[dennisw]

Thanks much for the information

Let me put it this way
Apple enthusiasts like to brag about Apple’s better hardware

Can Apple be more demanding and get away with it? And go to Asus for example and say -— “We want you to make Quadro FX 1700 Graphics cards for us with a lower defect rate then what you supply others. We want better cards from a better run than what you give Dell or sell through NewEgg”

[Borderline]

"Can Apple be more demanding and get away with it?"


Apple, or any other OEM can make deals for a complete different version of anything. Made to their spec and designed and built to meet their demand. It just costs money. Apple, or Dell, or whoever will make back room deals with anyone on anything. They can even have their own logo and serial number on them. The price is much lower than retail, not just because they buy in huge quantity, but because Apple does the support on it. This holds true for hard drives, memory, graphics cards and anything else.

The biggest reason the hardware is traditionally longer lived is more that Apple controls every detail and supports every component directly. That is more important than it is that the hardware itself is better, although that is a part of it - Apple tries to do high end only. However, the biggest reason is because Apple controls it there are fewer variations to have to maintain support for and MUCH fewer low end platform and component manufacturers tossing junk into the marketplace. Since there is no $600 bottom end platform there isn't competition at that end - no bottom feeders at all.

Apple tries very hard to keep the quality up at the top end. That means a lot in the long run. That said, so does ASUS.