New PowerBooks - Finally

[meniscus]

Happy Weekend

Both my 17" and 15" AlBooks came Saturday Morning, via Airborne. I was VERY happy since by the tracking info I wasn't expecting it until today (Monday). I live on the west coast (LA).

Both are just two flavors of super-sweet. OMG. These are my first personal Apples, and they are simply stunning. I've got my fix after being Apple-less for about as year. If you are still waiting it is worth the wait. Even though the wait is painful.

For those who are waiting on Airborne I found the tracking to be really spotty. At first the numbers worked, and showed them in Taiwan, then they stopped working (Airborne told me over the phone that there is a tracking "black-out" period after it arrives in the US and is in customs). Then it showed picked up by AB and at the LA Dist center. That was Fri. Morning and I thought it would be here Fri. Nope, next thing, it turned up in Santa Clara near Cupertino! What the... Then while it was still supposedly up there it changed Sat morning to "out for delivery". A couple hours later they were really here! I had a similar experience with the tracking on an APX base module. It was all screwy until it said out for delivery in the morning, and it was dropped off within 3 hours.

So don't get disheartened by the tracking, if you check it every morning and it says out for delivery, you will want to stay home and wait like it's Christmas morning!

(edited typos and content)

 

[chazmox]

Not to make you guys still waiting TOO jealous...

But I walked into the Apple store and bought the superdrive version on Tuesday after the keynote!

Love it, and you will too!

 

[Gaucho]

Shipping Date

Just for those of you like me who ordered a BTO 15' 1.25 on Tuesday morning and with a shipping date of on or before 9/23/03, here's an update:

Mine shipped on 9/22/03 from the Elkland, ILL location and will be here in Wed. (I ordered the faster shipping). Today I got my wireless mouse. Pretty cool. My AE base station also arrived today and the iPod arrives tomorrow. So little by little everything is getting shipped. I live in NJ.

Regards to all,

Stephen

 

[Phil Of Mac]

Mine shipped from Illinois this morning, Airborne Express. (I didn't order next-day shipping, but I'm getting it anyway!). So I'm looking forward to getting it. I did a BTO too (switched the 2 256 modules for 1 512 module). Estimated shipping was tomorrow, but it's out today. Which was good to see when I first got up this morning

 

[killmoms]

All these shipping PowerBooks, none of them mine. I ordered Thursday, but the page hasn't been updated at all. It still says shipping on or before the day I ordered it (I thought that was strange). The iPod is marked as on or before the 23rd (tomorrow). This waiting is excruciating, especially since my roommate's has shipped and will probably be here tomorrow or Wednesday. Come to me, PowerBook!

--Cless

 

[Omek]

Don't feel too bad, mine hasn't shipped yet either. It might still ship today though... I ordered it yesterday.

Mmmmm... blazing 17" goodness......

 

[crees!]

Originally posted by Cless
The iPod is marked as on or before the 23rd (tomorrow). This waiting is excruciating...

My iPod was supposed to arrive today and all it says on Airborne's site is "In Transit" from Shanghai. I just called Airborne and the guy said it hasn't gotten to their facilities yet.

I don't mind my iPod not being here just yet because I can't do much with it without my laptop.

 

[petey]

To those waiting, I had to do something similar. The Apple Load people first took 72 hours to get back to Apple, then they made a mistake with my loan. That was resolved late friday, and it was shipped promptly this morning!

 

[laurim]

Personal call from Apple

I was amused today when I got a call and the guy said "Hi, this is John from Apple. I understand you want to order a PowerBook. Do you need help with that?" I guess he called because I had been to the Apple online store, made selections and saved the order for later. I ended up buying it at MacMall for the free goodies and ram upgrade. I asked him if he was calling to offer me anything special and he said no, they just wanted to make sure I didn't need any help ordering. Wow!

P.S. I asked the MacMall guy about getting a 1 gig ram chip instead of 2 512s and he said right now they cost $1400! Choke!

 

[serge2k]

12"

Anyone have an idea of when the 12" inchers are going to be shipped or be at the stores.. i haven ordered mine yet.. im thinking of just going to the store and buying it there...

 

[MattG]

I just got it.

What can I say that hasn't already been said? It's an amazing machine.

I already managed to put a scratch in the bottom of it, unfortunately. This ass that works with me decided to pick it up and look at it, and upon returning it to my desk, accidently dragged the corner of the desk along the bottom of the computer, leaving a 1.5" long scratch. Oh well...it's not very noticable and it was bound to happen sooner or later.

 

[evilbert420]

Make him buff it out.

 

[art399]

Originally posted by evilbert420
Make him buff it out.

Then kick him in the nuts, break his nose, smash one of his kneecaps with a baseball bat, tie him up, haul him out to a deserted highway in the middle of the night and dump him in a ditch. I'd say that's a punishment that fits the crime

 

[killmoms]

I'm very unhappy with my Apple order man and the credit card companies right now. Found a message on my machine saying the billing/shipping addresses were wrong. Called to find out that the guy who took my order mistyped something in BOTH ADDRESSES after READING THEM BACK TO ME. Wow. Knew I should've waited for the guy I talked to before to call back rather than play roulette on hold; at least he seemed competant.

Then I find out that the address my 'rents had put on file w/ the credit card company was no longer there. So now there's a whole rigamarole with that. That'll teach me to order over the phone again. Next time I use the web, where at least if there's a mistake, it'll be MINE.

At least now the mess should be sorted out and my 'Book shipped tomorrow (hopefully).

All in all, it's frustrating, but livable. I sure hope my machine is here before the end of the week.

--Cless

 

[Bruja]

Originally posted by art399
Then kick him in the nuts, break his nose, smash one of his kneecaps with a baseball bat, tie him up, haul him out to a deserted highway in the middle of the night and dump him in a ditch. I'd say that's a punishment that fits the crime

I see that you've been watching Resovoir Dogs and Goodfellas maybe Mr. jobs should do that to the CEO of Moto

 

[gloftis]

Re: Do you want to hear my sad story?

Originally posted by tuc
DHL/Airborne delivered my 15" AlBook on saturday morning. Unfortunately, instead of delivering to my house they delivered it to the Apple Store (Tysons Corner mall, about three miles from my house) which promptly sold it to someone else.

So I'm out a powerbook until the store receives some more stock sometime, plus I'm told I can expect hassles with the powerbook/ipod/printer rebate thing because my serial number won't match my invoice.

Call the Tyson's Corner MStore and get the ful names of the Store Manager and the idiot who talked to you.

Immediately contact the Apple store where you ordered it. Have your receipt and invoice number ready, and insist on speaking to the supervisor.

If the "Customer Service" person wo answers hesitates, ask to speak to the person he or she must ask for a day off.

Get the full name and title of the person you end up speaking to. Ask for spelling so they know you are writing it down.

When--and only when--you have this information, calmly explain the events that occurred, including the contact at you Apple Store.

After you have calmly told your story, ask "Do you think that is the kind of service a first-rate computer company provides?'

Then wait until he/she responds yes or no. Repeat the question if necessary to keep them on task.

If they answer yes, politely hang up and document the entire episode--with names, dates, and times--in a letter to Apple Computer Corporate Headquarters, with an information copy to your state consumer affars department.

If they answer no, ask "What do you intend to do to make my situation right," the shut up. He who speaks first loses!

 

[nalfein]

I'm so tired... this is the second time apple delayed my order. I order my PB 1.25 15" wednesday 17 8am EDT and when i place my order, it was same business day shipping. I receive an e-mail the day after to tell me it will be delayed to 22 (today). And now i just receive another email to tell me it will be delayed again. est ship date :before 29.

 

[petey]

To the dude whos order was delayed again, dont fret. As I have found out, Apple has the tendenacy to under promise. I wouldnt be surprised if it ships in the next couple of days. Good luck.

 

[vixapphire]

Originally posted by nickmcghie
umm not all mac users live in the US..

i hate ignorant americans

well, most of us americans would rather suffer an ignoramus than an arrogant jacka$$, and i don't think we're alone in that...

 

[MacBandit]

Originally posted by Bruja
I see that you've been watching Resovoir Dogs and Goodfellas maybe Mr. jobs should do that to the CEO of Moto

Not necessary the guy was forced to step down last week. The only place he'll be getting a job from here on out is as a politician.

 

[zync]

Finally!

Not to make any of you sad or jealous but....MY 15" SD came in today! This thing is so sweet. I am finally a part of the mac communityand I'm loving it. Trust me, any doubts any of you have about anything concerning these machines will be alleviated as soon as you open the box. For your reference I ordered the 15" Superdrive on Tuesday at around 4:00PM EST. My order shipped on 9/18 and I had no information other than it looked like it was shipping from IL, though my confirmation email said CA. After that all I got was an error and the number for Airborne, which I will say is not the best shipping company (read they suck!). They told me it'd be here monday when I called and lo and behold it was, though I had my doubts. It arrived around lunchtime. I hope that info helps assuage some of your fears about your shipping 'Books....all the anger and rage will go away as soon as you gaze at it's box...

 

[chazmox]

Originally posted by MattG
I just got it.

What can I say that hasn't already been said? It's an amazing machine.

I already managed to put a scratch in the bottom of it, unfortunately. This ass that works with me decided to pick it up and look at it, and upon returning it to my desk, accidently dragged the corner of the desk along the bottom of the computer, leaving a 1.5" long scratch. Oh well...it's not very noticable and it was bound to happen sooner or later.

I'm always amazed at how often "accidents" like this happen... Maybe its the subconscious being nasty...

 

[MattG]

Well I got home a couple of hours ago and I've been playing around with my new 'book.

As I mentioned above, yes, I already put a scratch in it (well somebody else did at least), but it's not a big deal. You can hardly see it, and so far nobody I've shown it to has noticed it.

One other thing I noticed is a pixel that seems to be doing some weird things. It was normal the first time I booted up. Then I got home, and there's this pixel that's glowing this cyan color. It stayed on for a while, then I happened to glance down and noticed it was back to normal again. I ran this pixel checker program on it, and it appears to have gone away. Hopefully it doesn't come back.

Other notes:

This illuminated keyboard is SWEET. I discounted this feature as being kind of useless when I first heard about it on the original 17" Powerbook, but now I see how nice it is while sitting here in my dimly lit living room!

As several others have mentioned, the keyboard response is MUCH better on this computer than on the 15" Ti.

The computer runs significantly cooler than any other Apple laptop I've used. I've been using it on my lap for the past hour, and it's not uncomfortable at all. I haven't even heard the fan come on yet.

I haven't burned any CDs or done any Photoshop work yet, but that's next!

 

[jameskk]

I've been reading this board for a while now and this is my first post... I ordered my PB 15" 1.25 the day after it was announced last week and it arrived today!!! For those of you who are unaware, go to Airborne's website and use the waybill number that was emailed in your invoice as the tracking number. This is the tracking number for the actual crate travelling from Taiwan. I found out about this on Sunday and when I tracked it showed my package was cleared by customs in IL the day before so I knew that I would have it today or tomorrow.. my real tracking number still showed an error while my new PB was safely on its way the entire time!! I hope this info helps some of you with the wait.. it sure helped me!! p.s. the machine is a beauty. I upgraded from a 12" PB G4 purchased in March.

 

[Ben Sheehan]

Originally posted by MattG
The computer runs significantly cooler than any other Apple laptop I've used. I've been using it on my lap for the past hour, and it's not uncomfortable at all. I haven't even heard the fan come on yet.

That is some of the best news I've read in a while - I'm 100% happy with the features of these new powerbooks, I ordered one based on this and the assumption that they would run a lot cooler than previous models. It's great to hear that this is the case.

I understand some guys would be wanting more grunt from them, but for me the features, OS and a cooler, reasonably competative chip (performance wise at least) are more than enough to justify updating.