Yes, things go wrong

Apple's products aren't bullet proof. Photo / Apple Inc

I know Apple has an enviable record of things not going wrong, but that doesn't mean Apple stuff is bullet proof.

I've had a CPU fail on a MacBook Pro just three months out of warranty. This was a couple of years ago. Apple pointed out the fact its year's standard warranty was finished, and asked me if I wanted to persist up the chain. Definitely yes - the replacement part was to cost me over $2000!

Apple was courteous and attentive on the 0800 number. I had begun to imagine I'd need to start shouting about the NZ Consumer Guarantees Act and, as a last resort, even tell them I wrote about Apple on the NZ Herald site so they'd better watch it!

In fact, I didn't do either. I was persistent that I wasn't happy; Apple decided, after just two days, to replace the CPU at no cost to myself.

I think it was persistence that paid off, and staying polite, actually. Apple studied its data (or so the rep told me) and there was no track record of this kind of failure with this particular Intel CPU. It was failing to register a charged battery, even when fully charged.
I know how to look after a computer, so the problem was out of the ordinary.

As for persistence, I have heard from New Zealanders who caved at the first hurdle: 'sorry sir/madam, it's out of warranty' and gone away most unhappy with Apple. So my advice is: persist, stay polite, and if your case is in fact reasonable, you may well achieve satisfaction.
And you can always fall back on our regime's Consumer Guarantees Act. That's what it's for, and it does protect you. Most countries have nothing like it.

It was widely expected in the (much smaller) historic Mac community that if Apple ever made it with the Mac, quality would drop. This doesn't actually appear to be the case, but more Macs sold mean more problems, even if the percentages haven't changed.

In a more recent instance, the owner of 2010 (but barely-used) MacBook Pro 13-inch showed me a strange problem. As I looked at it, the problem got worse, and shortly ended up at Apple Resellers and technicians Wired Dog.

The hard drive was, inexplicably, failing. This MacBook Pro was also out of warranty, but Apple replaced the drive. The owner just paid for installation - Wired Dog even got all the data back onto it.

In NZ's Consumer organisation's 2010 satisfaction survey, a staggering 99 per cent of NZ Apple users said they would buy the same brand again. Sony, Dell, HP/Compaq and Asus all got over 90%, and Toshiba and Acer were under.

Apple, and the Apple reseller Magnum Mac (which is becoming rebranded as 'Yoobee') rated first and third respectively for after-sales advice and support in Consumer's survey.

Consumer also said "Macs have always been more stylish and aesthetically pleasing than their PC counterparts. Mac computers can be found in several different forms and tend to lead the way in innovative and intuitive design."
(You may need membership to read the report.)

When you buy a new Mac, you will most likely be offered an extended three-year AppleCare warranty. I never know whether to recommend these or not. (Sorry, Apple.) The fact is, you should be covered, for normal use, by New Zealand's outstanding Consumer Guarantees Act, but what you do get is instant service and very fast parts change-out, without having to go through the palaver hanging on the telephone and conferring with your local tech.

You have to imagine what it's like in a country without a consumer guarantees act. For example, read this story from HardMac in France, which does charge, as it happens, falling standards in Mac hardware.

But if a local reseller tries to sell you AppleCare here, it's possible they'll make more money out of that than from selling you the pricey Mac in the first place. I don't actually know what the figures are, so feel free (anonymously or otherwise) to correct me if I'm way off, but I think a NZ Apple Reseller gets just 8% profit from selling a Mac.
Whereas if Apple sold the same Mac in an Apple Store of online, it may get between 20-40% pure profit. (I don't know the figures for certain - the resellers won't talk.)

The conditions are pretty rough by anyone's measure. Eight per cent is one hell of a tight margin for holding stock, training staff, maintaining retail space and trying to keep the place looking as slick as an Apple Store ... Considering Apple mandates every price of every new Mac sold in the world, and controls the whole retail process down to actually owning the tables and controlling what's on them in the large NZ chains like JB HiFi and Noel Leeming, you have to feel for the local vendors.

You also have to wonder why Apple puts such a squeeze on its resellers. They have to jump through hoops to get accreditation, yet still they go there. So ... it must be worthwhile, right? Are they selling that many Macs? Quite possibly.

But it's not hard to imagine reseller trepidation at the thought Apple may open an Apple store here one day and blow them even further out of the water. I mean, where would you rather shop?
Apple is in a powerful position. It makes loads of money. Its users become brand fanatics.

The firm also topped Consumer's test results for large laptops. The 17-inch MacBook Pro got an overall score of 86%, the HP Probook 4720s WP426PA (gosh, that name fair trips off the tongue, doesn't it?) got 80%, and Dell's Alienware M17C Core i7 rated 77. The prices were $4359, $1782 and $3699 back then (April 2010). That HP's a bargain. Except the performance out of 10 was measured at 7.9 for the HP; the Alienware scored 8.7.

The MacBook Pro scored 9.2.

The latest MacBooks are at least a third more powerful than the one tested by Consumer in September last year, as I guess new PCs are too, if they've gone to Sandy Bridge.

By the way, you commenters who say Apple is only at '4% worldwide' PC use: Consumer put the worldwide figure at 6% in April 2010. Not 4. And it's certainly grown since then.

'Worldwide', of course, includes locales where Apple Macs are not even sold. In locales where Apple is sold, it ranges up to16%.
It wasn't that long ago when it was 3%.

- Mark Webster mac-nz.com