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I don't really think this damaged their reputation, even in the slightest way. I had never heard of the problem, and it seems that even the people that suffered it went ahead and bought another mac: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9079010

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I downvoted you because you simply can't draw that conclusion just based on the evidence of one anecdotal account from an affected user and from your own ignorance of the problem. Of course this has damaged their reputation in the minds of some affected users.

I absolutely agree. Having to bring my laptop in on a yearly basis to get it fixed due to this issue definitely lowered my expectation of hardware quality in Macs. I will absolutely still be buying another Mac, but that is primarily because of the operating system and ergonomic design principles -- all of which make me a much more productive developer.

Because Apple bundles everything (and refuses to unbundle the OS from the hardware in any way), you are likely right that the effect will be minimal because the benefits of all the goods (bundled together) outweighs the costs (and consumers have no choice -- if they want any part of the bundle, they must buy all of it).

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