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It is disappointing that the quality has seemed to go downhill lately- I'm grateful that I got a decent MBP.

The quesiton that should be asked, has the quality actually gone down hill, or have the number of outlets for people to voice their anger, increased.

We now have more blogs, technology sites for people to complain on, we have more end users who are now using Mac's more than ever before (numbers wise).

People claim, for example, that Microsofts products have 'gone down hill in quality' but the simple fact is, they've always been crap quality; the only difference now, rather than having one or two journalists being cast off as whiners, we have thousands up thousdands of bloggers who can air their digust or pleasure regarding a particular product.

Same siuation is happening with Mac; the product quality has stayed the same, its just when something goes wrong, it can easily be blown out of all proportions by the number of bloggers and reviewing sites that now inhabit the internet compared to, for example, when the first iMac was released around 10 years ago.

I never thought about that- that's a very good point. I know quite a few Mac users and have never heard any complaints out of them. Also, the expectations seem to be much higher for Apple systems. After all, is anyone ever surprised when their Dell system starts crashing and having all sorts of issues within a few months? My point is that the high expectations and the anti-mac fervor of a few bored people very well could cause some to jump on the bandwagon of "Apple sucks".

The quesiton that should be asked, has the quality actually gone down hill, or have the number of outlets for people to voice their anger, increased.

People claim, for example, that Microsofts products have 'gone down hill in quality' but the simple fact is, they've always been crap quality. . .

Same siuation is happening with Mac; the product quality has stayed the same, its just when something goes wrong, it can easily be blown out of all proportions by the number of bloggers and reviewing sites that now inhabit the internet.

Aren't these two statements inconsistant? You can't say that in one breath that Microsoft always sucked but only now more people know about it because of all of the people complaining about them, whereas Apple doesn't suck, but people think otherwise now only because all of the people complaining about them are distorting it.

Either all of the people are distorting the case for both, or they are not.

I nust admit that I was intimidated of buying a new Mac due to the widespread reports of boiling laps, mind-torturing whining noises and so on.

I'm glad that I eventually did the only sane thing and overcame my "fears" and bought a MacBook.

Best. Laptop. Ever.

BTW, my G5 PowerMac is doing very well and my G4 Mac Mini is a real workhorse.

I too have a MacBook Pro, purchased when I finally decided that I really should have a laptop. (Read as: I was going to be away from my apartment for a week, and figured that I'd go into withdrawal without a Mac.)

So far I've been very happy with it. It's silent, it doesn't get as hot as everything you hear would lead you to believe, and everything on it works as it should. There are still a few things that I wish were universal binaries (mostly PrefPanes), but the developers are hard at work rewriting/recompiling, and I was able to recompile the single seldom-used screensaver that I use (RedPill). I've yet to figure out why it produces a warning when compiled, but it works perfectly.

It's nice to be able to dual boot, should I wish to play a game that hasn't been ported to Mac OS X (which has only been Knights of the Old Republic 2, so far). Boot Camp works well, and Parallels is a huge step up from Virtual PC, although I still only emulate when I'm trying to help someone with Windows.

The MacBook is the third Macintosh that I've owned (previously, a 800MHz G4 and my current desktop, a dual-2.5GHz G5). I have been very happy with both of those computers, and get an extraordinary amount of use out of both. I host mail and web on the G5, and it works perfectly. The fact that Mac OS X is based on BSD is what got me to switch...I'd used various Linux servers (mostly Red Hat), and knowing that anything I can do on the command line on Linux (and then some) can be done on the Mac was enough to sell me. I still need to learn more Applescript (which can be called from shell scripts; a very cool feature), but I would not go back, although I would consider Linux for additional servers.

Back to the hardware, though, I'd have to agree with kaiwai. I think that the internet gives more people a forum to complain, and that the problems have been blown out of proportion by all of the complaints. I'm not saying that Apple hasn't had some problems with their hardware recently, but that I think the complaints may be disproportionate to the actual problems. I've yet to have hardware problems with my Macs, whereas I've been called to fix numerous hardware problems with computers running Windows. I have a friend whose Dell notebook shuts down unless she puts it on a cooling pad (overheating), and I've had more than one friend have Windows screw up their drives to the point that Windows will not boot from them. I've also seen Windows machines become so filled with spyware and virii that they become unusably slow, despite the speed of the hardware. I encourage people to try either Ubuntu or Kubuntu, and have given out a number of CDs of both, but for anyone looking at buying a new computer, I'll continue to recommend Macs.

So far, one of my friends just bought a Mac mini when his HP desktop died beyond any chance of repairing it (HD is toast, HD controller seems to be gone, also). He's still getting used to the differences between OS X and Windows, but is greatly impressed how much usable it is, and how much more he can do with the software that comes with it. I have several more friends who have stated that their next computer will be an Apple.

If you still want to complain about quality, though, look at Dell. See the news story about Dell's spontaneously combusting laptop? Or earlier stories about their horrible support and closing support forums because of all of the negative comments about Dell? [ http://forms.theregister.co.uk/search/?q=Dell ] Say what you like about Apple...I still think they're the best choice for computer hardware.

I've yet to have hardware problems with my Macs, whereas I've been called to fix numerous hardware problems with computers running Windows.

I build my own PC's from quality components.My AMD64 based desktop now runs more than 3 years without *any* problem.

but for anyone looking at buying a new computer, I'll continue to recommend Macs.

Depends on how much money they are prepared to spend.
Apple hardware isn't the best you can get.Everybody with some screwdrivers and pliers and the right mind-set can make a PC,from student-PC to a high-end system.The sky is the limit.