Before I get started on this rant, let me point out a few things I’ve learned over the past few days:
1. Always Back Up Your Data. You never know when your unfathomably-expensive laptop (you know the one you paid extra for so it would last longer… wait… I said I’d get to the rant later… sorry) might crap out on you like a bad light bulb.
2. Apple computers are stupid expensive. They don’t just cost more on the front end, each little piece of hardware costs roughly 4 million times more than a PC counterpart.
3. Never buy a Macbook Pro off Apple’s refurbished list. I’ve had more problems with this machine than BP has had in the Gulf Coast.
Now that I’ve got the moral of this story out of the way, allow me to explain…
The Apple ‘Clique’
Yes, I have an Apple, just in case you haven’t already inferred that. I bought it a little more than a year ago, primarily because ‘they’ say that Apples handle multimedia applications better than PCs. And I’m a decently active musician and aspiring film guy, so it made sense to shell out the extra cost for a machine that supposedly handled these tasks with ease.
Let me reiterate: I didn’t purchase my Mac to be part of the Cool Kids Club. Those goofy “I’m a Mac, You’re a PC, and my film career has taken off while nobody knows who the heck you are” commercials had no influence on my decision. None.
But sure enough, the instant my computer came in the mail, I was inundated with the Cool Mac Kids asking me “How you like that Mac, bro?” and “Once you go Mac, you’ll never go back.” Fed up, I’d ask these guys “So, you must run some pretty intensive multimedia applications?” They’d say, “Nope.”
Long story short, people love spending three times the money for something they only intent to use for Internet Surfing and Microsoft Word. And when it comes to these applications, Mac doesn’t do them any better than PC. Different, yes. Better, not necessarily.
There’s a term in the financial circles for people like these: Dumbass. Actually, that word is in every circle. And square and triangle.
If It’s So Great, Why Doesn’t It Work?
First thing I noticed with this computer was that the keyboard and mouse would freeze up randomly. Sometimes it would happen five times per day, other times only once every few weeks. I called (harassed) the Apple Care folks nonstop, but every time I took it in, it acted fine – like taking your car to the mechanic, it runs fine. And because they couldn’t reproduce the problem, they couldn’t fix anything.
But this machine was a nuisance. I eventually stopped trying to record music and edit video on it because it would freeze up. And to recap, the whole reason I spent way more than I should have in the first place was because I wanted to put together some music and video. See where I’m going with this… ?
Eventually, with only two weeks left on the warranty I plead with the local Apple guys to do something before the Apple Care Plan expired. They begrudgingly replaced the “Top Case.” I don’t know what the heck that is, but my computer hasn’t frozen up since, so I’m thankful. On the other hand, it did take almost a year to get it fixed… Argh.
Which brings me to the whole point of this post:
An $80 Power Cable? You’ve Got To Be Kidding Me
Yup, my power/charger cord died. Which meant I only had sporadic Internet access for the past few days. I tried a couple “tricks” like cleaning the terminals with rubbing alcohol, blowing in it (like the old Nintendo games) and swearing. But it was shot. So yesterday I popped into my favorite place in the whole world (that’s sarcasm, just in case it didin’t translate) – the Apple Shop – to buy a new cable.
I knew it wasn’t going to be cheap. Nothing with that goofy little Apple-With-A-Bite-On-It logo is, but I never would have guessed it’d clock in at darn near $100 bucks. Eight bucks plus sales tax. Wow. Versus the last PC power cable I replaced for $30 – and even then it felt like I was paying more than I was getting.
But That’s Not All
The tech guy thinks my battery is failing, which is why my power cable burned up in the first place. And what’s even better, he says I might as well count on my hard drive failing within the year. A battery is $130. I don’t even want to know what a hard drive costs, or how much they’ll charge me for the labor of installing it.
Back Up Your Data
That’s what I’ll be doing over the next few days, backing up everything I’ve got onto an external hard disk. I don’t know when this thing is going to crap out for good, but I don’t want to get caught with my pants down. Again.
What Are Your Thoughts?
I’m sure I’ll take a lot of heat for this post, as the Apple Cool Kid Club is pretty hardcore, but my experience has sucked from day one.
Do any of you guys run Macs? How do you like them? Have you had similar problems, or was I lucky enough to get a lemon?
Or maybe you’re a PC person? Regardless, I’d love to hear your thoughts on computers crapping out at the most inconvenient times.
Tags: Apple, MacBook Pro
God I hate apple SO MUCH! I got an iPod mini, and after MONTHS OF WAITING, I went to the apple store and those idiots said they didn’t replace batteries anymore! Okay, fine! got an iPod mini battery replacement kit, waited a week for delivery, and the tools they provided were too big! They destroyed the screws and now I can’t even open it.
[Reply]
Hi Lee,
Sorry to hear about your problems. A fantastic article however – I love a bit of life in an article.
I’m a PC person, simply because it’s what I’m used to. I’ve toyed with Linux and am considering a Mac. However, I’m only considering a Mac because I work in academia and am entitled to a discount that makes the cost somewhat more reasonable.
I agree about backing stuff up. I once had my laptop bow out on me. I don’t quite know what happened to it. But I had no back up of the data – my PhD research! I took it to a UK PC store, and they tried to read the hard disk to do a data copy. “I’m sorry sir, our systems cannot detect that your hard drive is connected. There must be a fault with it, therefore no data copy”. OK I though. Anyway, long story short, I got introduced to Trinity Rescue Kit. Runs some kind of linux distribution off your RAM. I connected a USB drive to my laptop, and when I booted up, it managed to mount the HD. So much for it not working PC Store. I fortunately managed to copy all my work to the USB drive. PHEW!
I agree with you about getting a Mac however. If you are doing processor intensive work, it’s probably going to do a better job than a PC. To average joe on the street, there is no difference other than it looks soooo pretty.
I’m partly bought by the asthetics. Performance I really like. Costs… well I’m not a dumbass – put it that way lol!
Mark´s last [type] ..Building my website
[Reply]
Lee Reply:
June 18th, 2010 at 3:16 am
Yep, I’m with you on that one, Mark. The whole reason I paid 3-4 times as much as a comparably-equipped PC was for the processor intensive task of recording/editing some heavy duty multi-track music, and my experiences with PCs in that venture were very disappointing. But my friends’ Macs ran things fine – and so does mine, when it works. But the Average Joe isn’t going to get any performance difference between the two when he’s just surfing the web and balancing his checkbook.
Sorry, don’t mean to keep ranting, haha!
Rock On
Lee
[Reply]
Hahahahaha! SOrry, not laughing at your circumstance, just the way you explained it! That was awesome Lee, really enjoyed reading that mate. I was thinking the whole time, ‘I don’t own a Mac, never have, never will so … whatever’ but then I read the comments and went ‘oh hang on, I have an iPhone…AND I F@#&*% HATE IT WITH A PASSION THAT CAN NOT BE HARNASSED’
sorry, where was I?
Yeah seriously, my i is crap and is only good for apps, which are a waste of space. I call it my i because it sure as shit doesn’t work as a phone.
Thanks for letting me get that out, it seems I was bottling issues I didn’t even know existed.
Bill me Dr. Lee if you feel the need, I do feel a lot better.
ROCK ON my friend
Alex´s last [type] ..How to Optimize your site with your Googles on
[Reply]
Lee Reply:
June 19th, 2010 at 7:24 am
Alex, you never cease to make every one of my rants soooo much better! I think you and I run on the same wavelength… not sure if that’s a good thing or not
You sound as un-excited about Apple products as I am – maybe even more so because of your use of all caps
I haven’t sprung for an iPhone. And unless it’s the only thing standing in the way of me dating three supermodels at once, I hope I never will. And even then, they better be SUPER super models.
And yes, the Dr. is in.
Rock On
Lee
[Reply]
[...] was reading a blog entry by Lee at Search Engine Viking which reminded me of the importance of backing up your data. I cannot [...]
Hey Lee, I am with you on this one. If ever there was a study of cases of mass hypnosis on a grand scale, the “i” of mac certainly would be up there on the leader board.
It has been numbing people into some sort of trance that creates within them an insatiable desire to own anything beginning with “i”, and pay double the going rate when compared with products of similar technical ability.
And boy, don’t ever get into a debate with an i-person unless you have thick skin and a strong spirit. Man, they are ruthless in their defense of the almighty “i”. It is as if the “i” of mac is a pseudo god to them.
I recently made a comment on a Facebook profile that was meant as a light-hearted joke around mac vs pc and the vitriol that came back was unbelievable.
I really don’t care what is under the bonnet. So long as it doesn’t cost me the earth to keep it running and I can still earn a decent living from what it can help me do, I buy what I need if it is the right price.
If I could buy a magic “i” computer for the same price as the cheap and reliable pc I use then I would, so long as it could run the eclectic collection of software I use to maintain peak productivity.
Anyway, thanks for a good laugh (from the rant). Michael.
Michael Pedzotti´s last [type] ..Beware the phantom/spam commenter
[Reply]
Hi Lee. I have avoided Apple products all of my life for the simple fact that they have always been over-hyped. The only Apple product I ever endorsed is the iPad because they finally made a useful piece of equipment. As my dad always said, “never buy an electronic named after a fruit”.
Brandon Connell´s last [type] ..The blog family
[Reply]
Lee Reply:
June 20th, 2010 at 5:58 pm
Your dad sounds like a very wise man, Brandon. Since it’s Father’s Day, you can even tell him I said that
Honestly, when my computer works, it tears through processor-intensive tasks like music recording/mixing like it’s going out of style. So the potential is there. But sadly, it’s only ‘potential’ since I can’t depend on it at all.
[Reply]
Brandon Connell Reply:
June 21st, 2010 at 8:36 pm
I make/made beats with a keyboard and a midiman on a Windows laptop with no problem at all. The media qualities/capabilities of Apple are over-hyped in general.
Brandon Connell´s last [type] ..The best themes for niche sites
[Reply]
Lee Reply:
June 23rd, 2010 at 12:49 am
In terms of midi and digital instruments, I’m totally with you on that one, Brandon. But back when I bought my Mac I ran a few benchmark tests on PCs and Macs and found that recording eight tracks of instruments simultaneously, while also monitoring them back through the system, made every PC I tried barf like it was having a bad hangover, while the Macs handled it with ease.
That was a few years ago, though, so I’m sure things are much more even now.
And as a general rule, I totally agree that Apple is WAAAAY overhyped.
Rock On
Lee
I gotta say that the whole tablet thing has me scratching my head. I can see its allure to those business users who have a need to do the virtual clipboard thing on a regular basis, but the iPad is marketed toward multi-media users who will find all of the aforementioned performance and hardware shortcomings, disappointing.
[Reply]
I couldn’t agree more. I finally gave up my iPhone and bought the Evo when it came out. I just don’t get the whole Mac fascination.
Cary Bergeron´s last [type] ..April 2010 Adsense Earnings
[Reply]
This my friend was a great blog post. I own a blog that just tells people things that suck. This blog post of yours pleased me though. I actually laughed a few times, you’re pretty funny.
[Reply]
Lee Reply:
July 8th, 2010 at 12:04 am
Thanks! Glad you dig
[Reply]
The market is clearly in expansion mode and I don’t think anyone at Apple is losing any sleep over their decreasing share of a rapidly growing market. Unit sales is what is what generates revenue, not market share and nobody will be surprised if iPhone unit sales continue to increase despite increasing numbers of smartphone users adopting Android OS.
[Reply]
MOST INFORMATIVE SITE FOR ELECTRONICS….
**YOUTUBE VIDEO REVIEWS ON THE HOTTEST ELECTRONICS OUT**…
buy@viagra.online” rel=”nofollow”>……
Need cheap generic VIAGRA?…
Reply