My First Bad Mac

[BWhaler]

After buying 4 laptops and 2 desktops since 2003, I just got my first bad Mac.

It's the new 17" PB. The quality is simply a bummer.

The sad thing is there are simply lots of little problems with it. Fit is every so slightly off. Some keys stick. Uneven backlighting. Airport was spotty. Random flickering.

I sent it back to Apple to have the backlighting fixed, but it was returned to me as being within spec. I took it to the Genius Bar and they said it was not and offered to repair it. Sadly, I needed the PB on a business trip so I didn't have time to wait for it to return.

Apple for the most part has been helpful. The Genius Bar was great since I was able to show someone my problems.

I share this not because I can't get this fixed...I surely can, it's just a question of when I will have the time to since I travel internationally all of the time...

Rather, this laptop helped give me some perspective on Apple's products, the quality, and some of the posts here. I guess I learned that most of the time, a new Mac will be amazing and flawless. But when the wheels come off the wagon, they can come way off. Running an all Apple company and having 4 Macs at home with no problems shielded me from this. (Although the bugginess of Tiger and Tiger Server certainly clued me in that Apple is not flawless.)

But at the end of the day, Apple stood by their product and were helpful. I was frustrated at times with AppleCare when they had me try things I knew were not related to the problem, but that is to be expected I guess.

Will I still buy Apple? Of course. Am I worried about the quality? Slightly, but again, mostly because of the mess that was Tiger. But it was a shame to have a new $3K laptop with so many problems...

 

[Deepdale]

It's the new 17" PB. The quality is simply a bummer. ... The sad thing is there are simply lots of little problems with it. Fit is every so slightly off. Some keys stick. Uneven backlighting. Airport was spotty. Random flickering.

Quality control must have called in sick that day. As you properly pointed out, no company is flawless and Apple has been displaying more than a few warts lately. Once your travel schedule eases up, you should be able to get those matters attended to. Good luck.

 

[Will Cheyney]

So annoying when you don't receive a 'perfect' item

 

[Monyx]

I had some real fun recently buying an Apple refurbished PM G5 - I went through two machines needing 6(!) separate trips back to the reseller (swapping RAM, returning machine for repair, 'upgrading' to 2.7 ghz, subsequently finding it was 2.5ghz instead of 2.7ghz + wrong video card)

I lost all faith in refurbs, by this point $$$ weren't an issue anymore - I just wanted (needed!) a working machine. The first 2ghz had so many probs: BT not recognised, faulty logic board OR RAM slots, excessive noise in analogue audio-out, chirpping all the time - I didn't realize being a pci-x model that it was likely 1st gen from 2003 sold to me last week.

Today's visit to the reseller was going to have 1 of 2 outcomes: refund & buy new online or receive credit for my $2600 towards new Dual Core. I have never felt so relieved and satisfied paying for new price for hardware - going refurb was a bad experience I never want to repeat. I was blinded by the savings and didn't want to reflect on what these machine had been through or how many hours their components had been used for.

After a frustrating and disheartening week I am v happy with the machine in my sig - fast, quiet and without incident so far (installed ~7 hours ago). Boxed, new, all the trinkets you don't have to beg/borrow steal (OS Tiger, usb extension lead, dvi-vga connector etc. aren't always in the reburbs) I don't take the extras for granted when I was lucky to get a keyboard and mouse last week!

 

[maestro55]

Most computer people talk about all the computers problems they have because for one thing they are buying more computers. When your average user buys one computer and it works they are happy, they don't by 5 computers and find that 1 out of the five doesn't work. Though, because my dad is in education technology and has been around macs for the past 20 years, I trust him when he says that quality control at Apple has gone way down. I have not personally delt with AppleCare or any Apple customer service, but I have heard good stories about them sticking by their product. You don't get that from Dell, and I know this because I was helping on a local library with a circulation desk computer. It was out of warranty, but still had phone support; I offered to come look at it for a very small fee, affordable to the library and enough for me to make the trip worth it. Anyhow, I was on the phone with support and they were very rude to me. I fixed the problem while on hold and just hung up the phone.

But the fact is, when you are around computers all day, using them all the time, you are going to have more problems than the casual user. Since chances are you are a hardcore user giving your machine a work-out. I trust that Apple takes that work-out a heck of a lot better than a Dell or any other brand-name PC. I am not afraid of the switch to Intel processors, because Apple will still work to have quality machines, and though some people will have bad experiences, you just go on with life.