

Steve Jobs and the squishy Macbook - chengmi
http://macenstein.com/default/archives/949

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mechanical_fish
Notice how, when confronted with a super-nitpicky person who is complaining
about something that _isn't actually broken_ \-- like the left side of their
Macbook, which is working fine but which doesn't "feel solid" -- the Mac
Geniuses reply with this story.

This particular story isn't being told by accident. Observe its killer
features, designed to make the customer feel good despite the fact that nobody
can solve his "problem":

(A) It appeals to higher authority, a time-honored negotiation tactic.

(B) It sells Apple by selling Steve Jobs: Steve takes personal responsibility
for the looks of the product, and Steve _is on the complainer's side_ (i.e.
Steve worries a _lot_ about completely meaningless cosmetic issues -- _he's
even pickier than you are_ ). The intended impression is that, if Jobs had
noticed the "squishy" side panel, he would have personally ordered a redesign
of the machine at a cost of $3 million -- just as he ordered the machine
redesigned to keep the screws symmetrical. What a pity that the engineers
insisted on shipping the notebook on time and on budget, rather than spending
time finding and fixing every _conceivable_ cosmetic issue! Steve will just
have to try harder next time!

This, of course, is good cop-bad cop, another time-honored negotiation tactic.

The story about Jobs and the screws may even be true -- the screws on the left
do seem to be merely cosmetic. And, yes, my Macbook is very slightly "squishy"
on the front of the left edge. For all I know, that's a feature, designed to
absorb small stresses by allowing the plastic to flex, rather than by
transmitting the stress to the battery connection, which is located directly
beneath the offending bit of plastic. Or maybe it's an oversight -- these
things happen when you're rushing a completely new product to market while
maintaining total secrecy. Who cares? I don't care. I guess the author of this
article cares. But neither of us cares as much as the Steve Jobs of Legend,
who is personally offended by every scratch, loose part, and missing screw.

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Zak
Assuming they're one of the common types of screw used in the computer, that's
not a bug - it's a feature. Some day, I will end up having to take part a
Macbook and repair it. Invariably, a screw will be lost, but it won't be a
problem because there are two spares!

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mynameishere
Just checked my dell...free from all forms of squishyness, except the LCD,
which is a little bit squishy.

~~~
pietro
Just checked my Acer. Squishy all over the place...

~~~
downer
Any laptop is squishy if you press hard enough.

~~~
neil_cauldwell
My MacBook Pro makes me squishy

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alaskamiller
my macbook pro has two screws that always comes loose on the left side, but
that was just a defect

