Comment by salamandersauce | Hacker News Reader

Comment by salamandersauce | Hacker News Reader

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salamandersauce

There's been other issues. MacBook Pros have had issues with the screen ribbon cable causing problems with the backlight (a.k.a Flexgate). Then there's been issues with batteries swelling in 2015 MBPs which impacts the trackpad too. Plus there has been countless models with GPU failures being commonplace stretching allll the way back to to iBook G3.

I would personally consider the 2018 Mac Mini to have a design flaw as the case design doesn't allow for good Bluetooth reception and using USB 3 so it would lose connection to my Magic keyboard and trackpad at least once a day which I personally found extremely frustrating. I've also had 2 iPad Pro smart keyboards fail within a year with the 2nd one only seeing light usage. It seems like whatever conductive tape Apple uses doesn't handle humidity well and corrodes quickly where I live. I'm concerned about my 2018 MBP's long term longevity keyboard aside just from the awful awful thermals that shoot the machine to T-junction in about a minute of actually pushing it but we will see. Probably the keyboard will wear out before that.

I think too many people confuse quality and metal construction. Yes, Apple builds nice aluminum enclosures but they neglect other details to achieve that.

Do you still use Apple laptops? If not what do you use?

Are Apple laptops higher quality, compared to competitors (despite design issues)? My current Macbook had the screen laminate peel off after a few years. To Apple's credit, they promptly repaired the machine at no cost. But I've had friends with similarly priced laptops (XPS, Razor, ...) who encountered similar build-quality issues, but did not receive the same level of support. Granted, all this evidence is anecdotal. I am curious to see across the board comparisons.

Plus, I'm in the market for a new laptop anyway, so this would be a valuable data point. :)

I currently use a 2018 MBP still. I didn't personally pay for it so I don't think I could just get rid of it. Next time I think I'll go back to a Thinkpad. I don't feel like Macbooks are higher quality for the price than a comparably priced Windows laptop with some exception. Gaming laptops tend to cut build quality corners to give more specs for the money basically.

And did you have Applecare when they repaired your machine? I couldn't get them to replace my 2nd iPad Pro smart keyboard when it died since it was out of warranty.

I did not have AppleCare. Sorry to hear about your iPad Pro keyboard issues.

I replaced two of these screens (MBP 2015 13" and 15") under the program (ie. for free), but they refused to fix a MBP 2014 13" for free. It'd cost me 600 EUR to repair. This was in 2018. At some point they start the repair program, and some point they stop it, and IIRC the limit was 4 years for consumers here in NL. I keep using these machines (replaced some hardware on it such as keyboard, battery, screws, and my wife uses one too), though they each got their flaws. I'd consider a M1 (but my boss ain't buying me one :). Mac is still a superb UI and workflow with Unix under the hood. I think the later models are even worse for gaming, with the ones before M1 you could maybe use TB + eGPU. I just stick to a Linux machine for gaming, with Steam, all kind of emulators, and Wine.

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