Furious...
I've just read through this whole thread and it's made me pretty angry tbh.
Here's some background - a few years back, my Dad decided to replace his ancient 1st Gen iMac and get a black macbook. I'd not been too impressed by the iMac (even when it was brand-new), so was a bit skeptical about him spending so much money on a laptop. When it arrived, I was fairly impressed by the build quality, and Tiger seemed like a decent (but not spectacular) OS. He had a couple of problems initially - the Airport got fried in the first few months, so he called up Apple and got a replacement sent out. The customer service really impressed me.
Autumn 2007, my home-built desktop PC began its death rattle, so I started looking round for a new computer. By this time I wanted simplicity and support, so Apple seemed an obvious choice. Leopard features like Spaces, BootCamp and TimeMachine sealed the deal, and I decided to get a macbook because I was at University and needed a computer I could take to seminars. I settled for a whitebook 2.2 core 2 duo, with AppleCare, and a foam-padded softcase sold via the Apple store.
One morning, about 6months after it arrived, I noticed the palmrest was beginning to splinter. I briefly panicked, but then reassured myself - it was an Apple, with AppleCare: this would not be a problem - I booked an appointment at the Genius bar in Manchester that weekend (just over 40miles away, an expensive train ride, but worth it, I hoped). When I arrived I showed the "genius" the damage, and asked if it could be repaired, and whether it was covered by the AppleCare. He asked a series of questions, making it clear that I must've mistreated my Mac, before agreeing to have it fixed for free "just this once".
At that point I wasn't sure - like I said, I'd used the computer a lot for Uni, so it had been in and out of my bag, on buses and trains a lot, and although I thought I'd been treating it carefully, I knew I hadn't been ultra-cautious with it, and (not knowing it was a fairly common problem) was willing to accept it might be my fault and simply be grateful that it wouldn't cost me any more money to fix. I was told it'd be in overnight, but as it happened they called me while I was on the bus to a friend's house nearby to say it was ready for collection, so I went straight back and picked it up.
Since then I've been as careful as humanly possible - I've used a cloth (as suggested by the "genius") over the keyboard, bought a new hardcase for it, and always closed the lid carefully, holding the top by the iSight lens so as to stop the magnets snapping the lid down. I've taken care not to put too much weight on the palmrest, and generally treated the thing like it's made of very-thin glass.
And yet, last month the palmrest started to splinter again - hairline cracks appeared on both sides around the same time, the right side looking a bit worse than the left. "Just this once" in mind, I taped up both cracks, annoyed at how ugly it looked, and furious at myself - but unsure what else I could've done to avoid it. My Dad's blackbook hasn't had the problem at all, but then, his palmrest feels somehow sturdier than mine.
So today I google 'macbook palmrest' and find myself here, and definitely not alone. It seems opinion here is divided, with some content that Apple have identified the problem and are fixing it when necessary, and others annoyed that the problem exists in the first place. I have to say, I fall into the latter category, and all the more annoyed that my "genius" experience left me blaming myself for a clear design flaw.
So what's the solution? Do I just keep taking it back every time it breaks, until AppleCare expires and they finally say they won't fix it again? By some people's accounts, to only have it break twice in the year and a bit I've had it is pretty good-going. Or can I trade it in somehow for a unibody model? What about if they installed a black keyboard instead? And if the only option is to sell it (once fixed) and buy something else, how much should I be looking to sell it for? I can't really go on using a computer that will repeatedly break, no matter how much I cotton-ball it - I bought an Apple because I didn't want to have to worry about repairs etc, within reason, but I don't think it's very reasonable to have it break every 6-12months when I'm being as careful as possible!
Sorry to rant like this, I'm just very very angry that I've been sold a product with a fundamental design flaw, and then been made to believe that the fault lies with me. Naively, I didn't expect this kind of thing from Apple - I thought the point was that you paid a high premium for excellent design.
I'd much appreciate it if anyone could answer my questions.
I'm planning to get a Moshi Palmwrest so it won't happen again, but if it does, you get an unlimited number of repairs, so no need to worry, guys!
