3 ms·

The more you know this sort of thing the harder it becomes to believe that Apple makes the same things everyone else does but with fancy marketing.

lotsofmangos 12y ago
Their attention to detail in casings is the same as the very high end hi-fi, jewelery, or sports-car industries. Nobody else in computing seems to come close. In terms of electronic components however, you can nearly always get more bang for your buck, the exception sometimes being the screens.
- tptacek 12y ago
  That might be true of computers, but how true is it of mobile devices? A handheld mobile device isn't even conceptually a single computer; it's a small network of computers.
  - lotsofmangos 12y ago
    I think it still is true in mobile, but in mobile the general computing components just need to be good enough not to lag, build quality and interface elements are the things to buy on with laptops, tablets and mobiles. Doesn't matter if you have a powerful gizmo if the hinges are broken and it overheats, however with PC's you can buy a high-end motherboard and find a power supply in a skip and just nail them to the wall if you like. Build quality is far more optional.
- Igglyboo 12y ago
  Yep, a fully specced macbook pro costs around $2500. I'm betting you can get the same specs at around $1000 - $1500 from someone else. What you won't get is the insanely nice display and build quality. You'll likely get a shitty 1080p or less display and a plastic chassis.
wmf 12y ago
All I needed to stop believing that was to hold an Apple product in one hand and a competing one in the other. Whether you care about fit and finish is a matter of personal taste, but the difference is visible.
- jimmaswell 12y ago
  And what competing product would that be? I've found every Android I've used to have much nicer form factor than any iPhone.
  - loganu 12y ago
    Every single Android? Not just Galaxy S-whatevers? Motorola, Sony, Huawei, Amazon?
    - jimmaswell 12y ago
      I didn't say every Android out there, just every one I've used. I've used Galaxy phones, an HTC, a Galaxy, and various display phones at cellphone stores, and I've used friends' iPhones. The Androids always felt more comfortable to me. The iPhones always felt too small, unnecessarily thick and heavy with a metal casing instead of a plastic casting, and their home buttons were harder to press. The new iPhone apparently has a larger version at least. iPhone power and home buttons also seem to wear out faster. I've had two iPod Touch devices that I used a few years each and each ended up with an issue with the power button going bad to some degree, and this has happened to other iDevice owners I know, but I've never seen it happen with an Android device, including the ones I had for longer stretches of time than I had my iPod Touches. Small sample size but I believe I've read about this happening elsewhere.
Igglyboo 12y ago
Really this, I hear from a lot of people that Apple products are shit because they are much more expensive for similar specced devices but no one ever considers the hardware outside of the specs. Sure I can get a huge Galaxy note XYZ with 10gb of ram but at the same time it has a subpar UX and is made of cheap plastic and cheap glass and a cheap display and has no where near the build quality of an iPhone, same goes for MBP vs Any Other Laptop.

lotsofmangos 12y ago

Their attention to detail in casings is the same as the very high end hi-fi, jewelery, or sports-car industries. Nobody else in computing seems to come close. In terms of electronic components however, you can nearly always get more bang for your buck, the exception sometimes being the screens.

tptacek 12y ago
That might be true of computers, but how true is it of mobile devices? A handheld mobile device isn't even conceptually a single computer; it's a small network of computers.
- lotsofmangos 12y ago
  I think it still is true in mobile, but in mobile the general computing components just need to be good enough not to lag, build quality and interface elements are the things to buy on with laptops, tablets and mobiles. Doesn't matter if you have a powerful gizmo if the hinges are broken and it overheats, however with PC's you can buy a high-end motherboard and find a power supply in a skip and just nail them to the wall if you like. Build quality is far more optional.
Igglyboo 12y ago
Yep, a fully specced macbook pro costs around $2500. I'm betting you can get the same specs at around $1000 - $1500 from someone else. What you won't get is the insanely nice display and build quality. You'll likely get a shitty 1080p or less display and a plastic chassis.

wmf 12y ago

All I needed to stop believing that was to hold an Apple product in one hand and a competing one in the other. Whether you care about fit and finish is a matter of personal taste, but the difference is visible.

jimmaswell 12y ago
And what competing product would that be? I've found every Android I've used to have much nicer form factor than any iPhone.
- loganu 12y ago
  Every single Android? Not just Galaxy S-whatevers? Motorola, Sony, Huawei, Amazon?
  - jimmaswell 12y ago
    I didn't say every Android out there, just every one I've used. I've used Galaxy phones, an HTC, a Galaxy, and various display phones at cellphone stores, and I've used friends' iPhones. The Androids always felt more comfortable to me. The iPhones always felt too small, unnecessarily thick and heavy with a metal casing instead of a plastic casting, and their home buttons were harder to press. The new iPhone apparently has a larger version at least. iPhone power and home buttons also seem to wear out faster. I've had two iPod Touch devices that I used a few years each and each ended up with an issue with the power button going bad to some degree, and this has happened to other iDevice owners I know, but I've never seen it happen with an Android device, including the ones I had for longer stretches of time than I had my iPod Touches. Small sample size but I believe I've read about this happening elsewhere.

Igglyboo 12y ago

Really this, I hear from a lot of people that Apple products are shit because they are much more expensive for similar specced devices but no one ever considers the hardware outside of the specs. Sure I can get a huge Galaxy note XYZ with 10gb of ram but at the same time it has a subpar UX and is made of cheap plastic and cheap glass and a cheap display and has no where near the build quality of an iPhone, same goes for MBP vs Any Other Laptop.