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Michel_80 · 11:07 AM

Hi, I recently had water spilled on my Sony Laptop, hence I in the market to buy a new one.
I do find PB's attractive option which appeals to me.

But I am a bit skeptical about computers done by 3rd party companies like Compal and Quanta, (not only apple does this, Dell, some IBM's are done this way too) so I was wondering, what is the quality of build like in the Powerbooks? Do you think they are affected by the fact that they are not done by Apple themselves?

Regards

msykes · Apr 26, 2003, 11:14 AM

I wouldn't be worried about this at all personally. That's not to say that Apple powerbooks have 100% flawless quality control, but I don't think that contracting out production to 3rd parties is inherently good or bad, unless said 3rd party happens to be exceptionally good or bad themselves.

The thing you might pay more attention to, at least on the Apple side of things, is that the first generation of a product tends to have a few more problems than later generations. Take the Titanium powerbooks, the first models had some flexing issues, paint peeling issues, airport reception problems, etc. By the last model these had all been fixed.

There are apparently some heat issues with 12" powerbooks right now for example, which might be solved or improved in a future revision.

smelias · Apr 26, 2003, 11:18 AM

Apple is simply a design and marketing company. They gave up manufacturing long ago, like most prudent American businesses. Contract manufacturing in Asia has become the most economical way to manufacture goods. Most everything that has a label "Made in China" or "Made in Taiwan" are made by contract manufacturer's, so I do not think you need to worry, given all they do is manufacture stuff.

vmarks · Apr 26, 2003, 11:54 AM

Actually, no IBM Thinkpads are made in house- no one's laptops are. Not Sony, Dell, Acer, IBM, Micron. Now, the manufacturer can impose higher quality by leaning on the producer, or using the competing producer, but IIRC, Apple, Dell, and IBM all use Quanta.

icruise · Apr 26, 2003, 12:06 PM

Has Apple ever made their own laptops? As I recall, even the Powerbook 100 was made by Sony...

CheesePuff · Apr 26, 2003, 01:37 PM

Originally posted by Icruise:
Has Apple ever made their own laptops? As I recall, even the Powerbook 100 was made by Sony...

Maybe the Macintosh Portable, then?

schmoe · Apr 26, 2003, 04:49 PM

The ThinkPad T-series laptops I've seen have been made in Mexico. I'm guessing IBM has a dedicated manufacturing plant there. Might explain why they seem to be so much higher quality than Dell, HP, Compaq, etc laptops. My T40p is shipping next week! *yay*

Dunno about Sony, but Panasonic and Sharp make their ultra cool and tiny sub-notebooks in Japan and you can really see the attention to quality.

I'd say that Apple's laptops are a head above all the Taiwanese/Chinese outsourced models from US companies. They seem to be pretty sturdy (particularly the iBooks) and have a good fit and finish. Better than the Sony's I've seen, but I've never considered Sony products very high quality.

You do see cosmetic issues like uneven seams, every so slightly bent metal panels, etc but Apple's amazing design tends to minimize that.

Michel_80 · Apr 26, 2003, 05:10 PM

The A,T, and X series Thinkpads are done by IBM themselves (now in their China Plant). Hence the quality is amazing. I am not sure Compal and others have the same good quality.
I guess now, it is only a few companies that make their own laptops (like Toshiba), but their quality does stand out.

Macs look amazing though, good job, even if it is by Compal or whoever...