Adam.Frix@f200.n226.z1.FIDONET.ORG (Adam Frix) (10/24/89)
Marsh Gosnell writes: >I have read all the horror stories about the problems with Quantum >drives. Is this limited to a particular batch of drives and corrected >(finally) in machines being manufactured now? People don't seem happy >with the Quantum ROM fix from the standpoint of both noise and >performance. > >Is this what I have to look forward to if I buy a machine with a hard >disk in it from Apple? > Marsh Gosnell mkg@lzsc.att.com Funny, I don't have a bit of trouble with my Jasmine DD40, which is the same HDA as Apple uses..... Obviously, what you have to look forward to if you buy an Apple hard drive is, most importantly, a 90 day warranty on the very same mechanism 3d party vendors give a 2 to 5 year warranty on. Sure, Apple's extended their warranties on certain 40 and 80 meg drives, up to October 1991--but ONLY after _much_ teeth-gnashing, complaining from users, and heavy discussion with their lawyers (who apparently came to the conclusion, very slowly, that Apple had better do something voluntarily or else be held liable in a class-action suit--isn't it so comforting to know that the company you bought your computer from only provides a decent warranty and factory customer support as a last resort??). My Jasmine drive, shipped to my home in June 1989, came with a warranty through June 1991 as a _feature_. (If anyone cares, this replaces a DD45 that gave up the ghost for the third time in 9 months, so Jasmine gave me a brand-new 40 and a new warranty to compensate for the fact that I got a few megs less storage out of the deal.) Also, if you buy an Apple drive, you get their WONDERFUL dealer support, which usually includes dealers saying the magic words "we don't know anything about that, it's $1200 to swap you to a new 40 meg drive" or some such nonsense. Let me take a poll here: how many people on the net have had the infamous Apple 40 and 80 drive problem, have taken their machines to their dealers for the factory fix, and have encountered either blank stares or repairmen mumbling "three weeks to the bench, then we'll have to order the part if we don't have it"? How many people are tired of dealer service where the tech might know the name of the screwdriver he uses to unscrew your Mac, but wouldn't know a soldering iron if it was plugged in and sitting on his chair? Dealer service consists of _a lot_ of board swapping at great customer expense to fix problems that a competent tech, if available, could fix with a soldering iron and a few minutes time. Alas, such a competent tech person is rarely available. Hence, customer end up spending a lot of money at Apple dealers for service. Can you divine my opinion on this issue? 8-) Buy the basic, BASIC, box from Apple, and shop around for everything else. Get a third party hard drive. Your mouse goes kapooey? Get a third party pointing device. SEs on up don't come with keyboards--look at the third-party keyboards before you agree to buy the Apple brand. Getting a modular Mac? Best check out those third party displays and video boards to see if anyone else offers a better deal. Need more RAM? Well, if you buy from Apple, they charge $999 list for a two meg upgrade with a 90 day warranty. Installation not included. Obviously, no one pays that $999, but SIMM vendors are all over the place who will sell you two megs for $168 to $210 or so; even adding in Apple dealer installation at $40, you're still way ahead. And those SIMMs come with anywhere from a 5-year to a lifetime warranty. I kinda wish Apple would sell a IIci without RAM and drop the price $500. I mean, who the hell can use a 1 meg RAM, one floppy setup? If they sell RAM for $999 for two megs, then that IIci should cost $500 less with no memory, right? If you gotta buy memory anyway, why not have the option to buy it all and save a few bucks? "Aha," you say, "that's not the Apple way. The machines must be usable out of the box." A IIci with one meg RAM = usable? Usable, perhaps, but not feasible. Just as I'd rather buy my hard drive from someone else, I'd also rather buy my RAM--ALL of it--from someone else and save the money. Flames in e-mail, please. I like Apple products, and I like my Mac, but I don't have to like the way they do business. And I don't have to like _everything_ they sell. A blind follower, I'll never be. Except, of course, for Honda. (bow, scrape, genuflect.) --Adam-- -- Adam Frix via cmhGate - Net 226 fido<=>uucp gateway Col, OH UUCP: ...!osu-cis!n8emr!cmhgate!200!Adam.Frix INET: Adam.Frix@f200.n226.z1.FIDONET.ORG
gft_robert@gsbacd.uchicago.edu (10/27/89)
In article <27203.25457118@cmhgate.FIDONET.ORG>, Adam.Frix@f200.n226.z1.FIDONET.ORG (Adam Frix) writes... [complaints against Apple re: HD's, dealers] >Can you divine my opinion on this issue? 8-) Buy the basic, BASIC, box >from Apple, and shop around for everything else. Get a third party hard >drive. Your mouse goes kapooey? Get a third party pointing device. SEs >on up don't come with keyboards--look at the third-party keyboards before >you agree to buy the Apple brand. Getting a modular Mac? Best check out >those third party displays and video boards to see if anyone else offers a >better deal. Need more RAM? Well, if you buy from Apple, they charge >$999 list for a two meg upgrade with a 90 day warranty. Installation not >included. Obviously, no one pays that $999, but SIMM vendors are all over I agree with much of what you say; Apple would seem to be not going out of its way to do right by the customer with re to the hard drive affair. But, as you point out, you can always get a 3rd party drive. And should, since you get considerably more bang for the buck. One point, though: the monitors from Apple (at least the smaller ones) are some of the best around. (But I'd get a RasterOps 24 bit card over the Apple 8 bit card.) > A blind follower, I'll never be. Except, of >course, for Honda. (bow, scrape, genuflect.) Honda has engaged in some of the same sort of customer-unfriendliness at times over the past few years: not going out of their way to inform customers about widespread problems, switching from 5 MPH bumpers to 2.5, etc. And many Honda dealers probably make Apple dealers look like angels (I worked at one of the former for a short time. BTW, MacWeek sez that Apple is planning/considering instituting a 1 warranty. About time. Robert ============================================================================ = gft_robert@gsbacd.uchicago.edu * generic disclaimer: * "It's more fun to = = crsp_ra@gsbacd.uchicago.edu * all my opinions are * compute" = = * mine * -Kraftwerk = ============================================================================