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I'm calling Pye Jirsa and I'm a wedding photographer and co-founder of SLR Lounge. Before you begin, let me tell you that I feel like the most unfortunate person in terms of electronics and major purchases. But even with my bad luck, you may find this experience strange and useful.
What you're about to read is not manipulated or manipulated to get more views – it's just my experience of the past year with Apple products.
In the past, I have respected and held Apple in high esteem. However, I am by no means a fanboy of something. I will use everything I need to do the job, and I will tell you the pros and cons of the tools I use. This is not a sponsored article, and Apple would not pay me to write this. They would probably pay me do not at. But that's precisely why I think it's important to share my experience with the new iMac Pro, MacBook Pro and iPhone X.
Born of PC
I was still a fan of the Apple iPhone and iPad, but until a year ago, I was overall a PC user. Almost everyone belonged to the PC. That's what I knew from my teenage years, dividing my time between building my own computers, programming and working at CompUSA (I really liked this job).
I really liked PCs for all the typical reasons. They are usually cheaper with a lot of DIY options for upgrades and more. Apart from this reason, I was not particularly married to either side of the PC / Apple barrier.
Over the years, I found myself with less and less time to build, modify and troubleshoot my own platforms. In addition, Apple consistently provided more reasons to justify changing ecosystems. I loved their software for the hardware integrations and performance of Apple's operating systems. A seamless experience between the mobile and the office seemed wonderful.
In addition to that, there was the App Store. What I liked the most was the fact that their hardware / software systems were of the highest quality and extremely reliable. At least it was my perception.
Anyway, less than a year ago (end of 2017), I had enough motivation and justification to completely change my position.
Swallow the bitter pill
By entering the world of Apple products, we must all accept the fact that we will spend much more than we would on other devices. For comparable performance between a PC and an Apple, expect to pay 25 to 50% more on the Apple side. This is undoubtedly a significant price difference.
However, we can accept this price difference more easily when we consider Apple's sleek design, robust build quality, reliability, display quality, OS ecosystem, and more. That's until we can not wait for those things from Apple. This is where I am standing today.
Let's jump in the story.
Cupertino, we have a problem
iPhone X
My business partner convinced me to launch the new iPhone X as soon as it was released. Do not get me wrong, he did not twist my arm. I am still at stake for an upgrade. But, immediately after receiving the new phone, I was frustrated by the fact that it seemed like a step backward for Apple.
The absence of home button, sliding left and right and since the turns were all more difficult. Even the fact that the phone turned on and recognized my face seemed more cumbersome than the simple design of the home button. Not to mention the new layout of the buttons leading to all sorts of wonderful screenshots errors. Still, I was gone to learn the new design. However, even today, almost a year later, I find that the iPhone 7/8 offers a better user experience.
No matter, it was a small problem. Let's go to the biggest one. After about two weeks of using my new iPhone X, the smartphone started to have problems. It often freezes and crushes. Soon after, he is completely dead. I took it for the service and they said that there was a failure of the logic board. Then they replaced the iPhone X without hassle. The Apple store is beautiful in this department.
I also enjoyed being able to pick up the phone at a store rather than having to send it for service. I made an appointment at the Genius Bar and they took care of it. Not a big problem.
Unfortunately, the problems did not stop. The phone is still crashing often. The OS is buggy, sometimes lit and frozen for minutes. Now, with only a few months of use, my vibration on / off button is also blocked.
Oh, by the way, my phone can not connect to the Internet either. Despite a full LTE signal (as you can see above), I can make calls, but I can not send / receive data.
T-Mobile and Apple are doing this amazing thing where they blame each other for mistakes. T-Mobile says it's the phone, says Apple, it's the T-Mobile service. Weird, since we have five iPhone Xs on the T-Mobile plan, and mine seems to be the only one with data problems. I agree with T-Mobile on this one.
No big, though; it's just a phone and AppleCare will take care of this latest issue. I just have to take the time to go get my third iPhone X in the store. Something I have not done yet. Let's get out of here.
Macbook Pro
At the end of 2017, I bought a new MacBook Pro, which represents my first major step in the Apple ecosystem. That was the 2017 MacBook Pro and I bought it almost entirely upgraded. It was equipped with a hard drive of two terabytes, as well as the fastest processor available at the time, 16 GB of RAM, and so on. I think the only additional option was a four terabyte SSD. This required a sum of money that I was not willing to pay.
Needless to say, it was an expensive equipment. With Apple Care, I was looking to pay about $ 5,000 for this laptop, versus $ 3,000 to $ 4,000 for a comparable high-end PC. But the price does not matter. I knew I had a reliable machine that I could use for live broadcasts, content creation and presentations with CreativeLive and SLR Lounge. I was waiting for a machine capable of meeting my need to edit images / videos while I was preparing more than 3,000 slides over the next few months.
Unfortunately, a reliable machine is not what I received. Less than a week after using the computer, I started to notice strange problems. For example, the mouse stutters regularly; as I would move the trackpad, my mouse and keyboard would freeze temporarily as you can see in this video.
Later, depending on the USB-C ports used, the machine will not even boot, as you can see here.
Shortly after, the laptop also began to freeze and crush on occasion. At the time, it was nothing more than a little weird given that it was a brand new machine and that it was an Apple machine. "Maybe I just got a bad unit," I said to myself.
I brought it to the Bar of Genius to assess the situation. A day or two later, they said, "Your logic board is deteriorating and we need to replace it." As before, when I took my iPhone X, they replaced the logic board and it seemed that I had a new machine. . Less a day or two of time, I was back. Unfortunately, in about a week or two, he started having the same problems. This time, however, I started to see other problems, such as a graphics card crash. Here is a video of the second machine.
Generally, when you have a problem with your computer, you can shut down the system or restart it. When I tried to do it here, the system went into a crazy, pixellated matrix view and it did not stop properly.
When I went back to the Genius Bar once again, they informed me that the logic board was failing again. They replaced the MacBook Pro again. After being replaced twice, he seemed to be working well until recently when he started having the same problems again, as shown below.
I'm on my third MacBook Pro, and it's not without problems. But, wait, you will discover that it's getting worse. For now, let's move on to the iMac Pro.
iMac Pro
In January 2018, I decided to upgrade my workstation to the iMac Pro. For the new workstation, I've bought an iMac Pro release version for around $ 7,000 with AppleCare. This represents a significant premium for what you actually get.
It has a nice screen and a nice design, but even then, you would only spend $ 4,000 to $ 5,000 on the PC side for the equivalent of $ 7,000 worth of Apple hardware. Again, I justified the premium because I wanted the quality and seamless experience for which Apple was known.
In less than two weeks from the time I got the iMac Pro, I started to experience the same stuttering problems that came with my MacBook Pro. Again, I called the technical support. The cursor freezes and stutters as you can see in the video above. At first, this only happened at startup. In a few weeks, it began to occur during the regular use of the computer, as shown below.
While my MacBook Pro was running, I had to run the iMac Pro because it was my only machine. When I recovered my third MacBook Pro, I finally contacted Apple's support regarding the iMac Pro. It is there that things have moved further south.
The mysterious disappearance of Apple support
I have reached Apple support quite easily. I was quickly given a person from the Apple Help Desk who was assigned to my file from start to finish. She analyzed the system and other diagnostics before declaring that she had to send the information to the engineers for analysis. She told me that they would be in touch in the next week. Meanwhile, the $ 7 iMac Pro was sitting on my desk as it would freeze too often to be used.
Keep in mind that during this time, I used my MacBook Pro as the main machine. I bought external monitors to be able to work more efficiently. I need more screen to create content for the full workshop, which we are currently publishing! (shameless plug).
At this point, putting the MacBook Pro or iMac Pro on a production station was causing me serious anxiety. We always shoot with an audience in the studio or via live online shows. At every presentation and every production event, I always worried about machine breakdown or stuttering in the middle of the presentation. My concerns were justified when that actually happened. Oh, and by the way, the MacBook Pro we're editing on this article is also stuttering through almost every word we type.
Back to the iMac Pro. After a week of waiting without any follow up, I contacted my social worker. I could not grab it but I left a message and informed him of the status of my iMac Pro. She never answered and I could not get permission from anyone who could help solve the problem. I quickly found myself busy with productions for clients, Creative Live and SLR Lounge. It all came out of the studio for a few weeks.
When I returned, I still had not heard of the iMac Pro. In total, I sent four follow up emails from March 23 until April 8, and none of them had received any response. The last e-mail was sent to an escalated case manager to show them my experience (which we will discuss shortly).
Finally, I just made an appointment with the Genius Bar and took the machine to the store. Apple from South Coast Plaza said that they needed a little time to perform diagnostics, so I left it there. There was no loan despite the experience that I had until here. I stayed without a workstation while they were trying to fix the situation.
During this period, the use of the MacBook Pro as the main machine has resumed. Something I'm not fond of considering being much more efficient working from a more powerful desktop. A week later, I was informed that the problem was related to the software and that my computer would be available soon.
I gave them my doubts about the software issue. "If it's just a software problem, why does it have the same problems as my MacBook Pro? I described to them the same stuttering, crash, and graphics issues that reflected what was happening on the MacBook Pro when its logic board went out, not one, but twice.
Regardless, they reiterated that this was just a software problem and they told me that I would have my computer the next day. The next day they called to confirm that it was good of a hardware problem and not a software problem. The computer would soon be back with the engineers at Cupertino, and it would take a few more days to finish it. It took almost three weeks before I could put the iMac Pro back in my office, fixed and ready to go. And guess what? They had to replace the logic board and internal components again.
Unfortunately, the story is not over yet. The moment I turned on the computer for the first time, I could see that my information had been erased (that was not the problem). The problem was that during startup, you needed an Apple ID set on an Apple administrator account that I had not given the password. Nobody in the store explained it.
I quickly found myself on the phone, calling for Apple's assistance, who then called the specific South Coast Plaza store to provide me with the password. Later in the day, I was contacted and given this password to log in. At that point, I had to log in, restore my account, and then delete the administrative account manually. In general, Apple Support has always returned the machine ready to be restored via Time Machine.
Finally, a breakthrough in customer service
After installing my computer, I contacted customer service to let them know that I needed to talk to someone from my overall experience with Apple. They sent me to a manager and explained everything that happened. That's when I also forwarded along the ghost e-mail correspondence. I also shared calmly with her my experience with my iPhone X, MacBook Pro and now iMac Pro.
In return, she responded with regret and asked, "Well, are there any products you would like to see in the Apple Store?" I initially denied the # 39; offer. I told him, "I already have what I want. The only thing I do not have is the HomePod, but I do not know if I want it.
She then said, "What if I sent you a HomePod to thank you and compensate you for your problems?" I explained the countless hours spent during the year that were wasted in technical support. She replied that sending a HomePod was the best solution.
Honestly, I was grateful that they were ready to do even that. Few companies would do anything to recognize such an experience. So, it's a little more there. I knew that nothing could really make up for my time or experience during the year. I accepted the HomePod and I just hoped everything was done.
For those who ask, "How was the HomePod?": Well, I do not have a lot of positives to report here. The speaker sounds good. It looks good. But beyond that, you should not expect anything else. The HomePod is difficult to configure with the iMac Pro and once online, Siri can not really do much. She can not even play Spotify because she responds with "I'm sorry, I can not do it" and asks you to use iTunes instead. Unfortunately, Siri has a long way to go to find Alexa and Google Assistant from Amazon.
It was at that moment, listening to this glorified speaker, that I began to ask myself, "Where did Apple go in the quality and development of its products? Where is the apple we all knew once?
If only it was finished
I have so desperately wanted this to be the end of this article and my experience. Unfortunately, it is not the case. If you think I want to write / post more, you are wrong.
My third MacBook Pro now has the same issues that led to each of the previous logic board failures, as can be seen here.
In addition, the iMac Pro started stuttering, crashing, and crashing as before replacement. Now, there is only a matter of time before each machine stops working completely and is put back into service again.
Now you will not believe this part. I had the opportunity to upgrade the MacBook Pro 2018. A family member, knowing the problems with my 2017 model, agreed to buy it because it is still so new and it is compatible with AppleCare. So I bought the MacBook Pro 2018.
Can you guess what happened?
Yeah, already started to see problems with the MacBook Pro 2018 as can be seen in this picture. It was from the same stop screen that we had previously shown side by side on the 2017 model above. I see this beautiful image every time I stop the laptop.
Do I feel stupid? Yes. I feel like the idiot who made the same mistake several times while giving Apple the benefit of the doubt that they clearly do not deserve.
Conclusion
Apple, as I once knew, no longer exists in my mind today. In my opinion, the society that we all considered the pinnacle of innovation and quality control is quickly disappearing.
If Apple read this now, I would say that at one point, I understood very well why someone would pay money to buy Apple products. I understood what went with the Apple brand and you could say at that time that "you get what you pay for". But today, the understanding, quality, reliability and goodwill of the Apple brand have completely disappeared. At least in my opinion.
When Steve Jobs died, I had doubts about whether the company would continue to do what she did so well. From year to year, we found that product lines were getting modest updates while Apple released marketing terms such as "revolutionary" for a touch bar that is anything but. Premature and underdeveloped products are being launched to take advantage of the goodwill of Apple (the HomePod). At least, I expected that Apple will live up to the quality and reliability of the products for which they are known. Unfortunately, it seems that, year after year, quality control has also decreased.
In addition, Apple's product lines have grown and become more complex. This goes directly against Steve Jobs' mission, which is to always simplify and focus on their core products and customers. Do not get me wrong, I appreciate the Bluetooth AirPods. These have even been sold by a salesman quoting a Steve Jobs line of "they just work". Well, they work, most of the time. Sometimes I have to put them back in the base, reconnect them, get them in and out of my ear and after all … "they work". But, like all Apple products, when they work, likes them.
Today, I buy AppleCare on all the Apple products that I buy. It's because I want it because I'm afraid that everything I'm going to buy will fail. This is a deceptive consumer practice. Apple has asked each of us to pay between $ 300 and $ 500 more for each product we buy, because like me, other people are afraid that one day after their warranty, they fail, and they do!
In the state, I will use these products until they close and AppleCare has expired. From there, unless Apple has changed, I have no reason to stick to a platform that causes me much more grief than the PC world.
This has been my experience without bias or exaggeration. I will continue to always be open about my experiences with each of these companies and their products. I will also say that it is not totally negative. Beyond the hardware issues I've encountered this year, I can honestly say that I love Apple's ecosystem of their operating system, App Store and software suite. In my mind, it's a huge reason to stay with the platform, so everything else can be put back on track.
I sincerely hope that they are able to do it.
About the author: Pye Jirsa is a wedding photographer based in Southern California and co-founder of SLR Lounge, which offers photographic content, tutorials and training. This article has also been published here.
Image credits: The header artwork contains a Facebook type icon by Enoc vt and a license under CC BY-SA 3.0
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