Apple and google - dumbest things an iPad cannot do!

mini · February 25, 2012, 7:30pm

I’ve had my ASUS netbook for almost five years, with no breakdowns or problems whatsoever. In that period of time, both of my d’s newer Apple notebooks have crashed and burned. And both replacements (supplied by Apple) had problems.

emeraldkity4 · February 25, 2012, 7:37pm

The NVIDIA graphics processors had a huge failure rate. Apple fixed them within four years of purchase.
[MacBook</a> Pro: Distorted video or no video issues](<a href=“http://support.apple.com/kb/TS2377?viewlocale=en_US&locale=en_US]MacBook”>http://support.apple.com/kb/TS2377?viewlocale=en_US&locale=en_US)

romanigypsyeyes · February 25, 2012, 7:38pm

The only perk I can see for Macs is that they’re less likely to get viruses.

However, in 7 years of owning my own PC, I’ve never gotten a virus. Really, it’s not hard to avoid viruses so that argument always made me chuckle a little.

turbo93 · February 25, 2012, 7:51pm

Apple has their own ways of doing things, especially making things non-user accessible like batteries. That is downright silly. I replaced the battery in a 1st gen Nano, not fun, now I’m doing a 1st gen iTouch, ditto.

My issue with Apple is what others said in the thread. For what they’re charging they ought to either pay their workers a much higher wage (fat chance), or build the products in the US (fat chance), or provide a user experience outright second to none (fat chance). Or, drop the price (fat chance).

A lot of the products that Apple competes against by now are commodities. I’ve replaced 3 MP3 players (all Sandisk’s :)) for what the equivalent Apple product costs. Apple routinely commands a 2x premium, be it tablets, phones, or mp3 players. Laptops… don’t get me started. Their products are very good, granted, but not twice as good.

BCEagle91 · February 25, 2012, 8:10pm

Perhaps you should be a consultant for Dell, Samsung, Sony and HP.
They are having difficulty building something comparable to the
MacBook Air at a lower price point for the same functionality. They
keep asking Intel to discount processors to them so that they can get
below the Ultrabook benchmark price. They’re having to cheat on SSD
and materials.

My MacBook Pro is four years old and it’s an absolute workhorse - the
thing that I like most about it is the operating system - it is really
nice having native X. On Windows systems, I have to run an Ubuntu VM
which means that I need higher specs and have to startup and manage
the VM.

Apple owners are paying for quality of service. If and when you have
a problem, you bring it to your local store for repairs. If you don’t
have a local store, then the value equation changes.

I think that the nVidia problems were the biggest causes for failure
with MBPs but this was an industry-wide problem. It appears that there
was a second round of nVidia discrete graphics failures in the 2010
models.

I just installed Ad-Block Plus and FlashBlock on Firefox on my home
desktop and my notebook. I’m going to install it on my work system
too. Flash is way to intrusive and allows too much tracking and costs
too much in bandwidth. It is so nice not feeling that you’re being
stalked by the websites you visit.

One major perk with MBPs is that they have used the same power adapter
for at least the last 7 years. It is so nice to buy one knowing that
you can use it for your current system and your systems into the
future. For college students, it’s nice knowing that you can use the
power adapter of another student in a pinch. I have a number of old
Dell laptops and, for some reason, they come out with a new adapter
for just about every model so that if you don’t want to carry one
around and just leave them in your home and office, you wind up
collecting power adapters.

We had a corporate-wide Windows virus several years ago. Microsoft had
a gaping security hole and this shut down thousands of businesses for
three to five days many summers ago. I brought my laptop into the
office, plugged it into the corporate network and it was infected in a
minute.

Microsoft has been sending out a ton of software updates the last
three months. Many of these are mandatory/serious updates.

“But as Steven P. Jobs of Apple spoke, President Obama interrupted with
an inquiry of his own: what would it take to make iPhones in the
United States?”

"The president’s question touched upon a central conviction at
Apple. It isn’t just that workers are cheaper abroad. Rather, Apple’s
executives believe the vast scale of overseas factories as well as the
flexibility, diligence and industrial skills of foreign workers have
so outpaced their American counterparts that “Made in the U.S.A.” is
no longer a viable option for most Apple products. "

<a href=“http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/22/business/apple-america-and-a-squeezed-middle-class.html?pagewanted=all[/url]”>http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/22/business/apple-america-and-a-squeezed-middle-class.html?pagewanted=all</a>

I’ve lost about 50 pounds with my iPod Nano and my Sennheiser Adidas
headphones. A friend of mine was just diagnosed with diabetes. What
is losing 50 pounds worth to me? Probably $100K.

On costing twice as much, the iPad came out and prospective
competitors expected the price to start in the $800 to $1,000
range. Hewlett Packard had demoed a model that was going to start
around $1,000 - they made the announcement a few months before the
iPad launched. HP scrapped the tablet. The iPad didn’t have any
shipping competition for the rest of the year as competitors tried
to figure out how to make something that started at $500.

Apple’s MacBook Airs, had no competition for about three years and
even now, are difficult for competitors to match on features and
price assuming equivalent materials and specs.

Their laptops are expensive (mine was $2,700 and my price range for
my next one is $3,000 to $5,000 as I’d like a 500 to 1000 GB SSD
drive). But you do get a lot for your money, if you make use of it.

romanigypsyeyes · February 25, 2012, 8:22pm

^ I can jog just as well with my Sandisk MP3 player as I can with my iPod… I worked out for years with my Sandisk and it worked just fine.

BCEagle91 · February 25, 2012, 8:31pm

I bought a SanDisk many years ago. It was fairly useless for running between crashing, poor battery life and its size. The iPod is pretty much a standard fixture for runners. It has a wide variety of accessories and there are clothing lines with pockets designed for them.

The bottom line is that I worked out with the iPod and I didn’t with the SanDisk. I also have several other brands that are sitting in my box of obsolete electronic gadgets, cables and power adapters.

turbo93 · February 25, 2012, 9:42pm

Sandisks are buggy as heck, but a few models do what they’re supposed to do. I have a Clip+ 8gb and another 8gb microSD for what, $50? great battery life, and if I step on it (I did to its predecessor) who cares… The Nano 16gb is $140-150. That’s laughable with all due respect.

The Sandisk also plays MP3 or WMA DRM, so I can listen to audio books from downloads from our library. The Apple products only MP3 DRM and then it’s a pain.

The same Clip+ model has worked well for Mrs. Turbo’s work outs, as well as DD2’s activities. Meanwhile, I have to pry open DD1’s iPod Touch 1st gen ($350) to replace a battery that costs $10-15 because the Genius bar wants $80 for the privilege.

The Clip (and every other Sandisk player I ever owned) also syncs as a Windows USB drive, while doing so on an Apple requires either iTunes, other software, or dark magic. Yea, the Apple product is ‘slick’, but for three times the price, it better be… I can charge it with a standard miniUSB so it’s one less cable to worry about, too.

No disagreement on the McBook Air, it’s awesome. The iPad is excellent as well. But pricy, both unfortunately.

A Mac Book Pro was nearly twice as much as the Lenovo T420 that both DD1 and Mrs. Turbo have. It’s slicker, granted, but the T420’s keyboard is lightyears ahead of the MBP’s, it has a 2nd bay for an SSD, is built like a tank, you can replace the battery (imagine that), and ok, it’s slightly larger…

mathmom · February 25, 2012, 9:48pm

Heh, I have a Lenovo T420 too. Gift from my DS who would never ever by me an Apple product. :)

BCEagle91 · February 25, 2012, 10:12pm

I made six figures trading AAPL stock last year. Apple products
are free from my perspective.

What is MP3 DRM?

Compared to what?

I have a 48 GB SSD (considering an upgrade to 96 GB) and a 1 TB
Western Digital HDD on my MacBook Pro. I could toss in a second
512 GB SSD in the optical bay with an adapter kit.

I can replace the battery on my MacBook Pro too. I just have to walk
into an Apple Store to buy one.

My MBP has 1920x1200 resolution. It’s great for engineering work. It
is quite difficult finding laptops with WUXGA resolution these days
as everyone is going to HD (1920x1080) max. I am happy to pay a few
more bucks for the extra 120 vertical pixels so that I can see more
lines of code.

I’m hoping that Apple puts the quad resolution tech that’s coming
in the iPad 3 into their MacBook Pros.

NurEins · February 25, 2012, 10:20pm

My husband has a MacBook Pro; I have a Lenovo T420s.

While his touchpad and screen are admittedly nicer, he’s envious of the fact that the Lenovo has a rollcage, is about half the weight of his, and does not administer third-degree burns when used in laptop position-- and that’s after a battery replacement, too.

No more Macs in this family’s future.

razorsharp · February 25, 2012, 10:37pm

An ipad is a toy. A laptop is a tool.

BCEagle91 · February 25, 2012, 10:43pm

I don’t know that I’d call it a toy. I don’t consider my television set a toy. I do use the iPad for work purposes (reading and writing email) and trading (looking at how foreign markets are doing in the early morning, reading news stories on the markets and sometimes checking out my stocks or stocks that I am interested in). I’d consider the iPad to be a tool too; just a different kind of tool.

Intel envisions the second generation of Ultrabooks to be convertible laptops - that is laptops that can convert to tablets that are light with great battery life. That will be very nice.

turbo93 · February 25, 2012, 11:01pm

That does not make Apple products any cheaper for the Hoi Polloi, I’m afraid. Mrs. Turbo made six figures trading some choice IT stocks during the dot com days but I doubt she’d ever want to work for them, free or not :)

It’s a ‘protected’ form of MP3 - kinda - that allows for example titles to be checked out from libraries using services like Overdrive ([OverDrive</a> – Global distributor of digital eBooks, audiobooks, music & video for library, school & retail](<a href=“http://www.overdrive.com%5DOverDrive”>http://www.overdrive.com)). Blessed be Apple, they were only added to Overdrive’s supported platforms recently, and only for MP3, not WMA. Not a major issue unless you listen to audiobooks, but it goes to show you that it helps to follow standards once in a while.

Sandisk has had a decent reputation making cheap, expandable, standards-adhering gadgets that last a couple years. They’re not ‘great’ by any standards, but they do the work, and are reasonably inexpensive. What more would I want?

My personal beef with Apple is that the product we make currently has to work with their stuff; and, of course, their stuff is all ‘this is how we do it and if you don’t like it tough luck’… Nothing like having the same code work with every Blackberry and Android phone out there via standard Bluetooth, and then having to re-do the code for iPhone because of Apple’s differences… Not to mention differences between various product lines, product generations, and the like.

The Lenovo W520 does support WUXGA I believe… And I think the T420.

BCEagle91 · February 25, 2012, 11:15pm

If your wife can make money trading, why do you worry about the
costs of these small little items?

I bought an audiobook from Amazon last year and I had no problems
listening to it on my iPod.

They left a bad taste in my mouth the last time I tried them. I didn’t
feel like giving them anymore chances.

I’m buying a lot more Nike and Adidas these days over Champion.

Is there stuff better? It seems to fit better and they appear to use
better materials.

Then don’t support Apple.

W520 is HD, not WUXGA. Lenovo’s laptops support WUXGA on external displays.

<a href=“http://www.lenovo.com/products/us/laptop/thinkpad/w-series/w520/w520_datasheet.pdf[/url]”>http://www.lenovo.com/products/us/laptop/thinkpad/w-series/w520/w520_datasheet.pdf</a>

WUXGA is rare in 17 inch laptops.

I don’t know of any 15 inch laptops currently sold with WUXGA.

I do own a 15 inch laptop with WUXGA. Unfortunately it’s a Pentium 4 from Dell that runs for about 20 minutes and then crashes because of heat issues. Nice display though. Everyone did 15 inch WUXGA around 2003-2004. Apparently the average person didn’t have good enough eyesight to want resolution that high.

Strange that everyone seems to think that super-high resolution is a must-have on phones today. At any rate, I do hope that it comes to MacBook Pros. I’d love a 15 inch MBP with 3300x2000 resolution.

soccerguy315 · February 25, 2012, 11:32pm

the only problem I’ve had with apple is that the battery on my college laptop died after 6 years… so for me, I am definitely getting higher quality.

I thought you were complaining the workers were not paid enough. I was offering you a solution to help.

To answer your other questions, the keyboard works fine for me, but I type way faster on an actual computer keyboard. I generally only use the ipad for apps and internet browsing though.

cobrat · February 25, 2012, 11:57pm

One thing which I continue to find amusing about tying Foxconn issues with Apple is how every alternative brand mentioned here has Foxconn components and/or was manufactured by Foxconn* or one of their domestic competitors.*^

If you want to minimize your exposure to Foxconn or other Chinese factories and you must have a notebook, your best bet is to buy notebooks actually manufactured in Japan, Korea, or North America/Europe…and even that’s iffy IME…not to mention so expensive it makes Apple look like a bargain.*

*^ i.e. Lenovo.

** If you find any that have comparable specs & prices to Apple or other popular OEM brands…let me know.

*** Panasonic Toughbooks which retails for a minimum of $2000 for really low specs compared to their contemporaries. They’re also not known for their sleek elegance or compactness as they were built to withstand abuse/punishment.

Out of curiosity, what model? If you’re having heat problems with a particular notebook after several years, I’d check the vents, CPU fan, and heat sink vents for accumulated dust.

Clearing that dust out tended to fix those heat problems in 8/10 cases on average over the years. The other possibilities are dead/dying CPU fan and/or too little/too much thermal compound applied between CPU and heatsink.

turbo93 · February 26, 2012, 12:54am

because in general, money does not grow on trees. Not in Elbonia, and not in America. A product or service has to provide value on its own merits, regardless of where the money to buy said product or service came from.

BCEagle91 · February 26, 2012, 8:27am

Inspiron 8500.

I’ve cleaned it. Many times.

Bad processor and laptop design.

There’s more than just dust - there’s gunk buildup. I bought it refurb - it worked for quite some time with significant external cooling and I used it for a lot of development work but I have given up on it.

Besides a battery that doesn’t hold a charge, weighing 8+ pounds and only having one charger and being dog-slow, it isn’t worth the effort to refurb it. My current MBP is light-years better and it’s four years old. I wanted to use it to display real-time charts but large panels are so cheap now that it’s easier to just buy a bunch of them and attach them to desktops.

Yes, but if your wife is so good with stock, then it literally does grow on trees.

Actually, central bankers just push a few buttons and it appears out of nowhere.

You just have to grab some of it.

When I want to buy something, I usually examine the company and trade the stock to make more than enough to cover the purchase. I’ve done that with Dell, Apple, Microsoft, Nike, Under Armor and other companies.

Pizzagirl · February 26, 2012, 8:33am

Turbo93 in post 38 – excellent. Very well stated.

Apple and google - dumbest things an iPad cannot do!

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