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In defending their choice of macs, a decision that will likely come under fire no matter what, the author didn't even mention lower maintenance costs, which can
by bonestamp2 9y ago
In defending their choice of macs, a decision that will likely come under fire no matter what, the author didn't even mention lower maintenance costs, which can mean more profit for the business if a machine would have been down otherwise. I suppose "solid and robust" would be the trait that leads to higher reliability. My boss personally hates macs, but he recently switched the entire office to macs because our IT service company's monthly maintenance fee is half price for macs.
- jjoonathan 9y agoAlso, cheap parts and good youtube tutorials are more readily available for mac if you want to DIY.
- walshemj 9y agoI have looked at the diy tutorials for the later macs the ones that are made hard for end users to maintain - and they make installing custom cooling loops with hard tubing look simple.
- jjoonathan 9y agoThere's no comparison to desktop PCs which, as you point out, are as simple as lego to build/fix and have part availability that puts lego itself to shame. I was really thinking more about laptops, where the need to peel/replace some glue is nothing next to the availability of parts.
- walshemj 9y agoOr as call it to much work for the benefit
- jdietrich 9y agoMost enterprise laptops are vastly easier to fix than Apple hardware. The manufacturers of these machines have thought carefully about repairability and designed it in from the start. For example, the Lenovo X270 opens with eight Philips screws. Once you're inside, you'll find an array of standard parts in standard sockets. Lenovo provide a detailed service manual and will sell you anything from a replacement fan to a new LCD from stock. The logic board isn't caked in BGA underfill and has a sensible level of density, so component-level repairs are vastly easier and less time-consuming.
- jjoonathan 9y agoIt's good to hear that Lenovo treats you better than Dell treated me. Is this their policy in general or do you have to buy a megabuck enterprise service contract (i.e. the one bonestamp2 identified as not competitive)?
- lozf 9y agoThat's all standard on all the real ThinkPads (T and X series) since the IBM days. Most if not all of these models have 3 year warranty, and many with next business day on-site. Probably applies to the mobile workstation series too (used to be the 'W' series, now 'P' I think). They also have spill resistant keyboards as standard (drainage channels to prevent catastrophe, rather than making colour-changing stickers so Apple can bill you for water damage should an accident happen).
- jdietrich 9y agoCompletely standard across the Think* line. Service manuals and diagnostic software is available to download directly - you don't even have to log in. You can buy all parts directly from Lenovo or from a distributor without a service contract and regardless of warranty status. Opening the chassis doesn't automatically void your warranty and the terms specifically state which parts you're allowed to replace yourself. The standard US warranty on ThinkPads is one year RTB, but you can upgrade to three years RTB for $99 or three years onsite for $159. International warranty coverage is an extra $10. The standard warranty in Europe is three years onsite. For minor faults, you can usually ask for replacement parts to be shipped for self-installation.
- walshemj 9y agoIs this maintenance costs for traditional corporate use where your user base has a lot of "where's the any key" users, and you may have hundreds of hosts to maintain. I suspect maintenance costs in a high end company with a handful of high end macs vs high end workstations is quite different note that the production company seems to be using the macs in a peer to peer set up. And thus doesn't have all the overhead of domain controllers, exchange servers etc a traditional pc deployment.