Linus Torvalds (torvalds@linux-foundation.org) on 9/18/09 wrote:
---------------------------
>Richard Stacpoole (rstacpoole@iinet.net.au) on 9/17/09 wrote:
>>
>>You don't see a massive difference in feel and sound
>>between when you pick up a Macbook Pro and a plastic
>>laptop?
>
>Umm. The enclosure quality is what you care about?

The enclosure is one aspect of what I care about. It is also the first thing you see with a new machine. Pick it up and you instantly feel the difference. You also pay for it. I am sure the machining required to do this is not cheap. Probably why no other company has done it before.

>Apple doesn't actually have all that great a track record
>on actual quality components. They've used 6-bit screens
>for their "professional" laptop screens, and they've had
>several component issues.

And name the PC manufacturer that hasn't. I am not here to defend Apple, it is just that they sell a large number of over $1000.00 machine and are therefore relevant to the original discussion.

>As a personal anecdote, the last computer (not counting
>overheating laptop harddisks) that failed for me was an
>Apple machine that blew out its power supply. The fact
>that the enclosure was machined aluminum and very pretty
>didn't help at all - it was a pretty brick.

>It happens to everybody, don't get me wrong. But if you
>think Apple is any better than the others on a hardware
>level, you're kidding yourself. Buy Apple for the ability
>to avoid Windows and for the nice industrial design, but
>don't go around thinking that you get any higher quality
>hardware than anywhere else.

In ten years of supporting machines at a University I had a good feel for what failed and how much maintenance different machines required. The low end laptops never lasted three years and when your capital grants come in three year cycles they had to. I know we almost always got two full three year cycles out of Apple gear and then gave them away to local schools. By then I was scavenging parts from PC's to keep a dwindling pool of them alive.

>The design is often worth it, though. I like mac mini's,
>for example - I like laptop components (small and quiet),
>and they aren't as butt ugly as some of the stuff out there.

I personally like the silence of my iMac, no noise at all when the hard drive isn't spinning.

>But I don't fool myself into thinking they are any higher
>quality than the other stuff I have (and I obviously end
>up having to upgrade the software ;)
>
>Linus

I can only go on my experience. As more of a BSD guy myself you'll excuse me if I think it is not an upgrade;)