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KBFinFan

macrumors 6502
Original poster
May 30, 2003
283
0
Connecticut, USA
Okay, my new 1.25 15" PB is scheduled to come tomorrow so I am very excited. However, after reading the discussions at Apple's site and this one I have become nervous.

Many people have begun to complain about the noise of the hard drive, some even going as far as calling it a loud screech.

Also, people have reported bent screen frames as well as lightness on the screen.

Battery life has also been a hot debate with the average seeming to be around 2.5 hrs (which I don't mind too badly but when they claim 5 on a 1.00 Ghz, I'd expect at least 3 hrs for a 1.25)

Computer warmth? I have heard cool all the way up to 130 degrees. Again, I expect a little warmth, but I am just throwing this out there...

Finally, is latch-gate. Everyone seems to have a problem latching the computer, is this a major issue? How do you suspect Apple will handle this?


I am a 'switcher,' so I am coming to the platform ready and willing. I do expect some problems with a technological piece of art like the Powerbooks, but am I just becoming nervous or do I have some serious concerns?

Thanks for reading this somewhat long post and I appreciate your comments/experiences/problems I didn't address.

Soon to switch,
Kyle
 

technocoy

macrumors 6502a
Sep 4, 2002
765
0
Raleigh, NC
i wouldn't doubt it...

It is still a beautiful machine, it just sucks that we are all going to have to deal with apple customer service on this one, I seriously dougt they'll ever fess up... it's just like the powerbook Ti paint chips.

technocoy
 

technocoy

macrumors 6502a
Sep 4, 2002
765
0
Raleigh, NC
do you have links to the posts @ apple...

I would like to print them just in case...

I searched but didn't find anything...

thanks,
technocoy
 

weev

macrumors regular
Jan 21, 2003
181
0
Sydney, Australia
It appears from the threads that a small number of people are having problems.

Random errors do happen in manufacturing. My guess is that some errors had occured (only my guess) leading to the late delivery (there was some rumour that production had problems other than the short supply of Motorola chips, if I remember correctly), and that - I summise - in this production urgency some machines slipped through the quality-control net.

The only worry would be if Apple doesn't replace/repair these devices but I will leave that speculation for another thread.

My PB 15 is coming this week too so I can empathise your concerns - lets hope for a perfect bouncing baby - but random acts of imperfection are real; and the small number of complainants does deafen out the silence of those happy with their machines.

As we should know, early adopters are really guinea pigs, always.
 

InstantCool

macrumors newbie
Sep 12, 2002
8
0
Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA
I just got my 15" PowerBook with a SuperDrive. I haven't noticed any of the problems stated above. I have to put my ear up the machine to listen if the hard drive is even running. Warmth of the unit seems to depend on what your doing. When capturing video it seems to get pretty hot, but just browsing the web isn't too bad. And never the scalding experience that I've heard others talk about with the 12" version.

However, I do have a problem. It seems my firewire port kind of intermitantly shuts on and off. Which really sucks in the middle of video capture. Hopefully I just got a defective model as opposed to it being a manufacturing problem. I'm returning it today. Wish me luck.
 

crees!

macrumors 68020
Jun 14, 2003
2,014
239
MD/VA/DC
Listen Up!

If you watched the stream of the keynote Steve said you don't have to worry anymore about the screen pressing against the keys. So giving a little space between the keys and screen would make sense to solve this issue.

As for heat there are many things you can do Energy Saver wise to minimize any heat. I wouldn't worry. People just react too much over little things.
 

Eric Szilagy

macrumors newbie
Sep 26, 2003
6
0
Michigan
Re: Should I be nervous? (Powerbook 15" Problems)

Originally posted by KBFinFan
Okay, my new 1.25 15" PB is scheduled to come tomorrow so I am very excited. However, after reading the discussions at Apple's site and this one I have become nervous.

Many people have begun to complain about the noise of the hard drive, some even going as far as calling it a loud screech.

Also, people have reported bent screen frames as well as lightness on the screen.

Battery life has also been a hot debate with the average seeming to be around 2.5 hrs (which I don't mind too badly but when they claim 5 on a 1.00 Ghz, I'd expect at least 3 hrs for a 1.25)

Computer warmth? I have heard cool all the way up to 130 degrees. Again, I expect a little warmth, but I am just throwing this out there...

Finally, is latch-gate. Everyone seems to have a problem latching the computer, is this a major issue? How do you suspect Apple will handle this?


I am a 'switcher,' so I am coming to the platform ready and willing. I do expect some problems with a technological piece of art like the Powerbooks, but am I just becoming nervous or do I have some serious concerns?

Thanks for reading this somewhat long post and I appreciate your comments/experiences/problems I didn't address.

Soon to switch,
Kyle

My screen latches: the keyboard doesn't touch the screen. I am happy and I don't see a problem.

It is warmer than my Ti was. The processor is also 3x faster with 4x the video ram. That is a lot of power in a small quiet (fan rarely runs) case. It is cooler (in every way including temp.) than my son's Dell Latitude with a 800 mHz P4

My HD and fans are extremely quiet. No clicking, no whine.

Battery life at 100% is just over 2 hours with bluetooth and airport on, but changes up and down with the task I am doing. I am not compulsive enough to set a timer independent of the computer battery calculation.
 

crees!

macrumors 68020
Jun 14, 2003
2,014
239
MD/VA/DC
Re: Re: Should I be nervous? (Powerbook 15" Problems)

Originally posted by Eric Szilagy
My HD and fans are extremely quiet. No clicking, no whine.

I actually just noticed some clicking on the harddrive, it comes and goes but is very quiet... this is after about 8Gigs later in file transfers from my Windows machine.
 
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