When I was a kid in the 70's my brother and I spent a lot of our time on motorcycles - mostly off road but on road as well. We loved our Yamahas and we scoffed at Harley-Davidson Motorcycles which were beautiful but pretty much a joke in terms of performance and reliability. We preferred Japanese motorcycles; the Japanese motorcycles were the best. The running joke about Harley owners at the time was that they had to carry a cup or bucket with them so they could place it under the leaking oil pan - a problem that was symbolic of the poor quality of Harleys in the 70's. Wikipedia describes the the 70's - when I was doing most of my riding - pretty accurately by my memory.

In 1969, American Machinery and Foundry (AMF) bought [Harley-Davidson], streamlined production, and slashed the workforce. This tactic resulted in a labor strike and a lower quality of bikes. The bikes were expensive and inferior in performance, handling, and quality to Japanese motorcycles. Sales declined, quality plummeted, and the company almost went bankrupt.[28] The "Harley-Davidson" name was mocked as "Hardly Ableson", "Hardly Driveable," and "Hogly Ferguson",[29][30] and the nickname "Hog" became pejorative.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harley_Davidson#Tarnished_reputation

What always struck me as funny was no matter how bad the Harley became its fans were fanatically loyal. They would put up with caring a pan for catching dripping oil as well as poor performance and frequent repairs because they loved their Harleys. Over time however, the number of people loyal to the bike diminished and Harley-Davidson got into trouble. New owners were able to turn the company around and today the quality of Harleys matches their beautiful design - I envy anyone who riding one of the newer models.

Another joke among people I knew were Jaguars. Jaguars were absolutely beautiful cars - the best design you could find. In the case of Jaguars design was everything but quality became an afterthought. Jags had a reputation for breaking down and finding parts was deemed nearly impossible. Some people bought two Jags of the same model, one for parts and the other to drive. Just as the Harley was beautiful and crappy at the same time, so to were Jags. And just as was the case with Harleys, super loyal customers stayed true to their Jags despite the fact that they were a maintenance nightmare. More recent years have been kinder to the Jag. The quality of Jags has improved and style, while not as outstanding as in the past, still stands out.

The Macintosh has had its good times and bad, but today in terms of design its the best thing on the market. I love my Mac - both for its hardware design and user interface. For the power of the Unix operating system under the hood. More recently however, I've seen a decline in quality. My new Mac Book Pro overheats constantly - I have to have a fan running on it all the time - and it exhibits weird behavior such as refusing to syn with my overheated 30" Cinema Display (I have to go through a carefully scripted double reboot to get it to work). I've also seen weird problems with my iPhone - it overheats very easily and sometimes simply freezes. Twice I've had to reinstall the firm ware to get it up and running (note: I've never Jail-Broke my iPhone), and it drops calls frequently. My friend and I call this getting "iPhoned". When ever there is a pause in the conversation we have to say "You still there?" because calls get dropped a lot.

The same kind of loyalty enjoyed by Harleys and Jags can be seen in Apple products. Mac enthusiasts absolutely love their Mac; the same is true of most iPhone owners and I suspect iPod owners. The problem is: The quality is starting to suffer. How long will the Mac fans put up with problems like overheating? I'm not alone, there are plenty of people asking about how to keep their Mac Book Pros from overheating. I think we (the Mac fans) will hang in there for a while but eventually Apple will loose us to other brands. Not only does Apple need to maintain their edge in design, they have to start improving the quality of their products or risk becoming another antidote about good design and horrible quality.

If I had a chance to buy my Mac Book Pro again I wouldn't do it. I would buy a regular MacBook (I'm still a loyal customer!). The day I don't look forward to is when I start seriously considering a Windows. That will be a sad day indeed.