The commoditization of Macintosh hardware is taking its toll.
Apple announced the gigantic PowerBook G4 with 17" LCD screen over 2 months ago. Let supplies of the laptop are extremely limited.
Marketing for the eMac, introduced originally as an inexpensive education iMac but later made available to the general public, appears to be fading. The eMac's reputation is tarnished by problems with its video hardware that render the system unusable.
Recently, Macintouch notes in its reader reports of FireWire bus failures on the logic board that sometimes render the system dead. Apple's switch to a software-based modem is also causing connectivity issues for many. And recently Apple announced a exchange program for power supplies in the first edition Power Mac G4 Mirrored Drive Door systems.
What's up with Apple's hardware reliability lately?
Apple, like many computer companies, have contracted factories, many of which are overseas, to build their products. Because much of this labor is relatively unskilled and cheap to hire, it's possible that quality is being affected at the assembly level.
Another consideration are the parts that Apple uses. In the long past, Apple used customized everything, which drove the cost of a product higher than its PC counterpart. Today, to reduce costs, Apple uses more commodity hardware, such as ISA hard drives, power supplies, and SDRAM and DDR memory. Historically, Apple generally used the higher-quality commodity parts, but have they switched to a less-reputable company?
A last idea involves industrial design. Apple easily leads in this area with their Macintosh products and accessories, especially with the iPod, iMac, and PowerBooks. However, recent flaws in the design of the PowerBook give me pause, such as the weak and poorly-placed AirPort wireless antenna in the 1GHz PowerBook I use for work. Despite the fact that I am less than 100 feet from the third-party Lucent base station, I receive a signal but cannot get a IP address from the DHCP server. It's as if AirPort gives up too soon in searching for a DHCP server. While the AirPort software recognizes a strong signal from the base station, a third party tool, MacStumbler, repairs signals no stronger than 50%--and that was when I moved my laptop to less than 3 feet from the base station.
Apple is trying to build a reputation with new users that their products have better quality and reliablity, but with the recent problems in the news and discussion sites, I found it hard to back up a Macinosh's system hardiness.
1:46:00 PM 
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