You just said that all ratings are self-awarded. Now can you show why it's "clearly" inflated?
For comparison, all 95 models of Toshiba laptops claim EPEAT Gold rating [1]. Is it that surprising that the most advanced laptop of them all is just as qualified?
Maybe not surprising, but still having EPEAT certification is not something I would take for granted. If Toshiba was using significantly different manufacturing techniques than everybody else, or if they started making it impossible to replace or upgrade the innards of their laptops, it would be a different matter. Like desktops, most laptops are roughly the same, with just cases, quality of workmanship, and choice of which (mostly COTS) components they use for the internals providing variety in the marketplace.
I don't own a single Apple product, but it does seem like they're really doing things differently in order to make laptops that stand out on hardware alone. Given that there hasn't been an unusually large price increase, it's not that surprising to think that they're skimping on something like EPEAT certification. This isn't evidence that they don't deserve EPEAT gold, just that it wouldn't be surprising if it turns out they don't qualify.
> Given that there hasn't been an unusually large price increase, it's not that surprising to think that they're skimping on something like EPEAT certification.
A big part of that is economies of scale and clever business dealings. Things like pre-purchasing billions of dollars of LCD panels and flash memory made a big difference in Apple's success in the last ten years, and their massive cash reserves mean that they're willing to spend a billion dollars on new machinery if it will pay off in the long run.
Most laptop companies aren't willing to do that because they'll have a dozen disparate models, with different cases, hardware, chipsets, sizes, etc. Apple right now has five: 11" and 13" MBA, 13" MBP, 15" Retina and non-Retina MBP. They're all manufactured similarly, with similar sizes and shapes, and identical materials used. There's a lot of economy of scale there as well.
You just said that all ratings are self-awarded. Now can you show why it's "clearly" inflated?
For comparison, all 95 models of Toshiba laptops claim EPEAT Gold rating [1]. Is it that surprising that the most advanced laptop of them all is just as qualified?
[1] http://www.toshibadirect.com/td/b2c/customlanding.to?page=EP...