Rant The "My Apple rant is valid and informed 'cause it's got, like, eight swear words in"

Any geek can fix it (without a hammer).

 

How would he get a replacement if it was beyond its warranty?

Indeed, there are lots of kids that would love to have a device that you can't change the tracks on it...
If they can not afford an iPod and they want to hear some music on the go then they have a simple solution: buy a simple and cheap mp3 device.

Any geek could fix it and improve it with a hammer.

 

The issues didn't magically appear at the 13th month, he just wanted to grow some e-peen by smashing up an Apple product.

 

docodine you are assuming the HDD is busted. What if it's a circuit problem.
I don't know if you know, but iPod don't use real circuit boards. They use a plastic flexible sheet at some places. I open my iPod Nano, this is how I know, all the soldering were rusted. I don't know what the heck they used, but it's not quality.

 

[citation needed]

 

I kinda figured it would be 'special' docodine... it was the first example of something I could find on the Apple store that was hideously over-priced and no doubt sells like hot cakes...

 

Haha what?

I highly doubt the solder was rusting unless you managed to maybe, get it wet and you mistook it for another type of corrosion. Come to think of it I don't think I've seen solder rust before.

A "real" circuit board? It's just a standard PCB and the materials they used for it are fine.

 

As I said, the iPod (well all mine) doesn't like Canadian winter. When passing from -30C down to room temperature everyday, you are bound to have humidity built-up.

For the screen, it was a brown flexible plastic sheet with components on it. And this was the part that was broken. (white screen, but click wheel sound and player itself worked (if you remember the menu navigation to play a music))

 

What if he could have got it fixed cheaply? We will never know because he did not have it examined. Nope, he just wanted a new toy so he broke his old one. And then went through the trouble of taking a picture so he could brag about it.

I don't know what you call a 'real' circuit board but I bet your mobile phone has pretty much the same thing. And your compact camera. And your portable game console. And other MP3 players. And how does solder rust? Are you sure that you didn't just see soldering flux around the joints?

 

A real circuit board is one that is made on a real solid board, like any standard circuit board.
My camera doesn't have any plastic sheet with components on it, I already checked as I opened it to fix the battery cover which came out after dropping it. And it's not even a high-end camera, it's just a Canon PowerShot A75.

The iPod plastic sheet "circuit board" is almost as flexible as paper.

My Zune does not have that (even the Zune HD doesn't), and I don't have a cellphone or care to buy one. The Nintendo portable gaming console (all of them including the 3DS) doesn't have any plastic sheet circuitry, as you can clearly see for yourself online.

This is the inside of the iPod Nano. I pointed in red the plastic circuit boards. Bellow the screen (well you have to look on the other side to see all the components), and the other which I don't know what it does.


If the iPod was like half price, I would not complain... but it's not, so I do.

 

You seem to have real problems with electrical items...

 

You don't own a cellphone?! Wait .. WHAT?!

 

What you point out is a mica etched/printed flat-cable. It is a common way of connecting LCD screens, buttons and connectors to the main circuit board. Occasionally they have a few capacitors or resistors on them. The Nintendo DS and 3DS have them. The Zune and Zune HD have them (you can find the disassembly pics on the Internet). You find them in items ranging from cheap gadgets to professional cameras that cost more than my car.

 

Yah, I was gonna say that's a cable as far as I'm concerned.

 

That is how I am able to afford nice things, I guess.
Cellphones are useless for me. If I had one, it would be like most people around me, turned OFF as I'll be in class or the library studying. If I am outside to meet with someone, well that would have already been planed ahead, so no need to use one.

And don't tell the old B.S reason "But if you are stuck in a high way or something, as your car stopped working". First, this very unlikely event, at most a once in a life time event.
Second, I'll do like people did hundred of years ago, walk a bit to get to a public phone, or in the case of a high way, just wait for the high way safety car pass by. Even if you call them, you'll still need to wait the exact same time.

So for now, it's utter pointless. If it's something important, I have an answering machine at home.

Sadly, up close, it's more complicated than that. They are packed with a full circuitry design. Not just a small capacitor or something.


Look my point is:
I don't hate Apple by itself. They did good things in pushing great ideas. They pushed nicer looking computer, they pushed quieter systems, they pushed better and more consistent UI which affected the whole software market as whole. They also pushed better user interface on portable devices of any kind.

But what I hate is that Apple products (including their computers) that aren't this super high premium quality device, which what people assumes and bugs me about it non-stop, when they aren't. They are just average. Nothing special, nothing worth the money.
Again, if they were much cheaper, I would not complain, but they aren't. They are over priced product for what they are. Which in turn, as a good consumer, I vote with my wallet. So, simply don't buy them.

When I say, I don't like Apple product or don't want to buy one, stop (not you guys) telling how it comes from the heavens and is super high quality, and how it uses the best software that ever existed, and this and that. No they aren't.

That is my rant.

 

Dude, the Zune has a whole sheet of flexible mica PCB with a whole circuit on it. It really is nothing special.

Fundamentally, there is very little to distinguish a Hasselblat camera from my Nikon D80. In fact, a digital compact Leica looks less assuming. What makes the Hasselblat and Leica superior, more expensive cameras is not the build material, nor the components, nor the number of them. They use the same metals, the same plastics, the same capacitors, transistors, chips and indeed mica PCB.

It is years of R&D knowledge knowing how to design a really good camera, with just the right choice of components and the right shape lenses combined in the best way. It is all in the design; all in the balance of a range of compromises. That is what makes Apple products more costly than a generic product. It is not just the materials, although they matter in ways that you are not even aware of, and you aren't because they are the right materials. It is also the functional design.

We are mostly not aware of good design. Like health, you only become aware of it when it fails. And like with health, nobody likes to pay for what they take for granted.

 

+1 for Nexxo there.

What you pay for with Apple is the entire package from great R&D to great software (maybe except iTunes) and on to super support and ease of use.

No other pc/peripherials manufacturer will get you even close to that.


And damn, even my 77 year old grand-mom has a cell

 

Well I don't have 50$ MINIMUM (I think it was like 100min) per month to waist. Yea their is pay as you go, that is you have t pay 1$ per call, PLUS they charge you for every SMS you receive FROM THEM.. you know to inform you of offers and your current account on a different one every week. As SMS is not part of pay as you go, they add a surcharge fee, because you know.. it's your fault. AND the cards expeire every month. Maybe when I'll live in a competitive market, or that I work for a company who has a deal with a provider, but until then... I don't have a money tree to be able to afford one, and I prefer to spend my money on better, more useful things, like be able to purchase decent computer monitor to start, and games and other cool stuff.

 

I didn't read any posts in this thread at all, but I still LOVE Apple.

My mac products have given me the most joy of any multimedia devices I have ever bought. But they are a luxury product and are never the cheapest answer to a need, thus are always over priced and have there shortcomings (but those you know beforehand, so don't complain).

 

I'm fine with the notion that Apple products cost more for the reasons outlined above; but I don't believe that's the whole story.

Apple products are fashionable these days and let's be honest: The majority of people buying iPods, iPhones and Macbooks (and non-Apple electronics for that matter, too) are uninformed consumers, not discerning geeks like us who make detailed comparisons and look at more than the advertising.
Demand for Apple products is high because regardless of whether the products have excellent R&D, Support and Design backing them up; they are fashionable, therefore the price is going to reflect that - Just as with clothing brands, perfume and anything else the modern consumer covets.

If you honestly think a significant portion of the Apple-tax doesn't comprise an element of 'boutique' fashion-tax then I think you're kidding yourself.
If you're okay with that and you buy Apple products for their Software, R&D, Design and Support that's fine; but let's be honest about it and look at the whole picture.