Making a decision on Wednesday

[apples]

I have to buy a new laptop on Wednesday, but i am worried about the quality of apple products. It seems that they are good about some things, but not others.
Here is my problem:
The iBooks are out of the question. I find the quality of the 14-inch to be lacking horribly. Furthermore, my little brother got a 12-inch, but his keyboard would double type letters. We tried all the fixes suggested, and saw that other buyers had this problem, too. The two exchanges we made had this problem as well, so he gave up on apple and returned it.
I also keep reading about various problems about the Powerbooks regarding heat, warping, failing logic boards, displays, and trackpads. These problems can be huge issues, and I want to know how common these problems are, before I buy if Apple updates on Wed. I have waited a long time for these updates, but after all this time, I am on the verge of buying a US$1,400 AMD Turion 64 14" HDWidescreen with specs that blow away current PB specs. BUT! It doesn't have Tiger... Help, I am going crazy not knowing what to do.

[Franz Josef]

On the whole, build quality with PowerBooks is first rate. There are very few problems. Any product which sells in its millions will have occasional issues but don't be mislead into thinking build quality is low - it certainly isn't. In my experience Dell laptop build quality is much worse. I've seen repreated and regular trackpad, keyboard and screen issues - in the last three years I've used four Dells (ie the original was replaced three times) simply because of silly build issues with trackpad and screen.

But you put your finger on the real issue - that 14" laptop doesn't run OS X. Look before you leap. Do yourself a favour and buy a PowerBook or iBook but watch timing with the 12th Oct announcement.

And BTW, welcome to AppleNova :)

[Spits]

You have to realise that people are more likely to post a problem than to post positive things. So if you search on fora in the internet you will find way more problems than positive things about the powerbook.

[usurp]

I think the build quality of the ibooks is superb. I mean they were built to be nearly indestructible :)

[atomicbartbeans]

Yeah, you'll get problems with any computer, once in a while. But Apple still has by far the lowest repair rate of any computer company. You'll find lots more people with Dell problems than Apple problems. And, Dell has much worse customer support and repair service than Apple. Just an anecdote... a good friend of mine got a newish Dell laptop in pristine condition (except for a hosed battery that failed 3 weeks after the warranty expired) from a cousin. He's had it for about 2 months. In this time, the hard disk has crashed (he got an $80 replacement on Ebay), the trackpad has gotten too glitchy to be useable, the "K" key broke off (not popped off, broke off). He hasn't been rough on it; no, it has just been sitting on his desk. This isn't just Dell... you'll find this kind of stuff with any discount laptop company.

Apple, on the other hand, builds quality stuff. Most Powerbooks from as early as 1997 (http://www.apple-history.com/?page=gallery&model=pg3&performa=off&sort=date&order=ASC) are still in use today. If something does go wrong with a Mac, you can rest assured that Apple's support is the best in the industry. :)

Also, don't forget that 1. The G4 processor has more power per clock cycle than x86 processors, and 2. Tiger is a much faster, more stable, and more efficient OS than XP. It's really not fair to make cross-platform and cross-architecture speed comparisons simply based on clock speed, bus speed, etc, because they don't really mean much in real-world tests.

[apples]

Thanks, all. I'm realy hoping to see something big happen on the 12th. If the PB's get any serious bump, then I will bite.

[Franz Josef]

A timely reminder from today's UK Guardian about Apple reliability - http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,3604,1585583,00.html .

[scrouds]

I think the build quality of the ibooks is superb. I mean they were built to be nearly indestructible :)

Completely Seconded there. My dad ran over my Mom's G3 iBook with a electric wheelchair. It survived with nary a scratch.

These iBooks will take a lot of abuse, just look at some of these school districts. Apple is expected to be perfect, and stories of them failing are usually blown more out of proportion then their PC counterparts.

I bought an iBook because it was a great value for the money, small, great battrey life, and i know it will take my abuse. And i'd be heartbroken the first time i dented a 12" powerbook. And i know it would happen.