Mac Pro - Contradictory experience

[NorthRider]

Hi guys!

I am not a mac-savvy person yet, switched from pc several months ago and would like to share my experience which barely can be named successful.

My specs are as follows:
Mac Pro
2.66 Quad-Core Intel
3Gb RAM
NVIDIA GeForce GT 120
Mac OS X v.10.5.7

This machine was bought in March. Since then Kernel Panic happened 3(!) times. Some apps (mostly Safari 4.0.1) crash frequently and almost after every restart Trash contains recovered files. Some apps don't crash but freeze e.g. iMovie when exporting a project.
Luxology Modo (3D software) doesn't start on this mac at all - it crashes at start. I widely used this app on pc and it's a bitter pill to swallow not having it worked.
Recently I found out the latch is broken so I can't open a lid, and one of the usb ports stopped working.

Is it enough to give one nightmares?

I am under AppleCare and is sure going to make an appointment very soon. However I am under strict contract obligations now and can't afford to let this machine be repaired for days.

I wonder if anyone had similar experience with his/her mac? When I eventually speak with a genius should I insist on complete replacement? Does Apple provide money back policy?

Given all these circumstances I seriously question this shift to Apple platform because it turned out to a mess. I can't fully concentrate on my work.

p.s. The only hardware which worked perfectly for me was Apple Cinema Display '24. This monitor is second to none.

 

[-Ryan-]

Wirelessly posted (iPhone: Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 3_0 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/528.18 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0 Mobile/7A341 Safari/528.16)

I'm sorry to hear you've been having such a bad experience. All hope is not lost - you should be able to get a replacement if you tell the Genius all of the problems. There must be something seriously wrong with this computer, and unfortunately you've had one of the few bad experiences. If the Genius won't replace the computer talk to a rep on the phone. Someone will help you.

 

[Cousin Dirk]

I'm sorry to hear that. Hopefully Apple can get your machine fixed quickly.

My Power Mac G4 used to kernel panic more often than that. Only three times in as many months? You're lucky.

I still haven't got to the root of my machine's problem. I replaced the RAM, did a clean install of the OS, removed the dust from the fan vents. It still crashes intermittently (although now, as it's used mainly as a server, it does seem to crash when something is accessing the hard drive).

 

[NorthRider]

-Ryan-
Yeah. I hope it's gonna be fixed one way or another.

Cousin Dirk
Strangely enough, before buying this machine I was assured by many people (including Geniuses) that Apple produce the most reliable computers and mac os is solid rock compared to other OS's out there.
I barely recall a serious OS crash I experienced on XP.

 

[angelwatt]

That certainly isn't normal, so it's good that you'll be getting it checked out. I'm on my 3rd Mac and have only had one problem where the HD went bad, but it was replaced as the machine was less than a year old. I thought that was nice as I didn't put up the money for Apple Care so to have it fixed for free was nice.

I don't use Safari a lot, but generally it doesn't crash on me except when I'm testing some web development stuff. I primarily use Firefox for browsing though. I've used iMovie a little and felt it was sluggish at times and may have frozen up sometimes, but this may have be impart from using the less powerful MacBook. I haven't heard of the other software you mentioned. They sound like they may be resource intense apps, but that's no excuse for them not to be working properly. I'd be sure to check the internet for people having similar issues and even possibly checking with the creator of the software. Maybe the software needs some updates for Leopard.

There's a lot of people on these forums so I definitely recommend posting individual problems so that you may be able to find some answers and get back to doing the work you're wanting to do rather than troubleshooting. Good luck.

 

[dmmcintyre3]

Are intels that bad with stability? My PB (PPC G4) has not crashed requiring a reboot this year at all.

Sorry this is happening but I would take it back and see if you can get a replacement. But a vista laptop crashed within 1 month of buying it (BSOD crash)

My PB has crashed less than 2-3 times since I got it (1.5 years ago used) (One I do not remember but my friend said it happened but I had a kernel panic screensaver at the time).

 

[NorthRider]

angelwatt
I mostly use Firefox as well, but I am forced to launch Safari for debugging reasons (I'm a web designer). Well, I would close my eyes on Safari crashes. It's not a big deal. But I can't stand frequent Kernel Panics.

As for iMovie, you know it makes you mad when it comes to home video and you can't export a small project utilizing the widely advertised app.

 

[-Ryan-]

Are intels that bad with stability?

I am on my fourth Intel Mac (Macbook CD, Macbook White C2D, iMac C2D, Macbook Alu) and I have never had any crashes or instability whatsoever. Maybe I'm just lucky, but the worst thing that's ever happened to me was a Dock crash...