Comments on: Apple Desktops: “Notably Reliable” Says Consumer Reports

By: Jeremy

Jeremy — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 04:08:18 +0000

Ask Industrial light and magic why they use macs. most movie special effects are done with a mac.

By: Ed

Ed — Mon, 10 Sep 2007 05:26:14 +0000

You guys are complaining about a ‘1997′ G3 Laptop and a ‘2000′ iBook? I have a ‘2000′ iMac and it started slowing down recently, so I upgraded the RAM. You have a 10 and 7 year old system and it still works. What’s your problem again? Try saying that about any PC that go obsolete 3 months after you buy one.

By: Craig

Craig — Sun, 08 Jul 2007 03:06:29 +0000

Rocco, come to think of it, my kid’s 2000 special edition iBook has been having trackpad issues lately. And the video card on my other kid’s 1998 iMac has been causing intermittent blackouts after several hours of Oregon Trail playing.

I’m writing Consumer Union now - these Apple machines are crap…

By: Rocco

Rocco — Mon, 30 Apr 2007 19:35:16 +0000

Macs Reliable? Are you kidding? My 1997 Pismo G3 laptop has become increasingly slow in the last 6 months. And its startup time is lagging. (Just don’t talk to me about its intermittent bluetooth syncing).

There I said it.

By: Paul D

Paul D — Mon, 30 Apr 2007 12:08:50 +0000

If you quote someone’s review of your product, you’re relaying a fact, which is perfectly permissible. You can cite any information you want, whether the source is a review magazine or something else.

Some people and their idea of what “copyright” means. Copyright doesn’t even apply to words and phrases in the first place, but to long bodies of creative content. Sigh…

By: Ken

Ken — Wed, 25 Apr 2007 17:22:00 +0000

@Mirri & Antoine, I made a mistake in my comments.
My Mac Pro had the troubles.

So sorry to have upset you.

By: ThunkDifferent.com

ThunkDifferent.com — Wed, 25 Apr 2007 15:59:43 +0000

My iMac desktop crashes sometimes, but it is “Pretty Reliable.” But that isn’t what you want to hear from Consumer Reports, now is it?

By: Mirri

Mirri — Wed, 25 Apr 2007 01:43:25 +0000

Ken, you said you had a problem with your MacBook Pro, right?
And this article in CR said that Apple’s desktops were notably reliable. So one would question the relevancy of your comment.

By: Chris Williams

Chris Williams — Wed, 25 Apr 2007 01:10:05 +0000

SteveW is exactly correct. Fair use is very carefully limited to “purposes for which the reproduction of a particular work may be considered ‘fair,’ such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research.” Check out the US Copyright Office’s fair use FAQ at copyright.gov.

By: Steve W

Steve W — Wed, 25 Apr 2007 00:37:29 +0000

@DBL “It’s a quaint notion that Americans seem to have largely forgotten about called “fair use”. You can quote a short snippet, with attribution, of anything anyone says for any purpose, and there isn’t a darn thing the original author can do about it, except ask you nicely not to. Perhaps you’re confusing a policy and a request with a legal right.”

NOT TRUE! Fair use does not include commercial purposes.

By: Apple Desktops: “Notably Reliable” Says Consumer Reports

Apple Desktops: “Notably Reliable” Says Consumer Reports — Wed, 25 Apr 2007 00:31:50 +0000

[...] Apple Desktops: “Notably Reliable” Says Consumer Reports [...]

By: Antoine Valot

Antoine Valot — Tue, 24 Apr 2007 22:04:31 +0000

Ken, you make me laugh. Your single individual experience means nothing for anyone else. That’s the whole point of Consumer Reports, is to provide us statistically significant reviews. I’m sure there’s a PC user out there who’s never had a problem, but that doesn’t mean that you or I will never have a problem with a PC.

Seriously, your individual experience is utterly irrelevant.

By: Nick

Nick — Tue, 24 Apr 2007 21:57:09 +0000

The problem with CR is that their reports are skewed most of the time.

Even though I am happy to see Apple recognized in there, I have often seen CR bash products that were great and reward others poor ones. The problem is that the folks at CR don’t obviously do all the testing themselves and have little control over the outsourced tests, so I have been told.

Check out the Canadian version of CR. Much more reliable

By: Nathaniel

Nathaniel — Tue, 24 Apr 2007 21:55:26 +0000

It’s not a question of law, CR disallows use of their reviews as a matter of principle and anyone who uses them risks not getting reviewed in the future, or finding themselves the victims of an impromptu CR reader boycott.

By: Ken

Ken — Tue, 24 Apr 2007 21:07:26 +0000

“Notably Reliable” made me laugh.
My 6 month old MB Pro just got back (yea AppleCare!) from having it’s notable motherboard, hard drive and power system replaced.

I’ve always wondered why they don’t advertise AppleCare more. In the 3 times I’ve had to use it (not bad considering the 11 macs I’ve owned) it’s been great and worth every cent.

By: DBL

DBL — Tue, 24 Apr 2007 20:49:37 +0000

Regardless of what rights Consumer Reports claims they have, they don’t actually have the right to stop anyone from citing their reviews, especially not in the form of a one-line quotation. It’s a quaint notion that Americans seem to have largely forgotten about called “fair use”. You can quote a short snippet, with attribution, of anything anyone says for any purpose, and there isn’t a darn thing the original author can do about it, except ask you nicely not to. Perhaps you’re confusing a policy and a request with a legal right.

Now quoting a large section of the review would be another matter altogether, and would be a matter for the courts to weigh as to whether it is “large enough”. The commercial nature of an ad would come into play in this decision. But not for a single line.

By: Jim

Jim — Tue, 24 Apr 2007 20:24:56 +0000

Sorry, it won’t happen. Consumer Report’s reviews are copyrighted and they do not allow reviewees to cite the reviews in advertisements. The best Apple could do is cite “a major consumer magazine” or some such.