Another reason why Apple isn't enterprise

Over the years i've tried out a great number of portable computers that started with machines like Kaypro, Osborne, and Timex in the old Z-80 days; Toshiba, Dell, Acer, HP as more modern examples. Common to all the so called enterprise solutions was almost a fanatical need to repair broken units as quickly as possible. I ran a Toshiba repair facility in the mid 1980's with average repair time measured in hours rather than days. Right down to having parts depots actually housed in adjoining warehouses to the Fedex depot in Memphis. The standard practice was to ship a special cradle box to the customer so that laptop would survive shipping and an overnight pickup label. Turn around back to the customer has been as little as 3 days total, and as many as 5 days.

So why is it that I spent extra to extend my Apple MacBook Pro warranty an extra two years but yet Apple is claiming that the motherboard was going to take 7 days to arrive. They're also saying that the 3rd party hard disk and ram were going to potentially void my warranty, and that the dent on the corner of the laptop would also. So as I understand, only a perfectly stock and perfectly intact machine is eligible for warranty repair. All this from the corporation's actual store and from their certified repair staff. The local repair center is telling me that ignoring the upgrades is going to be a favor...

Well it was Windows Vista that drove me from the PC platform, but it looks like the idiotic service attitudes of Apple might very well drive me back. Things like 24x7 support lines and timely repairs just aren't optional if you want to play in the enterprise IT world, and it sure sounds like Apple isn't very interested.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Honolulu, Hawaii, USA