# Which Macs are made in the USA?



## yossarian1000 (Feb 4, 2006)

I'd like to buy a new mac but I'm not an anti-American-labor kind of guy. Which macs are still made here, if any?


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## Cam (Feb 4, 2006)

Interesting question and I hope someone will answer. My understanding of the industry is that most if not all assembly done in Asia. I have heard that some desktop units have the heat sink assembly put on in the local country to avoid damage to processor during shipment. Otherwise all assembly done abroad.


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## Viro (Feb 4, 2006)

Most are made in China, if I'm not mistaken.


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## CharlieJ (Feb 4, 2006)

Viro said:
			
		

> Most are made in China, if I'm not mistaken.


I think he maybe correct look on the back on the iPod's it says "designed in apple california assembled in china" and older ipods say Taiwan This computer I am on now is a Powermac G4 which is made in the usa my imac is made in china


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## fryke (Feb 4, 2006)

Didn't we have this thread almost exactly the same a few weeks/months ago in the Café?


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## dmetzcher (Feb 4, 2006)

yossarian1000 said:
			
		

> I'd like to buy a new mac but I'm not an anti-American-labor kind of guy. Which macs are still made here, if any?


Not that your attitude is a bad thing, but you are going to have a hard time buying anything in the very near future, especially electronic devices. We are not competitive in this country, and companies are outsourcing everything just to stay in business (and yes, it is necessary when every other company is doing it, and you have to hit a certain price point to get people to buy your products). Instead of only buying things that are made in the US, we should really be lobbying Congress to make it harder for companies to outsource work while reaping the benefits of being an American company. There is no other way, and boycotting companies isn't going to do enough. It didn't work in the 80s or 90s, and it isn't working now.

Anyway, just my two cents.


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## Shookster (Feb 4, 2006)

Putting limits on companies' ability to outsource will lead to inefficiency and inflation. If the government consider it to be a problem, they should try to make things cheaper to produce in America so that companies wouldn't *need* to outsource.

I personally don't see a problem with goods that are manufactured in Asia , as it's still the same product at the end of the day, but what I don't like is when English/American companies outsource their telephone systems to Asia. The people on the other end often have no clue what you are talking about.


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## ergo proxy (Feb 4, 2006)

If I'm not mistaken, The Power PC, Intel and maybe Freescale
chips are still manufactured in the US.


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## Lt Major Burns (Feb 4, 2006)

my powermac says 'designed and assembled by apple in california'.  my display says, like my ipod, 'designed by apple in california.  assembled in china'.


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## ergo proxy (Feb 5, 2006)

my display & powerbook is assembled in taiwan, powermac in china while
stuff like keyboard & mighty mouse in malaysia. well now I know, I never really paid any attention to where exactly they were assembled. As long as 
it's got that apple logo and it works fine, I'm happy.


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## dmetzcher (Feb 5, 2006)

ergo proxy said:
			
		

> If I'm not mistaken, The Power PC, Intel and maybe Freescale
> chips are still manufactured in the US.


I believe that you are correct about Intel. They just opened a new (or maybe more than one) factory to make the new chips for Apple. Have no idea about the others.


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## Viro (Feb 6, 2006)

I am pretty certain that Intel and AMD fab their processors in Europe and the USA, but I think they are assembled in Malaysia.


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## yossarian1000 (Feb 6, 2006)

Ok, it looks like the big power macs are still made here....well, assembled here. Yes, I'm aware that Avarice & Greed, Inc....meaning 'business'....is not at fault. It's our own trade polices. It's obvious to me we can't compete against $5 a day labor without stiff trade tariffs to level the playing field, unless we want to work for $5 a day. I guess what we need is a real government to make decisions which actually do something for us citizens. However, we're goiing to be stuck with the same old 'rich get richer and poor get poorer' government we have now.

I suppose I either buy a power mac, buy something from UnionBuiltPC, or switch to the used computer market and cut the manufacturers loose.

Thanks for the input.


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## lurk (Feb 7, 2006)

We have had this discussion before but the UnionBuiltPC are only there to fleece uninformed partizans.  I do not  care what criteria you use to make your decisions. But hey, if you want to help your cause you gotta stop deluding yourself by thinking that last $7.86 of union labor makes one bit of difference.


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## ksv (Feb 7, 2006)

Shookster said:
			
		

> Putting limits on companies' ability to outsource will lead to inefficiency and inflation. If the government consider it to be a problem, they should try to make things cheaper to produce in America so that companies wouldn't *need* to outsource.
> 
> I personally don't see a problem with goods that are manufactured in Asia , as it's still the same product at the end of the day, but what I don't like is when English/American companies outsource their telephone systems to Asia. The people on the other end often have no clue what you are talking about.



You'd probably reconsider your stance after seeing Chinese factory workers' conditions.

I'm pleased to tell you it works exactly the opposite way of how you describe. You really wouldn't want Chinese authoritarian «communist-capitalism» applied to American manufacturing plants. Rather, Chinese wealth will accumulate over time, leading to increased prices.


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## yossarian1000 (Feb 8, 2006)

"UnionBuiltPC are only there to fleece uninformed partizans. " 

Could you provide a little more detail?


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## lurk (Feb 8, 2006)

We went through this on your last thread.  All of the components in those PCs are manufactured in Asia none of them come from the US since we have long abandoned the manufacture of consumer PC components here.  (There are still firms who do that sort of thing but they concentrate on specialized low volume applications, as soon as you want volume Asia wins.) 

So your union employee at union PC will take the Malaysian motherboard out the the box and install it into a Chinese case and then plug in the Korean memory and a Taiwanese video card.  In an assembly line sort of situation that will account for about 5 minutes of labor.  45 minutes of labour if you did it yourself after ordering all that stuff from Tiger Direct.

So if you look at your $500 PC about $5 of that value/expence is derived from American Union labor.  That is a WHOPPING 1%!!!

That is why I see it as so disingenuous. It is about the as buying at Yugo(*) and claiming that it was an american  UnionCar because of the guy who put the floor mats in it. 

Does that make more sense?  Regardless of whether I agree with what you are trying to do, it is just infuriating to see people waste their efforts ineffectively and then pat themselves on the back saying "well I did my part".

* I used Yugo here poetically, insert appropriate car company of your choice.


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## dmetzcher (Feb 9, 2006)

The fact that UnionBuiltPC is, frankly, cheating the consumer by trying to trick him or her into believing that the PCs are made here (and not just assembled) is a sad, pathetic play on people's general desire to help fellow US citizens keep their jobs. Someone should drag the owner of the company out of his office and beat him with a rubber hose.

By the way, can someone point out on that Web site where it tells the consumer that the parts come from elsewhere in the world? I had to leave the site because the design made me sick to my stomach.


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## fryke (Feb 10, 2006)

Hmm... Which Macs are still made in Switzerland? I want a Mac that's been made in Switzerland. I mean: Why should I support all those foreign countries. I want a Switzerland computer, and a Mac at that.


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## lurk (Feb 10, 2006)

Fryke, 

That would be the AlpfenMac it is not as portable as other models but I hear it has great wireless connectivity, useful in the mountainous terrain.  I am sure you have seen one about somewhere, they have also played prominently in some Ricola commercials I have seen.


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## fryke (Feb 10, 2006)

Ah yeah, that was it.


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