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MacBook Returned - Sadly (Now With Replacement Pictures!)

dlamin517 said:
You pay over $1000 bucks for a laptop, it better be dam perfect.
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Gah.
You kids today.
Let's see...my Powerbook 540c.
I think it cost me around $4000 new at the time.
Not to mention the extra $900 I had to spend for the unbelieveably HUGE
32MB ram module that went with it.

And we're talking 1994 dollars too.

WRC
 
eshroom said:
Ummmm..... American cars are built so you have to buy a new one in 5 years, so they have to be made shabbily. Macs are like the European car of computers.

But, having just slated 90% of this community's automobile industry, I must agree with you. Besides, we all know what to expect when we buy a rev. A apple product, so why complain?
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I purchased a Rev A iMac when they came out last year. It was perfect, I had none of the issues that others had - mainly relating to the screen. Similarly, people have MacBooks with perfectly set keyboards and perfectly snug battery cases, so Rev A Apple products exist that are great - that's why people are complaining.

Also, I'd like to think that I'm more sharing my story than complaining, it's a great machine - I just want to get it as it should be. I understand there may be some faulty batches with a Rev A product, nothing wrong with getting replacements until you have one of the decent ones though is there?
 
urbanj said:
It's still a mass produced product. Go take a ruler to your brand new car and measure all the gaps in the hood, doors and trunk. Check the seams between the tail lights and head lights and the body. I guarantee that they won't be perfect.

People have to stop complaining about minor things that do not effect the function of the machine.

Do you return the car you buy because the cigarette light doesn't fit snugly into it's recepticle.:rolleyes:

Mine has slightly slanted function keys and it's still perfect and SUPERIOR to other machines on the market.

:apple: FTW
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Like Locker says, a cigarette thing is not as important as the keyboard of a MacBook. If the car would have square wheels, I'd definately return it :D
 
Locker said:
Again, you shouldn't have to put up with wonky keys though... Apple aren't meant to set the keys like that, it's a manufacturing error on their part, and if it bothers you at all then they should provide you with an issue-free unit.
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True, true. It's really jut a personal opinion. You have to weigh a few things though. Okay so my keys are a bit slanted, but it's not really noticeable, it doesn't take away from the beautiful look of the computer. The computer itself works fine, no dead pixels or loose battery compartments. So you have to think is it worth it to lose everything on the hard drive and risk getting a worse computer, so that your looks better when you use a magnifying glass? Maybe yours is different, but mine is pretty hard to tell they're slanted unless you get at the right angle or look at it horizontally.
 
wcalderini said:
Gah.
You kids today.
Let's see...my Powerbook 540c.
I think it cost me around $4000 new at the time.
Not to mention the extra $900 I had to spend for the unbelieveably HUGE
32MB ram module that went with it.

And we're talking 1994 dollars too.

WRC
Click to expand...

Ahh...I fondly remember my first abacus.

It was made from the hair of Nordic virgins living just below the Arctic circle.

The frame was from thousand year old Sequoia trees, organically grown on a commune at the tip of Oregon.

The beads were actually pearls from endangered oysters, now long dead.

It cost me a year's worth of shekels, plus five cubits of fine pelts. And those were imperial cubits, too...
 
Yep!

GUILTIE said:
True, true. It's really jut a personal opinion. You have to weigh a few things though. Okay so my keys are a bit slanted, but it's not really noticeable, it doesn't take away from the beautiful look of the computer. The computer itself works fine, no dead pixels or loose battery compartments. So you have to think is it worth it to lose everything on the hard drive and risk getting a worse computer, so that your looks better when you use a magnifying glass? Maybe yours is different, but mine is pretty hard to tell they're slanted unless you get at the right angle or look at it horizontally.
Click to expand...

Had mine for several weeks before I read about the slanted keys. I looked from a different angle and yes, mine were slanted too. Who cares! Love the MB.
 
rosalindavenue said:
It's returns like these that will generate refubs for cheap bast##ds like me to buy-- keep up the perfectionism, my friends....
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Exactly. There is nothing wrong with the function and it really isn't noticeable unless you look for it. As for the cigarette lighter example, it's a bad example but you guys completely overlooked the one about the body lines and how parts match up. A car is a BIG purchase so thats why I used it as an example.

People will buy a Mercedes because of the name, fit and finish and the performance. Even if it has to go back to the dealership for constant recalls and TSB updates people can't just give them back and even then they still love them and continue to buy them. Every single mass produced product will have it's issues regardless of how much it costs. How anal you are about them if it doesn't actually effect the functionality of the item is the difference here in terms of the people that love the new MacBooks vs the people that returned them.
 
It's returns like these that will generate refubs for cheap bast##ds like me to buy-- keep up the perfectionism, my friends....
Click to expand...
So do you think that Apple will simply let these go as refurbished, without fixing the slanted keys?
 
If we return a 2.0 Al Mac Book that has the slanted keys problem...

can we upgrade to a 2.4 MacBook do you guys think?

With no restocking fee?

I wonder...
 
I got one with slanted keys but I just done the fix by pulling on each key, which took less than 5 minutes, and now they are perfect. On one key I pulled quite hard and it popped off. Luckily, they are exactly the same as every other Mac I've ever owned in that to put the key back on you just push it down in the slot. Easy, perfect, no problems.
 
foodle said:
slanted function keys :eek: ... the horror ...
Click to expand...

Actually you dont have a clue what youre talking about.

When I got my first gen macbook, I wasnt happy that the top/bottom cases did not line up. But people on this site told me I was whining for no reason...a year later that issue caused my case to crack. So people should be worried if their machine has cosmetic problems, because they can lead to worse problems.
 
urbanj said:
It's still a mass produced product. Go take a ruler to your brand new car and measure all the gaps in the hood, doors and trunk. Check the seams between the tail lights and head lights and the body. I guarantee that they won't be perfect.

People have to stop complaining about minor things that do not effect the function of the machine.

Do you return the car you buy because the cigarette light doesn't fit snugly into it's recepticle.:rolleyes:

Mine has slightly slanted function keys and it's still perfect and SUPERIOR to other machines on the market.

:apple: FTW
Click to expand...

I'd just like to point out that my cars were built in Germany, and the gaps actually are exact. :D Really though, your example about the cigarette lighter isn't a fair comparison. Unless you smoke constantly in your car you wouldn't notice something so trivial. But it's more like... your car key doesn't fit into the steering column properly, and so it's harder to start your car. You use the keyboard constantly, so if the keys don't fit you're going to notice every single time you punch that key.
 
urbanj said:
Exactly. There is nothing wrong with the function and it really isn't noticeable unless you look for it. As for the cigarette lighter example, it's a bad example but you guys completely overlooked the one about the body lines and how parts match up. A car is a BIG purchase so thats why I used it as an example.

People will buy a Mercedes because of the name, fit and finish and the performance. Even if it has to go back to the dealership for constant recalls and TSB updates people can't just give them back and even then they still love them and continue to buy them. Every single mass produced product will have it's issues regardless of how much it costs. How anal you are about them if it doesn't actually effect the functionality of the item is the difference here in terms of the people that love the new MacBooks vs the people that returned them.
Click to expand...

If you've looked at the pictures of the slanted keys posted on this forum, then I find it weird how you can say they are hardly noticeable. It's pretty obvious in the pictures. Granted though that they are focusing on the area in question.

In terms of the Mercedes comparison, I'd personally never buy one, but if I found a similar defect on the car of my choice, I would expect it to be resolved in a timely fashion - be that a repair or a new car if the problems were that bad! However, the very notion of repairing something that is new is a weird one - at least for me.

Finally, I would say that simply telling people that they are just being anal about something is fine if that's your thing to do, but may I suggest being a bit more like maverick808 and posting something useful. I'm sure if the fix is quick and easy as maverick808 suggests, this should save a lot of people the bother of returning their new MB/MBPs. Thanks for the tip, I'll be sure to put it to good effect if my MBP comes with slanted keys. However, I appreciate some people may be a little reluctant to follow these steps in case they accidently snap something.

Here is the thread maverick808 was referring to.

Not wanting to sound as if I'm telling you, or the other posters who have said similar things what to do or how to think, it's just a bit more productive in my opinion than simply telling people they're being anal.
 
My keys are "slightly" angled, but not enough to really bother me. I noticed it right away when I opened it but realized that I spend about 90% of my time hooked up to an external monitor and keyboard that I could really care less...and I'm usually the one who sells a phone as soon as it gets it's first scratch or whatever. The thing that annoys me more is that the sleep light that comes on is brighter on one side of the indicator...meaning the slit that is cut in the aluminum is a bit wider on one side. That's way more annoying to me. But alas...nothing is wrong with the display or the rest of the hardware, so I'm willing to deal with the cosmetic stuff. It's nothing like the Iphone 3g fiasco (light leaking, cracking plastic, crooked screens, etc.) so I'll deal with the small stuff.

Either Apple has bad QC, or the Mac guys are just too finnicky...I can't tell which is more true. :)
 
you could also get a perfect one, i was worried that mine would have some of the common problems i read about here, but it was perfect.
 
My function keys are on a slight angle but who cares!!

They seem to be "floating" on little springs that are holding the key up on a slight angle. I would guess that all of the keys could end up shifting slightly right or left as it gets older. When you rub them back and forth with your finger using a little bit of pressure, they "lean" left and right.

If I hadn't read about people returning them for this "defect", I never would have thought anything of it. Seems perfectly normal and acceptable to me.

To each his own though.

Cheers.
:):apple:
 
Well, here's how my story ends:

As I said in my first post, Apple were great about sending out a replacement. They were apologetic and arranged the whole thing in around 20 mins. I made the call asking for a replacement on 5th November, my original MacBook was collected yesterday (10th November) and the replacement arrived today (11th November). I though that was quite a quick turn-around so was pretty pleased :)

So, this morning I took the delivery, opened the box and looked for wonky keys right away! They were straight :D - here's a comparison:

Original MacBook:


My Replacement:


Now, admittedly, if you look real close you could say they're not 100% in-line, but to the naked eye - they're perfect!

Secondly, I checked the battery case. Unfortunately, this was a little disappointing. Where I'd gained straight keys - I'd lost my snug battery case. This one rattles, it's not snug at all - it really sits incorrectly in one corner of the case...



At first I thought it just wasn't pushed in correctly - but no, that's actually how it was sitting. However, unlike with the keys, I was prepared to flex the battery case. Doing so transformed the above into this:





Now, you can still see that it's not totally in line but the case no longer rattles, if you apply pressure to that corner it no longer moves and makes a tapping noise as it did - so I'm happy! Also of course, the battery cover is replacable - so all is good!

I'm now happy, and can't wait to use it properly on 25th :)
 
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