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If I had bought it brand-new, then yes, probably.
I bought my Jeep brand-new in '07 and it has yet to visit any other shop than the one I purchased it at and I haven't had any reason to complain about that service. Sure, it may be a little bit more expensive, but I'm assured of getting the work done right or having them re-do the task right then if it's wrong at no extra charge. Apple usually treats their customers the same way; give good service, keep loyal customers.
Now, if I had bought my G3 iBook at 10-years-old and needed a repair, then, like my Ford truck at 22, maybe not. It's so far out of warranty that quite honestly anything could be wrong and just as honestly the odds of them having factory-built repair parts on hand gets pretty slim; just letting them 'sit' on your truck can cost you money in some cases. You're almost always assured that any repair is going to be major, like the complete replacement of the front brake system on that Ford truck before I could even drive it home as well as finding out I had to replace one of the exhaust manifolds. No, I didn't go to the dealership for those repairs but I can't say I saved any money on the jobs either--they were still expensive.
I have never really considered the Mac overpriced except when I simply couldn't afford them and had to 'make do' with what I could find. I got lucky and bought my first Mac--used--for $200 and it served me well until I could afford to replace it with a newer model. I never had to have it repaired. That, by the way, was an early Mac Plus--only the third or fourth model made and retailed for nearly $2000 when new. Sure, it had a floppy drive, but I was able to attach a 40MB hard drive for file storage with no issues.
Only once in all my years of owning Macs did I ever have a catastrophic failure and that was with the third-gen iMac; I ordered it new and had it fail out of the box. Apple acknowledged the problem and recommended two different authorized repair centers in my area to take it to. Both repair centers insisted on a troubleshooting fee despite Apple's written statement that the warranty would cover all fees and repairs. I chose NOT to use either shop and advised Apple of this practice. Believe it or not, that is one reason why Apple chose to go Brick and Mortar--they simply couldn't trust many of their Authorized Repair Centers. Instead, Apple cross-shipped me a brand-new unit, waiting until I was happy with the replacement before requiring me to return the defective model. This, by the way, was in 1999 when they were still very tiny compared to the competition. Apple has never given me reason to dislike their hardware, their OS or their services.
I'm more worried about the cheapskates that only buy the cheapest, most commodity parts and materials available. I don't want to trust any of my information to a device that could fail even hours after purchase without backup. That's why I normally don't buy Ford (their trucks do have a better reputation) and that's normally why I don't buy either HP or Dell--much less any of those other brands. When I do buy a Windows PC, I don't buy the cheapest model they make, either. I tend to go for the mid-range models that are priced only slightly lower than an 'equivalent' Mac. These models tend to last at least a few years longer.
Now, if I had bought my G3 iBook at 10-years-old and needed a repair, then, like my Ford truck at 22, maybe not. It's so far out of warranty that quite honestly anything could be wrong and just as honestly the odds of them having factory-built repair parts on hand gets pretty slim; just letting them 'sit' on your truck can cost you money in some cases. You're almost always assured that any repair is going to be major, like the complete replacement of the front brake system on that Ford truck before I could even drive it home as well as finding out I had to replace one of the exhaust manifolds. No, I didn't go to the dealership for those repairs but I can't say I saved any money on the jobs either--they were still expensive.
I have never really considered the Mac overpriced except when I simply couldn't afford them and had to 'make do' with what I could find. I got lucky and bought my first Mac--used--for $200 and it served me well until I could afford to replace it with a newer model. I never had to have it repaired. That, by the way, was an early Mac Plus--only the third or fourth model made and retailed for nearly $2000 when new. Sure, it had a floppy drive, but I was able to attach a 40MB hard drive for file storage with no issues.
Only once in all my years of owning Macs did I ever have a catastrophic failure and that was with the third-gen iMac; I ordered it new and had it fail out of the box. Apple acknowledged the problem and recommended two different authorized repair centers in my area to take it to. Both repair centers insisted on a troubleshooting fee despite Apple's written statement that the warranty would cover all fees and repairs. I chose NOT to use either shop and advised Apple of this practice. Believe it or not, that is one reason why Apple chose to go Brick and Mortar--they simply couldn't trust many of their Authorized Repair Centers. Instead, Apple cross-shipped me a brand-new unit, waiting until I was happy with the replacement before requiring me to return the defective model. This, by the way, was in 1999 when they were still very tiny compared to the competition. Apple has never given me reason to dislike their hardware, their OS or their services.
I'm more worried about the cheapskates that only buy the cheapest, most commodity parts and materials available. I don't want to trust any of my information to a device that could fail even hours after purchase without backup. That's why I normally don't buy Ford (their trucks do have a better reputation) and that's normally why I don't buy either HP or Dell--much less any of those other brands. When I do buy a Windows PC, I don't buy the cheapest model they make, either. I tend to go for the mid-range models that are priced only slightly lower than an 'equivalent' Mac. These models tend to last at least a few years longer.
Posted by Vulpinemac
14th Jul
