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Does Error Probability Warrant a Return?

K

ksharin

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Aug 29, 2013
8
0
Hi All,

I recently purchased a macbook air and its been pretty sweet thus far, however, I have been reading up on users experiences saying otherwise. Mainly in regards to a black screen that comes up and disconnects them. I'm wondering if although this has not happened to me yet is it just a problem waiting to happen and should I just consider returning this machine that is error prone? Have there been any users who have had success with mac book air meaning no black screen since June that can attest to that or have users that purchased in June time frame encountered this issue at least one? :confused::eek::(
 
Consider the www and its message boards a place for people to complain or ask questions about problems and not a place to post not having any problems or not complain about something. It happens, but it is much rarer than the posting of problems, thus seeing posts from people having issues just outweighs the seldom posts of people not having problems, thus it seems, it is a widespread problem.

As you have a 2013 model, you have a standard warranty until 2014, thus there is plenty of time to consider getting the extended Apple Care Protection Plan in order to get Apple's help, if, a big IF, the screen problem ever occurs on your Mac.
 
Do you know the actual probability of that fault? You will find fault reports on every computing device that has ever been made, so the question is not whether there's a possibility of a fault (there always is), but whether it's a high probability (let's say, greater than 1%). My guess is that the probability in this case is well under 1%.

So, you could 100% go through the trouble of returning one computer and setting up another now (with no promise that the next would be fault-free), or wait and see if the problem emerges on your computer and act only if necessary. Since faults of this sort tend to emerge early in ownership, if it were to happen, you'd almost definitely still be under warranty.
 
There are lots of threads here about people who have spilled beverages on their MacBook Airs. You might as well return yours now, because it's just a problem waiting to happen. :D

Seriously, I've had my 2013 MBA for a month now and have never seen this issue. No wifi problems either. It's been very reliable all around. Had a 2011 model before that and it was completely trouble free. Apple makes good stuff, and they stand behind it with a good warranty and frequent software updates.

Unless you're actually having a problem then just enjoy the new computer. There are much more important things to worry about in today's world. :)
 
Boyd01 said:
There are lots of threads here about people who have spilled beverages on their MacBook Airs. You might as well return yours now, because it's just a problem waiting to happen. :D

Seriously, I've had my 2013 MBA for a month now and have never seen this issue. No wifi problems either. It's been very reliable all around. Had a 2011 model before that and it was completely trouble free. Apple makes good stuff, and they stand behind it with a good warranty and frequent software updates.

Unless you're actually having a problem then just enjoy the new computer. There are much more important things to worry about in today's world. :)
Click to expand...

Well said. I agree with your analogy of beverage spills.
 
ksharin said:
Well said. I agree with your analogy of beverage spills.
Click to expand...

Do people return cars because they might get in an accident?

Do people return food they've bought because they might choke on it?

Do people ask for refunds of flight tickets because the plane might crash?

Do people return shoes because they might sprain their ankle?

Shall I go on?

Enjoy your computer. If anything goes wrong, use the warranty. That's what it's there for. :)
 
The beverage spill is taken way out of context. One is human-error, the other is mechanical error (auto-sleep, or faulty wifi). How is it even the same?

Bad analogy imo.

Yes the 2013 Air as a small issue with going to 'sleep' automatically after waking up. It's a very common problem.

I've prevented this by disabling power nap, and disabling put harddisk to sleep. It has never happened again.

But that's not the point. The point is if you're feeling 'scared' or if you have doubts, it isn't the right buy for you. There are going to be some issues with all new devices. Apple really pushed for such an early Haswell release with the Air - they didn't get to intensively go through trial/error with it.

That's why there was an obvious problem like photoshop flickering, and wifi dropping on it's own. Those have been fixed.

The problems are all software related. Means they will be fixed shortly.

But then, Mavericks is coming out as well. There are going to be more initial errors. But say in 3 months from now - basically before christmas, Apple should have their 2013 macbooks and OS X Mavericks running at optimum.
 
AXs said:
But then, Mavericks is coming out as well. There are going to be more initial errors. But say in 3 months from now - basically before christmas, Apple should have their 2013 macbooks and OS X Mavericks running at optimum.
Click to expand...

"I've bought a freshly released Mac and it has problems" - interesting.
"I've bought a Mac that was released six months ago and it has problems" - boring.

Every time something new is released people will come and entertain us with their interesting problems, and some time later things calm down because these things are not entertaining anyone anymore. That's why you see a spike in complaints after new releases. Not because there are more problems, but because everyone with the slightest problem thinks they have to tell the world about it.
 
gnasher729 said:
but because everyone with the slightest problem thinks they have to tell the world about it.
Click to expand...

Also noobs don't know what's "normal."

Last night, I got a black bar where the menu is. Did I panic, start dialing the Genius, go into a knot. NOPE. REBOOT. That's it. Prob solved. There are like 5 things I will do before pronouncing this a "problem." Moving on. What problem? :)
 
gnasher729 said:
"I've bought a freshly released Mac and it has problems" - interesting.
"I've bought a Mac that was released six months ago and it has problems" - boring.

Every time something new is released people will come and entertain us with their interesting problems, and some time later things calm down because these things are not entertaining anyone anymore. That's why you see a spike in complaints after new releases. Not because there are more problems, but because everyone with the slightest problem thinks they have to tell the world about it.
Click to expand...

I have no idea what you're trying to accomplish with that analogy but I don't think it is accurate either.

There are tolerance levels with failures, and dissatisfaction levels - especially higher for a leading brand like Apple.

Apple simply forced a quick release at the expense of guarantee... all these problems that apple are facing now should have been solved at preliminary testing stages. Obviously, they accepted a much higher-than-usual failure rate with the Macbook Air 2013 models.

Faulty wifi? Auto-sleep during usage? - these aren't things that requires special talented beta testers to unveil. The photoshop flickering problem should have been caught by ANYone who well... used photoshop.

These re by no means small mundane errors. Apple just rushed a product out to steal the entire 'parents with kids going to college' market.

It was essential to keep up numbers for the respective quarter - and keep stock prices afloat so apple launched rushed goods this June.

The AC wifi on the Air isn't getting speeds like that of windows AC machines either. On top of that, the AC Airport Extreme was tested - and it's giving relatively slower speeds compared to direct competition.

So yea, a lot of issues with Apple really. Nothing to do with how people come and talk about problems and so on.

Apple just forced unfinished products to the market. They should have taken 2 more months to get it refined.

But anyways, no one is telling 'the whole world' their problems. They are coming to Macbook Air DEDICATED forum to post their issues. What are you guys doing here - apart from being here to laugh at other's issues?

The guy has a legitimate concern. There are a lot more things that have gone wrong for way more people this time around.

But instead, you guys should just tell him that there's nothing to worry about. There are no hardware issues. That the Air is a great machine, and software updates will fix all the problems.

By the way, I think 'noob' is a word that applies to all of us.

"If I leave you in the woods with a hatchet, how long before you send me an email". Think about it.
It's not polite to call others noobs. We ourselves are simply better at using what smart people built specifically to be easy for us.

Imagine what little Bill Gates and Steve Wozniak had to work with.
 
ksharin said:
Have there been any users who have had success with mac book air meaning no black screen since June that can attest to that or have users that purchased in June time frame encountered this issue at least one? :confused::eek::(
Click to expand...

I got mine on June 15, and am typing this reply on it now. I haven't had a single issue nor complaint. Not a single black screen, nor anything else. It's been working fine for me.

The simple fact is, there WILL be bad systems out there. But the extent and percentage will tend to be greatly amplified in forums like this. And for those who are having issues, Apple WILL fix the problem for you if you're unlucky enough to get a MacBook Air that exhibits the problem.

If you want an anecdote about Apple support: I still have the mid-2010 MacBook Pro that this Air replaced. 3 years and 4 months after I bought it, it began exhibiting GPU problems, an acknowledged issue. Despite my MacBook Pro being four months older than the permitted repair window, and being really long in the tooth in general as laptops go, Apple agreed to fix it anyway, no charge. I picked up my repaired MBP yesterday and it's at home now, still chugging along.

Buy with confidence. It's unlikely you'll have a problem, and if you do, it'll be taken care of.
 
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