IMAC or macbook pro - advise from Mac users please!

In the interest of fairness and DMC hard-on for Apple Products. Here is the current, factual, info on Apple products and their concern for the Foxxcom workers


(Reuters) - Apple Inc and its key supplier Foxconn Technology Group will share the initial costs of improving labor conditions at the Chinese factories that assemble iPhones and iPads, Foxconn's top executive said on Thursday.

Foxconn chief Terry Gou did not give a figure for the costs, but the group has been spending heavily to fight a perception its vast plants in China are sweatshops with poor conditions for its million-strong labor force. It regards the criticism as unfair.

"We've discovered that this (improving factory conditions) is not a cost. It is a competitive strength," Gou told reporters on Thursday after the ground-breaking ceremony for a new China headquarters in Shanghai.

"I believe Apple sees this as a competitive strength along with us, and so we will split the initial costs."

It was unclear if the split would be 50/50 or in some other ratio.

Foxconn announced in mid-February it had raised wages for workers by 16 to 25 percent, and in late March it reached an agreement with Apple to hire tens of thousands of new workers to reduce overtime work.

Analysts have attributed weaker-than-expected first-quarter results at Foxconn's flagship listed unit Hon Hai Precision Industry Co Ltd mainly to rising salary costs.

Hon Hai has been trying to cut rising Chinese labor costs in the past two or three years, and has been relocating plants to areas of China where wages are lower.

FOCUS ON DOMESTIC CONSUMERS

Foxconn's manufacturing in China will focus on domestic consumers in the country of 1.3 billion people, as well as research and development in technology, sales and services, Gou said.

Foxconn Technology Group's other listed units include Foxconn International Holdings, the world's top contract mobile phone maker, and Foxconn Technology Co which makes casings.

Over the past two years, there has been a spate of suicides at Foxconn's sprawling plants which make the Apple products as well as gadgets for the likes of Microsoft and Nintendo.

Apple and Foxconn agreed earlier this year to improve conditions for workers assembling Apple products.
 
Even the liars get caught. Sorry DMC your hard-on is getting limp.

I have difficult news. We've learned that Mike Daisey's story about Apple in China - which we broadcast in January - contained significant fabrications. We're retracting the story because we can’t vouch for its truth. This is not a story we commissioned. It was an excerpt of Mike Daisey's acclaimed one-man show "The Agony and the Ecstasy of Steve Jobs," in which he talks about visiting a factory in China that makes iPhones and other Apple products.

The China correspondent for the public radio show Marketplace tracked down the interpreter that Daisey hired when he visited Shenzhen China. The interpreter disputed much of what Daisey has been saying on stage and on our show. On this week's episode of This American Life, we will devote the entire hour to detailing the errors in "Mr. Daisey Goes to the Apple Factory."

Daisey lied to me and to This American Life producer Brian Reed during the fact checking we did on the story, before it was broadcast. That doesn't excuse the fact that we never should've put this on the air. In the end, this was our mistake.

We're horrified to have let something like this onto public radio. Many dedicated reporters and editors - our friends and colleagues - have worked for years to build the reputation for accuracy and integrity that the journalism on public radio enjoys. It's trusted by so many people for good reason. Our program adheres to the same journalistic standards as the other national shows, and in this case, we did not live up to those standards.

A press release with more details about all this is below. We'll be posting the audio of the program and the transcript on Friday night this week, instead of waiting till Sunday.
 
Thanks for that DMC. Too late for you he's already bought it.

Where do you think Dell get their parts from?

They are probably all just as bad. Apple, though, attracts attention to itself as the world's most-esteemed brand and the apparent eagerness of its fans to look the other way at the fairly ruthless exploitation done on Apple's behalf. The company's huge profit margins - unique among high-tech companies - appear to be due to the fact that it has zero manufacturing in the US and yet does all of its manufacturing in overseas sweatshops. Check out these stories:

http://articles.marketwatch.com/2012-02-03/commentary/31028982_1_ipad-apple-socially-conscious-funds

http://www.mediaite.com/tv/cnns-ash...ed-apple-sweatshops-to-go-on-did-he-not-care/

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...d-Chinas-iPod-sweatshops-SIX-YEARS-expos.html

article-0-11973C44000005DC-863_468x592.jpg


Funny how Jobs didn't attract as much attention as Bill Gates for philanthropy. I wonder if that's a PR failure, or if Apple, at its core, is less interested in philanthropy. Six years of sweatshops makes me think that Apple is banking on its fans to keep looking the other way.
 
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...dges-children-Chinese-sweatshops-6p-hour.html

http://www.aljazeera.com/video/europe/2012/03/201236194151497656.html

Foxconn, which manufactures gadgets for the likes of Apple, Sony, Nintendo and HP, among many others, has had a grim history of suicides at its factories. A suicide cluster in 2010 saw 18 workers throw themselves from the tops of the company's buildings, with 14 deaths.

NEW YORK—Mike Daisey, the off-Broadway performer who admitted that he made up parts of his one-man show about Apple products being made in Chinese sweatshops, has cut questionable sections from the monologue and added a prologue explaining the controversy.

Apple is doing a better job auditing its suppliers than it’s competitors, says a China labor activist.
Labor activist Qiang Li says Apple is doing a much better job of monitoring factory conditions than Dell, Hewlett-Packard, Nokia and many others.


The Kardashian fashion empire has come under fire as many of the family’s branded and endorsed products are reportedly made in Chinese sweatshops where workers, some as young as 16, are subjected to inhumane conditions, according to Star magazine.


http://www.esarcasm.com/23504/10-reasons-why-apples-chinese-sweatshops-are-totally-awesome/
http://www.businessweek.com/2000/00_40/b3701119.htm

Again DMC has taken his Hard on for Apple to the forum, where the OP asked whether he should buy an iMac or a MacBook. But again his bias has produced old articles about past experiences and investigations. I wonder what brand of computer DMC uses since other large companies as mentioned above, Sony and HP to name two, also use the Foxcomm factory for their production. Dmc only searches for articles about Apple. Good only knows why. The important thing to read through all of this is that Apple has taken the heat and has promised to do something about it. Nike didn't wish to correct it's problem in the past where they had plants in South Korea, et.al. so they moved to China where workers groups are not allowed.

DMC, for once try to stay on topic and stop making yourself look like a fool tossing around a few articles to prove a point that is dull. Get over your hatred for Apple and to the Original Poster I will apologize for DMC's rude, and crass behavior and hope that your future questions will be answered by sincere mature, Adults.
 
Apparently it's ok to hold Apple to a different standard than Dell, HP et. al that are guilty of the same issues. I'm not quite sure how that works.

Not a different standard at all. If you review my previous post, I do point out that Apple isn't the only culprit here. However, Apple works hard - and succeeds - to cultivate huge amounts of branding awareness over its progressive image. Careful what you ask for! Its enviable profit margins are built on some pretty ruthless exploitation. Agreed, Apple isn't the only one doing it. I would welcome and endorse a thread/post pointing that out and I definitely wouldn't try to minimize it. Child exploitation and substandard working conditions are a serious issue, whereever and whyever they exist.

We commonly have discussions on this forum about ethical sourcing of the things we use. Often, that means instruments, but it could be anything else we use to produce and process music.

For the record, I first started using Apple products in 1986, and I have used them on and off since then, although I have no Apple products now.
 
Then why - when we discuss computers in general - do you not post the same in all of those threads?

I don't recall any threads about computers in general. This is a thread about Apple computers so it is relevant to include information about Apple computer manufacturing conditions - even if it's information that might be controversial or appear antagonistic. If I did start talking about non-Apple computers, I could rightly be accused of taking the thread off-course. So I included news stories about Apple computers in a thread about Apple computers.

I can tell you straight-up that ruthless exploitation of people in sweatshops to produce electronic items is very, very bad. Including the obligatory clarification: whereever and however it occurs, by Apple or any other company.

I will point this out in future discussions where it is relevant, even if it does ruffle a few feathers. One of the things I like about this forum is the ability to regularly discuss products of all kinds with courtesy and respect from most people.
 
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I don't recall any threads about computers in general. This is a thread about Apple computers so it is relevant to include information about Apple computer manufacturing conditions - even if it's information that might be controversial or appear antagonistic. If I did start talking about non-Apple computers, I could rightly be accused of taking the thread off-course. So I included news stories about Apple computers in a thread about Apple computers.

How soon they forget.....

july 2011....Windows 7 all the way for me! I made the switch from Mac to Windows in 2001 and I haven't looked back once. I purge all Apple software like QuickTime from my computers too.

march 2012...If you're interested in status and can/are willing to pay for it at the home practice recording level, then go Apple. Although I wouldn't.

march 2012....Word. People like status and shiny things and Apple stuff is shiny and statusy. But a computer is just a wrapper, used to deliver the goods inside.

march 2012.. You never see Windows people poo-pooing Mac people just because they use a Mac. (as to the above from DMC)..Wow, great post!

march 2012..If and when he moves up in the world and needs to impress people with his choice of computer hardware, then a Mac may be necessary.
 
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