Proprietary elegance good enough? (Was: Re: OT: notebook shopping)

[Craig White]

On Thu, 2008-04-24 at 21:10 -0700, Mike Garfias wrote:
> On Apr 24, 2008, at 8:34 PM, Craig White wrote:
> >
> >
> > As for the hardware...until you need repairs and then you have to
> > confront a revolutionary new business model...PreferredCare.
> >
> > $100 extortion fee and they repair in 2/3 days. If you don't pay the
> > fee, repair in 1/3 weeks. Warranty is not material to the discussion  
> > but
> > the *good* thing is that you only have to pay the $100 extortion fee
> > once each year.
> >
> > I honestly think that the reason Apple has customers is because the
> > people who buy Apple think the only alternative is Windows.
> >
> 
> Craig -
> 
> In my experience I've had only one Apple repair take longer than one  
> day, and that was when my display needed to be shipped off for a panel  
> replacement.  All others (and there have been a number of them) have  
> been completed the same day.
> 
> ProCare does get you the ability to schedule appointments farther out,  
> but that seems to be about all its good for.  I just make my appts on  
> Sunday night for early monday morning (if possible).  The store isn't  
> crowded, and the repair usually happens within 20 minutes.
----
that hasn't been typical of my experiences but I'm not saying that
they're bad...but it's been made entirely clear to me that you pay the
$100 extortion fee if you want your computer back in under a week.

Craig