Toggle sidebar Toggle sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

My unease first day experience with Mac

Y

yuy

macrumors member
Original poster
After ordered the powerbook last Saturday, the powerbook finally came to me this morning and I was so happy to bring it from post room to my room.

When I put the pbook on my desk, I was amazed by the design of powerbook again(the first time was by the gallery of pbook in online store). It's like artwork.

But the next experience was not good really.

I pluged in AC adapter and set up the computer to get it work. Everything fine until my friend told me 'the screen is flashing'. I noticed then the screen was sometimes brighter, soemtime dimmer.

My friend recognized that when his IBM book disconnected from AC current, the display would be dimmer. Then we checked the power supply schedule, and the result was quite strange. The power supply schedule was changing from AC supply to battry supply schedule every a few seconds and vice versa. And indeed the indicator on the power cable is sometimes red, sometime green. It seems the AC adapter may be fault.

I then phone called three times the Apple custom service. They asked me to try many methods, including reset all defualt in open firmware mode, but none worked. The last guy told me to buy another AC adapter. Hearing this, I was a bit angry,' I just got this mac this morning, and you let me buy another AC adapter?' This technical support realized my inconvience and uncomfort then and after kept me on phone for about ten mins, he finally found a after-sale represent and switched me to her.

The after-sale represent offered me either replacement of pbook or refund. I really love this mac, so picked replacement.

Now I am waiting for TNT to call me to collect my pbook. Isn't my first day experience with Mac awful? 🙁

Anyway the Apple custom service is OK, not too bad.
 
id look at the positive side of it. after some hastle with someone telling you to buy a new power adapter and you were finally switched to the right person apple quickly offered to replace or refund the money. which is pretty rare. often companies wont refund purchase (unless the laptop is completely DOA) the usually will force you to exchange it. but apple is fast with shipping for repairs. so you should be good with that. sorry that all of this happened. but i think a couple weeks after using your PB youll be so happy youll forget about this little mishap. (this is also why i like to purchase from brick and mortar stores, that way if something goes wrong you can take it back that day and they can give you a new one imidiatly, but that sometimes does not allow for certain upgrades and such)
 
Unfortunately, lots of things come with problems. A significant number of people have experienced it here, but at least you had a good experience with customer service. Some can't even claim that, apparently. I hope your replacement comes to you quickly and problem free. My powerbook has been the best laptop I have owned, and I don't plan on giving it up soon.

Jim
 
Sorry to hear about your experience 🙁

Hopefully your new one will come very soon!
 
I had problems with the first TWO powerbooks I bought. I said nuts to Apple and got a T42, which has served me very well.

However, now I keep eyeing the iBook revisions supposedly coming out 😛
 
I had 3 bad powerbook before I got a working one some time back. Just recently, I got a PM G5 dual 2.0 and it had issues, got it replaced and the replacement was even worse, gave up on dual 2.0 and got a 1.8 single.... troubled with lockups 😡 Apple told me it was bad so I took it to my local apple store and just got a new PB instead and gave up on the G5. But I agree that once you get one that works they are solid machines. I just burned a sweet video slideshow with menus and all on my G4 400MHz Gigabit Ethernet with no problems 😀 Best of luck to you!
 
Thank you all very much. 🙂

I hope the replacement is quick and durable.

sigh
 
Stange. I've had at least 20 powerbooks come through my hands for work. Only one of them was a lemon and had to go back.
 
Chrispy said:
I had 3 bad powerbook before I got a working one some time back. Just recently, I got a PM G5 dual 2.0 and it had issues, got it replaced and the replacement was even worse, gave up on dual 2.0 and got a 1.8 single.... troubled with lockups 😡 Apple told me it was bad so I took it to my local apple store and just got a new PB instead and gave up on the G5. But I agree that once you get one that works they are solid machines. I just burned a sweet video slideshow with menus and all on my G4 400MHz Gigabit Ethernet with no problems 😀 Best of luck to you!
Click to expand...


Wow man, that's some bad luck.You sure you wanted a computer and not a washing machine or something? 😉

I had major problems with my old 5200/200 but I think that's cos it was used heavily and was about 376 years old. Still works as the scanning mac in the office though (running a similarly antique Photshop 3 😱 ).

When my first G5 PM arrived in the office I was out. I got in the next day very excited (a Friday), opened the box, looked in horror at the bent out side and chewed front and then realised something had gone straight through the box somehow. Luckily, I was quite close (about 100 miles) to the supplier so I was able to go straight up there on the Monday and have it replaced. They had no quibbles as it was no way done at our end. Still, after waiting nine months it was horrible to have to wait all weekend before I could use it.

Anyway, that was no fault of Apple's (Should have been better checked on delivery really) and the replacement has been fine other than the massive learning curve which has been mostly good fun (despite my many cries for help on here!).

It'll be worth the wait to get a fully functioning Powerbook.
 

Attachments

  • front.jpg
    front.jpg
    34.6 KB · Views: 837
  • Side 1 .jpg
    Side 1 .jpg
    40.6 KB · Views: 822
  • Box Corner:puncture .jpg
    Box Corner:puncture .jpg
    37.3 KB · Views: 841
AlBDamned said:
Luckily, I was quite close (about 100 miles) to the supplier so I was able to go straight up there on the Monday and have it replaced.
Click to expand...

100 miles? 160 km?
not near anyway

But yes, indeed I prefer to go to the store myself rather than online shopping. I like direct way.
 
yuy said:
100 miles? 160 km?
not near anyway

But yes, indeed I prefer to go to the store myself rather than online shopping. I like direct way.
Click to expand...

160 km yes. 3 hour round trip was better than waiting a week for them organise pick-up, collect, analyse, delay a little bit, send one out and get it to me. It's also much harder for them to fob you off when you're sitting in reception (business supplier) 🙂 How far is a store from you or is it out of the question?

I concur. Get a good one (I don't think there are too many bad ones when you look at percentages - and then try to compare it to a nameless PC maker). General MacRumors feedback on Apple Customer Care isn't too hot though. Seems weird for a company with such a well perceived rep.
 
Not very far, by rail, about 2 hours round trip.

But I am not sure whether or not I can go to a apple store directly to replace. So when the sale representive offered me to TNT to pick up old mac, I did not argue. 🙁
 
yuy said:
Not very far, by rail, about 2 hours round trip.

But I am not sure whether or not I can go to a apple store directly to replace. So when the sale representive offered me to TNT to pick up old mac, I did not argue. 🙁
Click to expand...


Is it a stock PB or custom order?

If it's stock and you don't hear quickly tomorrow, there's nothing wrong to get in touch with whoever you spoke to today and ask if you can do it direct. The Apple stores are not Franchises, so it may be possible to get a replacement directly. Others may have more to say. Mine was through a business re-seller so they had the future of our account to consider in their service, but you clearly had a duff machine.

I don't know, but if it's going to take a week and you could do it in an afternoon - and check it in store - then you could conceivably ask if it's a possibility.
 
AlBDamned said:
Is it a stock PB or custom order?

If it's stock and you don't hear quickly tomorrow, there's nothing wrong to get in touch with whoever you spoke to today and ask if you can do it direct. The Apple stores are not Franchises, so it may be possible to get a replacement directly. Others may have more to say. Mine was through a business re-seller so they had the future of our account to consider in their service, but you clearly had a duff machine.

I don't know, but if it's going to take a week and you could do it in an afternoon - and check it in store - then you could conceivably ask if it's a possibility.
Click to expand...

Thank you very much. I just ordered a stock. You advice is very reasonable. But I did not remember the representive's name, she gave me a number OMA 740279H152,do you know what is this for? My listening ability of English is not very good. Sigh
 
yuy said:
Thank you very much. I just ordered a stock. You advice is very reasonable. But I did not remember the representive's name, she gave me a number OMA 740279H152,do you know what is this for? My listening ability of English is not very good. Sigh
Click to expand...

That may be a return reference or something. No need to get downbeat Yuy 🙂, just call them up tomorrow. If the answer is no, TNT will do it for you easily, I'm sure. Collecting it yourself is just one option but that too could give you problems (who's to say they'd agree in-store with what the Telephone Op said). I guess I'm just saying: 'Explore the option'. Even if it takes a week though - that's much better than sticking it out with a fault product for even 1 day IMO.
 
AlBDamned said:
that's much better than sticking it out with a fault product for even 1 day IMO.
Click to expand...

Yes, indeed, every time saw the fault powerbook, i felt sad. 🙁

Thank you advice. I will try today. 🙂
 
I just got a call from TNT and she arranged a pick up tomorrow.

I forgot to ask whether they will bring a new one to replace the fault or just pick up the old one? Does anyone know?

Thanks in advance.
 
My first Powerbook 15" had distorted speakers, flickering screen and a dead pixel smack in the middle of the screen

My Second (replacement for first) had an enormous dent in the screen panel

My third (replacement for second) was/is perfect in every way and has helped me to forget the three months and two previous machines I had to endure to get here.

Vanilla
 
yuy said:
why the replacement is even worse than the orginal fault one? 🙁
Click to expand...

It was just my bad luck. The box it was in was crushed in one corner so I knew that inside was not going to be pretty.

As an aside, my first ever Apple machine was a 17" PowerBook bought last year when I switched. I bought it from a local reseller and it was perfect in every way.

Throughout the problems I have experienced when downgrading to a new 15" my reseller (MR Systems Ltd) has consistently been polite and supportive. The machine I now have is perfect and I'm very, very happy with it.

Things do go wrong sometimes and sometimes you are the unlucky one. What has helped me is knowing that this is a relatively rare event in Apples case and that Apple and their resellers are generally very good at resolving the issue.

It's certainly been my experience and I continue to recommend Apple to anyone that cares to listen to my evangelical rants.....

Vanilla
 
thefunky_monkey said:
i hear that many people have faulty laptops first time, but if one isnt faulty, it tends to be pretty reliable
Click to expand...

True, but all please remember that what you read about in the forums are people having trouble. The users with problem-free computers (the overwhelming majority) are simply not posting! The proportions between faulty and error-free are much better than what can be assumed after reading this and various other forums on the net.

But best of luck with your replacement anyway!
 
Wonder....

Some of these problems could be more an issue of shipping if u get three bad macs in a row or even two the odds against that are enormous. But if the shippers in one area are constantly careless or stupid then the chances of getting faulty products regularly would be greatly increased i think.
 
haha, I'm now typing on a new delivered power book 12, this one seems to be fine.

hehe, does any one knows how to detect dead pixel?

I tried to show screen saver with computer's name and test it, the screen turned out to be black and I found no bright point. /Any other methods?
 
yuy said:
haha, I'm now typing on a new delivered power book 12, this one seems to be fine.

hehe, does any one knows how to detect dead pixel?

I tried to show screen saver with computer's name and test it, the screen turned out to be black and I found no bright point. /Any other methods?
Click to expand...

If you can't see them, they aren't there!
😀
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back