I think shoddy build quality is completely unacceptable in the age of micro-electronic. There! I said it. I am not ashamed to wave Quality’s flag on my blog.
At any given time, the U.S. consumer electronics market seems flooded with low-quality, low cost consumer electronics produced with poor components and the bare minimum of workmanship.
I hate sounding like one of those people; you know them, the kind of people who complain about good things. Believe me when I say that never before in the history of mankind has the consumer had it so good when it comes to affordable technology. Prices on things like CPUs, hard disk storage, RAM, video graphics, MP3 players, etc. etc. have never been as cheap as they are now. However, there is a downside to all of this abundance; poor quality in a great many products we, the nerds of the universe, tend to buy…
I came across this article at eweek this morning: http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Desktops-and-Notebooks/Apple-MacBook-Pro-Teardown-Finds-Improved-Wireless-Quality-Complaints-542596/
Just thought I would point out some choice highlights from the iFixit teardown of the 2011 MacBook Pro:
Later, though, the (iFixit) team uncovered what looks like toothpaste blobs. "Holy thermal paste! Time will tell if the gobs of thermal paste applied to the CPU and GPU will cause overheating issues down the road," wrote iFixit, coming across the first issue to make it wonder whether Apple is having some quality control issues.
Come on Apple, really? Blobs of thermal paste haphazardly splattered on the CPU and GPU? I know Foxconn has a reputation for driving its employees to suicide, but this is ridiculous! Okay, okay, I made that joke in poor taste. I’m sorry.
As if the amateurish application of thermal compound to the most critical (critical, because the logic board contained in the MBP is non-serviceable and costs nearly as much as a new laptop itself) components of the new MBP wasn't enough, iFixit also detailed another disturbing problem.
The team also discovered a stripped screw near the subwoofer enclosure and an "unlocked ZIF socket for the IR sensor," two things, said iFixit, that should not be found inside a completely unmolested computer with an $1,800 base price.
I couldn’t agree more with iFixit’s assessment. There is absolutely no excuse for a company like Apple, which prides its reputation for aesthetics and design, to ship products that have stripped screws.
I honestly question what the suits in such companies are thinking? Perhaps they’ve grown savvy to the apathy of the masses. Or perhaps slapping a one-year warranty on a $1,800.00USD piece of equipment creates a false sense of security because they know that you and I (aka The Consumer) might feel a strong compulsion to purchase an Applecare service plan at the ridiculous price of $250.00 for three years of extortion, errpp, I mean "protection". Regardless, I think it’s high time that we, as consumers, hold these companies responsible for what they ship.
In the end it is up to each one of us to vote with our wallets. We must entertain the idea of paying a tad bit more to a company that values quality and craftsmanship as diligently as it pursues innovation in the unceasing quest to increase the bottom line.
