Apple's quality control really sucks

The most appealing thing to me about Apple is that they're able to take high-tech stuff and create cutting edge products that work really well and are dramatically simpler to use than anything else out there.

Except when they break.

I've been saving a bunch of notes and evidence for a longer post on this topic, but I can't hold out any longer. I've been a Mac user for about six years now, and I have experienced serious hardware defects with virtually every Apple product I've owned, including a G4 tower, a G3 iBook, 2 iPods, and a PowerBook G4.

Many of my Apple-using friends (some of whom purchased Apple equipment at my recommendation) have been burned even worse. There's my friend Paschal, who has had to replace the motherboards on his (and his wife's) G3 iBooks numerous times. And there's my brother-in-law Will who had a similar problem with his G3 iBook that went through- no joke- at least six different replacement attempts.

Will was the picture perfect Mac user- an MIT grad student who'd been using Macs since the day he was born. After motherboard blowout six (or was it seven, or eight?), he gave up and switched to a Dell.

There's my friend Mike, who's had hard drive and CD-ROM drive problems on his iBook. And Gabe has had his own CD problems with his G4 iBook.

There's my brother Mike, who's had hard drive problems with his G5 iMac, and my friend Jordan, whose G4 tower went crazy for a while.

I apologize to anyone I didn't mention, or if any of my brief descriptions have not fully captured the rage your troubles have experienced. This is just a cursory list.

Apple's products are incredible in theory, and often in practice, but the magic vanishes the moment the things break down, which happens way too often. If you've had similar frustrations, please feel free to comment. I have more to say on this issue, but for now, that is all.