Apple, how can hype make you blind?

Everyone is again all W-O-W about Apple. When will Apple develop durable and eco-friendly products, in sustainable working environments?

Anyone really care? Can hype make you blind?

My first ipod did not even last half the lifetime of my portable cd player. And there was no way to have it repaired, no way to recycle it.

Most Apple buyers (see the iPhone owner, using the latest and trendiest apple powerbook, designing cool websites for Greenpeace, browsing Treehugger, eating bio and living the green life) dont even want to think about, or see, under which conditions Apple products are produced, and at which cost.

I’ll wait for a nice, green, eco-friendly Mac…

By m-c, January 15 2008 | Daily thoughts, Sustainability 

Comments

Dear reader: Please be sure that i'll read your comment, but i do not often feel like answering, so please do not expect anything from me! (also know that offensive comments - aggressive in any kind - are not tolerated on this blog).

17 Responses to “Apple, how can hype make you blind?”

  1. Patrick on January 15th, 2008 9:47 pm

    Apple has a program to take back their products for recycling.
    http://www.apple.com/environment/

    Steve Jobs announced their plans for a greener Apple months ago:
    http://www.apple.com/hotnews/agreenerapple/

    They’ve shrunk all their packaging for the last 2 years.

    Macs have a munch longer life cycle than PCs, try to cell a used PC after 2 years, 4 year old Macs are sold regularly at decent price points.

    Just sayin’

  2. Chris Car on January 15th, 2008 10:30 pm

    I was thinking exactly the same. Apple is just a hype machine selling contemporary trash. At the end of the day it is just about money… anything new out there?

  3. Laurent LaSalle on January 16th, 2008 4:46 pm

    It’s so funny that the day you wrote this piece is the day Apple chose to unveil the new MacBook Air, which is green :

    • it has a fully recyclable aluminum case;
    • it’s Apple’s first display that is mercury-free, with arsenic-free glass;
    • the circuit boards are BFR-free and PVC-free;
    • and it has 50 percent less packaging than the MacBook.

    The only thing that sucks is that the battery must be replaced by an Apple technician; but it’s included in the 120$ price. Oh well…

  4. Chris Car on January 17th, 2008 4:05 pm

    So everything is fine… ;-) So does it mean it is completely recyclable? So a new MacBook will be built by Apple from it (or by other companies)? I don’t think so. It will end up at the trash with other electronic stuff and until these parts are gone from Earth, it will need at least 100 years or more.

  5. m-c on January 17th, 2008 9:49 pm

    I had to delete a comment here.

    GMAN, thanks for your input, but your way of commenting is quite aggressive and i dont think it even deserve to be taken into account.

    I dont own a loft, i dont know where you got this one. I wish for a company like apple to create a computer which will be fully recyclable, and even last for more than 5 years, with just a need for system updates. But i think they prefer to have me and my fellow, ‘hipsters’ as you call us without having a clue of our way of living, spend 3k every 2 or 3 years.

    Thanks again for stopping by.

  6. GMAN on January 18th, 2008 9:59 am

    btw Greenpeace does another 360 and salutres the Mac Air laptop for being green…

  7. Laurent LaSalle on January 18th, 2008 11:20 am

    Je dois être excessivement chanceux, parce que le fameux serveur hébergeant mon blogue, celui de ma blonde et celui que j’utilise pour mon podcast est mon bon vieux Power Mac G4 Cube qui roule constamment depuis sa sortie en 2001, il aura donc 7 ans cette année!

    Mais franchement MC les portables c’est une autre paire de manches, et c’est pas un problème que seulement Apple connaît. Si tu veux un ordinateur que tu pourras upgrader et qui va te durer plus de 5 ans, j’ai l’impression que le Mac Pro est tout indiqué. Par contre, dans le monde des portables, autant PC que Mac, c’est encore difficile…

    Chris, asside from bottles and paper, I don’t know any recyclable product that will perpetually recreate itself. Your MacBook Air will probably turn out to be alluminum cans and plastic containers afterwards; it’s better than rotting in a trash can… Don’t you agree?

  8. Chris Car on January 18th, 2008 12:36 pm

    Laurent, I agree that aluminium will be re-used (and maybe the one or other part as well) but what about the mainboard etc. I know, no other computer manufacturer is better or worse than Apple, but I just wanted to say that people have to reduce consumption radically. Apple wants you to buy more stuff within shorter time frames. If they would really care about the environment, they would create computers which last longer (50 years, why not?) and they would not create new computers and gadgets every year. But of course, this is not working in our economy, because Apple and other companies have to come up with new things all the time, to satisfy the investors etc.

    If you want to get an idea what I wanted for the future, have a look at Bruce Sterling’s book “Shaping Things”.

  9. Laurent LaSalle on January 18th, 2008 4:15 pm

    Of course Apple wants you to buy their things over and over again; that doesn’t mean you should do it! And once again, they are not alone stuck in that pattern…

    A computer that last 50 years? Are you out of your mind? Look what was achieve in 1958, 50 years ago :

    At Texas Instruments, Jack Kilby demonstrates the world’s first integrated circuit, containing five components on a piece of germanium half an inch long and thinner than a toothpick.

    Anyways, I only bought 2 computers in the last 10 years and I am still using both of them today. I’ve sold my first iPod in order to buy my second one, that my girlfriend now uses daily (since I bought an iPod touch). I don’t buy technology impulsively and I think that this is how everyone should spend their money…

  10. Chris Car on January 19th, 2008 12:46 pm

    But why not having the vision for creating a computer which lasts 50 years (or even longer). Basically I can do everything on my computer what I need: surf the web, watch movies, write, draw… of course I am not a game enthusiast. ;-)

    You mentioned 1958, yes this was the beginning of the new era, but since some years the innovation curve becomes more flat.

    Anyways, the reason why I mentioned Apple is that they are pretty good in marketing and creating a hype, which can be dangerous for people who cannot reflect their buying behaviour. Many people go shopping to give “meaning” to their empty life. And I think Apple (and of course many other brands) know that and are excellent in reaching these people (this sounds almost religious, and it actually is if you look at people how they adore Apple).

  11. francisco on January 19th, 2008 1:03 pm

    Maybe you’ll think I’m naive, but I don’t think that Apple is in the business of creating a green computer. They use technology to innovate and create new things that were not there yesterday. Not because the want to make money, but because they want to create new things for the future. Money is only the vessel they must employ, in my view. I’m sure that if Apple could give their computers away for free and still keep making them, they would.

    Of course, everybody then copies what they do and integrate it in their own computers. Just look at the number of iPhone look-alikes out there coming out this spring…

    In that sense it is encouraging that the new MacBook Air is so green-oriented, because in a couple of years everybody will have jumped on the bandwagon and I’m pretty sure that MOST of the computers that we will be able to buy in 2018 will be green , recyclable and sustainable.

    Just not right now. We will eventually, inevitably get there, but these things take time.

    They will still be toxic if you try to eat them, though.

  12. m-c on January 19th, 2008 1:43 pm

    miam!

  13. Chris Car on January 19th, 2008 2:35 pm

    Did anyone realize that it is not possible to manually change the battery in the Mac Book Air? There is almost no one I know who did not change the battery in the Mac Book after some years. So what do you do with the Mac Book Air if you want to change battery?

    a) Buy the Time Capsule device (trash) or use your 2nd Mac / PC to back up your data and send the Mac Book Air to Apple (good luck)

    b) or… just trash it! Like you trashed your 2 years old iPod! ;-)

    Now this is a “lock in” situation, thanks Apple!

  14. francisco on January 19th, 2008 3:24 pm

    $129 replacement program at the (soon to open in downtown Montreal) Apple store. Apparently it takes only a few minutes.

  15. Chris Car on January 19th, 2008 3:42 pm

    Ok! :-)

  16. Laurent LaSalle on January 20th, 2008 12:40 am

    Expecting Apple or any other companies to have a soul is absurd. A corporation is nothing more than a clinically diagnosed psychopath. The Corporation (documentary) clearly demonstrated that and I recommend anyone that haven’t seen it yet to rent it.

    Of course I am all for creating a computer that would last 50 years, but this can’t happen a capitalist society; or at least won’t be an idea forwarded by a corporation which main purposes is to make money. Plus, it is very unlikely that this could be possible. You are asking to restrain technological “innovation” in favor of invertia, because you consider computers allowing you to surf the web, watch movies, write and draw is enough.

    Hey Chris, it’s easy to change the battery in the MacBook Air look:

    http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/08/01/18/sources_macbook_air_battery_replacements_take_only_minutes.html

    In conclusion, my “classic” Macintosh (the one introduced in 1984) still works fine. While I agree with your global idea, I think trowing the rock at Apple, or the computer industry as a whole, is a bit too easy…

  17. Chris Car on January 20th, 2008 11:50 am

    The Cube, the Classic Mac, … Laurent, you should consider launching a Mac museum! :-P

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