Why is my brother's mini shipping from China?

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Why would it be coming from China? He ordered it on the 21st with a superdrive and built in bluetooth but it says its coming from China on the fedex tracking. Aren't these supposed to be coming from California????
 
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crazycanadian

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When I ordered mine, it came from Shenzhen, China. It got it within 3 days of shipment. I also customized mine as well with 512 and airport, so I'd expect it to come from the same place.
 
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All Apple desktop models are currently manufactured in China, and ship directly from the factory to the customer (or reseller, as the case may be.)

I belive some iPod and laptop models are made in Taiwan. They used to be, anyway.

The wireless keyboard and mouse are made in Malaysia.

Software CDs are pressed in the US (or Canada, maybe) and are boxed in the US.
 
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My 17" Powerbook also shipped from somewhere in Asia, I forget where exactly. I ordered it standard (it's far cheaper to by added memory elsewhere).
 
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crazycanadian

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i now realize adding ram myself would have been cheaper, but at the time of ordering, i was nervous of opening the mini myself....paid the price
 
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so they lie when it says from californa usa on the box?
basterds
 
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iLEFTOVERCRACK said:
so they lie when it says from californa usa on the box?
basterds

It says Designed in California

Almost everything ships from Shanghai China
 
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jessica

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that is right, the box says DESIGNED in CA. Not made, shipped, etc from CA. It is cheaper this way for apple which means same price to you and me, but more cash to apple.

As long as they keep supplying a product that is nearly flawless, I don't complain.
I wouldn't put up with this from dell or any other PC maker.
 
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donnation25
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Thanks for the replies. I checked his tracking number again this morning and it is scheduled to be delivered today. Thanks again, Donnie
 
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jessica said:
that is right, the box says DESIGNED in CA. Not made, shipped, etc from CA. It is cheaper this way for apple which means same price to you and me, but more cash to apple.

As long as they keep supplying a product that is nearly flawless, I don't complain.
I wouldn't put up with this from dell or any other PC maker.

HP does it as well (ships CTO laptops direct from the manufacturer in China). Frankly, there aren't any laptops currently being made in the USA. They are all made by Asian companies. The Mini is made by Hon Hai Precision, which also makes things for Sony and HP.

And in reality, when it comes to laptops, I believe most dell laptops and most apple laptops are made by the same company (Quanta). So not only are the manufacturing quality standards the same, they are mostly made of the same components. :)

And isn't it nice to know that your nice shiny new Apple or HP or Dell was never actually touched by someone working for the company that you "bought" it from?
 
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untoastytoast

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crazycanadian said:
i now realize adding ram myself would have been cheaper, but at the time of ordering, i was nervous of opening the mini myself....paid the price

How much ram did you upgrade to? If you upgraded to 1 gig, apple raped you on the pricing
 
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Thud

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donnation25 said:
Why would it be coming from China? He ordered it on the 21st with a superdrive and built in bluetooth but it says its coming from China on the fedex tracking. Aren't these supposed to be coming from California????


When you open the box, the wrapper clearly says Designed by Apple in California.

Yes, designed in California.

The design was then sent to a sweatshop in China for production.... like all computers and electronics these days. Since all the individual components are made in China to begin with, doesn't it make sense to assemble the whole computer there?


I don't know of any computer manufacturer that actually has production facilities in the US anymore... unfortunately.

I bet you didn't know that Apple powerbooks/ibooks are made by the very same company that makes Dell, HP, and Gateway notebooks, did you? (Quanta Computer). Same quality control and everything.

At least the operating system and most of the software was developed in America.
 
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dan828 said:
So not only are the manufacturing quality standards the same...

This is not entirely true. Two products being built in the same plant is not an indication that those two different products will share 'manufacturing quality standards.' In most insances the build standards are dictated by the specifications and designs sent down by the designers/engineers. My company, for example, owns several back-up alarm patents/designs which he have manufactured for us overseas (asia). I know of two competing back-up alarm companies that also have their products made in the same plants as ours that vary a great deal in thier build quality and materials because that is what is in their spec sheets. The same factory builds all of our products, but they charge us varying amounts depending on how demanding we are with the build quality and tolerances and on what we choose as our materials. Go look at the average HP laptop and the average PowerBook and tell me they share the same build quality and material quality. They don't. Internal components are another matter.

-Chris
 
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crazycanadian

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"How much ram did you upgrade to? If you upgraded to 1 gig, apple raped you on the pricing" posted by untoastytoast

i upgraded to 512 and with my student discount it only cost 67 bucks. the 1 gb stick was a little too expensive for my needs.
 
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I really hate to say this, but I think quality is better on many electronics made out of the United States. Yes, the employees over in Asia are getting paid less, but I think quality is a definite improvement over what the US does.

Having had the oportunity to "open up" many different laptops, I can safely say that Apple products, expecially Powerbooks, seem to have higher quality components than most other companies.
 
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rs2sensen said:
I really hate to say this, but I think quality is better on many electronics made out of the United States. Yes, the employees over in Asia are getting paid less, but I think quality is a definite improvement over what the US does.

Having had the oportunity to "open up" many different laptops, I can safely say that Apple products, expecially Powerbooks, seem to have higher quality components than most other companies.


Unfortunaly I'm inclined to agree that the build quality seems better when built over seas. But like I said in my earlier post, at least some of the credit due for the inclreased build quality of Apple products goes to the designers of the products here in the US. It's a shame we have to outsource so much these days.

-Chris
 
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flyingpostman

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Face it, nearly all consumer products are made in China. If they wern't we would ***** and whine about how expensive they were.
 
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The "sweatshops" in China are actually very high tech, very automated, multi-million dollar production lines operated by extremely well trained technicians... The quality control in most of these factories is as good or better than anything you'll find in the US.

The quality of the assembly may be the same but the design and the quality of the components that are specified makes all the difference.
 
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metsfan489

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I have to agree with all of you. Build quality is a lot better overseas than in the United States because like WannaMac said they are highly automated. Despite how much we complain, Americans don't want to work on a production line (or "sweatshop" type setting). It doesn't have the "glamour" that other jobs have.
 

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