I promised earlier that I would explain why I was at the Apple Store yesterday afternoon and evening. Well, my PowerBook is having some issues, both hardware- and software-related. (Details after the jump.) I’ve been putting up with them for a while, largely because I didn’t want to be computerless for any period of time during my final semester of law school. But I don’t need a computer to study for the bar (indeed, its absence will probably induce me to study more and blog less), so I finally decided to bite the bullet and take the computer in.
Just like the other time I brought in my 17-inch PowerBook for repair, its absence leaves me using Becky’s old iBook — her extremely slow old iBook — as my primary computer, albeit with a FireWire clone of my PowerBook’s hard drive as the startup disk. (The resulting squishing of 51 Dock icons, which fit just fine on my 17-incher, onto a 12-inch screen, is rather amusing.) Everything takes an excruciatingly long time… so I think it’s fair to say I’ll be doing less with the computer for the next little while, out of sheer frustration.
Anyway, like I said, there are more details on my latest computer saga after the jump, if anyone’s interested.
Before I get into the details of what’s wrong with my PowerBook, a somewhat funny story about how things went down at the Apple Store today. You may recall that I got my current, 17-inch PowerBook in January 2006, after two 15-inch models (which were my first stab at replacing my stolen 12-inch) turned out to be lemons. I blogged about the saga here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here. (Damn, that’s a lot of posts — I should have a “PowerBook Problems” category!)
The whole saga was extremely annoying, all the moreso because the latter portions happened right in the middle of Becky’s and my pre- and post-wedding madness. But when I bought the 17-incher and it proved not to be a total lemon like the 15-inchers, I thought I had put that frustrating chapter of my computing life behind me forever. Not so! As it turns out, I neglected to transfer my AppleCare Protection Plan from my second 15-inch PowerBook to the 17-inch PowerBook that I exchanged it for, so when I showed up at the Apple Store this afternoon, I was told my computer was out of warranty. I explained that I have AppleCare, and they said I must not have registered it, and I’d need to go home and find the enrollment number and the receipt showing that I bought it at the same time as the computer (or within a year afterward).
I found the enrollment number in our box of instruction manuals and such — being a packrat sometimes comes in handy! — but I couldn’t find the receipt (or rather, receipts, plural; more on that in a sec). I know I have it somewhere, but keep in mind, we just moved from Indiana to Tennessee, so locating it loomed as a daunting task. But I remembered that Apple Store employees had been able to look up prior purchases in their database on previous occasions, so I figured it wouldn’t be a problem.
What I forgot, though, is that I didn’t actually buy the AppleCare plan at the same time as the 17-inch PowerBook — I bought it more than a month earlier, with the first 15-inch PowerBook. That’s where the multiple receipts came into play. To prove what I needed to prove, I had to get copies of three receipts: from the Nov. 23, 2005 transaction (at the Chicago Apple Store) when I bought the first 15-incher and the AppleCare plan; from the Nov. 27, 2005 transaction (at the Phoenix Apple Store) when I exchanged the first 15-incher for the second 15-incher; and from the Jan. 1, 2006 transaction (at the Chandler, AZ Apple Store) when I exchanged, or rather upgraded, the second 15-incher for the 17-incher. I figured out the relevant dates from my blog archive (it’s occasionally quite helpful to have a Web-accessible archive and timeline of most events in your life… heh), and I had the credit card with me that I’d used for all three purchases, and we knew all the serial numbers. But, due to a combination of technical problems and human error (I think), the Knoxville guy had trouble finding all three receipts. He printed out receipts #1 and #3, but I actually had to call Chandler, Arizona and enlist the help of a guy there to locate a copy of receipt #2 (notwithstanding that purchase #2 was actually at the Biltmore Apple Store in Phoenix, not the one in Chandler — I inadvertantly called the wrong store, but the Chandler guy still helped me out).
Even then, once all the receipts were in place — proving the “chain of custody,” if you will, of my computer and AppleCare purchases — I actually had to speak with someone in Cupertino, at Apple’s main office, to get everything resolved. It was only then that we figured out my AppleCare plan had actually already been registered, just to the wrong computer (i.e., the second 15-incher). If we’d known that earlier, I think only the third receipt would have been necessary. Anyway, the guy in Cupertino (his name was Kofi — presumably not Annan) made the switch, and the 17-inch was officially covered under AppleCare. Thank goodness, considering the first tech I talked to said they’ll probably need to entirely replace my keyboard and the surrounding “top face.”
Okay, so maybe it wasn’t that funny of a story, but I thought it was mildly amusing — even while simultaneously quite annoying — having to jump through all those hoops, and explain over and over again the ridiculous ‘05-’06 PowerBook saga, just to get service this time around. Blah.
Anyway… about the current problems with my PowerBook. They’re nowhere near as severe as the defects that caused me to label those 15-inchers “LemonBooks,” but they’re annoying nonetheless. Full details below, as typed out in a detailed document that I brought in with me, explaining everything. (I hate it when I bring in a piece of equipment with a bunch of complicated problems and explain said problem to the on-site guy, only to have him convert everything into an utterly inadequate 250-word summary, which is the only thing the off-site technician — the guy who actually does the repairs — ever sees. So I’ve started taking it upon myself to type up my own detailed summaries, to be sent along with my equipment.)
Problems I’m having with my PowerBook
1. The computer generally gets sluggish after it’s been in use for a while, and is prone to frequent application crashes and timeouts.
Safari is the worst offender – it consistently gets extremely slow after I’ve been using it for a while (irrespective of the speed of my Internet connection), especially when I have multiple tabs open. If I run it for too long, it often ultimately crashes.
Other applications have problems too. Mail, Word, iTunes, iPhoto and even Finder have all been known to crash unexpectedly. It’s gotten to the point where I’ll restart my computer at least once a day just to get things working well again, which is something
I was accustomed to doing with my old Windows computer, but not with my Mac!Even when things aren’t crashing, unexplained instances of extreme slowness will occur – for example, sometimes the volume or screen brightness buttons will be unresponsive for up to 5-10 seconds, even when there is no obvious reason for them to be slow (i.e., I’m not running any particularly resource-intensive applications). Also, the “spinning beach ball of death” appears frequently. Simply put, the computer is often sluggish for no apparent reason.
These problems may be difficult to re-create because they usually happen after I’ve been using the computer for at least several hours, running various applications. But the crash logs should demonstrate at least some of what I’m talking about. This has been a growing problem for months now.
2. The grey material on the computer’s edge, directly above the CD/DVD drive, is loose, and often (though not always) prevents discs from ejecting cleanly. Ejection seems to fail more often when the drive has been in use for a while (e.g., ripping multiple CDs).
I complained about this problem back in July 2006, the last time I brought it into an Apple Store for service. In a note to the technicians, I wrote, “The plastic casing above the SuperDrive opening is loose and sagging. … This flaw was not apparent when I bought the computer, but it has developed on its own (i.e., I didn’t drop the computer or anything like that)… I’m worried that it will get worse and ultimately block the drive opening.” Nothing was done then, and my worry has come true: it has gotten worse, and it is now blocking the drive opening.
3. The “W” key does not always work. Sometimes when I press it, a “W” is actually typed; sometimes, it’s not, and I have to press it again, or press it harder, to get a “W” to appear. For example, just now, when I wrote the above sentence, it initially said “” because the “W” key did not register the keystroke when I pressed it. This problem has only appeared in the last few days, but I have had similar problems with other keys in the past.
4. Last month, something inside the computer would frequently make a loud grinding noise. It sounded like it was coming from underneath the left speaker or thereabouts. I didn’t take it in for service at the time because I was in the middle of law-school final exams and thus too busy to deal with it, and now it hasn’t happened for a while. But it was consistently happening for several weeks in May, and it worries me because it was a very “bad” sound, the sort of thing you never want to hear coming from your computer – it sounded like something is/was going mechanically wrong “under the hood.” I wonder if something was damaged, or if the grinding noise might start up again.
Using WireTap Pro, I made several audio recordings (using the computer’s internal microphone) of the grinding noise when it was occurring. I have placed copies of these audio files on the Desktop, so that you can listen to them if you wish. (A copy of this document is also on the Desktop.)
5. The computer behaves erratically when waking from sleep. Sometimes, when I put the computer to sleep by closing its screen, it will wake up without any trouble when I re-open the screen and hit a key. Other times, I have to hit a key several times. Sometimes, I have to press the power button to wake it up… sometimes I have to press it several times. Sometimes, this restarts the computer; other times, it simply restarts from sleep like it was supposed to. Occasionally, the computer will completely refuse to wake up or reboot, and I will have to completely remove the battery and unplug the power supply, then reinsert them, and hit the power button… which doesn’t always work right away. Sometimes I have to hit the power button several times. On one occasion, the computer woke up properly, but while asleep, it had spontaneously turned its own screen brightness all the way down to zero. There is no apparent rhyme or reason to when each of these patterns occurs. The end result is that I simply can’t trust my computer to act the way it is supposed to after I put it to sleep.
The software issues probably could have been resolved, at least temporarily, by clean-installing the OS from scratch… but since I had to take the computer in anyway for the physical problems, I figured I’d just complain about everything and let them see what they want to do.
Anyway, hopefully they don’t take too long with it. It’s only been a few hours, and I’m already chafing at this pretend-an-iBook-is-a-PowerBook business. Especially when one’s a 12-inch G3 and the other’s a 17-inch G4. Ugh!
June 6th, 2007 at 2:51:22 am
Explain again why you switched from PC? Do Macs really suck this much?
I was thinking about switching to Apple for my next laptop, just for the hell of it, even though my Dell Inspiron 8500 has held up perfectly over 4 years of heavy use.
Damn the machines!
June 6th, 2007 at 3:46:42 am
kcatnd, Brendan’s problems notwithstanding Apple is consistently in the top of the charts for consumer reports in the reliability catagory. The problem with the internet is that single incidents like this are highlighted, but really would Brendan (or anyone else) be blogging about how often their computer DIDN’T break down?? In manufacturing, even for reliable companies, there is going to be atleast SOME number of products that are going to have something wrong with them. The cost of testing and ferretting out these problems before selling them isn’t worth it, thats why the offer warranties (and frankly if you buy a laptop without an extended warranty your a fool, glad brendan isn’t).
Brendan could infact tell you many a tale about the problem he had with his Dell computer. I could tell you problems i’ve had with my Toshiba laptop at work, in less than a year and a half i had to have the motherboard replaced…TWICE. Toshiba, who is regularly at the top of the laptop reliability list with Apple, went so far as offering a trade in program for the line of laptops i (and other coworkers) were using because of the problems. Yet my current Toshiba has yet to exhibit any of the defects the last one did.
What you should take away from this is how much effort the Apple employees put in to try and resolve Brendan’s warranty issue. Yes he had to provide some of the information, but most stores wouldn’t call around trying to hunt up YOUR old reciepts. Most places (DELL, etc) would tell you, sorry, you’re out of luck without the warranty, better luck next time.
So no, Mac’s do NOT suck this much. And I think Brendan probably is a little rough on his electronics in addition to being unlucky about geting all the lemons. But hey, just make sure you buy a computer right after he does, your odds of him getting the lemon instead of you are GREAT!
June 6th, 2007 at 3:48:27 am
No. I’ve had a string of bad luck since my first PowerBook was stolen, but Macs don’t suck at all, let alone “this much.” Indeed, some of the problems I’m complaining about would have been considered quite normal back when I was a PC user… for example, the slowdown-and-eventually-reboot business was something that I pretty much always had to deal with when I used Windows regularly. It’s precisely because I’m using a Mac that I expect better, and thus consider it a “problem” rather than business-as-usual.
The more serious issues are mostly bad luck, and also David is correct, I do use my computer a lot, and while I wouldn’t describe my usage as “rough,” it’s certainly at least heavy. :) In other words, it’s not like I drop my computer on concrete steps once a week or something, but on the other hand, yeah, I’m sort of in the high end of the category “users who are likely to have something go wrong” because of the way I use my computers (and cameras, for that matter).
As for why I switched - I like the operating system and the software better. I think it’s more elegant, easier to use, more friendly to photo and video editing, more Web-friendly, and prettier. I also love the design of the computers themselves. And I don’t regret switching for a moment, despite the string of bad luck I’ve had.
June 6th, 2007 at 3:51:12 am
Echoing what David said, my Dell Inspiron 3800 was a NIGHTMARE. Just one problem after another after another. I had my service tag memorized (still do, actually — H1NV801) because I had to call tech support so often.
Glad your Inspiron has worked out better, though, kcat! :)
June 6th, 2007 at 3:55:39 am
P.S. By the way, while Dell customer service is (or was, when I used it regularly) quite good, another huge advantage of having a Mac is the ability to take it into a physical store where actual people will help you with it. Of course, phone support is available too, but sometimes it’s so nice to be able to actually show someone what’s wrong, and get one-on-one help.
June 6th, 2007 at 7:46:51 am
I just made the switch from PC to Mac about a month ago when I got a new Macbook….well I guess it isn’t really a switch since I use both machines. I love my macbook though…it’s so damn fast…expecially since I upped the RAM and keep my hard drive bare.
Doesn’t a 17inch laptop kind of defeat the purpose of having a laptop? 17 inches is giant…
Sorry to hear about the problems but you know what this means? You now have an excuse to get a new computer! I would wait until after the WWDC and see what comes out then…happy shopping!
June 6th, 2007 at 8:08:05 am
I have a MacBook Pro from last September that has the slow-down problem. I self-diagnosed it as a need to upgrade RAM, but haven’t done it yet. I got it through an internet promotion, so I actually haven’t bothered to get any protection for it (stupid, I know). I am currently on the fence about whether to self-install the RAM (cheaper, but I can’t get a warranty if I self-install (or if I get a warranty and then self-instll, the warranty is void)), or take it to the Genius Bar (more expensive, but covered if something else goes wrong).
June 6th, 2007 at 10:00:52 am
The slowdown-after-using-applications-for-awhile sounds like a memory leak. Firefox does the same thing on my Linux box, regularly growing to about 1 GB of memory usage within a few days. Closing the app and any associated apps (e.g., Adobe Acrobat, which tends to hang around) clears it.
Macs these days are essentially pretty Unix machines, so you might try opening a command shell, typing ‘top’, then ’shift-M’ to sort by memory usage, and see what’s what.
June 6th, 2007 at 10:03:09 am
Between Brendan’s many problems with his Mac and my many problems with iPods (I had 3 4th generation iPods die in less than a year and a half despite being very careful…and I heard many, many other stories of 4th generation iPods inexplicably dying…I really think there was something wrong with 4th generations, but Apple did nothing to correct the problem except take another $400 from people to replace them), I will never trust Mac. One of the big problems is that you can do anything yourself - you always have to get Apple to repair them. I am perfectly capable of replacing many parts on my PC that might go wrong, but you just can’t do it on an Apple.
And while it is nice to be able to go to a physical store, there is something really disturbing about being charged to talk to someone on the phone. While my iPod was under warranty, I got something like one free phone call to tech support. I would have been charged for any subsequent calls. Well, sucks to be me living in South Bend and unable to make it to the Apple Store in Chicago.
Apple basically relies on its cult to keep its business going. Brendan had all these problems with his Dell, so he switched to Apple. This seems reasonable - if you have problems with one product, try a competitor’s. But what I don’t understand is after having all these problems with Apple, why not try a non-Dell PC? Because he’s been sucked into the cult of Apple.
After spending $400 and not even getting 18 months out of my iPod, I can assure you that I will never buy another iPod.
P.S. - I maintain that the biggest problem with PCs is not PCs themselves but the monopoly that Microsoft has on the operating system market. If there were true competition in the OS market for PCs, I think a lot of the problems we see, particularly security problems, would go away because OS manufacturers would want to make them as safe and secure as possible.
June 6th, 2007 at 11:17:53 am
Anon, not to be weird, but you’re being kind of retarded. Most people research a $400 product before they buy it. If you’d done that, you would have known that iPod batteries frequently take the crapper and replacing them is super expensive…so get the frickin waranty and viola, you get a new battery when the first one craps out. Or buy something different…but not nearly as pretty. ;)
As for the laptop, Brendan doesn’t abuse his electronics, but he is a very heavy user and since we’ve been together, I think every single one of his computer gadgets, save the iPod, come to think of it, has been replaced or repaired under warranty. Personally, I think companies (esp digital photo people) should pay him as a tester. I remember when we went to the Apple store to complain about his iPhoto running too slowly because his library had 40,000+ photos in it and the genius guy was like, “der, uh…well, uh…” He has problems that most consumers don’t have with their electronics. He loves his canon powershot too, despite the problems he’s been having with it.
Frankly, no computer runs perfectly. But when his macs aren’t having any kind of severe issues, they work better for him than his PC ever did. That’s why he likes mac. At least…I think that’s why.
June 6th, 2007 at 11:52:55 am
Just to be clear Becky, I never had a battery problem on any of my iPods. It was the hard drive. All three had the clicking sound of death. For no reason anybody could discern. The first two were replaced under warranty. Unfortunately, due to things like moving, I got my dates mixed up and forgot to buy the extra year of warranty, so the third one was not under warranty when it died.
But here’s the kicker on that - the actual iPod was only 11 months old. Since Apple gives a one-year warranty on iPods, had that been my first iPod, it would have been covered. But they don’t give you a new warranty when they replace your iPod. So when I got my third iPod, I only had 3 months of warranty on it, even though it was brand new.
The longest a single iPod lasted was 11 months. That said, I do actually think it was a problem with the 4th generations. I know someone with a 3rd generation iPod that is probably 4 years old. And I know plenty of people who have iPod photos or videos that have not had problems. In fact, almost every person that I know who has had an iPod that inexplicably died due to hard drive failure has owned a 4th generation.
Last thing: you aren’t at all annoyed that iPod batteries are known to “frequently take the crapper,” that the batteries are expensive to replace, and that for the most part, you need to have Apple replace them? That’s one of my biggest beefs - you can’t do stuff yourself. I just think that something like super expensive battery replacement would not be tolerated on PC equipment, but consumers tolerate it on iPods because they have bought into the cult of Apple.
June 6th, 2007 at 1:16:58 pm
It was the hard drive. All three had the clicking sound of death. For no reason anybody could discern.
There is a reason for a push in higher capacity flash storage for portable music players and laptops. Hard drives are finicky enough as it is, being constantly jostled around especially while trying to read data is not good for the little buggers. I’m impressed with the engineering that hard drive makers have been able to do to make things like the iPod even possible.
Last thing: you aren’t at all annoyed that iPod batteries are known to “frequently take the crapper,” that the batteries are expensive to replace, and that for the most part, you need to have Apple replace them? That’s one of my biggest beefs - you can’t do stuff yourself. I just think that something like super expensive battery replacement would not be tolerated on PC equipment, but consumers tolerate it on iPods because they have bought into the cult of Apple.
Batteries die. They have a finite life and the recharge/rundown rate on MP3 players is going to be pretty high if you use it alot, there is nothing nefarious going on here, this isn’t something Apple specific either. Many, if not most MP3 players
don’t have replaceable hard drives, one of the main reasons being engineering. While it would be possible to make the batteries replaceable it would also make the players larger as you would have to accomodate the removable doors/panels etc. Add to that the fact that many people upgrade to newer models around the same time the battery would be running down and it just doesn’t make economic sense to spend the extra effort.
Your comparison to it not being tolerated on PC equipment is quite amusing, because as a whole Mac users are far more picky about quality. That and the flagship PC friendly MP3 player, the Zune also doesn’t have a replaceable battery. Nore does the Creative Zen. Again, you can try and make this about the “cult of Apple” but thats completely disingenous.
June 6th, 2007 at 1:18:03 pm
I’ve had an ipod now for at least two and a half years with no problems, and a mac powerbook 12 inch for about the same time. The only real problem I have with it is the CD drive and the hard drive broke, but that was after I droped it down a flight of stairs at the lawschool, but apple fixed it no questions asked.
Brendan’s problems aside, you simply can’t intelligently argue that a PC is better than a Mac. I have friends who work for Microsoft, in high up positions, and they have Macs at home. No viruses, an operating system actually built to go with the hardware. Before this powerbook I only used PCs and I had no luck with any of them. The pc laptop I bought (gateway) crapped out after only about a year of lawschool. I had the warranty with bestbuy and it always seemed like I was there. Of course then they send it off to India or somewhere (they claim Chicago), to get it fixed. Then you’re without your computer for three or more weeks. With apple, if you don’t want to go into the store, you can call them, tell them what’s wrong, and then they send you an overnight box. You put your computer in the box, peel off the label and it gets overnighted back to Apple. They fix it and overnight it back to you. The one time I’ve sent the computer in on a thursday, I had it back on Monday!
The bottom line is that any technology you use often is probably going to break. They are built by humans and so they aren’t perfect. But with Apple at least they are kind, friendly, and fast at helping when things do break. And if you don’t buy apple care, that’s just your own dumb fault!
June 6th, 2007 at 3:01:44 pm
David, I am totally on board with the higher capacity flash-based stuff. The frustrating thing with the iPod for me was how quickly my iPods would die despite very careful use (and I didn’t go jogging with them or anything). What can I say? It was enough to sour me on Apple forever. I am convinced that there was some sort of problem with the 4th generation iPods. As I mentioned before, the only ones I’ve heard of having such problems were the 4Gs. But I have no way of proving it. Regardless, I won’t trust Apple with my money. My husband can build me a PC for less money than a Mac (well, a desktop anyway), and if there are any hardware problems, we can replace it ourselves for way less money. We don’t trust the “geniuses” at Apple because they have flat-out lied to my husband about what was wrong with his stuff.
June 6th, 2007 at 3:48:23 pm
If you want to use a PC, if thats what works for you, if you get more bang for your buck, thats fine and dandy, but you should be more careful about saying things and attributing them to the “cult of Apple” when they are proveably false or apply equally to non-Apple products as well.
June 6th, 2007 at 4:10:57 pm
You’re right, David. I should watch what I say. I might start some real shit! Oh no, Apple’s going bankrupt because of what I said!
All I’m doing is providing an alternate voice to the “Apple is so fucking fantastic” that I seem to hear from a lot of people. I had no idea you put so much stock in anonymous comments on the Internets.
June 6th, 2007 at 4:43:24 pm
Do not speak ill of those who subscribe to the Apple Reality Distortion Field. Quick, unreasoning, and endless is their wrath.
They’ve paid more for their items, and nothing you say is going to convince them that they and their items are not superior for paying that premium. More than anything, Apple sells perceived status.
June 6th, 2007 at 5:22:35 pm
you still use the Dock?
June 6th, 2007 at 10:36:52 pm
Apple is, indeed, fucking fantastic. I haven’t had to take in my Mac to the Genius Bar at all (4 years and counting). As an added bonus, it’s so easy on the eyes. I flinch whenever I see someone else proudly displaying their fugly PC laptop.
Anyone planning to purchase the iPhone when it comes out? I’m not for financial and contractual reasons, but next June? Watch out.
June 6th, 2007 at 10:45:41 pm
All I’m doing is providing an alternate voice to the “Apple is so fucking fantastic” that I seem to hear from a lot of people. I had no idea you put so much stock in anonymous comments on the Internets.
An alternative opinion is one thing, saying things that aren’t even true is another.
June 6th, 2007 at 10:46:46 pm
They’ve paid more for their items, and nothing you say is going to convince them that they and their items are not superior for paying that premium. More than anything, Apple sells perceived status.
Yeah except that whole pesky thing where feature for feature Mac’s are priced on par with or cheaper than PC’s. Just cause you can buy crappy cheap PC’s doens’t mean Mac’s are overpriced, it just means that there are crappy cheap PC’s.
June 6th, 2007 at 11:35:01 pm
Well, that clears up that little inquiry.