[Leica] I-whatever and Kindle vs Dell

[billcpearce at cox.net (Bill Pearce)]

I have had several apple products over the last several years, but no 
"computers", an Ipod touch, and ipad, a wireless modem, and all were more 
trouble than the large prioce differentail woulld predict. With the pod and 
pad, no issues with ffailing equipment, it's all about programming, and what 
I now see as a pervasive attitude with both apple and windows, "Let us do 
it, you don't know what you want/need or how to get it, just stpe aside and 
let us do it." To this day, a year later, I still cannot get my ex-wife's 
apple ID off the pod and pad. I now must await my next trip to a city with 
the so-called genius bar. The wirelesss router failed, and it took phone 
calls to the highest support level before I could find aomeone that could 
troulbleshoot it.

Personally, I think both suck. I percieve a move by others, microsoft and 
adobe, to make things more "apple-like" and I thnik they need to rethink the 
whold business. Perhaps the complexity of what we have grown to do is nmore 
than the original systems can withstand and something entirely new is 
needed.

Bill Pearce

-----Original Message----- 
From: Frank Filippone
Sent: Thursday, March 01, 2012 9:23 AM
To: 'Leica Users Group'
Subject: [Leica] I-whatever and Kindle vs Dell

I have had about a dozen Dell computers, all running Windoze.  They all ran
for at least 4 years without incident.  No hardware failures.  They were all
bought as refurbished.  They were replaced because they finally were too old
technology to accept new OS  or new HW that I needed to implement.



I have had 2 monitors for my computer in the past 20 years.  The last
replacement was a CRT.  It was replaced because I wanted more room on my
desktop, not because it was not working.  Current monitor is a Samsung 204B.
Old technology when I bought it about 5 years ago.  Still works just fine.



These were top quality manufacturers, selling top quality models.  ( the
operative word is quality, not cost nor functionality)



Only recently did my wife want other than a Toshiba Laptop computer ( we had
4 or 5 over the years).  All lasted about 6-18 months before they were
having problems. Batteries reoutiney needed replacement in about 5 months.
Replaced 4 HDD.   No more Laptops, no more Toshiba here.



I bought an IPad for my wife just before Christmas 2011.  It is
intermittently dead.  After 4 trips to the genius bar, she is about to
return it for a refurbished and presumably working model.  It operated
properly for 3 months.  She has to call Apple, arrange an empty box, return
it, wait a week or so, then get a replacement.  The Genius Bar does nothing
to help with the replacement, even after 4 useless visits there.   It was
bought new from Apple directly.   Any talk about getting a Mac was
completely crushed by her experience with the IPad.   I consider the
customer service level to be zero on this transaction.



She has a friend that bought her IPad about a month ago and has had the same
problem.  Same result.. 4 trips.. no luck.. Go get it replaced on your own.



She bought a Kindle for herself, apparently more than a year ago.   Dead
battery this past week.  Out of warranty.  We faced with a battery
replacement by Amazon for $59, a DIY battery replacement for $30 (third
party), of buy a new one for a whole lot more.



I am unimpressed with the quality of these products.  I consider them like
appliances, they should last a good long time before requiring service.



Yes, I was in the Electronics business.. I understand the issues with infant
mortality, battery life expectancy, and repair centers.



Frank Filippone

Red735i at earthlink.net




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