Below is my letter to Apple on the issue. I've sent it to their "Feedback" section as well as the fabled "sjobs@apple.com" email account. If anyone has ANY other recommendations of where to send it, please let me know. Here it is:
Hello.
I'm writing today about an issue I'm sure you at Apple have already heard complaints of multiple times, as it is affecting a large number of your customers who purchased a 2009 MacBook Pro from your company. ANY third-party hard drive installed in one of these machines, will cause the machine to freeze up at random intervals for anywhere from a few seconds to 2 or 3 minutes. This issue is happening regardless of third party hard drive brand, size, or speed. I myself have installed my own 500GB hard drive into my BRAND NEW MacBook Pro, and I am having this problem as well. This issue is being caused by the EFI 1.7 firmware upgrade for these machines. Some users have downgraded back to the 1.6 firmware, but are still having the issues. It is well documented on message boards all over the internet as well as Apple's OWN online support forum. I believe as of right now, the topic regarding the issue is over 90 pages long with around 1,000 replies. It is now past the point of arguing over whether this issue even exists, or if it's serious enough to fix. It is time for Apple to make a statement about this issue, as myself and many others are feeling severely left out in the cold by Apple.
Coming from the standpoint of a longtime customer such as myself who has bought many Apple products through the years (2 MacBooks, 3 iPhones, multiple iPod's and accessories), this issue is VERY dissatisfying. This is NOT the kind of quality control that your customers expect from you, nor is it even close to acceptable, especially for the premium price of your products over your competitors. Apple has been known for making the best quality products on the market for years, so myself and many others are hoping for a fast solution to this problem. I purchased my new 13" MacBook Pro from you in early September and am very close to returning it for this issue. Replacing a Hard Drive is a very simple procedure that many users will perform during the life of their machine, so not supporting this type of procedure is simply illogical. Other then this one issue, my new machine is absolutely perfect, but the freezing issue is something that is too big to overlook. I will be going back to using my 2007 MacBook, which is disappointing since i paid Apple $1500 for a "Pro" computer that is rendered next-to-worthless in my eyes, because of the fact that it is freezing up every 20 or so minutes.
I also happen to work at my local Best Buy, where I am employed in the computers department and have sold HUNDREDS of MacBook's and MacBook Pro's to the customers I help. Normally, Apple is hands-down my number one recommendation, and it's what I try to steer customers towards, because I felt that Apple made the best machines on the market. Now, I don't know if I can continue to persuade customers to buy a machine from my store that I KNOW will become basically worthless if they install a third party hard drive into the machine. This issue is very discouraging to your users, both new and old, who pay the large price for your otherwise unrivaled products.
Please, please fix this issue for your customers that continue to buy your products. Myself, and many others are VERY anxious to Apple's response to this very serious matter. Thank you for your time and consideration, and eventually your solution to this problem.
A longtime Apple user,
(And in case you were wondering, my computer froze SIX times while composing this letter, for about 5 seconds each time.)
