I said [i]nearly[/i] 0%. Really, I'm not saying they don't happen - but it's not very common. My point was that such problems are not common enough to differentiate between popular manufacturers, whose standard of build quality is roughly equivalent. Even when there are physical problems, most warranties will last long enough until you will replace your computer (or until the problems manifest themselves).

Once again, I was being liberally hyperbolic. These problems do exist, but they are not substantial enough to warrant differentiating between manufacturers.

Edit: A good reason (well, to some) to get a MacBook Air - the reason I would imagine about 99%* of its purchasers will have - is that it's just cool. Sure, it has practical functions, which we're all discussing - but that is not its appeal at all. Apple's ([i]brilliant[/i]) marketers know this. You can differentiate yourself, and show it off to your friends, who will undoubtedly be amazed. I know if someone walked in with one of them, I'd be totally checking it out.

It's the "World's Thinnest Laptop." Like GR said, it's not the most convenient. Like everyone said, it's not the most practical. But it does have a cool factor of 10. Hence, Apple Computer. It's like the iPod - a little pricier, not necessarily the most practical or versatile...but nothing comes close to matching its [i]X[/i] factor.

*Don't quote me on this.

The cool factor is definitely the reason most people get it. My first reaction while watching the conference (before they announced the price lol) was "Oh man it fits in a manila fucking envelope I must have it." I almost hate Apple for how good their marketing is.

I do start to hate them when it comes to mp3 players. There are players out there that have more features, play more formats, have better sound quality, for roughly the same price. Creative, Cowon, iAudio, and even Microsoft's new Zune is really nice. People buy iPods, though, because they have dancing silhouettes, which worked *SO* incredibly well, iPod is now to mp3 as Kleenex is to tissue paper.

I'm looking forward to the second-gen Air. (And the 3G iPhone too. I refuse to buy a high-tech phone that features the decisively low-tech EDGE network.)

[quote="sonic3305"]iPod is now to mp3 as Kleenex is to tissue paper.[/quote]

Yeah, much of the reason people buy them (I have one) is that they're just not aware there's any competition. So many people know of the iPod (and maybe the Zune), but are still "Creative? iRiver? Sansa? What the heck is that?"

I got an iPod because I saw how long all my friends's iPods had lasted without a single problem, but those were the pre-video ones. My iPod died and got replaced in about four months.

That's definitely the problem with other mp3 player makers, they don't advertise (except the Zune, they've had a huge marketing push and have sold quite a few units since the 2nd gen ones came out, I got one for Christmas).

I think the best manufacturer for mp3 players is Creative, I've had two players from them and they both lasted 3-4 years, crashed maybe once every few months, supported any audio/video format I use without conversion, they have great stufff... but they're a company of engineers, who for some reason, believe the quality of the product is what makes it sell, and don't really market at all.

A lot of companies mistakenly believe that quality translates to preferability. You hear it all the time - people with brilliant ideas fail. You see it all the time - mediocre ideas become hit sensations. C'est la vie.

Something to consider, though, is that - very much like autos - iPods have always looked amazing, and each new incarnation makes the last one look ugly. I've never seen a non-iPod mp3 player that, from just looking at it and holding it, I could say to myself, "Yeah, this is the shit right here." It's that [i]X[/i] factor. I like to think of myself as a very objective and practical person (and I believe I've shown myself to be), but when it comes to [i]having stuff[/i], just like every other person, all that objectivity is easily discarded.


***In reference to my previous post, I also want to mention that I'm not pretending I know more about computers than terra, as that would just be silly of me. Odds are, you should just listen to her and ignore me. However, as a technologically proficient user of computers, the above is my informed opinion.

The iPod has definitely had that "look." I think it's finally changing, though. The iPod Classic looks sort of doughy, and the iPod touch doesn't appeal to many people.

I think the Zune is the first mp3 player that could possibly out-sexy the iPod, cause damn, is the new Zune sexy. The interface also rocks.

the ipod classic is appealing to a narrower and narrower band of people. Not a lot of people will want or need 160 Gb of space on their ipod. i have trouble putting good music on 30 Gb(about 50% there).

the iphone is probably the real future of ipod unless apple decides to do some serious upgrading to the classic.

[quote="sheerheartattack"]I said [i]nearly[/i] 0%. Really, I'm not saying they don't happen - but it's not very common. My point was that such problems are not common enough to differentiate between popular manufacturers, whose standard of build quality is roughly equivalent. Even when there are physical problems, most warranties will last long enough until you will replace your computer (or until the problems manifest themselves).[/quote]

I suppose I should have written >> 0%.

I also suppose I'm mostly thinking of 'software problems' as problems that are due to out of the box software/OS defects that might surface during normal, rational usage (in the same vein that HW issues coverable by warranty might arise)- not user created problems such as picking up tons of viruses from browsing porn without any sort of virus scanner.

From my experience, most people's problems are the result of their actions (even if those actions entail normal, rational usage), rather than inherent problems with software and hardware. I suppose that was my point, which I did not make very well.

For instance, the number one affliction of PC's these days is spyware and adware, especially since it's so persistent (it may very well be impossible, it seems, to not have any spyware on a normal computer that connects regularly to the internet).

The thing about software and hardware problems, is that they are all generally removed to an acceptable level by any [i]good[/i] company - and if they are not, a recall will happen (once again, by a [i]good[/i] company). So when you're comparing Dell and HP and Gateway and Apple, you're really not thinking, "which one has the best motherboard manufacturer?"

...Unless you are, and I'm simply ignorant, which I recognize is a possibility. I don't profess to be at terra's level of technological familiarity.

[quote="sheerheartattack"]
...Unless you are, and I'm simply ignorant, which I recognize is a possibility. I don't profess to be at terra's level of technological familiarity.[/quote]

I've never seen this side of you, Sheer being subservient?

I am just as aware of where credit is due as I am aware of where it is not.

[quote="sheerheartattack"]So when you're comparing Dell and HP and Gateway and Apple, you're really not thinking, "which one has the best motherboard manufacturer?"[/quote]

For the average user - certainly.

For people who like to delve into the technical details... well, that question is sometimes irrelevant as people like that often want to assemble their own computer.

It all depends on how much granularity you care to concern yourself with, and what features are most important to you, just like anything else.

i'd like to chime in with support for creative.. i've owned two of their mp3 players... both of which still work... one is like 7 years old, the other is 1.5 years old.

next, i also work in tech support for (my fellow) college kids... i've worked in the computer labs where the macs are riddled with crap and glitches and they crash harder and more frequently than the windows machines (because the windows machines use that weird imaging thing i mentioned earlier). the biggest problem i have right now is not the computers... they're all teh same... they all have launch buttons and a start button and all crash... but the users. you can't convince a mac user that his computer is the same as a windows one. especially since apple moved to x86, their hardware has been going to shit. they don't have a reason to charge so much, other than that they have a devoted following that will pay for it.

oh, and while i'm at it... apple is a company of hypocrites and child pedophiles who believe in drm and profiting off of open source code and blah blah blah

also, the reason windows machines cause hard drive failures is that college kids don't understand that windows has swap space, they just don't tell you about it like a linux/unix box does. so when your HD is completely full... there's nowhere for the files to go and shit goes berserk. ever since i lost a hard drive and started doing my research into how windows works, i've laways kept like %20 of my drive free... i've also never had another drive fail .

[quote="zenkalia"]::doesn't even matter, cause I don't read things zenk writes::[/quote]