Apple Air Unnecessarily Expensive

[zekrahminator]

The Apple Air was recently pushed out into the public. The public doesn't mind it, and for those who can actually afford it, it's quite a nice laptop. It's thin, it's light, it's powerful, and it's easy to use. However, an independent firm got curious as to exactly why the Air was so expensive, so thin, and so pretty. So, they took it apart, and promptly declared it was like nothing they've ever seen, in a very bad way. Beneath the glowering surface is an ugly interior, which uses unnecessary materials, and quite possibly keeps heat trapped inside. The official statement from the investigators:

Based on the results of our teardown project, we guess Apple is not paying much attention to both workmanship of the hardware design and comprehensive cost reduction. The company seems to have focused on aspects, where its expertise lies, such as external appearance, software and user interfaces.

View at TechPowerUp Main Site

 

[GSG-9]

im not shocked at all.

 

[oli_ramsay]

...uses unnecessary materials, and quite possibly keeps heat trapped inside.

I wonder how long before they start exploding in people's lap?

 

[mysticjon]

apple keeps insisting the "plastic/chrome" is pretty...another battery issue

 

[bassmasta]

if I ever get one of these, I'm putting it in a mainella envelope and sending it back to myself, just to see if it would survive. theres really no other use for it.

 

[ShadowFold]

Arent all macs pretty on the outside and complete crap on the inside?

 

[das müffin mann]

pretty much, especially for that price

 

[GSG-9]

not as much as they used to be, but yes.

 

[Ravenas]

I think this article is referring to the environmentally friendly materials to create the laptops. The downfall of those materials is that they are less used, and thus more expensive. This drives the cost of manufacturing up.

 

[zekrahminator]

Now that would certainly explain things, one man's trash is another man's treasure .


I'm not saying that eco-friendly stuff is trash, but you get my point. I suppose that if each of us had $2k+ to spend on laptops, we could form a conclusion of our own.

But we don't. So meh.

Speculation is more fun anyways .

 

[Ravenas]

I would personally wait a while to buy these ultra portable laptops, early adopters are going to screwed on this deal.

 

[wiak]

no siish sherlock
MACs = over priced PCs

like a Macbook for 9000 nok has 1GB RAM, 80GB HD, Core 2 Duo
you get a laptop with 2GB RAM, 250GB HD, Core 2 Duo for 8000 nok
so MACs are overpriced PCs

 

[Triprift]

I paid about 3'500 bucks ozzy for my lappy so id say there woudnt be much difference in price

 

[FatForester]

The article is about the Air's costly engineering design flaws, not materials used. It took 30 screws to undo the keyboard...

 

[Mussels]

The article is about the Air's costly engineering design flaws, not materials used. It took 30 screws to undo the keyboard...

it does help if people follow the links. 30 screws is... excessive. this DOES drive costs up, as it takes screws and people/machines to screw them all in.

 

[flashstar]

It takes 4 screws to remove the keyboard on my 2001 Thinkpad T23. The entire machine can be taken apart down to the plastic base board in 20 screws. I've also taken the whole thing apart 3 times without losing anything.

Thinkpad>Macbook

Just an interesting analysis. People today are so shallow.

 

[Wile E]

no siish sherlock
MACs = over priced laptops

Fixed.

Their desktops are very fairly priced.

 

[imperialreign]

Fixed.

Their desktops are very fairly priced.

I'm truly curious how much real stress these new laptops can take - after ssing the advertisements and all, I know for sure one wouldn't last a day under my care - let alone a week. They look way too flimsy, and unless the case is made out of steel . . .

 

[Triprift]

My lappy looks pretty sturdy yet ive had to replace the screen so id say it would pretty bad in sturdiness dept.

 

[WhiteLotus]

yea the advert where it gets pulled out of envelope is all well and good but damn i bet it wont be that sturdy in real life.

unless they don't want you to take it apart, so you know you need to get it fixed. Dont worry send it to apple and they'll do it for you...for a price

 

[ChillyMyst]

yea the advert where it gets pulled out of envelope is all well and good but damn i bet it wont be that sturdy in real life.

unless they don't want you to take it apart, so you know you need to get it fixed. Dont worry send it to apple and they'll do it for you...for a price

apple dosnt want people fixing/upgrading their systems, they have and i would be alwase will be the "throw it away and buy a new one" type of upgrade.

this dosnt suprise me at all, apples "laptops" in my exp have alwase been over priced for the speed/power you get, and when ANYTHING goes wrong they want u to ship them back.


oh and i guarntee they wont accept RMA's if you ship it back in an invlope even a nice padded one, they will requier a nice padded box like your expected to ship any other laptop in.

 

[mandis]

not as much as they used to be, but yes.

My powerbook G4 has lasted me over 3.5 years now and still looks and performs like new. Of course this is because it is made out of aluminium which doesn't scratch or discolorate as easily as plastic and the motherboard and cpu were based on Apples older PPC architecture. Back in 2004 it was considered a really good laptop with numerous engineering innovations.

 

[jothy]

surprise, surprise....