First Time Mac User

Hi everyone,

I've posted a few comments on here since I decided that I was to purchase a Macbook about 6 weeks ago. Anyway, I thought that I would give any potential Macbook buyers my "two pennies worth" and those who are regular users may also find what I think useful. If not then please say - I'm the kind of guy who CAN handle other peoples opinions!

I decided to purchase a Macbook about 6 weeks ago after going in to the Apple store here in the Birmingham Bullring. First of all, my impressions of the store were very good. There seemed to be a good atmosphere and no one pushed me in to buying anything. The staff there seemed helpful and the "geniuses" are really good at what they do - very good idea by Apple! My first impression of the Macbook was "WOW". I've been a desktop PC Micro$oft Window$ user all my life, but when I played around on the Macbook I instantly fell in love with the OS. No error messages, no panful installation of software, just plain free simple computer usage. The Macbook was sleek, elegant and for me was the perfect size. I wasn't looking for anything with a huge screen and mind-blowing graphics - just something that I could use everyday for Internet browsing, emailing, and for some development. My mind was made up there and then - I would not purchase the Acer I had been looking at for 2 months - instead it was the Apple Macbook.

On the 26th of May I ordered my Macbook from Apple over the phone. I could have gone to the store and paid up front and had it instantly, but I decided to take up the 15% discount for higher education students over the phone. Apple also had a 6 month no interest offer which I decided to take. On top of this I decided to order an extra 512MB ram (1GB in total) and a carrying case. I rang to chase my order a week later and there was absolutely no update. The forms for my interest free credit agreement were taking a long time to process and these were accepted on the 7th of June. The customer service representative explained to me that this was completely out of the control of Apple - I understood and was informed that my Apple would be shipped out by the 13th of June. I repeatedly rang Apple to ensure this and was informed every time that the product would definitely ship. At approximately 22:00 on the 13th I received an email stating that my order had been delayed due to parts of my order that were not in stock. At this point I was fuming. I even considered cancelling my order, but was advised by another Mac user, on this forum, to speak to Apple and ask why this was the case. I thank that user in advance for there advice. When I spoke to Apple I was informed that the carry case was holding up my order and therefore the order had been delayed for two weeks. I cancelled the case from my order and consequently, my Macbook shipped on the 17th of June. I received the device early this afternoon, and this is the VERY FIRST time I'm using it - so I hope someone appreciates it! I think what frustrated me the most was the fact that Apple did not tell me WHY my order was being delayed - they were just giving me the bad news - I would have completely understood if they had just told me what was happening. I hope they rectify this "problem" for all customers in the future. On another note, the Apple Order Status page is completely useless!! I could track my order, but the information provided was very, very limited. I found that using www.apecode.com was a lot better and I was able to track the exact whereabouts of my laptop while it was being transported from the Far East to the UK. Once delivered, the UPS site was very handy and I was able to track the delivery of my laptop to the exact time it was delivered today - 12:28.

So my first two gripes (and hopefully last) are:

1. Keep your customers informed - don't give them wishy washy information on why orders have been delayed.
2. Improve your delivery tracking!! It neary killed me not knowing where my Macbook was!

On the actual Macbook, all I can say is that so far I have used it for nothing other than this thread. But I can say I love the feel, look and whole concept. I am someone who instantly falls in love with, and consequently purchases, certain things. Two years ago this was the Mini Cooper I bought, last year I fell in love with the Sony PSP, last Friday I fell in love with the Nintendo DS Lite, and today I am deeply, deeply in love with the Apple Macbook.

P.S. So far no whining, mooing, heat, funny sounds, or any of that - just plain, free laptop usage.