I am going to throw my Macbook out the window :P

Sanveann said:

I have had it up to HERE with this frickin' Macbook.

The hard drive just died for the second time. (At least, that's what we surmise; we get the blinking folder with the question mark when we reboot it. The disc drive died some time ago, so we can't run the Snow Leopard disc to check for sure.)

I googled the issue and found info here about Apple's program to replace hard drives for Macbooks bought in '06 and '07 ... which we did ... but that expired Aug. 15. So if our drive had died TWO WEEKS earlier, it would have been covered. I called Apple, but they said they can't do anything. I'll call them back tomorrow and see if I can get someone in charge, but frankly, I'm not holding out much hope.

We have had SO many issues with this thing. The case has cracked in several places (no, we don't throw it around!), we've had numerous power-cord issues, the hard-drive problems (now twice) and the disc drive quitting. Frankly, I'm not even sure I WANT Apple to fix it. At this point, I'm ready to sell the darn thing for parts and buy a PC laptop or netbook. My husband (who was always a PC guy) is vowing never to buy another Apple product ... though he'll have to pry my iPhone out of my cold, dead hands!

Has anyone else had this many problems? I am just shocked that a laptop we paid so much for has given us so much trouble.

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Black Macbook, happened to me. Have a Unibody now, absolutely no problems.

Not much you can do but upgrade unfortunately.

You have to remember, 1) Apple doesn't make the hard drives, and all hard drives will stop working eventually. It's unfortunate that you had 2 fail in the same product, but that is always a risk when you buy virtually any good. 2) It's a fact of life that plastic will eventually crack over time, and steel and aluminum will scratch with use. If that's all you are frustrated with, I've gotta say suck it up buttercup.

P.S. If it is a couple weeks after the warranty, there is a chance they will still honour it if you ask nicely.

Okay, have you done any troubeshooting?
have you Held the OPTION key down & while doing so press the power button to turn the machine on to see if you can select a hard drive.

have you pressed D while starting up the machine to run Hardware Test?

Have your pressed X down while booting the machine to force it into the hard drive?


It may be dead but its best to troubleshoot all possibilities instead of getting mad a company that has no control over mechanical harddrive failure rates.
chances are the drive was doomed from the start from the manufacture and not apple.



just get a low priced quality drive off a site like newegg, 320s, 500's run around 49 ~ 60$

1) Apple doesn't make the hard drives, and all hard drives will stop working eventually. It's unfortunate that you had 2 fail in the same product, but that is always a risk when you buy virtually any good. 2) It's a fact of life that plastic will eventually crack over time, and steel and aluminum will scratch with use. If that's all you are frustrated with, I've gotta say suck it up buttercup.

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Ridiculous argument. Apple chooses to put those HDD into their system, they perform checks to see if they adhere to their 'high quality' standards, they add the hefty price premium so Apple's in the hot seat when something goes wrong. I think you're entitled to a minimum normal lifetime for a component. If you use plastic in a laptop, it's up to you to test the stuff and make sure it's not catastrophically intolerant of thermal/mechanical stress. Besides, what about all those pc-laptops where the plastic doesn't crack?

To the OP: I can understand your husband's frustration and frankly, if you've had such a multitude of problems I can understand him not wanting to pay the Apple premium anymore either.

Sanveann said:

Honestly, I think that convincing my husband to buy me a vacation house would be easier than convincing him to buy another Macbook at this point!

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Then buy a PC, as simple as that. If you're unhappy with Mac, there's no point of you sticking with them.

As stated, you were unlucky; it happens.

Xenophon said:

Ridiculous argument. Apple chooses to put those HDD into their system, they perform checks to see if they adhere to their 'high quality' standards, they add the hefty price premium so Apple's in the hot seat when something goes wrong. I think you're entitled to a minimum normal lifetime for a component. If you use plastic in a laptop, it's up to you to test the stuff and make sure it's not catastrophically intolerant of thermal/mechanical stress. Besides, what about all those pc-laptops where the plastic doesn't crack?

To the OP: I can understand your husband's frustration and frankly, if you've had such a multitude of problems I can understand him not wanting to pay the Apple premium anymore either.

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If you think apple is running batteries of tests on every component in every computer and using superior hard drives, then you are just getting sucked into the marketing. An Intel Core i7-870 in a $2200 iMac is no more durable than a Core i7-870 in a $1200 PC Tower.

Aside from the Mac Pro where they are using server class components, and the computer's structure which they manufacture, the same internals can be found in both PCs and Macs. Apple computers often cost more because they are making bigger margins on each unit sold. They can charge more for the same processors, RAM, and HDD's etc, because they market their products well, the computers are aesthetically pleasing, better service, and people are willing to pay for the OS.

Anyway, the point I was trying to make was that everything is mass produced, and just because you pay more doesn't mean a product is less prone to failure.

Edmoil12 said:

Apple computers often cost more because they are making bigger margins on each unit sold. They can charge more for the same processors, RAM, and HDD's etc, because they market their products well, the computers are aesthetically pleasing, better service, and people are willing to pay for the OS.

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Here we fully agree, except for the service part, at least in Europe. The big question for potential buyers should indeed be if the pretty packaging and the OS are worth the huge premium, given that all the other factors are not really different from the pc world.

Personally I'm doubting Apple, I love the OS but that only goes so far. Good chance my next laptop won't carry the logo but will have better specs, cost less and run some linux-flavor.

I had a CrackBook and I had a few journeys to our local Apple Store - cracking plastic parts was a primary concern, especially as the latch touched the palm area. One of the USB ports also failed.

But I had problems with almost all my portable Macs ever since. Hinges with Airs, overheating, constant noise, poor battery life, faulty graphics - I never had a failed HDD, but I see your frustration. It's a joke sometimes that you pay a hefty premium for outdated hardware and you still get screwed and shoddy quality. Many people wouldn't even consider my problems as serious, but if you pay premium price, you can expect premium quality.

But that's Apple. Popularity came with its issues.



Actually, I remember the capacitor issue with the G5 Mac Pros and I have a 12" PowerBook somewhere that is unable to boot up or do anything apart from three beeps. I can't remember the guy's user name, but there is the one with the Microsoft logo in the trash as an avatar. I once listed all my Apple computers, detailing my problems. He was acting like a jerk, like it ever happened to me as Apple quality is superior.

I never had a Windows machine yet but I don't think that they can get much worse. Besides, for the same hardware (apart from the alu case and trackpad) and specifications, you pay half the price but the same amount of statutory warranty.

if you bought it in 06/07 than you got several yrs of use. after 3 or 4 yrs i think any unit is living on borrowed time. yes you put in a HD which is not a lot of money but they are cheap. get a $50 drive and make it work again. a friend gave me a used drive and i threw it in my nonworking unit and it lasted about 5 months. than crashed again. he said the drive was flaky. huh? i guess i should have gotten a new drive.

Just like my girlsfriend's White Macbook who's on her 3rd HDD.

Meanwhile Ive never had any of my PC HDD's fail since the early 90's.

Take it for what it's worth

A four year old Macbook (baseline machine) has a dead hard drive (a mechanical part made by an outside company)? Wow, that's terrible...

My wife has a 2.5 year old Macbook and we're just starting to get the wonderful cracking case (a VERY poor design choice made by APPLE, so yes its their fault). However, you have to remember that the hard drives are not really under Apple's control - just go buy a replacement drive. It'll be faster, bigger, and cheap - why not keep the machine going? If nothing else, it'll make a good backup or giveaway to a friend in need.

I might give them just one more chance. There are always faulty computers out there. Honestly, that's what made me switch from windows to mac. Every pc I owned always gave me so much stress, and honestly, I found it a complete clusterf**k to operate. So, I made the switch to mac, and I absolutely love it Unibody 2009 MacBook.

Good luck with the downgrade to PC. I know I'll be seeing you on this forum after trojans, spyware, malware, bots, and worms have ravaged your computer. I stick with Mac because - while they do have design faults from time to time - I have the peace of mind I can keep it running all night without catching a virus. I can visit whatever website I want under next to no virus protection at all and still feel safe. When you buy a Mac you're paying for peace of mind and security.. clearly you did not get that when you bought your MacBook so by all means, go back to PC. But I've been down that road and boy, do I regret it.

Fast/Furious said:

Good luck with the downgrade to PC. I know I'll be seeing you on this forum after trojans, spyware, malware, bots, and worms have ravaged your computer. I stick with Mac because - while they do have design faults from time to time - I have the peace of mind I can keep it running all night without catching a virus. I can visit whatever website I want under next to no virus protection at all and still feel safe. When you buy a Mac you're paying for peace of mind and security.. clearly you did not get that when you bought your MacBook so by all means, go back to PC. But I've been down that road and boy, do I regret it.

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Blah blah blah, typical Mac Zealot bs. I've been running W7 on several computers for at least 3 months and look at that - no spyware, malware, bots or worms so far, at least nothing that can't be dealt with quickly and easily. OS X is a good OS but it has its limitations just like Windows has its. No need to act all superior.

What the OP should do is buy an aftermarket drive from WD or Seagate. Those come with 3-5 year warranties. Of course if that dies quickly too there might be a problem with the machine itself and not the hard disks per se. I think some of the earlier systems had problems because there is a magnet in the screen that goes directly above the disk which may make it go bad after a while. Not sure if this is the case here.

Sometimes people just get unlucky and get a lemon. It's always possible to sell off and buy something else be it PC or Mac.

Sanveann said:

Hmmm ... There's a thought. Is a Hackintosh laptop possible?

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Yes. But, you will have to find a laptop that is compatible with a hackintosh build of OSX.

Can you at least get Apple to replace the cracking case? Since they have been replacing cases. That way, you could still sell it to someone willing to buy a new HDD and Superdrive for it.

Choose your PC laptop well. I have friends/family who've owned HP's, Packard Bells and Sony Vaio's. And the CD/DVD drives, wifi cards, etc. don't typically last them 2-3 years.

Synchromesh said:

Blah blah blah, typical Mac Zealot bs. I've been running W7 on several computers for at least 3 months and look at that - no spyware, malware, bots or worms so far, at least nothing that can't be dealt with quickly and easily. OS X is a good OS but it has its limitations just like Windows has its. No need to act all superior.

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FYI I ran Vista on a crappy bargain-basement Gateway laptop that lasted for literally 1.5 years. Meanwhile, the desktop PC I built myself is still happily chugging away after 4 years.... go figure!

I do agree that both OSes have limitations but to make a long story short you didn't almost fail an AP Grade 12 course (read: I almost missed a serious chance at a university scholarship) because your WinVista laptop decided to give up the ghost (viruses, endless BSODs, wouldn't even start up after a while). Only reason I got a second chance was because my teacher was luckily very computer-savvy and gave me a 2 night extension plus loaned me a school MacBook after I brought in my laptop and showed him what was wrong with it plus the unfinished paper. I think anyone would be quite bitter after that.

At my university we have a zero-tolerance policy for that kind of stuff now, hence why most of the faculty and students use Macs. Go to any college or university in the US or Canada and you'll see the overwhelming majority of people who use these computers. Needless to say I don't mind shelling out a premium on a laptop that I know won't conk out on me the night before a term paper is due, nor do most of my peers.

P.S don't give me the "you should have backed up" spiel; I had most of it saved on a thumb drive but the bigger matter was not having a computer to use to finish up the term paper.

Oh, and sorry for hijacking the thread.

Fast/Furious said:

FYI I ran Vista on a crappy bargain-basement Gateway laptop that lasted for literally 1.5 years. Meanwhile, the desktop PC I built myself is still happily chugging away after 4 years.... go figure!

I do agree that both OSes have limitations but to make a long story short you didn't almost fail an AP Grade 12 course (read: I almost missed a serious chance at a university scholarship) because your WinVista laptop decided to give up the ghost (viruses, endless BSODs, wouldn't even start up after a while). Only reason I got a second chance was because my teacher was luckily very computer-savvy and gave me a 2 night extension and loaned me a school MacBook after I brought in my laptop and showed him what was wrong with it plus the unfinished paper. I think anyone would be quite bitter after that.

PS don't give me the "you should have backed up" nonsense; I had most of it saved on a thumb drive but the bigger matter was not having a computer to use to finish up the term paper.

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How is it that I struggle to get get malware even if I try in Windows, yet everyone on this site makes it sound like it's easy? In the last 3 years Ive not been infected, and have come across 1 trojan in a keygen, that was detected. I dont ever have to clean install to keep my OS's running smooth and I havent had a HDD crash, like I said earlier, in my whole life of PC's ('92-'93ish). (Vista ran for 2 years on 1 install upgraded to W7 which has ran for a year which is still going smooth). My Dell laptop is still going strong from 2007. It just replaced my Gateway from ~2000 which we finally dumped which was still running.

Ouch,I'm sorry you had so many issues with your MB.I think you should give Apple another chance and get a unibody refurb MB on the Apple Store refurb store.I have one and this thing has been through a lot and still kicking butt.