They're pretty much at the peak of price. I'm interested in a non-Apple product as well, mainly because of high prices and the mess my MBP 2007 logic board ended up being, as well as the high priced accessories (power cord that frayed and they woudn't give me a new one for free, bloated battery, every other LCD backlight going out giving the spotlight effect). I've had issues with other Apple products, and although I've loved using them, my experience getting any support from Apple has never yielded positive results (because I'm not paying for Apple care?). They replaced my first gen nano that merely had a malfunctioned hold button with an eighth generation that died in less than a year (started not turning on and heating up when I plugged it in), which I accidentally dropped before I could attempt to complain to Apple about it. There's more...but I digress...
I love using their products, but I always get this feeling that they have a lot of planned obsolescence built into them. That or they are just so cutting edge that they push the boundaries of hardware failing. Not sure, but I've spent hundreds of hours trying to debug hardware issues with their devices and there is also a lot of fud on the internet making it more difficult to do that. They never respond to any of these issues on their forums, you always just have to wait until it becomes widespread enough that they will make a service announcement.
I know that these sort of problems are not exclusive to Apple and lots of other companies have issues, I just have not been happy with the way Apple deals with them. That MacBook Pro is the only laptop I have ever owned (besides this Chromebook I'm typing on now) and I am very interested in hardware alternatives. I actually love running Mac OS, but to get away from their expensive hardware that I seem to have horrible luck with and their horrible customer support would be worth dealing without it for me. I admit, though, that I brought a lot of pain onto myself by trying to solve problems rather than just letting Apple deal with it. That's why I'm starting to get the feeling that Apple isn't for a computer hardware geek like me. I want something that is designed to last, that has survived the most brutal quality tests, and that I can maintain myself by replacing the parts. I also admit that I am still tempted to stick with the Mac OS world and get another MBP... I just want more options!!
I'd also like to escape from the Mac, but not because it's expensive. The MBP is ridiculously well made, and the high-end models ship with components that should perform well for 3 years or so. Beyond that point, I'd be looking for a generational change (e.g. CPU architecture, RAM frequency, storage interconnect, etc.) which is more about my weakness for new stuff than actual obsolescence.
Yes, that should be the reason for purchasing a new computer. But that doesn't mean that components should be failing in that amount of time. My first logic board issue happened just outside the 1 year window in 2008, but this was an Nvidia issue... So can't blame Apple right? I would say that the logic board design was horrible regardless of the issues with the chip solder, based on my experiences even with the replacement I got from the recall in 2010. I agree with you on paying for high quality, but well made should include not breaking down.
Also, these days the reasons for upgrading that you mention are diminishing. We all know the limits of Moore's law were being reached, and I was able to upgrade my MBP to 6 GB of memory (Apple's weird limitations on it causing 8 GB not to work?) and put an SSD in it for a solid computing experience sans the other issues.
You're totally right to complain about hardware failures and component deficiencies. Maybe I am just lucky in this regard.
Of course, I've just noticed that there is an option for a 1TB PCIe drive (compared to the 750GB SATA SSD I have now). If I could double my RAM to 32GB as well then I wouldn't hesitate to upgrade. As it is, I'll still probably end up going for it before too long, unless an alternative presents itself.
I love using their products, but I always get this feeling that they have a lot of planned obsolescence built into them. That or they are just so cutting edge that they push the boundaries of hardware failing. Not sure, but I've spent hundreds of hours trying to debug hardware issues with their devices and there is also a lot of fud on the internet making it more difficult to do that. They never respond to any of these issues on their forums, you always just have to wait until it becomes widespread enough that they will make a service announcement.
I know that these sort of problems are not exclusive to Apple and lots of other companies have issues, I just have not been happy with the way Apple deals with them. That MacBook Pro is the only laptop I have ever owned (besides this Chromebook I'm typing on now) and I am very interested in hardware alternatives. I actually love running Mac OS, but to get away from their expensive hardware that I seem to have horrible luck with and their horrible customer support would be worth dealing without it for me. I admit, though, that I brought a lot of pain onto myself by trying to solve problems rather than just letting Apple deal with it. That's why I'm starting to get the feeling that Apple isn't for a computer hardware geek like me. I want something that is designed to last, that has survived the most brutal quality tests, and that I can maintain myself by replacing the parts. I also admit that I am still tempted to stick with the Mac OS world and get another MBP... I just want more options!!