PickUrPoison

sudaltsov said:

Mike Wuerthele said:

sudaltsov said:

Mike Wuerthele said:

sudaltsov said:

I cannot believe you did not mention the cameragate of the new one. There are plenty of images around there showing how dramatically worse the new camera became.
https://www.macrumors.com/guide/macbook-air-camera-quality-issue/

Why? It is hardly a "gate," and service calls for the "issue" aren't statistically significant. As with any other issue, if you have a problem with a piece of Apple hardware, go to a service center and get a case number so it can be tracked.

So far, the 2018 MacBook Air has about the same failure rate over the corresponding period of time as every other MacBook Air ever released past 2010, and a notably lower one than the original Air. If there was a widespread problem, it would manifest in the service data.

Also? Watergate was the name of the hotel. The scandal in question wasn't about water. Adding -gate to things is... silly.

If you look at the number of complains and returns on Apple support site (need links?) - you'll see it is serious statistics. And you'll see that all Apple can offer is 'yes we designed it that way, just return/replace and shutup if unhappy'. People do return those devices, in bulk. It is design issue, not an issue with individual items. Go to any Apple store, compare the camera of Air 2017 and Air 2018. You'll be surprised. I did that with at least 5 different stores in different countries. Also, I returned my Air 2018 for replacement - just to get the new one with the same horrible camera. Other people did that too. What other kind of proof do you need?

"It would manifest in the service data" - do you have access to it? I doubt Apple publishes it.

BTW "watergate" created a naming pattern, it is not a hotel name anymore. There was antennagate with iPhone

I have access to return data as well. There is no increase over any other model. And yes, I have access to a pretty large subset of the entire set of Apple's service data going back to 2010. It is where the keyboard failure numbers came from.

I'm aware of the naming pattern. It was stupid during every other -gate too.

What kind of proof I need is actual data supporting the fact that there is a large issue and the actual data says that there isn't one. I'm not saying that you didn't experience the problem, and that there aren't complaints about it. What I am saying is that it isn't a giant issue affecting the entire line, beyond more than a small percentage of purchasers because the data does not say that it is one. Should the data show a shift, then the conclusion will change.

I respectfully disagree (even knowing that you have access to the stats).
That is the design issue affecting the entire line, which was confirmed many times (including Apple support people - 'functions as designed' looking at those photos). Look at the poll https://9to5mac.com/2018/12/02/some-2018-macbook-air-users-experiencing-poor-facetime-hd-camera-quality-are-you-poll/ near 80% (small percentage?) out of 4K people experience that. So far noone could present good (at least not seriously worse than Air 2017) quality photos made in less than 'Apple-grade perfect conditions'. Could you please by any chance do that, if you happen to have access to two devices? There was no single report of the scenario "I had a bad one, sent back for replacement, got the good one" - but there are numerous "replaced bad one with the same bad". I sincerely would like to see some hope here, some proof that there exists good Air 2018 devices with decent (not worse than Air 2017) camera. Then perhaps I would shut up on that issue forever. Please prove me wrong, not with statistics, just with the photos made on 2017 and 2018 devices. Proving that mythical "good-camera-enabled" Air 2018 exist at all.
PS. BTW, there was a huge thread on Apple support website about it. What did Apple do? Deleted it. Now, there are smaller threads but they still grow.

entropys said:

I would have been happy with the old keyboard, range of ports, an updated u series processor and the new display at the old price. Like all the MBA’s ultrabook competitors have.

it is definitely worth the extra $200. To make it even better, there are multiple sales going on right now, so you can buy the 2018 MacBook Air for as little as $1079. 

How can you say that? The MBA does not sell in a vacuum. Even though the MBA created the ultra book market, It sells in a market with a wide range of competitors, with great displays, long battery life, more powerful processors and lower priced.  Eg XPS, Spectres, etc. The fact it has Mac OS only goes so far. In truth, it is at best worth the same price. That there are multiple sales of the new MBA at this time of year kinda proves it is incorrectly priced.

fastasleep said:

@anome ;

Wait, what? They just proved my point — It's an arbitrary number based on the value of individual currency units vs USD. It's not like it's literally costing someone in Hong Kong USD$12.5K for a phone in HK, they're just numbers.

Zirlin said:

In other words, we f*cked up by jacking our prices up higher than even we could believe.

asdasd said:

“Cook said. "And so as we've gotten into January and assessed the macroeconomic condition in some of those markets we've decided to go back to [pricing that is] more commensurate with what our local prices were”


Cook ignoring DED’s sage advice again.