More powerbook woes...

[AlBDamned]

Unfortunately I've already explained to them what had happened thinking I was covered but it appears I'm not (for accidental damage outside the house).

I have just spoken to the guy at TCS about it and he reckons he could either fix it or give me a good price for the parts, but obviously once he sees it and opens it up to diagnose it, then he's going to hold all the cards in relation to prices...

Very unlucky really. It needs properly diagnosing before I come to any final conclusions about what to do with it.

At the moment I'm probably looking at minimum £150-800 spend or around a £700 loss on the unit as a whole (I could get about £600 for screen, case, RAM etc.) and I only paid £1250 for my original 1.67 PB.

Course - then I'd have to buy something else. Maybe a Dell smartstep for £250!

 

[maverick808]

Unfortunately I've already explained to them what had happened thinking I was covered but it appears I'm not (for accidental damage outside the house).

I have just spoken to the guy at TCS about it and he reckons he could either fix it or give me a good price for the parts, but obviously once he sees it and opens it up to diagnose it, then he's going to hold all the cards in relation to prices...

Very unlucky really. It needs properly diagnosing before I come to any final conclusions about what to do with it.

At the moment I'm probably looking at minimum £150-800 spend or around a £700 loss on the unit as a whole (I could get about £600 for screen, case, RAM etc.) and I only paid £1250 for my original 1.67 PB.

Course - then I'd have to buy something else. Maybe a Dell smartstep for £250!

Yeah, I feel really sorry for you. Let us know what you decide to do and what happens if it gets diagnosed.

 

[iGav]

Applecare covered those? how could two bottom cases "go bad" and it not be customter abuse?

The alignment of the clip on the base cover was incorrect, so it didn't catch properly on the main body. Both times.

They should've designed it with a torx screw at each corner, which would've been a far better solution.

But no customer abuse on my part, it still looks box fresh.

Apple's quality is just dropping like a shafted elevator.

AlBDamned, change insurance companies.

 

[iGav]

nope...in future, you're going to speak to your home contents insurance company and make sure you get your laptops covered for accidental loss or damage in and outside the home. Should add about £20 a year to your premium.

Does that include commuting to a place of work and at work itself??

I get hit a lot more than that for my coverage because I use mine for work, and conventional home and contents won't cover it, should I happen to be commuting to/from or indeed use it in a place of work.

 

[AlBDamned]

AlBDamned, change insurance companies.

Thanks Gav, I'll bear that in mind!

How'd you go with your "rumble"?

 

[AlBDamned]

Does that include commuting to a place of work and at work itself??

I get hit a lot more than that for my coverage because I use mine for work, and conventional home and contents won't cover it, should I happen to be commuting to/from or indeed use it in a place of work.

One of the first questions I was asked was, "Is it a work computer..."

I guess you have to have extra cover or "corporate" cover if you use your computer for work frequently.

 

[Applespider]

I guess you have to have extra cover or "corporate" cover if you use your computer for work frequently.

I believe it's even stricter than that. If you tell them that you do any work on it, you could void your insurance.

 

[iGav]

How'd you go with your "rumble"?

Not too bad... not too bad at all mate. I ended up calling Apple on the 19th (the last day of my AppleCare) and explaining my new problems, and then reminding them that the same parts have consistantly failed over the 3 years of my ownership, and that basically I was concerned how now that I was at the end of my warranty and how I was still encountering the same problems and that IMHO obviously there is either an inherent fault with my machine, or other underlying factors with the Titanium range of PowerBooks and how I'd like for Apple to conside offering a replacement machine as a final resolution to my problems.

They agreed, expressed surprise that I wasn't offered a replacement earlier and are now going to replace it with a new 15" PowerBook G4 1.67GHz.

Shame it's not a MacBook Pro, but I'm not going to argue when they could quite easily have just repaired the Titanium... though that said the MacBook Pro is going to be pretty useless for me until Apple and some other companies change their pro app to universal binaries.... so in that respect. Though I'll be buying a 17" MacBook Pro as soon as all the major app's I use are converted to universal binaries, which hopefully will tie in with a Rev B release date. We'll see though.

Either way, I'm chuffed that I've gotten 3 years out of a 1GHz Titanium and that I'll be receiving a replacement/upgrade machine shortly.

How goes your problems anyway? decided on a solution yet?

 

[AlBDamned]

They agreed, expressed surprise that I wasn't offered a replacement earlier and are now going to replace it with a new 15" PowerBook G4 1.67GHz.

That’s a great result. The last 1.67 G4 is a beautiful machine, I don’t give a screw what its critics say (just wish I’d had my new one for longer than 5 minutes… )

Shame it's not a MacBook Pro, though that said the MacBook Pro is going to be pretty useless for me until Apple and some other companies change their pro app to universal binaries

I agree on the MacBook Pro too. While the gadget freak in me just damn wants one, it’s pretty much useless for me until the big apps from the likes of Quark and Adobe are universal. I think running Quark 6.5 on Intel and under Rosetta (cool technology as it is) would be akin to getting having all your teeth pulled out with anaesthetic.

Plus there’s the small issue of the machine being a fair amount of money!

How goes your problems anyway? decided on a solution yet?

I’m having the ‘book diagnosed this week. I’ve done everything I can possibly do myself so it’s time for a real expert to get under the keyboard.

Options I’m seriously considering include: Having it fixed if under £500.

Selling it for parts if over £500 and buying a Rev B 17” iMac G5. I don’t really need the portability as much these days and more processing power would be very useful for some of my current work.I also can't afford another laptop at this stage.

I’m no longer completely P***ed of with it either – just putting it down as a series of major lessons:

Get better insurance

Check your insurance before you call them. Double-check it. Then triple check it then quadruple che…

Ensure your laptop bag cannot be knocked of your shoulder when in busy areas – especially Notting Hill tube station.

Ensure said laptop bag has decent padding throughout because the bag will be knocked off/fall and land n the least padded place etc etc…

 

[AlBDamned]

Still dented, but back in business...

Wow, has this been a saga. Below I'm happy to present pictures of my now working PowerBook!

In the end, it all boiled down to? THE HARD DRIVE.

As many people suggested and I thought possibily at first. Yet despite it not woking via several external drives and fears over a damaged logic board, we're now back in business. I've got an 80GB drive in here for the time being, but it only cost £30 including fitting in the end due to a very helpful tech 'friend of the family'. I doubt I'll be able to reinstate my warranty, but for the time being, this thing is working very nicely.

Thank god!

 

[Applespider]

Phew... I'm glad you've got something you can use again.

 

[discoforce]

Wow, has this been a saga. Below I'm happy to present pictures of my now working PowerBook!

What a great ending to your story, and I think the dent is sexy!

Congratulations!