No Upgrading Your New Retina MacBook Pro

SkribbelKat said:
That shouldn't matter much if the rate of failure is measured as is the case with that graph. You're looking at the number of failures per 100 units after 2 and 3 years. The chart makes who ships how many unimportant.
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You're referring to ratios, yeah that's very true. It may SEEM like Acer has a higher failure rate because I keep fixing the damn things, but that only means there's more of them.
 
Azhar said:
You're referring to ratios, yeah that's very true. It may SEEM like Acer has a higher failure rate because I keep fixing the damn things, but that only means there's more of them.
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Oh, I understand now! :)

From a personal experience perspective, I've seen a frustratingly high failure rate for Acer laptops in the past (2005-2008 or so) but I haven't had to deal with Acer lately since we're pretty much an all Dell organization. Doesn't Acer own Gateway and E-machines?
 
SkribbelKat said:
Oh, I understand now! :)

From a personal experience perspective, I've seen a frustratingly high failure rate for Acer laptops in the past (2005-2008 or so) but I haven't had to deal with Acer lately since we're pretty much an all Dell organization. Doesn't Acer own Gateway and E-machines?
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And Packard Bell.

My Acer Aspire One first gen Netbook has been the most reliable thing I've ever owned. My Mum has an Acer notebook I picked out for her that is still going strong despite how often she manages to mishandle and drop it. I know only a sample size of two, but completely far from the reputation that I've heard that "all Acer products are crap." They're cheaply build with plastic exterior instead of magnesium or aluminum, but from what I can tell... still functionally solid.
 
techrat said:
And Packard Bell.

My Acer Aspire One first gen Netbook has been the most reliable thing I've ever owned. My Mum has an Acer notebook I picked out for her that is still going strong despite how often she manages to mishandle and drop it. I know only a sample size of two, but completely far from the reputation that I've heard that "all Acer products are crap." They're cheaply build with plastic exterior instead of magnesium or aluminum, but from what I can tell... still functionally solid.
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Well that's the thing about laptops, anyway...the vast majority of "failures" I've seen working laptop repair had to do with stuff like the HDD failing or the motherboard failing, which really is a defect in manufacture from whoever made those specific parts. Doesn't really have anything to do with the laptop manufacturer, other than if they choose parts that are cheap and have a history of reliability issues to cut costs. Then, it is on them.
 
techrat said:
And Packard Bell.

My Acer Aspire One first gen Netbook has been the most reliable thing I've ever owned. My Mum has an Acer notebook I picked out for her that is still going strong despite how often she manages to mishandle and drop it. I know only a sample size of two, but completely far from the reputation that I've heard that "all Acer products are crap." They're cheaply build with plastic exterior instead of magnesium or aluminum, but from what I can tell... still functionally solid.
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It's good to hear that Acer systems are doing okay. I've been debating about replacing my netbook with something C-60 or E-450 based. Acer seems to sell the least expensive AMD C-60 system so I've been tempted to give them another try. Then again, with the tablet thing on the horizon, I might just wait and make do with the n450 Atom for a little while longer.
 
Zarathustra[H];1038850461 said:
To me it shows more that Apple had some issues with the x86 architecture implementation (probably due to their unfamiliarity with it) more so than any inherent issue with the x86 architecture, otherwise you wouldn't have seen Apple have more issues than the Dell's :p
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If we had only seen issues from 2006-2007, it could have been understandable that an x86 implementation could have been a bit rough and buggy.

However, these issues with x86 Apple systems progressed through mid-2011 until I resigned from that position.
For over 5 years, Apple had time to get things right, but I don't blame them entirely for the faulty architecture.

Again, all of the G5 PPC systems that were still in use by 2011 were still going strong and had not once ever malfunctioned, let alone as much as the x86 Apple systems we ran; everything from Mac Minis to MacPros, and all laptop variants.
We only ever had to put a PPC Apple down due to it's lack of software support, or lack of processing power, which is understandable considering even the G5's were over six years old at that point.

I can't blame the OS either, as OS X is one of the most stable, out-of-the-box OSes I've ever used.
Even 10.6 and 10.7 have a quite a few issues running on the x86 architecture, and these are the x86-only variants of OS X.

Simply put, the x86 architecture just has a lot of flaws.
But imo, it's the large quantity of processing power and improved IPC that more than make up for those said flaws; even I can't deny the reality of things. :p
 
Red Falcon said:
Staples, maybe you didn't see the turn around, but I would assume the reason for that is that many individuals will either return their Apple system to Apple, or go to a certified Apple technician/shop.
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I have thought about this and after seeing the squaretrade project graph (their projections carry weight because of what their business is), this must be the reason that we don't see a ton of Apple computers for hardware failures.
 
This is no joke, most common repair I do on Apple laptops? Keyboard replacement from coffee spills I could not make that shit up if I tried. And their keyboard replacement is such a pain compared to ANY PC. Hard drives and bad ram are second and third. Most common PC repair is Screen and jack repairs the hard drives and memory. I see an equal amount across all brands it just depends on the level of laptop all companies make crap thru high end so to generalize is just wrong when it comes to one brand or another. The more you spend in any brand the better you get simple fact.
 
Red Falcon said:
Simply put, the x86 architecture just has a lot of flaws.
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Still does't explain why your error rates were so much higher on the Apple products than your existing Dells.

I've has the misfortune of working on the inside of my wifes old 2006 MBP, and honestly it doesn't surprise me that there have been problems. It make look cool on the outside, but on the inside its held together by Kapton tape, flimsy bend in place clips and components rolled up in plastic and tucked loosely between other components in empty spots.

Not very confidence inspiring.

I've heard the unibody MBP's have been a huge improvement, but I have yet to have any reas to open up my wifes new late 2011 MBP.
 
HisSvt76 said:
The more you spend in any brand the better you get simple fact.
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So, if I spend $300 for this Hynix memory upgrade directly from Apple, it's better than the $50 Samsung, GSkill, Micron or Corsair memory upgrades I could get from Newegg?
 
Even if you don't want to upgrade your laptop, you're screwing yourself over in the long term as components do fail from time to time, and in this case it sounds like a component failure is a throw-away machine.
 
techrat said:
So, if I spend $300 for this Hynix memory upgrade directly from Apple, it's better than the $50 Samsung, GSkill, Micron or Corsair memory upgrades I could get from Newegg?
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I would assume he had meant to say that but forgot to add this at the end: ... to a certain extent. Of course Apple's prices skew that whole theory that otherwise works pretty well with computer hardware.
 
XamediX said:
I would assume he had meant to say that but forgot to add this at the end: ... to a certain extent. Of course Apple's prices skew that whole theory that otherwise works pretty well with computer hardware.
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It's not so much that their prices skew the theory as it is people consistently compare Apples to oranges on this board--go buy a memory upgrade from Geek Squad and get back to us on total price after install...
 
techrat said:
So, if I spend $300 for this Hynix memory upgrade directly from Apple, it's better than the $50 Samsung, GSkill, Micron or Corsair memory upgrades I could get from Newegg?
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is the $2800 laptop youre purchasing with an i7 and GT650M better than a laptop that costs half as much with the same specs? their decisions are brilliant and will make them lots of money. i agree with everything theyve done on this laptop (except the high-res display, that seems like on gimmick on a 15" screen) for apple. i dont think it would work for any other manufacturer, and it certainly isnt working for me. i watch slickdeals all day every day. i am a value purchaser. i am not their target customer. if spending $300 on 16GB of ram makes you queezy, then you are not their target customer either.
 
ekuest said:
is the $2800 laptop youre purchasing with an i7 and GT650M better than a laptop that costs half as much with the same specs? their decisions are brilliant and will make them lots of money. i agree with everything theyve done on this laptop (except the high-res display, that seems like on gimmick on a 15" screen) for apple. i dont think it would work for any other manufacturer, and it certainly isnt working for me. i watch slickdeals all day every day. i am a value purchaser. i am not their target customer. if spending $300 on 16GB of ram makes you queezy, then you are not their target customer either.
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wait, where are the $1400 dollar laptops with the same specs? I'll buy one as soon as you link to it
 
mope54 said:
twice as thick and twice as heavy
will it get even close to half the 7 hour battery life of the mbp?

yeah, those sure are the same specs all right :rolleyes:
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i said processor and gpu. if you want the coolest, hippest, slimmest, lightest then you have to pay up. if you want the same performance without the apple magic you can pay less than half as much. i said that i agreed with their decisions on gluing in the battery and display, soldering in the ram and ssd, etc. im not trying to say the mbpr is a ripoff. im just saying that its for a certain type of person who values form over function/price.

there may even be a market for people who need to do very intensive graphic design on the road, necessitating the minimal size and weight. for the most part it will sell very well to people who will use it exclusively for facebook and taking distorted webcam pics.
 
Still does't explain why your error rates were so much higher on the Apple products than your existing Dells.
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Comparing the 2006-2011 Apples to the 2006-2011 Dells, the Apples did have more issues, many of which would brick the systems, which were software/OS issues.
Dell failures would be similar, but at least wouldn't brick the system.

Our older PPC Apples didn't skip a beat up until their retirement.
Even when the systems were under load from multiple services, the PPC units never had issues or even needed to reset daemons.

The newer x86 Apples, under the same load, would either lock up, restart/kill the daemon, or would just stop functioning to the point where the OS was unusable.
I'm not just talking about the 2006 models either, this happened with the 2011 models as well.

I never thought I would see a G4/G5 Apple outlast a C2Q Apple.
 
ekuest said:
i said processor and gpu. if you want the coolest, hippest, slimmest, lightest then you have to pay up. if you want the same performance without the apple magic you can pay less than half as much.
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Your not being fair. Screen size, harddrive capability, battery life. Those are still part of the "performance". Also I think the new MBP Retina is using the Lucid Logix chip to switch between the HD4000 and the 650M. Certainly not something cheaper models couldn't do, but I don't think the Asus is doing it.

Automatic Graphics Switching

You'll get excellent graphics flexibility with two video processors--the discrete NVIDIA GeForce GT 650M processor (with 1 GB of GDDR5 video memory) for heavier workloads and an integrated Intel HD Graphics 4000 processor for better battery life on the go.

When using your MacBook Pro with Retina display for everyday activities like surfing the Web or checking your email, the integrated, energy-efficient Intel HD Graphics 4000 processor ensures that everything runs smoothly. But when you need more horsepower for things like playing 3D games, editing HD video, or even running CAD software, the MacBook Pro will automatically switch to the NVIDIA GeForce GT 650M processor for better responsiveness.
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It's stuff like this that keeps me from recommending Apple computers.. They need to ease up this propitiatory nonsense before they undo any steam they've gained in computer sales
 
westrock2000 said:
Your not being fair. Screen size, harddrive capability, battery life. Those are still part of the "performance". Also I think the new MBP Retina is using the Lucid Logix chip to switch between the HD4000 and the 650M. Certainly not something cheaper models couldn't do, but I don't think the Asus is doing it.
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The screen's resolution and size do certainly contribute significantly to the number of instructions per second a processor can execute. Everyone knows that a Retina screen makes the same hardware crunch more numbers.
 
SkribbelKat said:
The screen's resolution and size do certainly contribute significantly to the number of instructions per second a processor can execute. Everyone knows that a Retina screen makes the same hardware crunch more numbers.
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More of an impact on the GPU (or GPU's) than on the processor itself...

CPU impact (in most applications) is mostly independent of resolution.
 
Zarathustra[H];1038857535 said:
More of an impact on the GPU (or GPU's) than on the processor itself...

CPU impact (in most applications) is mostly independent of resolution.
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My last comment was sarcastic. :)
 
Zarathustra[H];1038857608 said:
ha, Sorry. Tought to read what is sarcasm and what isn't on the internets.
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Well, assuming I was clueless and unintentionally wrong is a pretty safe thing to do with anyone on a forum. :p
 
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