[tycheung]

So with the release of the new macbooks, which seem generally like a hit except for the GMA950 - people are reporting solid build quality, nice screens, etc ,etc at least with the demo models in the stores, I was wondering if there was any difference between different apple suppliers. AFAIK, the macbooks are built by asustek in Taiwan which is generally a well regarded company by most PC homebuilders and modders for mobo's and graphics cards that stand up really well to overclocking and such. The MBP's on the other hand I think (and correct me if I'm wrong) are made by honhai, which has manufacturing plants in Shanghai....could it be that the macbooks themselves are made by a more reputable manufacturer?

Given my experiences w/ asustek so far (I don't overlock but my nforce2 and geforce 6600gt from them are pretty solid), I'd be more inclined to just have them build everything...

[pete]

I think you're right. The downward spiral in quality started when Apple transferred the manufacturing of their powerbooks to the Chinese mainland. The Taiwan-built laptops were more consistently of a higher quality.

[Enigmaaron]

While the above arguments are valid I would also think the MacBook Pro is built to a much more demanding spec with lower tolerances. In other words, it's alot easier to screw up building a MacBook Pro vs. a MacBook. Combine that with a less reputable manufacturer and you get issues.

But it has only been a day...

[sllowry]

Mmm...if all this is true, I really think I made too fast a step in purchasing MBP 15" last month.

My first laptop is ASUS S5200N. Yes, it's pretty good and solid. The only problem I had was with its external combo drive, which Asus replaced about 3 times during the 2 year warranty. Besides that I think I had pretty good ASUS experience.

Being from Taiwan I am pleased to hear these opinions, but at the same time I wonder if I'll trust Honhai's manufacturing quality. That is, for Apple hardware of course.

[tycheung]

then again, macnn explodes my theory this morning with the digitimes article about asus making this in their suzhou plant. oh well. maybe asus has tighter QA specs than honhai...who knows....