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If they were focused on reducing costs, they’d be producing hardware of the same quality as most Windows laptops.

by Veen 8y ago

cptskippy 8y ago
You can reduce costs without sacrificing quality by identifying inefficiencies within your organization and streamlining them. Tim Cook made a name for himself by optimizing the logistical side of Apple. The cost reductions Apple has done have less impact on material finish and quality of the solution, and more impact reliability, repair-ability, and maintainability. As a cost reduction technique, they rivet the keyboard to the upper chassis of the Macbook rather than the comparatively expensive process of tapping holes and using screws. This has no impact on product performance and quality, but if you happen to use an inferior keyboard then it makes repairs exceptionally difficult. As a result Apple is averse to performing repairs because what could have been an inexpensive keyboard swap now requires replacing the entire uni-body chassis which is an expensive machined part. Another example is where the Macbook display FRC is soldered directly to the panel to avoid a connector that costs a penny in volume. This reduces manufacturing costs and part counts but introduces the risk that any issues with the FRC require the entire display to be replaced. That's exactly what happened because they made the FRC a few millimeters too short. Apple said that display failures were isolated and not a manufacturing defect however this year's model features an FRC that's a few millimeters longer. These types of optimizations to the product might save a dollar or two in the BOM but they completely fail to take into consideration support requirements they introduce. Riveting a $ keyboard to a $$$$ machined aluminum chassis makes you adverse to even acknowledging an issue with the keyboard because you'll then have to replace the entire assembly. Forgoing a connector and soldering a $ FRC directly to the $$$$ display means that when the FRC fails due to stress from an engineering fault, you pretend it's an isolated issue to avoid having to replaced entire display assemblies on thousands of devices.
- Veen 8y ago
  I appreciate the informative response to my facetious comment. And, as someone whose MacBook Pro suffered from the FRC issue, I agree.

If they were focused on reducing costs, they’d be producing hardware of the same quality as most Windows laptops.

by Veen 8y ago

If they were focused on reducing costs, they’d be producing hardware of the same quality as most Windows laptops.

You can reduce costs without sacrificing quality by identifying inefficiencies within your organization and streamlining them. Tim Cook made a name for himself by optimizing the logistical side of Apple. The cost reductions Apple has done have less impact on material finish and quality of the solution, and more impact reliability, repair-ability, and maintainability. As a cost reduction technique, they rivet the keyboard to the upper chassis of the Macbook rather than the comparatively expensive process of tapping holes and using screws. This has no impact on product performance and quality, but if you happen to use an inferior keyboard then it makes repairs exceptionally difficult. As a result Apple is averse to performing repairs because what could have been an inexpensive keyboard swap now requires replacing the entire uni-body chassis which is an expensive machined part. Another example is where the Macbook display FRC is soldered directly to the panel to avoid a connector that costs a penny in volume. This reduces manufacturing costs and part counts but introduces the risk that any issues with the FRC require the entire display to be replaced. That's exactly what happened because they made the FRC a few millimeters too short. Apple said that display failures were isolated and not a manufacturing defect however this year's model features an FRC that's a few millimeters longer. These types of optimizations to the product might save a dollar or two in the BOM but they completely fail to take into consideration support requirements they introduce. Riveting a $ keyboard to a $$$$ machined aluminum chassis makes you adverse to even acknowledging an issue with the keyboard because you'll then have to replace the entire assembly. Forgoing a connector and soldering a $ FRC directly to the $$$$ display means that when the FRC fails due to stress from an engineering fault, you pretend it's an isolated issue to avoid having to replaced entire display assemblies on thousands of devices.

Veen 8y ago
I appreciate the informative response to my facetious comment. And, as someone whose MacBook Pro suffered from the FRC issue, I agree.