something available to any other manufacturer as well if they wanted to use it. Usually stuff made by the semiconductor industry in Taiwan, China, Malaysia, Japan, etc. The entire computer industry works like this. Competitors often source their parts from the same factories and the same foundries. Apple may have some custom ASIC designs that I am not aware of but it looks like everything is off the shelf these days compared to previous years. It's cheaper and makes more sense for them that way.
I have a feeling Apple may be used higher internally binned parts along with stricter internal QC that give them more reliability overall as well as other things like higher quality components but I have no evidence of this. The higher quality manufacturers probably do the same. That said, you do pay for it.
For most computers, hardware failure is catastrophic and there is no ability to repair aside from completely replacing whole parts (or sometimes reflowing). I think the reliability reports need to factor in the human element as most of the problem is usually the user not taking care of their computer. I've said before that Apples may have higher reliability simply because they are a bit more foolproof from users.
What are reliability problems you guys have had with Acers or other computers specifically? Was it mostly software? Or was it hardware? Batteries die mostly because of users. Sometimes there are bad batteries of course (Sony and their exploding batteries). I have seen an Apple with a melted keyboard before though. I've also seen quite a few notebooks with blown LCDs. It's usually the backlight or the controller. The rest is usually due to heat because people don't blow out their notebook vents and fans properly and they get clogged with dust over time.
Sorry Old Yeller, this is getting off topic because Fanin80 had to bring up the Apple fanboyism earlier in the thread
. Figure out the portability needs of your wife and what you are looking at for docking options and you'll get some better information that is useful to you.