I posted earlier about 'metal-balls'...now I'm wondering if it's just my touchpad clicker (that has rattled since the day my iBook arrived)...so...I'm trying to find out if anyone else gets this sound? I suppose I'd feel better knowing that I'm not alone (it's hard to be alone...especially when it involves a faulty Mac!)
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Any new iBook owners with rattly clickers?
- Thread starter Mr. Monsieur
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i dunno about "rattly" but my iBook G4 clicker has recently become very stiff and gets stuck and is all lopsided and shiite, so i am adding that to the littany of problems to be corrected when i take it in to get fixed! 
Mine's also only about a month old!...it basically started from day one...my gut feeling (from what I can tell from other threads) is that Apple would consider this a cosmetic problem...I can live with it...at least I don't have any dead pixels!
Mr. Monsieur said:Mine's also only about a month old!...it basically started from day one...my gut feeling (from what I can tell from other threads) is that Apple would consider this a cosmetic problem...I can live with it...at least I don't have any dead pixels!
My clicker has a fairly firm feel without being too stiff. It makes kind of an extended noise (there is an on noise and an off noise...like hmm...sorry if its a strange analogy...the way a harpsichord sounds when you press and release a key). Doesn't sound broken at all -- very pleasant actually.
Depending on how serious it is they might fix it? I take it makes noise but otherwise works perfectly?
Yep, pretty much...I try to be positive about it...it *does* sort of give my computer personality...kind of like a vw beetle has personality, while an Audi TT has...well...technical perfection, but not much personality (perhaps a bad analogy? i preferred your harpsichord one!) I'm learning to live with it...
i have this rattly clicker on my ibook as well. It sounds like there is a grain of sand stuck in it and everytime you press it, it crunches.
is this "rattling" anything like mine. When i click the button on my ibook (purchased a month or so ago...) it click, but it is kind of stiff and very loud in my opinion. i just sort of ignore it, thinking it is because it is new. Will it wear down with use and become looser? what size ibook?
matt459 said:
I had a G4 iBook 800... the right side of the clicker was fine, but the left side would crunch at first and THEN click. the left side was also higher then the right side which I thought had something to do with it... like the glue on the left side had come undone (I don't know if there's glue or not, but it seemed like something wasn't secure). I feel all of your pain.
it's really more of a rattle...kind of like the rattles baby shake! I would be glad if it just gave me a nice, solid click...oh well...if that's the worst of my problems, I'm probably doing all right!
G4 PB 1.5GHz 15in
I just got a G4 PB 1.5GHz a couple days ago and immediately noticed the right side of the clicker has an "extra click" sound. Seems like more travel space. It's especially annoying when fast-clicking. The center and left side is OK, not perfect. Overall, the clicker is noisier than previous PowerBooks. I passed it around the office, everyone seems to agree there's something wrong with it. So I take it to the Apple Store and then Geniuses say, "It's probably cosmetic. They probably won't repair it." Thanks! I guess I'll use the USB mouse.
I just got a G4 PB 1.5GHz a couple days ago and immediately noticed the right side of the clicker has an "extra click" sound. Seems like more travel space. It's especially annoying when fast-clicking. The center and left side is OK, not perfect. Overall, the clicker is noisier than previous PowerBooks. I passed it around the office, everyone seems to agree there's something wrong with it. So I take it to the Apple Store and then Geniuses say, "It's probably cosmetic. They probably won't repair it." Thanks! I guess I'll use the USB mouse.
Bummer...kind of what I figured would be their response (I live in the back of beyond, so there's no Apple store nearby to bring it to!)...thanks for the post, it confirmed my suspicions as to what their attitude would be!
Wow, glad you made this post.
My 1 year old G3 iBook does the same thing. Left side of the clicker makes an extra click sound, as if it is loose. And it does it at touch sometime, without much pressure. It started early on, but I had an external mouse so never noticed it and paid much attention to it until I had to use iBook away from my desk and it DRIVES ME NUTS.
I took it to the Apple store and they said as long as it works, they cannot do anything about it (yeah, that did tick me off), the reason being that it is a big module under the palm rest and they would have to replace the entire section, they cannot take the button apart to see what it is or just change the button. That is the explanation I got.
*sigh* thinking about it again now makes me maaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaad. But I still love my iBook
My 1 year old G3 iBook does the same thing. Left side of the clicker makes an extra click sound, as if it is loose. And it does it at touch sometime, without much pressure. It started early on, but I had an external mouse so never noticed it and paid much attention to it until I had to use iBook away from my desk and it DRIVES ME NUTS.
I took it to the Apple store and they said as long as it works, they cannot do anything about it (yeah, that did tick me off), the reason being that it is a big module under the palm rest and they would have to replace the entire section, they cannot take the button apart to see what it is or just change the button. That is the explanation I got.
*sigh* thinking about it again now makes me maaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaad. But I still love my iBook
1800-APL-CARE
My red-faced frowny was a bit extreme but having four geniuses downplay my concern and those of my coworkers was a bit unsettling. I did a little testing around the office and found that out of the bunch we have, the new G4 iBook, G4 PB 1.25GHz alloy and G4 PB 1.5GHz alloy, all had that cheap .99 cent click sound to it. The clickers with a firm, solid feel and acoustically pleasing were on the G4 PB 867Mhz 12in; the 500, 667MHz Titaniums and the old G3 500 bronze PB's. The Mac geniuses at the store are not going to record your complaint. So my plan of action will be to call 1800-APL-CARE (1800-275-2273) just to generate a report on my in-warranty units. If enough of us call in, maybe future PB owners will get higher-quality sounding clickers. On a positive note, I love the backlit keyboard. Its sooo cool.
My red-faced frowny was a bit extreme but having four geniuses downplay my concern and those of my coworkers was a bit unsettling. I did a little testing around the office and found that out of the bunch we have, the new G4 iBook, G4 PB 1.25GHz alloy and G4 PB 1.5GHz alloy, all had that cheap .99 cent click sound to it. The clickers with a firm, solid feel and acoustically pleasing were on the G4 PB 867Mhz 12in; the 500, 667MHz Titaniums and the old G3 500 bronze PB's. The Mac geniuses at the store are not going to record your complaint. So my plan of action will be to call 1800-APL-CARE (1800-275-2273) just to generate a report on my in-warranty units. If enough of us call in, maybe future PB owners will get higher-quality sounding clickers. On a positive note, I love the backlit keyboard. Its sooo cool.
As in all things, it's best to focus on the love and ignore the blemishes! A man wiser than me once encouraged that we be like the bees and not like the flies...in a dung heap the bee ignores the dung and finds the one flower, while in a bed of flowers the fly finds the small bit of dung...sorry...it's late and i'm feeling a bit metaphysical...probably should go to bed!
yep...cool...good idea!
I went on a field trip to the local computer store and (cringed) headed to the PC laptop isle. There I examined every mouse button and clicked every clicker, left and right side. They were flawless. I was envious. Even the worst clicker on the cheapest laptop clicked better, quieter and was more firm than on my G4 PB 15in. Over to the Apple section, I clicked away on the 17in, 12in and the 12in G4 iBook and found they performed pretty well, left and right. However, on the 15in PB's and the 14in iBook, the clickers clicked horribly, especially on the left side, just like the ones in my lab, like a piece of crap. The Apple Specialist, in the store within a store, said that the mouse button was normal, seemed OK to him...or I can use the trackpad and walked away. That's OK, what's he going to do anyway? Well, now we know.
skimoli said:
I checked out the 12"s and 17"s at a store too and found exactly the same thing. My old rev A and B 12"s had a fairly stiff but firm clicker that didn't make the extra rattle sound before they were depressed. But all these 15"s do seem to have this issue.
I'm glad in a way to hear that it's not just mine, but appears to be an issue across the board. But that makes me think they're not going to fix it in this revision. Whatever, it's a relatively small thing, even if it is a minor annoyance.