Your worst apple purchase?

[Martin29]

2 items:

2016 15” MacBook Pro. Keyboard began failing after the first year, was never the powerful and fast machine it was billed to be. I still use it in clamshell mode with an external keyboard as a secondary machine, but frankly, for very lightweight tasks.

And the Apple Pencil Mk1 which lasted less than 18months because the battery would no longer hold or take a charge.

Both these products caused me to seriously question my commitment to Apple. Only the introduction of the M1 machines, which are once again, fun to use, persuaded me to stay

 

[Tres]

As others have mentioned, iPhone 6.

In my case I had the 6 Plus. It was far too slow even at launch.
Sold it and upgraded to the 6S Plus the moment it came out. It was a much better device.

So many people I knew used their iPhone 6 for like four years after launch. I don't know how they could stand it. It was such a broken model overall, especially with the touch issues.

 

[Alpha Centauri]

Aperture! Loved the program, its integration, browsing capability. Apple just dropping it was obviously the worst part.

 

[evere13tt]

the MacBook Pro with the awful keyboard and first two generations of AirPods

 

[Septercius]

Mac Pro (2013). Way too powerful for my needs, and very, very expensive - I would have been better off with an iMac. It took me a further four years to realize that.

MacBook 12" (2017 edition). The keyboard was awful, just awful. Only having one port on the side was a pain - occasionally I would want to connect it to the Ethernet via a hub, but that meant I couldn't charge at the same time.

Magic Touchpad. I just couldn't get used to it, so I got rid of it very quickly.

 

[SoldOnApple]

Refurbished MacBook 12 inch. The MacBook itself I was fine with, but the battery wouldn't hold a charge like 12 months after buying it. Was too busy/lazy to take it into Apple Store, but still it shouldn't have broke in the first place. I'll never buy a refurbished device that requires a battery from Apple again.

 

[Eric Idle]

I'm curious to hear which apple products have underwhelmed you and why?

For me it's the AirPods Max. I find them to be way too clunky and tight on my head. The ANC and audio quality is fantastic and I thought I needed them for long flights, but the lack of portability/foldability and the ridiculous case have caused me to leave them on my desk at all times. I find the AirPods Pro to be hands-down superior for travel.

I bring my AirPods Max onto long haul flights all the time. Works beautifully and makes my flying experience far better.

 

[Eric Idle]

Refurbished MacBook 12 inch. The MacBook itself I was fine with, but the battery wouldn't hold a charge like 12 months after buying it. Was too busy/lazy to take it into Apple Store, but still it shouldn't have broke in the first place. I'll never buy a refurbished device that requires a battery from Apple again.

It's your fault for not getting the battery replaced.

 

[ssledoux]

I honestly can’t think of an Apple device I haven’t liked. I’ve returned a couple due to indecisiveness on my part, but I’ve never kept a device that I wound up being unhappy with. I wish I could sit and remember every Apple device I’ve ever owned, but I’m not sure I could. I just know it all started with an eMac for me, and some iBooks and iPods for my kids. We’ve done our part to keep the Apple gods wealthy ever since.

 

[eXan]

Interestingly, none of the products mentioned were a surprise to me. Perhaps I spend too much time on Macrumors.

- My mom is having the same major battery degradation with the Airpords Gen 01. It's quite a disappointment really, because they are not cheap, but can only last for 2-3 years before becoming unusable? Adding to the frustration is the fact that the battery replacement is not an easy fix at all. So someone ended up giving her a Gen 03 as a gift instead. Now she can trash the Gen 01 (so much for Apple's sustainability crap).

- I've had the Core Duo Macbook, but in white, and can confirm that it was not a great Mac. Although it was a gift (i.e. I did not buy it with my own money), and despite that fact that the CPU was quite quick in comparison to the iMac G5 we had in our home, it really struggled with graphics (thanks, Intel GMA), the top case felt that it was about to crack and fall apart, and the fans would not stop going mad the moment it woke up from sleep. I had to replace a battery pretty soon as well, because the original one started swelling up.

- However, the worst Apple product I personally paid for was a used iPhone 5S back in 2015. I remember disliking the 6/+ form and size and wanting to upgrade my 4S to something newer, while the original SE had not been released yet. So I went ahead and bought the 5S off a dude from a classifieds listing. The phone was cosmetically bad, but something made me go for it regardless. It worked fine though. However, later that day I realized the camera A/F did not work, most likely because it seems to had been dropped a few times. Two days later the phone died and would not start at all. I took it to Apple which quoted me around 600 CAD to fix it. Of course I said no, so I took it to one of those repair kiosks in a mall. The guy really struggled to see what's wrong with it, but it actually came alive when he took out the battery and put it back in again.

 

[MacGizmo]

PowerMac G5 tower. It was a lemon right out of the gate. They replaced the motherboard twice, the processors twice, a bunch of other garbage in three different returns due to the excessive fan noise. Eventually I ended up selling it to some poor unsuspecting soul for about 80% what I paid for it and I got the first MacPro tower.

 

[Eric Idle]

Eventually I ended up selling it to some poor unsuspecting soul for about 80% what I paid for it and I got the first MacPro tower.

Very low class.

 

[MacGizmo]

Very low class.

Call it what you will. There was nothing wrong with the computer as far as operation, I just couldn't stand the fan noise. For all I know, the dude had it set up in a closet, never heard the noise and used it for years.

 

[belvdr]

Refurbished MacBook 12 inch. The MacBook itself I was fine with, but the battery wouldn't hold a charge like 12 months after buying it. Was too busy/lazy to take it into Apple Store, but still it shouldn't have broke in the first place. I'll never buy a refurbished device that requires a battery from Apple again.

I've only ever purchased Apple refurbs for portables and never had an issue. I wouldn't write off all refurbs based on one incident.

 

[Thirio2]

My air pod pros. Performance is good and battery life is sufficient for my use, but they have a tendency to fall out no matter which adapter I try. I probably should have gone with Power Beats Pro that had a clip to hold them on.

 

[dexapini]

AirPods 2nd gen. In a first day of using I wore it for about 4 hours. I had an earache for the whole next day because they were so unconfortable.

 

[icanhazmac]

2017 MacBook Pro 15" which was an absolute dumpster fire. Multiple keyboard replacements and USB-C ports replaced on both sides along with the last kb replacement.

 

[TSE]

2017 MacBook Pro 15" which was an absolute dumpster fire. Multiple keyboard replacements and USB-C ports replaced on both sides along with the last kb replacement.

Rewatching the 2016 release of that generation of MacBook Pros did not age well. Jony Ive unfortunately became a parody of himself with the obsession of thinness at the sacrifice of everything else. And that was the last product release I could think of where the marketing was focused on the industrial design. After Ive left, Apple marketing has become decreasingly about the design, and increasingly about the lifestyle that Apple products enable.

 

[XboxEvolved]

I'm definitely gonna have to say AirPod Pro. They are GREAT when they work. But my first pair was fine for like 6-7 months, then started crackling, noise cancellation completely unusable. Then my second pair was the same thing but like within a month of getting them. Now I am on my third pair and getting ready to return these for the same reasons. I can't believe there isn't a class action against Apple for these.

 

[nkgmd]

Wasn't really happy with my iPad Pro 12.9" with Magic Keyboard. It was the version prior to M1. I got it after dumping a Venti dark roast all over my poor beloved MacBook Pro 13" with Touch Bar. It was way heavier and thicker than a laptop. Did not function well as a laptop replacement for the work I do, and frankly was too heavy for a tablet so it barely got used. Ended up trading it in but for a fraction of what I thought it was worth. M1 version was priced way too high to justify another try. I still love iPad, but the iPad Air serves well for media consumption at home or traveling and my MacBook Air M2 is now my workhorse.

Also, I had a few of Apple's cinema displays of various sizes, back in the day, they had frequent issues with stuck pixels that really detracted from the user experience and I was disappointed in the lack of support. They wouldn't replace it for less than 3 stuck pixels within a certain square area. So one glaring green laser in your eye wasn't enough to justify a replacement. Glad that's changed.

That said, I still have faith that they are really trying to make the best products and there really is no competition for most of what they produce, even if they aren't 100% perfect all the time. 🥰

 

[adamlbiscuit]

Worst Apple product I ever had was the Smart Keyboard for my old iPad Pro 9.7-inch. It wasn’t great to type on but that wasn’t the main issue. It left marks on the side of my iPad Pro that were impossible to remove, and it simply stopped working. Apple didn’t replace it because they said it was a Software Issue that could be fixed, but many iOS updates later, it still didn’t work.

Never bought another iPad keyboard until the Magic Keyboard case for my iPad Pro 11-inch. Fortunately the typing experience is much better owing to its design, and it also hasn’t broke (yet).

 

[lostPod]

First gen ipod shuffle.
First gen airpods.

 

[pete1]

2019 Intel MacBook Pro 16". I've been so frustrated with its reliability and performance, and feel conned with the level to which it throttles the CPU when it gets hot because of the abysmal thermal envelope. This is of course the tradeoff that Apple decided on when they went with an ultra thin form factor. I am also irritated how the LCD glass gets scratched if there's even the slightest bit of grit in between it and the top case, again a consequence of the ultra thin design that provides no clearance whatsoever. Finally, the webcam resolution is a joke.

Compare this to my Macbook Pro 2011 which I was thrilled with and still consider to be the best machine I've ever owned. Far more solid and reliable than this one, and very upgradeable.

I will say in favour of the 2019 machine that it has the best LCD I've ever seen, and the best speakers I've ever heard (I am still amazed at how deep the bass is). I like the keyboard and trackpad, as well; and the magic touch bar is growing on me.

 

[MacsRgr8]

I think for me it was the 1st gen Apple TV.
Only used it maybe 2 - 3 times...
Love the Apple TV 2nd gen onward though.

Also, I'd like to mention the 1.25 GHz G4 Mac mini I had bought as well.
Cute design, but slow as hell....

 

[Rique]

I honestly don't recall the model, but the only unsatisfactory Mac experience I had would have been either an LC or Performa which I came very close to returning. It ran so poorly, I was convinced it had a virus. I changed my mind about returning it after upgrading the OS to 7.5.3 (totally clean install, wiped everything). After that, it went from awful to at least usable. I was never in love with it and upgraded to a newer system (think it was a Quadra) just as soon as I could manage it financially.

Concerning other products, I never purchased any of the Apple mice separately, generally opting for a third party mouse (today I use the truly excellent Magic Trackpad)

... and then there were products which fell under the "never or rarely used" heading, such as the original Newton Message Pad (very cool product, ahead of its time, but software just never matured enough and I moved from that to several versions of the Palm Pilot). Also "never or rarely used" would have applied to the Apple Pencil (I didn't hate it, just didn't use it... gave it to my wife) and a few of the tiny iPods (Mini, Shuffle, Nano) - again, the products were not "bad", I just didn't use them. I became a devotee of the classic design as well as of the later generation Touch models.

I've been using Apple products since the Apple IIe, 44 years and counting. Yes - I am an official old fart (oops, I meant to say "well seasoned")