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

Are new Al MacBooks more reliable now than in Oct '08?

ThomasJL

ThomasJL

macrumors 68020
Original poster
Oct 16, 2008
2,052
4,969
The new aluminum MacBook is still a Rev. A product. But whatever the percentage of defective aluminum MacBooks were when they were first released in October 2008, will there be a lower percentage of defective MacBooks available at Apple Stores today?

(By "defective," I mean slanted keys, dead pixels, loose batter cover, dust trapped between LCD panel and glass, etc.)
 
i don't know if the problems have been ironed out yet... i assume the slanted keys etc.. should be..

i've just come across my first major problem on my alu macbook...

i keep getting horizontal lines all over the display (kind of like the raster background in iMovie 09).. the screen is totally unusable as you cannot see or do anything..

i have to keep tilting the screen back/forth till it works again but then after a few mins the lines appear again..

apple are going to pick it up in a few days time as it is believed to be a hardware fault.. and yes, they walked me through PRAM reset and boot off original CD etc... still get the lines..

i haven't heard of this issue being that widespread and seeing as i've had this from day 1 and its just appeared doesn't sound too good.. here's another person who had a similar issue
 
I work in a pretty busy apple reseller/service centre and I don't think I've booked in a single unibody MacBook or MacBook Pro. Couldn't even tell you where the serial number on the laptop is on those ones. We had maybe 2 DOA machines out of hundreds - we sell to all the schools in the district. They've been by far the most fault-free system I've seen.
 
I got my macbook at the end of janurary and its perfect. Theres one dead pixel on the bottom right corner, completely un-noticable because the trash can is over it. Its not worth sending back, Id rather have this tiny problem than have slanted keys or the loose battery casing.
 
I took the risk and was one of the early adopters that bought the unibody Macbook online in the release day and my unit come in perfect condition, no dead pixels, there was two or three slanted keys but with use now they look perfect.
Last month I bought 4GBs DDR3 in Crucial online store, I was a bit concerned about user problems with 3rd party RAM, but luckily my Macbook seems to like this RAM very much and I had no kernel panics or any other issue with the RAM until now, so...
I think if problems exist, only affect some units of the macbooks, and most of people should got good units like mine.
 
After five pretty bad issues with the unibody MacBook PRO, I gave up and bought a MacBook instead. Perfect, so I bought my wife one, too. Both built between weeks 49 and 52 of 2008. Both perfect---and I am very picky with Apple computers.

Of course there are a few lemons out there, but I think you can buy a MacBook with confidence. I'm not inclined to say the same about a MacBook PRO, though.
 
xpovos said:
After five pretty bad issues with the unibody MacBook PRO, I gave up and bought a MacBook instead. Perfect, so I bought my wife one, too. Both built between weeks 49 and 52 of 2008. Both perfect---and I am very picky with Apple computers.
Click to expand...

Hi xpovos,

Where does it say when a MacBook was built? In what different places can this information be found? Can I tell by looking at the box (without opening it)?
 
ThomasJL said:
Hi xpovos,

Where does it say when a MacBook was built? In what different places can this information be found? Can I tell by looking at the box (without opening it)?
Click to expand...

I don't know of a way to tell without opening the box. Once powered up, the serial number gives a clue to build date. For example, a serial number starting W8849... would be week 49 of 2008. There's a URL in another thread on this forum where you can submit the serial # and it will tell week, month, year, factory, etc.
 
Macbook Pro 2.53 - Returning 4th one for crashed Hard drive.

I am quite frustrated. I am returning my 4th 15 inch MacBook Pro 2.53 with a crashed hard drive since October 2008. Each one lasted about 6 weeks. The first time the computer freezes and I have to shut down by holding power button seems to be the end of the computer. They do not start up again and each time I return to the apple store and they tell me its the hard drive. Tomorrow I am returning the 4th one. Anybody have any information?
 
MikePaster said:
Tomorrow I am returning the 4th one. Anybody have any information?
Click to expand...

I seem to recall reading that after 3 repairs Applecare is obliged to give you a brand new machine if you ask for it. Instead of constantly getting it repaired just demand you get a different machine.

ThomasJL said:
The new aluminum MacBook is still a Rev. A product. But whatever the percentage of defective aluminum MacBooks were when they were first released in October 2008, will there be a lower percentage of defective MacBooks available at Apple Stores today?

(By "defective," I mean slanted keys, dead pixels, loose batter cover, dust trapped between LCD panel and glass, etc.)
Click to expand...

I bought my Macbook aluminum during launch and back then you could find machines on display with the defects you mentioned. There were also a lot more complaints on the forums about those issues. But today if you walk into the store you can't find those problems on the display models and I haven't really noticed people complaining recently so it looks like things have gotten much better.
 
MattyK said:
People sometimes can manipulate a small situation to make it look big.
Only very few macbooks have defects, so It's just bad luck of the draw if yours has a problem. TBH I think they're the same.
Click to expand...

Yes, the majority of responses you'll get to this thread will be people who have had problems. Note that those who haven't had problems aren't responding because it's working out great for them. In my opinion, the new MacBooks (Pros included) are the best laptop Apple has engineered in years.
 
Agreed

I just got a refurb MB 2.4Ghz on Friday in the UK, and these have to be the best laptops ever built.. period..!

Of course when you come online you are only going to see problems posted up, however there is something very special about the unibody machines.

I came from a MBP 2.2GHz Santa-Rosa with 4GB, and this 2.4GHz with 2GB is faster in all the stuff I normally did. I am very very impressed with it!!
 
Oh-es-Ten said:
I just got a refurb MB 2.4Ghz on Friday in the UK, and these have to be the best laptops ever built.. period..!

Of course when you come online you are only going to see problems posted up, however there is something very special about the unibody machines.

I came from a MBP 2.2GHz Santa-Rosa with 4GB, and this 2.4GHz with 2GB is faster in all the stuff I normally did. I am very very impressed with it!!
Click to expand...

Right now, I am using a somewhat similar machine to your previous one (mine is a MB 2.2GHz Santa Rosa with 4GB). How much faster is your aluminum MB 2.4GHz with 2GB?
 
Oddly I got a macbook that was built in dec 08 back in the beginning of jan... and it had a somewhat loose LCD when closed... ie if you held it on side it would be partially open on one side and the battery door never sat flush. For other reasons (audio issue due to low impedence headphones) I returned it and got a another macbook (less hiss on headphones) and the build date was actually Oct 08. To my surprise, the LCD closes and isn't loose, and the battery door fits perfectly. I kinda likeed the LCD on my dec 08 model though... ah well.
 
I returned my first Macbook because it had a couple of keys that felt a bit off, kind of crunchy. I got a second one and so far it's been flawless. I'm very pleased indeed. But if one of the first posts is indeed true about the guy working retailing these machines, that is a much more reliable post. Each user is, after all, talking from a very limited sample, but this poster claims to have a much wider sample to go by.
 
I got my alum macbook about a week ago, bought it off of Apple.com. Only defect is a very slightly loose battery cover. It moves ever so slightly and makes a "tick" noise if pushed on. It's so minor it doesn't even make the noise when I set my machine down, so I don't think it's worth getting a replacement over. Everything else is perfect, so far.
 
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